Next year

[gilld]

We have decided, as soon as the earliest day comes around, that we are going to use Miles Plus Money and fly UC next year. DH is really excited, something that doesn't often happen! It's a while since we've done that and never with VA. Shame I can't add another countdown to my signature.

 

[Frances999]

Excellent Gill! You will absolutely love it. Nothing even compares to VA's Upper Class Suite. We are planning to do the exact same thing (Miles+Money) for our holiday next year as well. It will be the first time experiencing UCS with the children! Now that we have the family account, their miles count as well

 

[Miffy2003]

I'm not jealous Gill

Well, okay maybe a little bit

How lovely for you. What a super treat! I must try and get to grips with Miles Plus Money, really.

Frances - how do you get a family account please?

 

[disneyholic family]

what's in the virgin upper class?...
just curious, since we're married to our regular carrier, where we use our frequent flyer mileage to upgrade to business class...

 

[Frances999]

Frances - how do you get a family account please?

Karen - this is from the Virgin Atlantic flying club literature I have.

Members who have qualified for Gold membership status in the Flying Club programme and have Gold status when Virgin Atlantic receive and process the application, can enrol a maximum of six children aged between 2 and 17 years of age, who reside at the same home address as the Gold member, to earn Flying Club miles. Family members enrolled in this way will be enrolled into a Family Account. The miles earned through a Family Account will be transferred automatically into the Gold member's account after each mileage transaction is complete.

 

[Miffy2003]

Frances - thank you

Looks like a non starter for us as I sincerely doubt we will ever get to Gold status, LOL. Bless you for helping me out though!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Before you go for a M+M fare, see if there are any Z class fares available as they normally work out cheaper than the M + M

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

what's in the virgin upper class?...
just curious, since we're married to our regular carrier, where we use our frequent flyer mileage to upgrade to business class...

Depending upon the fare class you have paid, Virgin's Upper Class consists of a limo to and from the airport each end, check in via the car, or dedicated airport check in.
At gatwick without adoubt, the best clubhouse around, with cooked food, ( the breakfasts are superb) muffins, cereals, etc.. unlimited types of drinks, a tv room, a cinema, a smoking room, free use of computers, a games room, showers, funky toilets, and a beauty salon.

Priority boarding onto the aircraft, with a dedicated Upper Class cabin, of 14 total individual seating areas, with seats which you can recline before takeoff, and convert into 6 feet long beds. When in bed form (can be either way) you get pillows and a duvet plus some snazzy pijamas to wea and take home, an oswald Boetang pack each way. The cabin has a dedicated bar which you can sit around.

The food is off a menu and can be eaten at your leasure, plus tea and sandwiches later on in the flight, and a wine list.

Pull out tv's. On other routes from heathrow you have an in flight beauty therapist to givemassages etc, and on returning to Heathrow, a revivals lounge with showers and cooked breakfasts.
PICTURE OF LITTLE 'UN IN HIS UC SEAT

At MCO, first off plus priority baggage tagging. On return, use of the Delta crown room and separate boarding.
A civilised way to fly

 

[disneyholic family]

thanks Obi!!

our airline actually has much of that for business class (tons of food on the ground in really nice lounges, first off the plane, special check-in, etc.), but what it doesn't have that i would almost kill for are those individual seating areas.....i think my kids might finally be able to sleep in those.....the whole virgin upstairs section looks amazing...
supposedly our airline is revamping its seats to the individual pods (i think like on Northwest and BA), but they're going to do their 777s first and i won't fly 777s....i prefer the upstairs in the 747.....nice and quiet...but ours have...let's see.....6 rows of 4 seats, so that's 24 seats upstairs....a big difference from 14 seats....i assume that the virgin plane is the same type i fly - the 747-400, with the stretched upstairs...or is it the smaller 747?....
or is it not a 747 at all, but rather the front of a smaller plane?....

i have three reasons for skipping 777s.....first they only have 2 engines and i prefer the extra 2 engines that the 747 has (since it can fly on 1 engine, i figure you've got a little extra margin of error there)..
second, the upstairs is far from the madding crowd (on the 777, though you're up front, it's a much bigger area and feels more hectic)....
third, the one time i flew a 777, on continental airlines, i thought we were going to die....they must have had the air system set on too low....we weren't getting enough oxygen or something like that....i have never gotten so sick on a flight and i've flown literally thousands of times....half the people in our section were throwing up....the rest of us felt like our bodies were on fire....that's the only way i can describe it....i don't know what it was, but i won't fly a 777 again and i certainly will never get on another continental airlines plane as long as i live...even if i have to walk to get to my destination (or swim)....and the crew was the worst i've ever encountered (and take into account i used to fly TWA, so saying the continental crew was the worst ever is saying a lot)...

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

hi beth,
the Virgin Gatwick aircraft are 747-400's but the configuration is that all the Upper Class seats are downstairs in "the pointy bit"

on the heathrow aircraft, there is a upper class section upstairs as well.

Eventually all the 747's will be based at either Gatwick or manchester, and Heathrow will be all Airbuses.

 

[gilld]

So would I just ring general reservations to enquire about a Z fare and if not ring FF and get M+M?

Your photos are great.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

have a look on the VA web site and put in Upper Class (Lowest) if there are Z fares available, then they will use them for the working out of the fare cost.
The photos are a bit out of focus due to the Champagne in the Clubhouse

 

[disneyholic family]

hi beth,
the Virgin Gatwick aircraft are 747-400's but the configuration is that all the Upper Class seats are downstairs in "the pointy bit"

on the heathrow aircraft, there is a upper class section upstairs as well.

Eventually all the 747's will be based at either Gatwick or manchester, and Heathrow will be all Airbuses.

thanks....the 'pointy bit' on our plane is first class (business is upstairs as well as behind first class)....i've flown the first class and it's nice to be in that part of the 747...unfortunately, the seats are only marginally better than the business class seats (there are 12 first class seats in the pointy bit).....one time i was sitting next to some strange guy, who fell asleep and slugged me, i guess during the course of a nightmare....actually he turned over and his arm hit me....what fun....oh for those individual pods...

as for the airbus, i assume it's the airbus with 4 engines, which is ok (i have this thing for 4 engines only when i'm over the atlantic or the pacific, over land i figure we can always glide down somehow)...
i'm not a fan of the airbus planes....i know they have a good safety record but i don't like the way they fly.....they just don't 'feel' right to me...
my favorite is the 747-400 which flies like an airplane should...
as for the smaller ones, oddly the MD80 has a remarkably nice ride.....after that probably the 757, then the airbus (which i really don't like at all) and finally the smaller boeings, which aren't so great.....then of course there are the little commuter planes, some more awful than others....

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I know what you mean Beth, the Airbus is not my favourite plane, anything with french influence worries me

Virgin do not have First Class and they even state that Upper Class is a buisness level product.

It seems that is the way many airlines are going now, removing their First class (like Continental? ) and only having "Buisness First"

many of my flights are on 737's, nice but a bit souless, however, they get you there.

The individual seats on Virgin are lovely, when they flip over to turn into the bed, they are just right for me, not too soft.
BA have thrie version, but they are a bit soft for me and the cabins are a little tight around the shoulder area, plus being ex RAF, the seats face either frontwards or backwards, which brings back memories of some hair raising flights on RAF VC10's......

 

[disneyholic family]

I know what you mean Beth, the Airbus is not my favourite plane, anything with french influence worries me

Virgin do not have First Class and they even state that Upper Class is a buisness level product.

It seems that is the way many airlines are going now, removing their First class (like Continental? ) and only having "Buisness First"

many of my flights are on 737's, nice but a bit souless, however, they get you there.

The individual seats on Virgin are lovely, when they flip over to turn into the bed, they are just right for me, not too soft.
BA have thrie version, but they are a bit soft for me and the cabins are a little tight around the shoulder area, plus being ex RAF, the seats face either frontwards or backwards, which brings back memories of some hair raising flights on RAF VC10's......

yes i think that northwest also got rid of first, air canada hasn't had it for years (same with continental).....but i think BA still has it (and charges 4 arms and 5 legs for it)....as does the airline i fly....

i noticed the front/back configuration of the BA planes when i've looked on seatguru.com.....the way the virgin seats are seems really nice....except for if you're flying with someone...i mean, it seems hard to chitchat with the person next to you....and my daughter always has to hold my hand on takeoff (my 21 year old daughter !), which seems like it might be hard in the virgin seats...but despite that, they seem like they would make it a really nice flight...even if the flight is relatively short out of london (7 hours?)....

i suppose we could fly into london and then out on virgin to the states....that way we could even have a day or two in london, which would be grand...
but my problem is the frequent flyer mileage....once you're committed to one airline, you're really committed and it's hard to breakaway...

i guess i'll just have to hope that our airline upgrades sooner rather than later...