Virgin Atlantic vs British Airways vs Continental

[Nick Needs To Know]

We're going on our honeymoon and pulling out all the stops. Who offers the best first class service between Virgin Altantic, British Airways or Continental.

We can fly from either Newark or JFK into Heathrow. Any thoughts?

 

Nick

[vikielynne]

My vote goes to BA....but I work for them so I'm rather biased...I haven't flown the others but I would suggest going to everyone's web site to compare. There should be good details, photos etc to help.

[greatam]

We're going on our honeymoon and pulling out all the stops. Who offers the best first class service between Virgin Altantic, British Airways or Continental.

We can fly from either Newark or JFK into Heathrow. Any thoughts?

 

Nick

 

Do you want stiff upper lip, VERY proper service? You will be treated like royalty. BA (which I love)

 

Do you want a bar in FC, a little more "party" atmosphere, a little looser, not quite as formal. Virgin

 

If you are younger (less than 35), you will probably enjoy Virgin.

 

Forget Continental, unless you have lots of miles.

[FlyerTalker]

The Virgin clubrooms are fantastic. Plan on being at the airport at least 3 hours before your flight, so that you can experience/appreciate all that they have to offer.

 

With an Upper Class ticket, you get: Chauffeured car service on both ends. A flat bed suite in the air. An inflight bar area. In-flight massages. At LHR, the clubhouse has a sauna, Jacuzzi, spa, and much more. Go to the Virgin Atlantic website and browse the sections on UpperClass and the clubhouses. Let us know what you think - I'm curious what your reaction will be.

[Nick Needs To Know]

Just looked at Virgin Atlantic. Looks too good to be true! Anyone with personal experience of Virgin Altantic Upper Class care to share your thoughts? How does the limousine service work? Do they make those arrangements when you call to book the ticket? Any further information is appreciated.

 

Nick

[CruisingAlong4Now]

The service on both BA and Virgin is fantastic. I have flown both in first class (called Upper Class on Virgin). For my current trip, my DH and I decided NOT to fly upper class because of the configuration of the sleeper pods. We are flying Virgin Premium Economy - extra legroom, but without the nice ammenities that come with Upper Class.

 

On BA, in Club World you are sitting head-to-toe with your seatmate. You might be able to gaze lovingly at your sweetheart's face if you have good eyesight. And when the seats are turned into the sleeper beds, you can't see anyone. You are sleeping alone.-

 

On Virgin, the pods are angled away from your seatmate so you can't see the person sitting next to you. The dividers are too high for me to see over, so I felt very isolated and alone.

 

That said, as previously mentioned, the Club at both NYC and Heathrow are great. I love the arrivals lounge at LHR where we shower when we land andthen have breakfast while the traffic to London winds down.

 

Definitely check out the seating plans on the airlines websites, look at the pictures, and check the seat descriptions at seatguru.com. Also checkout http://www.flatseats.com/Reviews/intro.htm for a review of the airlines' flat seats.

[Globaliser]

Who offers the best first class service between Virgin Altantic, British Airways or Continental.

Be careful what you are comparing.

 

If you really want a first class product, only British Airways does this (out of these three airlines).

 

Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class and Continental's BusinessFirst products are both business class products. British Airways' business class product is called Club World.

 

Both BA and Virgin offer beds that are both flat and horizontal. Continental's seat is (IIRC) not even flat, let alone horizontal.

 

Upper Class is probably at least a little better than most other business class products, although some frequent flyers I know who regularly fly both Upper Class and Club World have mixed views about each of them. There are some things which Club World does better.

 

One other thing that you should be aware of is that the next generation Club World is being launched by BA some time in the second half of this year. It may take a little time to embody it across the whole fleet, but it is reported that it will keep the same forward-backward pairing (which I love, when travelling as a couple) but will have a bigger footprint including, most importantly, a wider sleeping surface when it is a bed.

 

But if (as befits a honeymoon) you are looking for first class rather than business class, then BA is (literally) the only way to go here.

[Sthitch]

BA has a slight edge over Virgin, but not worth the difference in money. Yes, Upper is actually Business, but unlike any other airline's business class. Keep in mind that you are likely to be on a redeye from New York, and will not be able to enjoy the benefits of BA's wonderful first class service. I have found that the beds are just as comfortable on Virgin and BA (United's are also just as comfortable).

[Globaliser]

Keep in mind that you are likely to be on a redeye from New York, and will not be able to enjoy the benefits of BA's wonderful first class service.

Although it's worth bearing in mind that BA has one daylight flight each day from each of JFK and Newark. Also, Virgin has one daylight flight each day from Newark.

 

Looking at the timetables reminds me: All Virgin flights on this route carry a Continental code. If you book a business class ticket on a "Continental" flight, but where it's a codeshare actually operated by Virgin, you'll get a Virgin Upper Class seat.

[Nick Needs To Know]

So does that mean I can earn Continental points even if I book Virgin?

[Globaliser]

So does that mean I can earn Continental points even if I book Virgin?

Not in itself. The fact that one airline puts its code on certain flights operated by another airline does not necessarily mean that you can earn miles in the first airline's frequent flyer scheme if you buy a ticket on the second airline's flights.

 

However, there are two general rules.

 

The first is that if you buy a ticket showing the first airline's flight number, you will usually earn miles as if it were the first airline's flight even though the second airline is actually the operating carrier. But you need to check the first airline's rules in every case to make sure that you don't fall into an exception to this general rule.

 

The second is that if you buy a ticket from the second airline on a flight operated by the second airline, but you want to earn miles in the first airline's frequent flyer scheme, you have to consult the first airline's scheme details to see whether or not you can.

 

In your query, Continental is the first airline and Virgin is the second airline. As it happens, Continental's website says that you can earn miles if you fly on a ticket showing the Virgin flight number - but subject to the restrictions shown there.