BA or Virgin Atlantic Business seats?

London to Los Angles Regent is offering me either BA on a A380 or Virgin Atlantic on a 787 Dream-liner. Both non-stop and leave at same time.

I have flown both types of planes and like them both, but I have never flown on Virgin Atlantic so I don't know how to compare it to BA.

Any suggestions on which is better for the 11+ hour overnight flight.

Thanks

J

Have you checked out http://www.seatguru.com? Details, photos, reviews...neat site.

This is easy; Virgin Atlantic. BA has the worse biz configuration i have ever flown. VA has fantastic seats, beds, and service (although I miss the masseuse).

Marc

We have not flown Virgin Atlantic because it does not fly out of Vancouver. However, we fly BA all the time. Many people feel that the configuration is weird (it kinda is but we like facing each other during dinner and I don't mind flying backwards). There are some seats on BA's 747 that are fabulous and others not too much. Sorry but I don't want to post the best seats on a public board. Lufthansa has "new" seats and we will try them for the first time in several years next month.

Agree that checking seatguru.com is a good idea!

P.S. Just checked seatguru.com and it reminded me of what someone told me after a flight on Virgin....... the Business Class was much too large and there were children that were disruptive there. This may not be an issue - depending upon what time of the year you fly.

We have not flown with Virgin for a while but their service in "upper class" used to be very good.

The seat layout on the Virgin 787 looks to be much better than the BA A380, plus larger seat pitch and width

Since the 787 is a smaller aircraft you should also find boarding and leaving the aircraft less congested

If you do end up on the BA A380, try to ensure that you get a seat in the top-deck forward cabin. Not as secluded as upstairs on the old BA 747, but you do get the benefit of huge restrooms that are large enough to get changed in comfortably

Agree with other posters that seatguru is a good resource to enable decisions on aircraft type and seat choice

We recently flew BA to London and then to Dubai. It feels like being in a sardine can...it was as if the bean counters told the designers to see just how many seats they could pack in. The flight attendants hate the configuration as they have to be cirque de Soleil performers just to serve dinner. Even with the contortions, passengers need to help pass trays. It's a very claustrophobic design so avoid at all costs!

We recently flew London-Havana/Antigua-London on Virgin and disliked the configuration. Sardine tin, as forgap says above about BA. We didn't have problems with the comfort of the seat, just the layout and the passengers who stood up and talked most of the time.

I think the airlines configure business class for the single business traveler who just wants to be cocooned with their laptop. Vacationers are not really part of the business class ethos.

Based on our recent experiences (London-Accra-CapeTown-London) and also Far East routes, I'd say Premium Economy was the better bet these days.

We recently flew London-Havana/Antigua-London on Virgin and disliked the configuration. Sardine tin, as forgap says above about BA.

What type of aircraft were you on?

Presumably not the 787 Dreamliner that the OP is considering

Virgin!

I know Emirates does not fly from the US to LHR but they have the best biz and First class cabins and service as well as Singapore. We avoid BA and LHR if at all possible.

Emirates may be fine but the business class seats on their A330's and 777 series planes have angled seats which we avoid whenever possible on any airplane. Once again, learned about the seats on Seat Guru when we "almost" booked Emirates due to its' excellent reputation.

As someone who flies "over the pond" as often as many people fly from the NYC area to Florida during the winter months, I highly recommend Virgin, hands down. Not only is it a more comfortable flight, the flight crew are always great and make the flight that much more pleasant.

Not only do I find the BA seats and configuration uncomfortable, some of their flight attendants can use a refresher course in providing excellent customer service - while the majority are great, on too many occasions we have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with crew who obviously hate their jobs and take it out on the passengers.

gnomie :)

For me, I'd pick a Virgin Atlantic/America/Australia Flight as a first choice every time. Especially with a Heathrow return. The lounge and amenities alone are a treat and destination

Thank you all for your input and reports. Virgin Atlantic it is this time. I will report back.

I have flown on BA with the reverse seats in a 777. I thought the were ok if you were on the side, but in the middle back seat is a weird. I find BA first class to be very good but it is not offered. I have flown the A380 on Qantas Business but in a different set config. Love it. Love the A380, very quite. Qantas service was good.

As to the 787 it is another plane the I feel is very comfortable. Flown on Air Kenya and Japan Air business, but they were both short hauls. BTW Japan Air First has the best service in the sky on their long hauls.

TC2 mention Lufthansa. Let me know how you like the new seats. We are flying them also in Sept for the first time in years.

j

TC, We flew Emirates BOS/CPT thru Dubai. All seats were lie flat. Seat guru does not do a good job of keeping up with changes. They made the same mistake with Iberia 2 years ago.

The Emirates web site tells you that almost all long haul BC is now lie flat seats. We loved the on board service and the crew did a great job of dealing with a VERY noisy family of 5. In addition if you are laying over in Dubai for more than 8 hrs, we were in both directions, Emirates gives you transport and a room at Le Meridien.

TC, We flew Emirates BOS/CPT thru Dubai. All seats were lie flat. Seat guru does not do a good job of keeping up with changes. They made the same mistake with Iberia 2 years ago.

The Emirates web site tells you that almost all long haul BC is now lie flat seats. We loved the on board service and the crew did a great job of dealing with a VERY noisy family of 5. In addition if you are laying over in Dubai for more than 8 hrs, we were in both directions, Emirates gives you transport and a room at Le Meridien.

Thanks for the information. I didn't know that Seat Guru was that far behind. They are showing lie flat seats now for most Lufthansa flights which is why we are flying them. Will definitely reconsider Emirates!

VIRGIN, VIRGIN, VIRGIN. BA not only has the worst seats but the service matches the lousy seats.

Lufthansa has changed the angled seats to lie flat. At least on all the 464 we have flown. We usually fly Lufthansa because they have a non-stop Orlando to Frankfurt and then is an easy connection. Besides, they are part of Star Alliance and we get the miles. The service is very good and they have nice business lounges. The lounges are not as nice as the first class lounges in Frankfurt and Munich. Those are wonderful. However, since we are now retired we can't fly first class anymore. Business is nice. The food and drinks are good and the seats are comfortable now that they lie flat.

forevertravel:)

VIRGIN, VIRGIN, VIRGIN. BA not only has the worst seats but the service matches the lousy seats.

You can be very funny sometimes (this is one of those times):) I like BA 747-400's upstairs where there is a ton of storage space next to the seat (3 large bins next to you). This storage space does not exist downstairs.

Agree about the service -- pretty bad, but am rather used to British way of doing things. Having said that, I would rather fly almost any "foreign" carrier over U.S. based carriers (United, American, Delta, etc.). We really enjoy flying Cathay Pacific. Their lounge in Hong Kong is over the top wonderful (better than BA's lounge in terminal 5 at Heathrow IMO). Speaking of lounges, in the U.S., it is hard to beat the Centurion Lounge at Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Just read about the bombings at the International Arrivals terminal at Alaturk Airport in Istanbul. Sadly, it does not sound like Regent (or any other cruise line) will be returning to Istanbul any time soon. Very sad!

The Centurion lounge in MIA gets crowded during peak times but it still beats the Admirals Club by far.

Newlondon, you for got to mention that Emirates greets you and picks you up at the hotel for those long layovers. We stayed at the Meridian Dubai on our way to Africa which was really nice. The Emirates lounge is over the top in DBX and Singapore has a fantastic lounge as well.

The BA 747-400 is going bye bye in the next couple of years. I love the Emirates A-380 in first or business. The bar with sofa seating which serves both biz and first is fun. If in first you have two showers/spa it really is something special in the air and the crew are amazing.

As for BA, we found the food just ok and the cabin crew indifferent.

In our recent experience Qatar Airways provides the best long-haul Business Class experience

Very sad to hear the latest from Istanbul. As well as the personal suffering, another country's tourist industry is being destroyed by fanatics

Qatar is also a very good airline as Flossie mentioned.

SO VERY SAD about Istanbul....

Back to my advice to OP, I would positively avoid BA !!

We recently flew RT from LAX and it was absolutely the WORST experience. The jig saw herringbone seating configuration will have you stepping over or being the one stepped over should you try to recline your seat and try to sleep. Worse yet, if you're in the middle section of Biz Class upstairs you'll either have 3 across (a stranger) in between you. Worst yet down stairs you could have 2 strangers between you (or next to you) since downstairs the middles section has 4 across. The Biz seats are also very narrow and have very little storage options.

Even taking a window and isle seat (facing each other so someone is sitting backwards) still requires stepping over your spouse or having them stepping over you.

NEVER AGAIN for us.

SO VERY SAD about Istanbul....

 

Back to my advice to OP, I would positively avoid BA !!

 

We recently flew RT from LAX and it was absolutely the WORST experience. The jig saw herringbone seating configuration will have you stepping over or being the one stepped over should you try to recline your seat and try to sleep. Worse yet, if you're in the middle section of Biz Class upstairs you'll either have 3 across (a stranger) in between you. Worst yet down stairs you could have 2 strangers between you (or next to you) since downstairs the middles section has 4 across. The Biz seats are also very narrow and have very little storage options.

 

Even taking a window and isle seat (facing each other so someone is sitting backwards) still requires stepping over your spouse or having them stepping over you.

 

NEVER AGAIN for us.

What type of plane were you on? We just had our BA flights confirmed this morning (Barcelona to Vancouver in March, 2017) and have seats upstairs on the 747. There are 2 seats on each side (facing one another). There is more storage upstairs than I have ever experienced.

On the other hand, you are so right about having to step over someone or have someone step over you (unless you have an exit row upstairs and have the window seat). We are hoping that the seats on our Lufthansa flight next month is better than BA. We would love to switch to Lufthansa but I'm not sure which is worse -- Frankfurt or Heathrow.

Are you on the March 26th crossing of the Explorer next year?