Who's been to America?

iirc with virgin you can choose your seat now online. go online with your six digit booking reference?? have a look to see if you can bag a good one e.g. bulkhead ones on a jumbo. seatguru.com should help. if all good seats gone, sit as far forward as poss due to getting off first because as mentioned immigration can take ages.
 
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I've done New York, Boston and San Francisco all with Virgin Atlantic. All trips were pretty painless although as others have said immigration at JFK is a bit of a drag ...
 
I went through immigration at Kennedy a month or two ago and it wasn't that bad. Was off the plane and out on the streets in about 15 mins.
 
You can book your seats up to 11 months in advance with Virgin Atlantic mate, check in online within 24 hours of departure (not all airports but your Ok at Heathrow) then when you turn up at T3 just bypass the queues & go straight to the bagdrop (far right of all the Virgin desks).

Definitely try for Premium Economy too mate, I virtually never travel Economy unless I have no choice. VA are my No1 airline (45+ flights in the last 9 years) & I get many perks with their flying club so well worth joining:).

Enjoy your trip mate, NY is a fantastic city:)
 
I've flown from London to NY twice with Virgin (2006 & 2008). What surprised me was just how quickly we managed to get off the plane and onto the streets of NY. I expected to be subjected to endless security checks, searches, beaurocracy etc. but it just didn't happen. Heathrow seemed to be far more security conscious by comparison.
 
Virgin are pretty good,decent leg room,enough movies to watch and its got free alcohol...been to the states a few times with virgin;)
 
Im going with 3 mates on a lads holiday to america for a month in 13 days! all just turned 21 so hitting up NY, miami, LA, and vegas.
Flying VA to NY. you can book your seats online, i did it just after paying for the flight.
Cant wait now, need to practice my british accent, and the lies about being a pro soccer player.
 
I don't think I have ever witnessed such a sight as New Yor from the top of the ESB.

Manhattan, Brroklyn, Queens, Bronx, New Jersey, Central Park ...... you can see it all.

And have a chinese meal in China Town.
 
ESB? Pah! Rockerfeller Centre is where you should go if you want a view, as you can see the ESB from it! :D

In fact, if you have the time go to ESB during the day and 'Top of the Rock' at night.
 
Have fun, just be prepared to constantly think "Why am I paying this when I'd get double in America :o" everytime you eat out when back in the UK.
 
PMKeates said:
Check in is a joke. I tend to turn up a couple of hours before the flight, at most.
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I used to spend so much time travelling (over 40 return flights a year) that I knew all the queues of all the airports so that I could time my watch to them almost :D Never got to the airport with more than 1hr before my flight :o Can't be dealing with airports, hate 'em.

Anyway enjoy NY it's a brilliant city, much much better than London.
 
Hen_Dawg said:
I think you can get a mini visa thing online now to potentially save some time and hassle with their a-hole immigration.
Virgin are good, bring some nice headphones for some movies etc to pass the time
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I've travelled round the world a fair amount and the US has the worst immigration officials anywhere, NYC is even worse. It was like this even before 9/11.

"wow it's so cool to be in America!"
"shut up, give me your passport and don't breath the wrong way or you're getting shot"
 
I fly to New York with Virgin. It was the worst flight I've ever been on - cramped seating, no legroom, screaming kids and chavs everywhere, a horrific experience which I vowed never to repeat. Entertainment was good. Cut down on queues by checking in online.

By contrast my last Long Haul flight with Malaysia Airlines was excellent - that was economy as well.
 
NYC is amazing, when I move state side (my girlfriend is a yank) I want to live in Brooklyn.

Deffo goto Coney Island, it's a laugh, also be sure to "shoot the freak", not stare at the freak, glare at the freak, etc... You'll understand when you go there ;)

Some of the best junk food resides there too, be sure to go to L&B pizza in Brooklyn (square pie) and Joe's on Bleaker St (regular pie), and eat at Nathan's Hotdogs. :)
 
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