virgin atlantic upper class worth the cost?

If anybody wants a good alternative, AirNZ business class is excellent with space on a par with a lot of first class offerings elsewhere. If you wait and book at the right time the going rate for LAX-LHR return is around £2000, which is about the best value you will find.
 
daz said:
If you spend a lot on your credit cards in general, getting a BA Amex can sometimes make it worthwhile with Avios.

Edit: That would be with BA rather than Virgin though
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BA Amex cards can be very worthwhile (if you're willing to put up with "Sorry, we don't take Amex" at every other restaurant). My gf and I get at least one long-haul business class flight a year each from it. The other thing you need to be aware of is that you still have to pay the tax - normally a little under the price of an economy ticket.
 
I'm lucky enough to travel long haul business class a lot because my clients pay for it, always nice and I appreciate it but I never pay for business class when I am footing the bill.
 
It's pretty much never worth it as a private flyer. If for some reason you need to ensure you arrive at your destination fresher than fresh, you will no doubt be on company business, and most large companies provide business class for long haul anyway.
 
[TW]Fox;23616093 said:
If you have to ask, then its not worth it. Very few people can justify the absolutely insane cost of Upper Class. £3000 return for a plane ticket to the USA is enormous money. If you need to ask us whether its 'worth it' then it almost certainly isn't.

I fly Economy with Virgin every time I go to the States. To be honest, you get a seat, its reasonably comfortable, all your meals are included and you can sit and watch movies. It's not as nice as Upper Class by some margin but then I paid £470 return to Los Angeles and not £3000.

Unless I was so wealthy I simply didn't care then I'd always be able to find something better to do with that £2500 saving. Even if it fitted my holiday budget I'd rather spend it upgrading hotels than on my flight. Given your first night in your first hotel is longer than the entire flight..
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as per usual - the above is solid advice

blowing an extra 2 grand for some extra comfort for what is essentially just a few hours of your life isn't really worth it for most people (unless you usually earn 2 grand for a few hours work then you likely have better things you could spend the money on)...
 
I travel frequently (gold member) through work upper on virgin and the experience is great especially through Heathrow and the limo service. Limo service is nice in Ny side too.

I am able to amass a lot of points subsequently and combine with tesco points so we are often able to upgrade free.

It makes a hell of a difference on long haul just to be able to rest properly. Problem we have is we are used to it long haul and if I reduced business travel will have to pay for uogrades!
 
Couple years back took the BA Las Vegas flight in economy, I had a mahooosive fat guy in front who crushed the chair into my legs and a flatulent old lady sat next to me. Worst 11hrs 45 mins of my life (+ 1hour as the gate ramp broke so they had to find us a new gate.....)

£2k is still too expensive even to avoid that worse case scenario.

On the flip side.....that trip my Chicago flight home via AA was AWESOME. It was virtually empty so I actually had all 5 centre seats to myself (as did everyone else on the plane) so all those arm rests were up and I slobed out the entire flight home (day time flight so no sleep for me).
 
I'm always one to pay extra if I feel like it will make something much more manageable or better.

But paying thousands extra for a max 24 hour journey is insane. You can normally just get the emergency exit seats on Singapore airlines for £30-40 extra, and the regular seats are big enough.
 
Itchytrigg said:
Couple years back took the BA Las Vegas flight in economy, I had a mahooosive fat guy in front who crushed the chair into my legs and a flatulent old lady sat next to me. Worst 11hrs 45 mins of my life (+ 1hour as the gate ramp broke so they had to find us a new gate.....)

£2k is still too expensive even to avoid that worse case scenario.
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It's a bit more difficult to avoid the fat guy in front scenario but I tend to book onto flights with a 2-5-2 seating config so we get a row to ourselves to avoid the random person next to you problem.
 
I'd spend on the trip rather than flight but each to their own.

I flew Newcastle to Schipol on a connecting flight that was similar to the plane Indiana Jones jumped out of then flew a 747 to Los Angeles. Flew back on a 777 from San Francisco then another hop onto a Fokker 100.
 
Itchytrigg said:
Couple years back took the BA Las Vegas flight in economy, I had a mahooosive fat guy in front who crushed the chair into my legs and a flatulent old lady sat next to me. Worst 11hrs 45 mins of my life (+ 1hour as the gate ramp broke so they had to find us a new gate.....)

£2k is still too expensive even to avoid that worse case scenario.
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I'd pay £3k just to sit next to hot girl and have plenty of leg room in that situation you have been Ltch...

Just imagine in the night, your flying high, its humid and you are having a hot dream and pop a real boner. Greatly inspired by the smoking hot babe next to you.

Then there is turbulence and that fine hot lady in tight short business skirt leans on to your shoulder. While her hand falls on to your lap gently nudging your stiffy. This could go on for hours.


Suddenly, there is even more turbulence and she wakes up instinctively grabbing on to something hard, while dazzled looking at you innocently.

Realizing the highly embracing situation she quickly apologizes. And you playing the gentle man says "Thats alright honey, since you like hot stuff, let me get you cooling drink... "
 
Got to go Business Class (BA) on the way back from the US this time last year thanks to airmiles (Thinking about it - Holy **** it's been a year :eek:) and while it was an awesome experience I doubt I'd ever pay the much higher price tag for it. If it were <500 extra compared to economy I might consider it once every now and then but I wouldn't even dream of paying the thousands they charge more for it.
 
For a personal trip it isn't worth it unless a few grand is an insignificant amount of money to you. I've travelled in Business and First on most trans-Atlantic carriers but I either upgraded using miles or frequent flyer status. I've only paid for full fare Business once since it was the only available seat on the plane and I was gutted that what amounted to a months take home salary had disappeared in 24 hours.

A high class hooker would have been cheaper and more entertaining.
 
If work pays, yes. If I'm paying, no. I opt for the option of a substantial amount of red wine before boarding and then sleeping the whole flight. I'm not going to spend two month's mortgage payments in 10 hours to upgrade, but each to their own.

Classes above the standard are substantially better, but not enough for me to part with my own cash. The higher cost tickets are keeping mine cheap and, like many others, I'd prefer to spend the cash at the destination.
 
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