Virgin Atlantic economy on the 787

[Bletchleyite]

Has anyone here flown economy on Virgin's 787? What's the legroom like? It's 31" pitch which is pretty standard (and slightly more than easyJet's 29" or Ryanair's 30") but the thickness of the seat back makes more difference than just the pitch - unfortunately nobody ever publishes front-of-seat-back to back-of-seat-back measurements which is the bit that counts!

Thanks all.

 

[Mojo]

I can’t answer your question directly as I try and avoid travelling with Virgin, but on these planes they use the Recaro 3620 slimline in Economy so you may find the dimensions online somewhere.

If you struggle with such space, you may wish to consider booking what Virgin call “Economy Delight.” Note this is not Premium Economy but it opens up access to seats, what on the 787-9, are in rows 46-51 ABC and HJK only. These promise extra pitch of 34 inches. I don’t know the exact route but this ticket type is typically priced at £80-£100 above Economy Classic per person return. However you can offset this extra cost against the fact it earns extra points with Virgin; even if you do not collect miles with them they can be converted into Virgin Red which is more easily spendable.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you struggle with such space, you may wish to consider booking what Virgin call “Economy Delight.” Note this is not Premium Economy but it opens up access to seats, what on the 787-9, are in rows 46-51 ABC and HJK only. These promise extra pitch of 34 inches. I don’t know the exact route but this ticket type is typically priced at £80-£100 above Economy Classic per person return. However you can offset this extra cost against the fact it earns extra points with Virgin; even if you do not collect miles with them they can be converted into Virgin Red which is more easily spendable.

I'm considering this, but it's actually a markup of over £500 because this is a package tour where it appears the tour operator gets a discount on basic economy but not on Economy Delight (annoying as Virgin themselves show it as about £100ish)...so I'm trying to work out if it's necessary or not.

Thanks for the seat info, will do some research.

 

[AlterEgo]

I haven't flown this myself - only the VS A350 in economy - but I believe one seat per row (the middle?) has an IFE box at foot level which can restrict legroom.

 

[Bald Rick]

I’ve flown both economy and economy delight. Legroom ok in the former, and loads in the latter (I’m tall).

Also with Delight you can use the PE check in, which helps a little. I would usually choose delight, but not at £500 extra. That’s PE territory.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I did wonder if they'd wrongly quoted for PE (for which I would pay £500), but looking online that's a £1000 markup or thereabouts so I doubt it'd be cheaper via the tour operator. It's a flight to South Africa (Joburg) so a bit pricier than the US.

I do wonder if the reason is as mentioned that the tour operator gets discounted fares on basic economy but any upgrades take it up to the full public price, but £500 is steep for extra legroom, normally I pay about £50-£100 for the exit row long haul (but 787 3-3-3 seats are too narrow for me to do that with the armrest table).

Does anyone happen to know the pitch of the normal airline seats on the refurbished Pendolino? The seat back thickness looks about the same and I fit those. I'm sat on one now (in the best seat in the house, Coach A seat 45 ), should have taken a tape measure.

 

[Speed43125]

I'm 6'2 and found those seats fine on Virgin Atlantic. Don't explicitly remember too clearly, but assuming that's a sign that they were all ok.

 

[rg177]

Ironically I'm about to fly Economy Delight on a Virgin Atlantic 787-9 (in about two hours!) back to the UK, so will report back. The upgrade FWIW was £143 - so not totally nuts.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ironically I'm about to fly Economy Delight on a Virgin Atlantic 787-9 (in about two hours!) back to the UK, so will report back. The upgrade FWIW was £143 - so not totally nuts.

Cheers. The reason for the silly price by the way was that the holiday company gets a big discount for regular economy but any upgrades are up to the commercial rate. Which ironically means Virgin are less likely to get the money...

 

[Bald Rick]

Cheers. The reason for the silly price by the way was that the holiday company gets a big discount for regular economy but any upgrades are up to the commercial rate. Which ironically means Virgin are less likely to get the money...

If there’s space on the plane, you will be able to upgrade to delight at the airport pre departure. If flying from LHR give yourself plenty of time to do so, as Virgin customer servcies seem to get all sorts of odd enquiries that take ages to resolve (unlike ‘upgrade please’)

 

[rg177]

Cheers. The reason for the silly price by the way was that the holiday company gets a big discount for regular economy but any upgrades are up to the commercial rate. Which ironically means Virgin are less likely to get the money...

Well I'm 6ft (though fairly slight build) and had a good amount of legroom, even when the person in front fully reclined. I wasn't a fan of the headrest (think LNER First but a bit less invasive) as I fell asleep on it funny and woke up with a sore neck.

In fact, it's probably the best sleep I've had on a long(ish) haul flight, neck ache for a moment aside. I think I had about four hours or so out of the seven hours flying. A can of their white wine with dinner (a naff pasta but US catering was never going to be great) and I was sleeping like a baby until just before breakfast (a muffin, granola bar and yoghurt with tea/coffee).

I will ultimately be quite biased though - as I also had an entire row to myself It did seem to be more lightly loaded than Economy so a few people had spare seats.

For a hundred quid or so - worth it I'd say. As others suggest, you'll be given the chance to upgrade as you check-in (or even later than that).

 

[GRALISTAIR]

JFK to MAN by VS operating the 787 on this route. Have not done yet since I usually go ATL to MAN on the A330.

 

[Snow1964]

Sounds like Virgin is moving away from 787 (where most, if not all are leased). Will leave them with just 2 types A350 and A330

At Farnborough airshow have confirmed 7 more (taking total to 19) A330-900. The first one has registration G-VSRB (after Sir Richard Branson)

Farnborough, United Kingdom, 23 July 2024 – Virgin Atlantic has placed a firm order for seven A330neo aircraft as part of its wider fleet transformation. The agreement takes Virgin Atlantic’s commitment for the A330neo to 19 aircraft in total, providing improved economics.

The order was announced during the Farnborough Airshow onboard Virgin Atlantic’s A330neo, named ‘Ruby Rebel’, and registered as GB-VSRB after founder Sir Richard Branson, to celebrate the airline's 40th anniversary.

Shai Weiss, CEO, Virgin Atlantic said, “Today, we complete our multi-billion-dollar fleet transformation, with the purchase of seven additional A330-900s, which we know our customers and our people love to fly. Flying the youngest fleet is the most readily available and significant lever towards decarbonising long-haul aviation and we are proud to already operate one of the youngest and most fuel and carbon efficient fleets across the Atlantic.”

Virgin Atlantic orders seven additional A330neo aircraft to complete fleet transformation

Virgin Atlantic has placed a firm order for seven A330neo aircraft as part of its wider fleet transformation.

www.airbus.com

 

[Bald Rick]

That won‘t be enough to see off the Dreamliners.

VS also signed long lease extensions on those… planning to have 14 in service from 2028.

UK's Virgin Atlantic orders seven A330-900s

Several daily Operator News updates covering all Operator Route Network changes, strategic fleet developments and aircraft orders, start-ups and bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions and partnerships and alliances.

www.ch-aviation.com

Virgin Atlantic has also signed a long-term lease extension for seven B787-9s with AerCap. The airline operates seventeen B787-9s and plans to reduce this fleet to 14 units by the first quarter of 2028.

 

[Speed43125]

Virgin Atlantic Corporate Press release here:

Virgin Atlantic Completes Fleet Transformation with New Airbus A330-900 Order

corporate.virginatlantic.com

Virgin Atlantic Fleet
Aircraft type	July 2024	Q1 2028
A330-900	5	19
A350-1000	12	12
787-9	17	14
A330-300	10	0

Fleet size only increasing by 1 between now and 2028.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

At Farnborough airshow have confirmed 7 more (taking total to 19) A330-900. The first one has registration G-VSRB (after Sir Richard Branson)

I'm not sure G-VSRB is related to the new order; it's been in the aircraft version of the Combined Volume for a while... I think it's the last of the previous order. There was a swap of delivery slots effected about 18 months ago after the aircraft originally assigned to them was re-assigned to somewhere else as part of a delivery slot restructuring.

 

[Iskra]

Did @Bletchleyite do the flight in the end and what did they think? I’m meant to be on one of these in January, so would be interested to hear any thoughts on them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Did @Bletchleyite do the flight in the end and what did they think? I’m meant to be on one of these in January, so would be interested to hear any thoughts on them.

It's not until next February but I'll be sure to comment back when I have!

 

[cactustwirly]

I've flown on Virgin and BA long haul in the A340 and 777-200, the seats are very similar, more comfortable than easyJet seats and with more legroom. Just watch out for the entertainment box, it means you can't stretch your legs underneath.

 

[Bounded1]

It's not until next February but I'll be sure to comment back when I have!

If you're prepared to take the risk, you can purchase a one-way upgrade from Economy to Premium on board for approx £400-500. Ask the crew when you board. There obviously has to be the space in the Premium cabin.