BA v Virgin????

Does anyone have experience of flying with both? I'd love to hear your comparisons.

We have flown Virgin to the caribbean for the last 6 holidays & have noticed a decreasing level of service etc :(

We have noticed that Virgin have got worse over the last 5yrs or so. Their flights used be on time, but our last few have been delayed, their aircraft are dirty & are showing interior wear & the staff don't seem to 'care' as much as they used to.

So our booking for Feb is with BA, their flights are within minutes of Virgin from Gatwick - we've decided to have a change :eek:

253 days & counting - we'll be back at CN :cool:

Good luck with BA. We have also noticed the lack of good service with Virgin but so often we fly with Virgin because the holidays are cheaper with them than others. Pays yer money, takes yer choice! Mind you, after last year we decided never to fly cattle class with them, ever!

On the other hand, BA may be a better flight and service but we have recently been surprised by their air miles thing. To fly to Malaga (what, 750 - 850 miles?) using air miles. 24000 miles plus £170 for the two of us! WHAT! What's rather risible is that we can buy two tickets to Malaga with Ryan Scare or Sleazy Jet for less than the additional cost using air miles! I guess one way or another they're all rubbish unless you pay club or first.

Enjoy CN! CSS for us as soon as possible!

About 8 years ago we upgraded to Virgin Premium Economy for a trip to Antigua and were hooked. So as soon as they started flying into Montego Bay we switched to flying with them: the premium cabin up in the "pod" is great - always quiet and with very good service and we have always found our flights to be on time (fingers crossed for our trip to Grenada next Feb!). Havent flown BA longhaul since before our Antigua trip and we used to fly economy with them, it was fine then. Hopefully someone can fill you in on what it is like today.

Have a look at Thompsons, their premium deal is very good...also..they fly a couple of hours earlier so you get to hit CSA in day light

I've flown Virgin to St Lucia and more recently Jamaica twice. They were ok but not what they used to be in terms of service. We are flying BA this time as we are travelling on a Thursday. We decided to upgrade to World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) for the first time and we got a great deal through Kenwood travel that have the franchise for Couples in the UK.

We are going to CSA for 5 nights and then CN for 4 nights 10th November - only 5 months to go!

Well it seems Virgin are the most used by us UK Couplesaholics ;)

We too have had such a good deal this time with Kenwood (1st time, we usually book with Virgin Holidays) that we're going BA. 1st time longhaul with them, countdown timer set: 18th Feb- 251 days & counting :cool:

I agree with Caznsi, Thomsons are definately worth a look, we have had some of the best deals with them using their premium cabin.

We have never flown with Virgin, they pulled out of Manchester some years ago so we don't have much of a choice! Heard good and bad things about them.

Recent searches showed BA were quite a bit more expensive than Thomson or Thomas Cook. Kenwood Travel wasn't the cheapest either.

Travelled with BA to St Lucia and would never ever fly with them again. I have been flying now for over 40 years and have never had to say that about any other airline.
Service and food was the worst we have ever encountered and the staff were unbelievably rude with a no care attitude.
Myself i would stick with Virgin.

Have flowen many times with both and BA still sets the standard in my humble view. This year we are going Thompson as it was much more economical to do so.

I quite agree Virgin are getting worse But have never flown BA to JamaicaI

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Originally Posted by tt2505

Does anyone have experience of flying with both? I'd love to hear your comparisons.

We have flown Virgin to the caribbean for the last 6 holidays & have noticed a decreasing level of service etc :(

We have noticed that Virgin have got worse over the last 5yrs or so. Their flights used be on time, but our last few have been delayed, their aircraft are dirty & are showing interior wear & the staff don't seem to 'care' as much as they used to.

So our booking for Feb is with BA, their flights are within minutes of Virgin from Gatwick - we've decided to have a change :eek:

253 days & counting - we'll be back at CN :cool:

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I would always fly with Virgin now, they have a more personal touch. BA staff tend to be stuck up and rude as the previous poster said, at least when you book Virgin everything is taken care of even down to their Check In and Chill Out service and there is always a rep at the hotel, we have flown with them to a lot of Caribbean islands over the last 12 years.

I heard that virgin pilots are going on strike starting in July with many more strikes to follow. I hope they get things sorted before September, we are due to fly with them for our honeymoon to CTI. I have already read bad reviews about virgin and am now really worried they are going to ruin our honeymoon :(

Cost wise I had more expensive quotes from Virgin, Kenwood and Thompsons than I did using Dial a Flight. Under £5k for two weeks at CSS (ocean view suite) with 'premier economy' on BA. I thought that it was a great price! £100 lower than Kenwood.