I was in the last session of the day (4.30-7.30pm) and it was just fantastic! As @
cattp said the people really make this airline and they were all so enthusiastic and generous with their time - we ended up leaving just before 9pm. Clearly a very difficult event to put together given the constraints and they did a great job - it was like the 2015 BA open day on steroids and I feel really lucky to have managed to get tickets against the odds!
The HfP article was a very good summary of the event. The only “press” around in the session was the guy from big jet tv who just popped into briefly during the meal service.
My favourite part, rather unexpectedly, was being shown the black boxes from within the crew rest area at the back of the plane, closely followed by some demos in the cockpit.
The food and alcohol was plentiful (if only I hadn’t driven - the other guests were enjoying the champagne anyway!) and they gave a little goodie bag with a 747 safety card, pjs, amenity kit, celebratory menu card, the obligatory Wilbur and Orville, and a Virgin Atlantic Christmas jumper.
A truly excellent event!
Ps The number of tickets for sale via eventbrite was only 36 (12 for each session) - 2 tickets from each session were for winners of an internal competition