Well, thanks to a UA a/c going tech., I found myself on a VS flight BOS-LHR last night.

Having never flown VS and heard mixed reports, I was sceptical given that I don't actually think UA is that bad (I know some disagree).

Boarding the aircraft the first thing that hit you was the scent of newness - like a new car. I opted to pay $75 to get an emergency exit seat and glad I did. Proceeding to my seat it was obvious that legroom is cramped to say the least..not a patch on UA E+ where I was originally booked.

So, I took my seat in row 51 - given it's an emergency exit seat it was noticeably narrow - no two ways about it.

Take off was a few minutes early and soon after we got our first round of drinks. Then came the wow factor - Virgin's new entertainment system - it offers a personal cd player with many albums available on demand and likewise for the vast selection of films and tv programming including drama, comedy and of course, various episodes of 'The Simpsons'. Rather my usual sleep on the overnight flights, I just sat and watched lots of different stuff!! Not only was the choice better than anything I've ever seen in any class of travel, the screen was a very decent size.

Food was a bit dull. I opted for Barbecue Chicken and it neither tasted barbecue(ey) nor chicken like. UA food is better than this.
The final snack before landing, was a fruit bowl and coffee. Not great.

So, overall, would I fly Virgin again? Probably not, the seat discomfort compared to UA E+ is more important to me than the fantastic IFE. Also, the food just isn't up to scratch and VS don't do as many drink rounds as UA.

Virgin would be great if you love good quality IFE, but don't really like eating and you'd have to be 5ft tall and narrow.

I now have the unenviable challenge of trying to get UA to grant my BD status points which won't post automatically as a result of the transfer.

So there you go.