LesPaul30

I have a return segment next week (9/18) with my girlfriend from LHR to EWR on Virgin metal booked through Co. I am a Plat and understand that I will see virtually no benefits at all from Virgin since I am on their metal coming back to EWR. I am also a Pres Club member as well.

My girlfriend is "Silver" on Virgin, but our tickets were booked with miles through Continental.

Just to confirm:

-We will NOT be able to access any of the lounges at LHR since I am flying on Virgin regardless that I am a *A Gold/Pres Club member.

-We can NOT pass through any "Elite" security lines.

-Are we able to go through a 'premium' check in line?

-We will need to wait for 'standard' coach to board the plane

-Are there any baggage check-in rules that I am used to seeing as a plat will not apply to us?


Let me know if I am missing anything here... Thanks!

star_world

Correct - no lounge access.

Correct.

Yes - due to your GF's Silver status. You can use the Premium Economy checkin area.

Correct.

You will have the standard VS baggage allowance. One thing to keep in mind is that they are pretty strict on hand baggage allowance on VS - 6kg if I remember correctly - and this is sometimes enforced very strictly.

LesPaul30

Well..... that just sucks...

Thx for the quick response!

LesPaul30

I forgot to mention this if it makes a difference- we are flying form Edinburgh this morning to LHR on BMI which is a *A member. Two questions then-

Can I use a *A lounge with the BMI ticket AFTER we land?

Will BMI check our bags all the way to EWR, so we don't need to go outside, get them, then go back through security? We'd like to go into London for lunch time permitting and this would help greatly as I have a 4.5 hour lay over...

colmc

No

BD will only check luggage through if it's one ticket. If you booked the bmi flight seperately, then they will not check the bags through for you.

From NYC

Just another post to reiterate Virgin's very tough policy on carry-ons. 1 item only and they have checked on its weight the few times I flew with them. This was in the days before Kindles, iPads and such, so, between a laptop, and a few books, I and several others were over the weight limit. Had to scurry at the check-in counter to transfer things over to checked baggage.

Being a CO Plat, and especially since the late flight LHR-EWR, I've given up on Virgin, codeshare or not.

entropy

Of course, if you fly VS UC, its quite nice! I hope VS joins *A eventually... though, VS food in UC does suck...

Dieuwer

What will happen to the codeshare arrangements with Virgin now that CO and UA have merged?

sbm12

No one who can talk about it publicly is saying. There are rules about that sort of thing, ya know.

CO DCA

I agree with you. In the back, at least in flights to IAD, it's truly awful: the IFE is worse that UA's, the food is nasty (and there is no second meal before landing, just a Popsicle), and their rules are draconian. When I talk to people who are thinking about flying VS, I always say "it's all marketing - they want you to think you're cool by flying them, but the product is on par with Aeroflot 1991."

LesPaul30

Can't agree more. The flight we took back from LHR to EWR on a 340-300 was just brutal a few weeks ago. Plane was coming in from New Delhi and did not get a full turn around. Not to sound 'stereotypical' or anything, but the plane really did reek of curry. My gf's seatbelt was coated in the dry sauce that got on her clothes. We had to move seats. Next seats were not much better. Extremely cramped and the 'magazine holder' was stretched out on almost every seatback I saw when I looked around.

Bathroom haflway through the flight when I got up to get tissues was absolutely a disaster in our part of the cabin. I would have refused to use it if I needed to.

When I got on we walked through part of F and it just looked old. Coach wasn't any better. This plane has seen better days. I have heard a lot of great things about Virgin, but you're right. It may be from the advertisements.
Service was fair- the fa's were loud and brash- and kept waking people up who were trying to sleep on the night flight.

As far as the IFE goes- this little baby needs some work. We had the Odyssey system which is supposed to be much better than the other systems they have according to Seatguru. Choices were fine- nothing major. I think the choices on a 757-200 AVOD are maybe a tad better. But in reality its the navigation. "Our" AVOD is a million times easier to use than what virgin has. It's a funky SNES controller (circa 1996) that just doesn't have a convenient way of navigating the menus. Everything just seemed backword and incoherent. Power would have also been nice, even DC power in Y. Nope.

The OLCI that VS uses is basically useless when buying through CO. I made the purchase with miles back in April and was not able to confirm our seats on any of their aircraft even up until checkin whatsoever. I called their general line a few weeks out, was transferred to the middle east, and they were not much help. Basically I was unable to confirm any seats for us until 24 hours from the flight time, which means taking time out of the vacation to get on the phone and get that done.... not a big deal but for others this could be a problem...

Make matters worse on a personal note, I got sick on the plane and caught a nasty cold which I'm still getting over. Ugh. I remember flying VS years ago to London and back in 1994 and thought they were great. Not so much this time. But it very well was likely a one off situation on an old plane...

I longed for CO on that flight - even a 737-500 would be fine. It would have been cleaner.

CO DCA

Yeah, I've found their f/a's to be among the rudest I've encountered. On a flight two years ago from LHR to IAD they didn't even pick up trash during the walk throughs. There were literally piles of trash in the aisles. I'm sure Upper Class is grand, but, as my dad would say, the back of the bus is "no bueno por nada."

sbm12

Meh.

It is fine and it is a decent biz product but the FAs are no better up front really. I've done LHR-EWR twice now on the late night flight and I really wasn't terribly impressed either time. Admittedly I was pretty lit when I wrote this post but I think the main point still stands: