rkyracr

I currently have seats to fly to London (from Los Angeles) in the economy class - but am tempted to upgrade to the Premium Economy as we are flying on an overnight flight and I want to make sure everyone can at least get a little sleep. We are flying with two children (9,12) and you know how cranky they can get when they do not get enough sleep!

Has anyone ever been on one of their planes to have an opinion about how different the seating arrangements are in the premium economy? is it worth it?? Any input would be welcome!

Thanks.

namaka

rkyracr, We did the economy seats with Virgin on the overnight flight from San Francisco to London with our 8 and 12 yr old.

With the individual seatback TV's to keep the kids busy for at least the 1st portion of the flight, I wouldn't worry about upgrading. Around 9pm California time, the lights were dimmed and everyone started winding down to catch some zzz's. Not only did my "tall" kids not have any problems, but neither did my 6'3" husband.

What I'm trying to say is that unless you can afford the difference, I wouldn't worry about upgrading. It was just fine for us!

Margo_Chester

You also might want to check www.seatguru.com to see what seats on your flight might offer more room, might not be near the bathrooms etc. Then go to the Virgin Atlantic website and click on "manage my flight" (or something like that) and check your seat assignment vs what is recommended on seatguru.com you can make changes to your seat assignments on the virgin air sight (on the manage my flights part) by choosing seats on the "floor plan" that are available.

SuQue

Go for the Premium Economy. You will be in a separate cabin , larger seats tahn economy
and imortant, especially on return to US from Heathrow, a dedicated check-in line with many fewer passengers.Premium Economy class is the reason we use Virgin Atlantic for our flights to Europe even though we then need to additonal ticket to our destinations.They also offer a wonderful daytime flight from Newark. We fly from west coast to Newark, stay at airport overnight, then day flight to London. No jet lag on this daytime flight ever..

wrrllw

Depends how busy the flight will be. My party of four recently flew back from Orlando to the UK in economy, and the flight was less than half full - so, after take-off, each of the four of us got a row of either three or four seats to ourselves, stretched out, and slept the whole way over! The folks who paid extra for Premium Economy seats were gutted!

Margo_Chester

We recently had a similar experience while flying economy on VA from LHR to JFK, we were told at check in that the flight had 100 empty seats and people who wanted more room were able to spread out. Obviously you can't count on that, but it can happen. Also, our check in was a breeze - we were there early and spent maybe 15 minutes (tops) in line.

namaka

Margo Chester, it doesn't matter what seat assignments you put in. The seat assignments you put in for are "just requests"! We did not end up with any of the seat assignments requested. I would say, that on the flight home, we got stuck in the very last row of the plane. Initially I was a little teed off but it ended up being a pretty good thing. First to eat, closest to the restroom and no one behind us.

rkyracr

thank you all for your input - it was very helpful! We are flying to Heathrow from LAX on 12/26 and returning on 1/6. In viewing the Virgin website it is hard to tell yet how full the plane is - it would be wonderful to have empty rows to stretch out in!!

Again, thanks for all the thoughts - I still am undecided about upgrading - but glad to hear from namaka that her husband was ok in ecomony - my hubby is also 6'3'' and is usually very cramped on flights.

highflyer

I've flown Virgin from Boston to the UK many times and I've tried Premium Economy and Virgin's 1st class. The Premium Economy does give you extra room (they put 2 seats where there'd be 3 in Economy) but the legroom although better than economy isn't enough to stretch out in.

We always travel Economy when we're paying and I don't think the extra room in Premium is worth the extra money especially as we've also often been in the position of having rows to ourselves in Economy.

BTW Our kids always manage to sleep much better than us especially on red-eyes.

Margo_Chester

namaka, sorry the seat assignments did not work for you. I have always chosen our seats when reserving and have never been bumped from them.

kasperdoggie

I have to say I always fly unhestitatingly in economy because I am small (5'2&quot and fit into airplane seats fine . However, for the 1st time ever, flying back from London to Boston on Virgin Atlantic on 747-400, I felt exceedingly cramped in the regular seat. My knees were jammed into the seat in front of me - never happened before, including flying Virgin to London on this and previous occasions. My 6'2" husband was miserable - not only he had no space for his knees, every other seat, including his, had a metal container attached underneath, so no room for feet either. Luckily, the bulkhead row had some available seats and we managed to move, and spent the rest of the flight in relative comfort. But after experience these seats, I might overcome my inherent cheapness and try out premium economy...

DMary

Virgin Atlantic (VS) has 3 class of service - economy, premium economy and Upper class. Prem econ is upstairs right behind Upper class.
Prem econ has a little bit more leg room but nothing to write home about.
You get super seats in Upper Class - cocoons that flatten out to full size beds along with down comforter and pj's. My sister and I were lucky enough to be upgraded on our trip from SFO to LHR recently and it was wonderful.

walkinaround

i agree with kasper, virgin economy (long haul 747) has the worst legroom of just about any airline i've been on. and that "metal container" is the price you pay for the seatback entertainment...it takes up your feet space and makes your feet hot. virgin economy is my last choice.