flying to Orlando - usually fly business class, is Virgin Premium Economy worth it?

[silverfrog]

So, we usually travel business class.

is it worht saving the money and flying Premium economy? or are we just going to end up knackered, and sleeping through the first 3 days catching up on rest?

"we" is me, dh, 2 dds - ages 6 and 4 (dd1 is severely ASD, usually flies well, but inevitably I would say I will end up with one or other of them on my lap.)

so, will we get any rest?

have never flown Virgin before either - airline worth considering? lack of access to lounge at airport a bugger as well, thinking about it.

hmm.

Well I have travelled several times on Premium Economy and it is worth it on Virgin but not on BA.

If you fly with Virgin in P.E. then you get the upper deck and it is completely seperate to everyone else with your own crew. It is nice and comfortable. You also get more room than with BA and more amenities including priorty boarding.

You can purchase lounge access at any of the airports if you wish or if you are a member of the flying club with lots of points they will often give you entry as well.

It is obviously not quite as good as business class but a good 'halfway house' between comfort vs cost.

thanks.

yes, def wouldn't consider with BA.

no points with Virgin - millions with BA (and miles, but can't get the dates to work!)

hmm. dilemma.

we are off to Disney (yay!) so a busy time once we are there... then onwards to a therapy course for dd1. we willbe shattered by homeward flight time - oh bugger, just dont know.

purchasing lounge access worth looking into as well, thanks. obv, usually get access with business, so didn't know htis was possible. an absolute necessity for keeping dd1 calm beofre the flight (gets very stressed in echo-y places)

The lounge access is with the Servisair Lounges here

You will be able to rest/relax in Premium Economy on Virgin but not sleep as you don't get a full recline on the seats. If sleeping on the flight is really important then you are probably better off with Club Class.

Premium economy is same as economy but with a slightly bigger seat. You might be a glass of champers but that's it generally.

thnaks for that - think have used a servisair lounge before, as part of loungeshare form a minor airline. they are fab - lots of gluten free snacks (dds are gluten intolerant), and great kids packs I seem to recall...

I can sleep anywhere (it is family joke that I was more comfortable in economy on a BA flight than in first class - I was just able to sleep better!), so it just comes down to whether dh will be comfy enough.

massive saving in cost, though.

yeah, that's what I figured, greggs.

flew it once with BA, years ago - never again. preferred to go economy rather than PE with BA after that - at least I wasn't paying for privileges which didn't even exist...

it si space that is the main issue. and sleep/rest. if the dds can't get to sleep, then it will be a hellish flight (coming back we are on an overnighter)

food - I don't care (eat anything emoticon) and I have to take food for the girls as they are multiple intolerant, so not bothered by no difference there, iyswim.

gregssausageroll - That may be the case on BA but not on Virgin Premium Economy.

On Virgin Premium Economy you get:

• Larger seats 38" with a wider width as well
• A seperate cabin on the upper deck
• Your own dedicated crew
• Priority check-in and boarding
• The give you a drink when you get on the aircraft (usually champagne)
• A meal served with proper dinnerware
• Priority baggage

You don't get these things with BA and thus not worth it but really does bridge the gap on Virgin between Club and Economy.

i have flown PE before and I love flying in the 'Bubble' on the upper deck, and its more than just a bit more space.

The priority boarding and Check-in saves so much time, as does the priority baggage with your own carosel at baggage claim.

Its quite a leap in price from Ecomony to PE, but if you normally fly BC then thats not an issue for you.

Hmmm - PE on Virgin is good (though you aren't guaranteed upstairs, some planes have some PE seats downstairs) but the comfort difference between PE and Virgin Upper is considerable. The PE seats go back, but nowhere near flat, whereas obviously in UC you get the full flat bed, which I managed to sleep on next to an 8 month old so plenty of room!

You can't pay to get into the Virgin lounge - Servisair are different lounges, and are unlikely to be quite as good as the Virgin one (though I may be biased, we loved the Virgin one!)

have been trying to weigh this on up (thanks ofr all input)

if we fly business, it would not be with Virgin (cost too high)

most likely to be with : BA if we can sort out the miles flights (unlikely) or with continental/delta (price comes out better if paying rather than using miles)

so the question really is: is it worht saving the money and flying PE with Virgin, rather than paying BC with BA (cheaper than Virign, but grates to pay as we have enough miles), or paying BC with (probably) Delta, but that is not a direct flight.

humph.

if we were just going for a holiday, then we would just book BC, and no quibble. but since we have a therapy course for dd1 as well, that is adding on an extra £10k, so looking ot save money if possible - but not at the expense of sanity!

we went thomson
largest seat thingy for non shcedule

i wouldnt do the upgrade with them as the seats were bucket stule with no room to snuggle kids

ALSO consider sandford
WAY WAY easier than orlando

You will get the upper deck on PE if you pre-book your seats, which is HIGHLY recommended.

Nope, Servisair lounge is not as good as the Virgin one (but most airline lounges dull in comparison to the Virgin one) but still a good lounge.

You can also use the Virgin Lounge if you hold and American Express Centurion Card or a BMI Diamond Club Gold Card. If you have booked a Virgin Holidays package you can also purchase lounge access for £60pp.

Just a minor point but the Virgin flights (and indeed BA) to Orlando are morning ones so you shouldn't really be that buggered on arrival and waste 3 days sleeping. We normally fly at around 11.30am and land around 3pmish USA time and then by the time we get to the villa and get sorted and an early night we are up nice and early the next day ready for a park.

Obviously the flight back is overnight but thats not so bad really.

We flew Virgin cattle a few months ago and it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. The previous two trips had been BA business class but didn't want to risk flying with them due to strikes etc.

Just to add that I remember PE on Virgin isnt always available - we flew to Florida 2 years ago and PE was only available on the way back, not on the outward flight.

would much prefer to fly to sandford - got to be easier with an ASD child - but can only find charters, and thus only economy (so far).

travel agent assures me Virgin PE available (but then this is the travel agent who booked us onto a non-existent flight in Oz last year, nearly buggering up the whole holiday... )

yes, flight is a day flight, mos, but still need some decent rst time - dd1 will be overloaded due to out of routine, and if I have to spend the whole flight with her on my lap in a cramped seat (eg if the person in front has fully reclined), then I really will need a few days to recover! she is a very large 6.

cattle class out - just not doing htat. need space to organise food/activities for the dds, and also space to juggle said large 6 year old around.

Silverfrog, the chartered airlines all go into Sanford and scheduled into Orlando International airport.
From what you've said I'd go with Virgin PE then. When we flew Virgin last year we were cattle but in a separate smaller cabin right at the front which I thought might have been PE previously as there was much more space. Guess we were very lucky.
Where will you be staying?

we're (probably) staying in Disney for the first half, then we are off to Jupiter for the therapy.

still torn wrt where to stay - we usually go self catering, and the villa options are good.

but we thought we might try a hotel stay - would be first proper hotel holiday (ie not me having to cook all the time!) since dd1 was about 18 months old... have heard the food places at Disney are good at dealing with food issues, so thought we'd give it a whirl

the only difference I noticed was I got a bigger seat and a glass of champers when I got on.

I upgraded to upper class on the way home, now that was something else.

In a word no. Virgin PE is not worth the extra cash (they now tend to use their longer two engined planes rather than jumbos so no upstairs) so I'd save that for spending money in Orlando.

Lounge access can be purchased but you would only be able to use the Holodeck lounge and that could work out expensive for the time you're in there.

The flight into Orlando arrives mid to late afternoon so you won't feel too sleepy upon arrival. You gain time.

Only BA and Virgin fly direct into Orlando which may well be another consideration for you. Continental/Delta may work out less cost wise but you will have to do a same day transfer after clearing both Immigration and customs on arrival into the US. You may need around minimum 2.5 to 3 hours (better) between flight arriving from UK and second flight departing to Orlando to give yourselves enough time to do this. That particular clock starts ticking as soon as the plane lands.

If, and only if, you have silver membership with BA I'd use them.

ah bugger.

have silver with BA, but reluctant to pay them when we have enough miles (except miles flights not available for the dates we need!). realise this is just us being stingy, but it does grate rather (and as I said earlier, dh is getting spooked as the overall cost of the trip is +£10k due to therapy for dd1)

no way paying Virgin Upper class rates.

will see what dh says when he gets home.

Can you not do part cash part miles?.

Given a straight choice between Club World on BA and PE on Virgin I'd opt for CW. Silver membership on BA is well worth keeping if you can hold onto it; you get automatic access to their lounge with that card and you do not have to pay for booking the seats either (you can choose them immediately after booking).

Dates of availability vary an awful lot; they do not seem to have many dates at certain i.e more popular times of the year and certainly not every day. It is also very much dependent on the popularity of the route as well.

only one way, sadly - and a one way paid ticket is really not worth it (costs more than a return)

we are about to lose silver this year, after a good 12 years or so. bugger. even flying CW this time will not keep it for us.

ah well.

there is absolutely no chance of availablility full miles - nothing at all for many months (I suspect just not available at the moment)

if we could delay to the summer and go miles (part or full) then that is a possibility, even with the heat issue. but still no availabiltiy, so would have the same flight dilemma.

I suspect the answer is to persuade dh to suck it up, and treat teh holiday costs and therapy costs as different (which they are, of course), but I can see why he is getting spooked - we managed 3 1/2 weeks in Oz, full BC, in 3 locations for 6 of us last year, for less than this is going to cost...

Have you thought about using Wexas? I promise this isn't a plug for them, I used them when we went in Virgin Upper Class to Vegas a few years ago and saved a bundle of dosh. OTOH a friend of mine has a complicated South American itinerary coming up and found they were a little more expensive and so decided not to join. But I think it might be worth a phone call, esp as they are doing a 3-month no-obligation trial at the moment.

Hope you get something sorted out Silverfrog.