Anyone flown longhaul by Economy Light?

[LifeImplosionImminent]

I'm still fuming about Virgin's stupid new pricing - has anyone flown economy light and not noticed a difference? Or is it worth paying the extra and flying economy standard?

We did Virgin economy light a few months ago, and I think the only difference was paying for bags (we're light packers, so not a problem) and not choosing seats. Unlike Ryanair they do keep you together, and I'm not fussed about where in the plane I sit.

So for us it worked out fine, and gave a bit of a saving.

@Peony99 Thanks - what about food? is it the same seats or smaller?

You're in the same cabin, so same seats and food. No difference at all once you're on the plane.

Oh I thought you had to pay extra for food and wouldn't put it past them to reduce the seat picth so only 5 year olds and younger feel comfortable! Food for thought...pardon the pun!

*pitch

Exactly the same food drinks and service all included, normal size seat (economy delight is extra legroom seat) but hand luggage only

So if the fare is £200 cheaper on lite but you pay £100 for checked bag - it's a good deal...you just get on the plane last and since you book your seats a day in advance it doesn't really matter.

Don’t you board the plane last too....

I do this (unless company is paying) as I travel very very light. And I choose to get on plane last anyway. I think it is a no-brainer.

Economy light is just a way for virgin to be able to compete on price comparison sites, if you go on their site and do a mock booking you can highlight either one and it clearly shows what you get with each one. A lot of the airlines do it now.

Flown both Virgin light and Air Canada

Only difference is baggage and no chance to get upgraded.

And managed two weeks in Canada on hand luggage only.

Ba has this long haul now too, ideal if you travel hand luggage only. I think you still get fed and watered for now - but a friend who works in the industry said expect alcoholic drinks to become chargeable very soon on all airlines (already is on many carriers) and the food to be phased out/chargeable in advance over the next 5 years. The issue is that prices for flights are so cheap, they need to claw back money where they can buy if you need to sit together, especially bigger groups you need to pay to check in early etc (as per normal it seems last time I flew there was a family demanding that multiple people are moved so her family were together thankfully the cabin crew help firm and said that the kids were one in front and one behind her, that was fine to meet regs - full plane so in rows of 3 there's often lots of singles

We flew with them in the summer and didn't notice a difference apart from the luggage.

I'm not sure if you can choose your seats for free too if you're not on the cheapest fare? We could only choose ours the day before when we checked in, but at least they seem to automatically sit families together wherever possible (as opposed to Ryanair who seem to purposefully sit you apart ). Apart from one adult needing to sit with our youngest we weren't fussed about sitting all together anyway, so was fine for us.

One thing to remember with Virgin - you have to book kids meals in advance, or they'll just be given the adult one. Worked fine on the way out, but our home flight was changed to a Delta one - it's their partner airline, but because we'd booked via Virgin we couldn't check in online on either the Virgin app or Delta one, so couldn't order the kids meal - or sort seats out until we got to the airport!

For me I’d rather pay for the bits I want and a cheaper fair initially.

Flown west jet to Canada and with them you pay for meals and drinks but they bring plenty of water round.

All the traditional flag carriers are having to catch up which is ace as I’m happy to do with out so many of the expensive bits.