US Flights - BA or Virgin Atlantic?

[Sharrilanda]

Fares and flight timings almost identical.
Travelling with one child who is an excellent and frequent flier.

Who would you choose to fly with, this October, London to Washington Dulles?

The last time we went, it was with Virgin.
My sister always flies with BA.

So it’s going to come down to who provides better inflight service, entertainment and food😁

Help me choose please!

I always fly Virgin. Just like them better. I also save my Tesco vouchers and use a Virgin credit card to earn points for air miles - managed to bump the three of us to premium economy last transatlantic flight, and Virgin's is better than BA (though not as good in their new planes than their older ones).

Virgin! Much nicer on board

Check its def a Virgin airplane though as I think they sometimes code share with delta

I used to go virgin (pre covid - haven’t flown since). Their ads and drag flights just irritate me. I just want staff who do their job. 7 hours is a long time…

Virgin

Virgin are better but they only have one flight per day to Dulles whereas BA have several. I am flying with Virgin to DC later this year and the flight was at midday when I booked it but has since been moved to 5.30pm, which is annoying.

Having flown with both in last 3 years, BA has an edge for being slightly nicer, but I couldn't say specifically how or what. Virgin is usually much better price.

Having flown with Virgin last summer, I would not choose to fly with them again if there were other options. I felt like I was flying long haul with Ryanair due to reduced leg room and uncomfortable seats in basic economy - they seem to have changed the lay out around so the 'premium economy' seats are basically what the regular economy seats used to be. Food not great either. I prefer Delta for US flights (having flown with them several times in the last few years). But I'd probably choose BA over Virgin now.

Virgin for me. More leg room, better food.

Always used to fly Virgin to the states premium economy or better, but my most recent flight was with a child. Discovered when you pay for your seats on booking, you're not guaranteed being seated together. You’re allowed to book that style of seat 24 hours before flight when check in opens, but obviously there might not be seats together left by then. If you want to guarantee sitting next to your child, you need to return to your booking and pay extra (an upgrade) to pre book your seats in advance of the check in. The official line is that they will always try to seat you next to child (under 14 I think it was?) but they also might be in a seat in front or across the aisle?! (Good luck if you’re with a toddler😆) Why can’t you ensure seats together at the point of booking and pay for your seats together at that point, if travelling with a child, as you can on all holiday flights? It’s also not the same cabin experience on the flights, IMHO, I’d be tempted to give BA another go next time.

My DM claims that Virgin is for working class people and British Airways is for middle class and above...

I asked her why she thought this, and she said that when she flew upper on Virgin, there were a lot of builders from essex on there.. 🙄

The answer to any question “Who should I fly with - BA or AN Other?” is always AN Other.

BA has the worst customer service of any large company in the World.

I prefer BA new style planes to virgin new ones. There’s more room, especially in PE.

BA have really upped their game recently in terms of service.

I think they’re pretty identical. We usually fly virgin though for points.

Virgin P.E. Everytime.

That's interesting, because I've found the same with BA - standards much lower than they used to be, food is hit and miss, staff also - on our last flight the stewardess in our section couldn't have been more grumpy and unpleasant if she'd tried. We flew one leg on American recently and I'd recommend them over BA, so I'd choose a codeshare flight and get the American plane/staff - much better on both accounts!

Virgin!!

I've frown with both and BA lost my suitcases twice on the one holiday (there and back!!) customer service was atrocious and it felt like a budget airline for not budget cost.

Virgin was definitely better but not perfect. If you can afford premium economy you're winning.

Yes overall I find the US airlines to have better customer service and better food! I was surprised at how much Virgin felt like a budget airline compared to when I first flew with them.

Just to throw another into the mix... We recently flew to New York from Scotland via Dublin with Aer Lingus who were fab. The added bonus is that you clear US immigration in Dublin before boarding so once you arrive you are straight into baggage reclaim. SO much nicer and quicker. But if you're flying direct from London probably not worth it.

Check which plane both use. I had chance to fly on a dreamliner and it was so much nicer than an A350.

Virgin over BA every time, although we did fly back with Delta on a code share with Virgin from NYC, very average, old plane, grumpy crew

I recently flew BA for the first time in years. I couldn’t believe how bad it had become. Fly Virgin.

I recently flew BA MAN-LHR and LHR-LAX for the first time. I couldn’t really identify any difference from Virgin, with whom I have flown many times.

I just did BA return to Cape Town (and only because of the flight schedule) after I vowed in 2017 to never fly with them again.
Still as bad as ever.

We flew virgin on a delta flight last year, and I thought that the delta flight was actually far better than the return trip on a virgin plane!