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Sambo
Barker
Joined: June 21, 2005
Posts: 183
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
Aug 07, 2006 - 10:00 AM |
 
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| Post subject: Virgin or British Airways..Who is better? |
For those of you who fly to UK and back (business and economy) or used Virgin or BA fairly recently - i'd be interested to know what your opinions are on these two carriers levels of service (both on the plane and head office, frequent flyer accounts etc).
Thanks |
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susiemcwinkster
Seeker
Joined: Apr 20, 2006
Posts: 51
Status: Offline
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Aug 09, 2006 - 07:40 PM |
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I flew with BA and service was excellent. Great films, food etc. Am going to try Virgin to fly homw this time. Worth sticking with one to get your points though.
I also flew with China Eastern. No films, but flight was absolutely fine and more luggage allowance. |
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ShanghaiScot
Rocker
Joined: June 06, 2006
Posts: 715
Location: Pudong and proud of it ?????????????????
Status: Offline
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Aug 09, 2006 - 08:13 PM |
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Virgin Airways are by far and away the best, they can be a bit tight on luggage but the service is second to none and the staff on board just come across that little bit more friendly. |
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You can try to drink my tiger beer but you cannot take my FREEDOM |
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frreddie
Talker
Joined: Nov 13, 2004
Posts: 118
Status: Offline
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Aug 09, 2006 - 08:29 PM |
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Easy choice, I would choose Virgin. |
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foreverinchina
PopStar
Joined: Nov 21, 2005
Posts: 1253
Location: 徐家汇
Status: Offline
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Aug 09, 2006 - 08:36 PM |
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| ShanghaiScot wrote: |
| Virgin Airways are by far and away the best, they can be a bit tight on luggage |
BA max 15 kg luggage,
how much at Virgin Atlantic ? |
_________________
To govern a big country is like cooking a small fish.
Stir as little as possible.
- Lao Zi, Daode Jing 256 BC |
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suziqueen22
Rocker
Joined: Sep 08, 2005
Posts: 666
Location: suzhou
Status: Offline
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Aug 09, 2006 - 10:05 PM |
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I think BA will be better, i have ever taken VA, it is too small, but if you don't mind about this, actually their service is pretty nice |
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Georgie
Raver
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 468
Location: In hell
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Aug 09, 2006 - 10:21 PM |
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Baggage allowance too and from the Uk is 23kg checked in luggage and a further 6kg hand luggage - for further info check out http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/passengerinformation/baggage/allo wances.jsp.
We always fly Virgin, never had any complaints, the flights are always good and the service excellent. Their inflight entertainment is excellent with loads of choice for adults and kids, and the meals are reasonable (for airline food!). My husband particularly likes the free flow help yourself wine service available from the Galley!
Their Frequent Flyers programme is also good, although they don't accept kids under 12 years of age. We therefore enrolled ours with Kris Flyer who are members of the Star Alliance programme. As VA is also a member of Star Alliance our kids still get the benefit of the airmiles that way.
After you have made your booking, you can also visit their website, choose your seat and check in online which saves you spending hours queueing at the airport.
I would never long haul with a chinese airline as their safety record is dreadful. A chinese airline flight took off from Heathrow recently and their tail scraped the runway on lift off. They were ordered to return and land immediately, but ignored the order and flew back to China with damage. Apparently the pilot claimed he couldn't understand english! |
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Georgie
Raver
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 468
Location: In hell
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Aug 09, 2006 - 10:23 PM |
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i have ever taken VA, it is too small,
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What?? |
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homer
Lurker
Joined: July 31, 2006
Posts: 37
Status: Offline
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Aug 09, 2006 - 10:44 PM |
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Georgie, would you conisder flying short haul then ? The airline in question must either be Air China or China Eastern ? |
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GC
The Ginger Prince
Joined: Dec 01, 2003
Posts: 21536
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Aug 10, 2006 - 12:56 AM |
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I used to like Virgin when it started up coming to Shanghai. They used the latest aircraft with their full entertainment package, the one where it had over 30 movies and you could select the time you wanted to watch, pause it, stop it , etc. Once they were established they changed aircraft and i also think other aspects of their service declined.
Used BA the last time and was very happy with the service and as the ticket can include my onwards journey to Glasgow then i will probably stick with them for the forseeable future.
I have also used KLM and thought it was crap.
Emirates was a nice flight but the stop in Dubai at 2am in the morning for a few hours when you are on your own and trying to stay awake is not the best |
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You turned on the lights, Fuelled U boats by night, That's how you repay us, It's time to go home. |
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GC
The Ginger Prince
Joined: Dec 01, 2003
Posts: 21536
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Aug 10, 2006 - 01:01 AM |
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I just remembered something else about Virgin. If you book your ticket online and need to go to the Virgin offices on Waitan to pay for it, ignore the notice of 48 hours to pay. Unless they have changed their rules, Virgin in China cancels the booking after 24 hours unless payment is made. |
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You turned on the lights, Fuelled U boats by night, That's how you repay us, It's time to go home. |
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shanghaiceltic
Board Royalty
Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7617
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline
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Aug 10, 2006 - 08:27 AM |
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I choose Virgin for all my return flights to the UK. Mainly because I cannot sleep much on an aircraft and they have by far the best in-flight entertainment. They are pretty strict on luggage and on the flight from London to Shanghai they will weigh the hand baggage first, at least that has happened to me several times.
I might enjoy the free flow of drink but as I usually pick up a car on arrival in the UK I do not imbibe too much.
My only annoyance is they cannot seem to get my frequent flyer point correct. I have e-mailed and faxed them to no affect.
For short haul in China I use China Eastern. They seem better than Shanghai Airlines but most Chinese airlines are pretty crap.
For my other travel in Asia I use Singapore or Thai both are pretty good but Singapore rates above Thai. |
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I have parrallel bars at home, one for gin and one for whiskey |
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Georgie
Raver
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 468
Location: In hell
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Aug 10, 2006 - 09:44 AM |
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| Quote: |
Georgie, would you conisder flying short haul then ? The airline in question must either be Air China or China Eastern ?
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To be honest I would avoid Chinese airlines completely if I could. Luckily there are normally alternatives on the routes I fly. |
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Sambo
Barker
Joined: June 21, 2005
Posts: 183
Status: Offline
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Aug 10, 2006 - 11:11 AM |
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Thanks folks - i really appreciate your comments. We have always flown Virgin, but i'm not at all happy with their customer service - won't bore you with the ins and outs - and thought maybe we should 'swap' to BA. I wanted to get some opinions from my fellow compatriots.
HORRIFIED but not at all surprised at the Chinese plane / floor scraping incident. Kind of sums up how they do pretty much everything in my book. Cack handedly and with total disregard of anyone else's rules and regulations or safety. |
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fu2u2
Seeker
Joined: July 12, 2005
Posts: 51
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Aug 10, 2006 - 11:33 AM |
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I have flown both BA & Virging in the past 18 month every 6 week to and from the UK.
I would recomend the following:
Virgin Atlantic if you are travelling business class. Seat and entertainment programes are better. With Virgin you can select what and when you want to watch also pause the programe. BA you have to wait for the loop of films (until they install their new systems).
Beds in Virgin are far better than BA
BA for Premium economy.
For the frequent flyer programe Virgin is far more flexible compared with BA.
I also find Virgin Customer service very pleasent and very helfull. |
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