Virgin Australia ~$3500 J class RTW ticket thread

[liamsal]

My trip is from 15th Jan to 12th Feb!
Pretty excited

Arrivals lounge sounds like it will get good use then as we are the same, arrive at 5am with connecting flight around 10am

How is the trip going? Interested to hear what you think and if you had a similar experience with the flights and lounges.

 

[brown891]

How is the trip going? Interested to hear what you think and if you had a similar experience with the flights and lounges.

Thought so far as I sit on board TGV Lyria from Paris to Zurich...

Note: my thoughts are biased because I have never flown business class before so basically everything was amazing hahaha.

1. Etihad Lounge in Melbourne is spectacular. The view of the runway, seating layout and similar to you, very quiet. Made for a comfortable and relaxing experience pre-flight. I had some bacon and eggs and a bunch of fruit
2. Virgin Australia MEL-HKG J class seat 4K. Wow what a way to start a trip! Fairly full cabin however The service was remarkable. I did the whole a la carte which was so delicious. Lamb chops at 40000ft is so ideal hahaha followed by choc fudge brownie ice cream. Seat is so comfy, the whole layout of the seat and amenities I think is just really helpful and useful. Just didn’t understand the decent sized gap between the table kind of area and the window, was about 10-15cm and seemed like a vent area. Overall quality flight from lounge, boarding, in flight, smooth landing etc etc etc 10/10 didnt have any issues at all.
3. Lounge in HKG. Same as you this was really nice start to the LHR leg, especially when it’s 9pm at night. Had a shower, some Moët because why not, the lounge was probably 20% full if that. Easy walk to the gate where again given the royal treatment of boarding first. A really nice lounge.
EDIT - Accidentally hit the post button. Continuing below
4. Virgin Atlantic HKG-LHR. First thing I noticed was how much bigger the cabin appeared compared to VA’s. Near full capacity however interesting pickup was prem economy was entirely empty. Have to agree the seat is nowhere near as comfy in terms of space, ease of using different things. But I do like how the leg area is a good leg rest when not in bed mode. The tray table is also huge - perfect if you’re needing to do some work (I was editing some videos) much bigger than VA’s.
Comfy bed - got 7 hours sleep, just very odd that it flips over rather than lying down. I agree with the layout facing the aisle, not a fan as I love looking out the window. Easy fix however was turning many seat into a bed for basically the whole flight and sitting up against the side of the plane. Meant I was closer to the window than if I was in economy for example. Service was great, food was delicious (the choc pudding was to die for) - just don’t like the seat as much. All in all still a great experience
5. Revivals Lounge - Heathrow. This was awesome. Hung out here for 5 hours before a flight to Amsterdam. Had a shower, didn’t get a massage but were free. Mango smoothie was super tasty. Nothing bad to say about this, unlike the lady sitting near me who was roasting someone on the other end of her phone
6. Lounge in Heathrow before LAX flight, yet to be done. That’s my trip so far!

 

[liamsal]

You've definitely saved the best for last - the LHR lounge is by far the greatest lounge I've been in. The flight home from LAX to Australia on VA is amazing too. The Business feels so much more spacious than the A330 on VA and there's a bar too. Are you on the late night flight home or midday Sat departure?

Enjoy!

 

[brown891]

You've definitely saved the best for last - the LHR lounge is by far the greatest lounge I've been in. The flight home from LAX to Australia on VA is amazing too. The Business feels so much more spacious than the A330 on VA and there's a bar too. Are you on the late night flight home or midday Sat departure?

Enjoy!

Yep will be getting a haircut in the VS Clubhouse hahaha. Flights at 10:30am so will try get there as early as possible on Heathrow express. And then use the premium entry.

Very keen for the VA 777. Sadly on the midday Saturday departure, so can’t use the Etihad Lounge but ahh well.

 

[brown891]

Okay I’m now back in Aus!

Here’s my take on the rest of the trip

Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse

This place is huge !! A cool mix of proper dining area and laid back couches and groovy chairs that were attached to the ceiling by cable. Same brekky menu as the revivals lounge, therefore same great food. One pity is that now haircuts are no longer complimentary... they’re asking £20 for a cut, disappointing but not the end of the world. #firstworldproblem

The premium security is a breeze.

Flight from LHR-LAX

Seat 4A - same as all the others however I would say there is just a slight misalignment of the seat with windows where two windows are right and left of the seat rather than in a ‘normal position’ but not a huge deal. Again I put the bed all the way down so I could be closer to the windows to see out. One cool thing about this flight that i really liked is that we flew over Greenland, Hudson Bay and The Grand Canyon. It was incredible. Food was amazing again, I had fillet of beef with garlic mash and then sticky date pudding. I’ll put some photos up soon! They also had good snacks to choose from later on like a gourmet burger.

Added bonus: Delta Sky Lounge while waiting for flight from LAX-SFO

this place is amazing for a domestic lounge. Awesome view of runway, buffet food, cool bar with nice people and super helpful staff who upgraded us.

Also - got upgraded to first class from SFO-LAS: I recommend pushing for this where possible, soooo comfy.

If not go for comfort+ and you want row 5. It has exit aisle leg space without the exit.

Final flight VA6 LAX-BNE

we didn’t bother with the LAX international lounge as we got to gate and it was time to board.

This was by far the best flight of them all. I was seat 1A and I recommend choosing this seat Compared to others. Super private, only people that pass you are staff. Two windows to view out of, extra storage space above tv because first seat.

Food again amazing, I think i has beef yet again, most places we were in on the ground was chicken or vegetarian so it was nice to have red meat in the air. Service was great. They even let our friend who we were travelling with in economy come up to the bar to hang out. We did this when there were no other premium members at the bar.

I’m actually sitting here trying to come up with something bad or constructive but I can’t think of anything!

And talk about an amenities kit, this thing is a bloody open flat wallet! Oh and the pyjamas at branded unlike the ones given on the MEL-HKG flight.


Overall virgin Australia is a more superior product to virgin Atlantic (not that my opinion matters because they are the only business class flights I’ve travelled on). Food is quite equal, I would say these were my personal faves however

Starter: a tie between the poached prawn with cashew purée and Peking duck pancakes (VA87 and VA6)

Main: grilled beef tenderloin (VS207 - HKG-LHR)

Dessert: tie between choc chip pudding on VS207 and toffee pudding on VS7. VA offers ice cream that comes pre packaged but the puddings were unreal.

Extras: corn and chipotle salsa on VA6


Seat = VA by a long way

Service goes to VA

Flight operations goes only just to VS - captains were just slightly more informative about the flight and general stuff like ‘if you look out the right side of the aircraft we will be flying over Las Vegas in two minutes’ this is more a personal thing, I just like hearing about that kinda stuff.

Lounge: VS London clubhouse and VA partnership with Etihad for their lounge in Melbourne.

Thanks for reading

 

[serfty]

Added bonus: Delta Sky Lounge while waiting for flight from LAX-SFO

this place is amazing for a domestic lounge. Awesome view of runway, buffet food, cool bar with nice people and super helpful staff who upgraded us.

Interesting, what terminal was this as there's more than one SkyClub at LAX.


Other than that, thanks for the reports.

 

[brown891]

Interesting, what terminal was this as there's more than one SkyClub at LAX.


Other than that, thanks for the reports.

Good question, I’ll have to check my itinerary when I get home and let you know..

 

[mokuni]

How does one book this RTW trip? Curious...

 

[brown891]

How does one book this RTW trip? Curious...

It was a sale far that came out around June last year. Had to book through a travel agent. Off the back of it now however there are still RTW tickets available in economy on the same routing and flights for ~$1400

 

[brown891]

Interesting, what terminal was this as there's more than one SkyClub at LAX.


Other than that, thanks for the reports.

Hey @serfty it was terminal 3! And then our gate was right below us.

 

[serfty]

Ahhh ... The old VX lounge ...

 

[psi999]

Okay I’m now back in Aus!

Final flight VA6 LAX-BNE

we didn’t bother with the LAX international lounge as we got to gate and it was time to board.

This was by far the best flight of them all. I was seat 1A and I recommend choosing this seat Compared to others. Super private, only people that pass you are staff. Two windows to view out of, extra storage space above tv because first seat.

Had the pleasure of also riding VA7 & VA8 in seat 1A a few months ago. Rated it incredibly as well.

 

[brown891]

Had the pleasure of also riding VA7 & VA8 in seat 1A a few months ago. Rated it incredibly as well.

It’s so good hey!! Extra space as in table kinda space. Receiving food first is also a nice perk haha

 

[andyhui01]

My only complaint on 1A is the wall is right in front of you and doesn't feel as spacious. But it is private, you don't see any other pax. I still take 1A everytime I can though.

 

[Buzzard]

Good onya @brown891 It's refreshing to read that somebody is so excited by a J flight rather than somebody taking it for granted. I hope you get to do it again one day and even get to do F.

 

[brown891]

Good onya @brown891 It's refreshing to read that somebody is so excited by a J flight rather than somebody taking it for granted. I hope you get to do it again one day and even get to do F.

Thanks @Buzzard !! Just trying to give an honest and fun opinion on my experience. I hope so too! Thanks to this trip I actually now have enough points for a one way J class from BNE-LAX if I want it. However I’m considering transferring them to SIA so I can try out the A350 product.

And yes first class is on the cards because I really want to see what it’s like. I posted last year asking the forum how I can do it while not breaking the bank and the best option so far appears to be either buying United or LifeMiles at a bonus rate and redeeming fro SYD-BKK return or SYD-BKK-HKG return at a max cost of about ~$2k on Thai Airways. The HKG one looks awesome because then I get the 747 product and the A380 product. That would be a dream.

 

[Buzzard]

You are welcome @brown891 however you may be disappointed with the SQ A350 in J. I certainly was and there are quite a few posts on AFF from other disappointed members.

 

[brown891]

You are welcome @brown891 however you may be disappointed with the SQ A350 in J. I certainly was and there are quite a few posts on AFF from other disappointed members.

Ooo okay I’ll go have a read. Perhaps I save them then for VA when I can get availability that is haha.
Etihad taxes are too much to consider them.