Everything Virgin Atlantic does is a little outside the box. From the bar on the planes to the airplane salt & paper shakers. Why would their airport lounge be any different? A Spa, a shoeshine guy and table service were a few of the things that impressed. The desk attendants were quite friendly and greeted me as if they had been waiting just for me all day; and in fact this was how all the Virgin Clubhouse employees treated me.

Right after I showed my boarding pass, I was given a short tour of the lounge. After a trip to the clean and large shower rooms, I chose a seat near the floor to ceiling windows. As soon as I sat, my drink and breakfast order was taken. The food was fresh and delicious.

The shoeshine guy offered guests a pair of slippers while he shinned your shoes. He couldn’t do much with my Asics though. In the spa, neck & shoulder massages and basic mani/pedicures were complimentary. There was also a full service spa menu and the fees vary dependent upon treatments. Appointments for free and paid services are required.

The whole experience was relaxing and refreshing and I am looking forward to visiting other Virgin Clubhouses in the future.

wii golf; guitar hero avialable too

some sights from my seat

to orlando

To my recollection, this London Gatwick – Atlanta flight, was my first international flight on Delta in Coach. Minus a miracle there was no chance of an upgrade. I was not overly excited about the flight, but on the other hand it was a direct flight home. I was interested to see what transpires in coach class on an international flight because I simply had not had much experience except for an Air France flight to Dubai.

I secured an exit row seat and shortly before push-back an fa asked the guy next to me to gather his belongings and follow her; “there is something wrong with your ticket and we just need to check it out” I am assuming that meant an upgrade because he followed without a response and never returned… Now I had 2 exit row seats to myself.

Breakfast was served almost immediately after takeoff and I was impressed with the meal.  There was a choice of some chicken dish or an omelet.  Breakfast, minus the presentation, could have been served in the Business Elite cabin. Yes, maybe the business class cabin was offered cereal and yogurt in addition, but I was not complaining. What I will complain about is when the drink cart came along, they only had coffee soda and oj. My first choice: bloody marry. I was given a highly annoyed response by the steward-aka not on cart. My second choice: cranberry juice, also not on cart.  Now he was irritated and I was denied again. He said he could not do it now (because 7 hours is not enough time) but that he would come back; he never did.

I was surprised to see a snack service mid flight. This was more true to a Delta domestic style: a choice of peanuts or pretzels, Pringles or M&M’s for 2 bucks, booze for $7.

I entertained myself for a few hours with a very solid on-demand music selection. There were a bunch of movies on demand at no cost but the HBO shows were from 2 to 7 dollars. No Soprano reruns were available so hardly worth it. And no, that show about a bunch of kids making cell phone calls to each other for 30 minutes is not worth the money.

Lots of water was distributed throughout the flight and the FA’s were quite friendly. I was surprised at the constant line for the bathroom… the entire flight there were people waiting for the bathroom. More shocking is that 75% of the passengers were in socks or bare feet. Foul and unsanitary!

Shortly before landing we were served pizza and ice cream. The pizza was of the microwave variety and not very good, but I would not expect any airline to be able to serve up a good pizza on a plane. American served this pizza in Business Class and it too was bad.

I could handle 14 hours in coach, with an exit row of course. Hell, that’s what most people do so maybe I will try.

boarding area

our 767

30 A&B

leg room

my view