Articles > Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class Suite

Like him or loathe him, there is usually a sense of freshness that accompanies a Richard Branson product.

So it is with the Virgin Upper Class Suite, now available on all its long-haul routes across the Atlantic and to Australia, via Hong Kong. The ideas that have gone into the suite may not be exactly new – a fully-flat bed, food and videos on demand, and a separate sit down bar – but when taken as a whole, the Upper Class experience does feel refreshing. British Airways may be the chief innovators among the airlines when it comes to updating the various classes of cabins, usually introducing new products up to two years of their competitors, but Virgin’s Upper Class suite easily outstrips BA’s current Business class (in which the 6ft beds now seem badly designed, thin and cramped) and isn’t far off competing with its First Class as well.

Virgin have been offering a limo transfer as part of the Upper Class experience for a while now and it remains an excellent start to a trip. In London you can even opt for a limo-bike to weave you through heavy traffic, which can save vital time. Once at Heathrow you’ll also want to make full use of the bright and stylishly space-age Club House too. The busy treatment centre is a godsend , offering short back massages and hair cuts among other things. As I waited for my London/Los Angeles flight I had a long overdue and reasonably proficient hair trim. The stylist was chatty and adept at keeping the hairs from disappearing down my shirt, thus saving me from an itchy flight.

Mind you, I could have just changed into the shiny black Virgin suit when on board. If you are on an overnight flight this is standard issue and they are available on request on a daytime flight like mine. It might not be a fashion statement but it does save your business/travelling clothes from the accumulated grime of multiple hours in the air. Such suits are generally reserved for First Class on other airlines.

If you are a regular business traveller then the first thing that you will notice about the new Upper Class cabin is its size and its sense of space. This is particularly so if you find yourself in the front cabin, where only seven seats fan out on either side of a central area. You may also raise an eyebrow at the bar, complete with leather-topped stools, that harks back to the “golden age of flying”.

Personally, I’ve always liked Virgin’s cabin staff. There is something genuinely bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about them that distinguishes them from more automaton crews. The Upper Class crew have a lightness of touch that is exactly the right side of appropriate and welcoming. On my flight, the gold star went to the in-flight beauty therapist, who probably has the second hardest job on the plane, pampering as many of the Upper Class passengers as she can get around to during the flight.

Again, this part of the product is not new. But it remains an excellent idea to have access to a head and face massage (among other treatments) on board. It goes some way to combating the aches and pains caused by long-haul flying, as well as chipping away at your stress levels.

But then flying in the Upper Class suite, there isn’t much excuse for aches, pains or travel induced stress. Well once you have worked out what all the knobs and whistles do and where all the bits and pieces that surround your seat go to, that is.

The best thing about the Virgin suite is simply its size. At 56cm wide and 208cm long, the seat is the largest “fully-flat bed in business class” as well as being broader than most First Class seats on other airlines. This width is a particular boon as is the fact that the armrest goes down so that you don’t feel hemmed-in.

There is a little bit of a palaver involved in setting up the suite as a bed as it actually requires flipping the seat over. But the benefit of that is the extra cushioning that Virgin have been able to build in underneath and the breathable fabric that covers it. Privacy screens curve around the suite to make this seem as close to a proper bed as you can imagine at 30,00ft.

The theme of size does stop at the beds. The entertainment screens are of excellent dimensions and will swivel into a variety of positions to suit the way you are sitting or lying. The system also has the invaluable video-on-demand function which enables you to watch movies around your work or meals. The choice of movies is perhaps a little less satisfying, with fewer first-run or un-missable films among the 20 video channels.

There is more largeness on display in the pull-out table. At last an airline has provided a proper, solid dining table. A useful add-on is the separate stowable cocktail table in the armrest. The ‘Freedom’ menu allows you to order your meal when you want it and offers a ‘Snack and Snooze’ option in case you want a quick soup before snuggling up in your suite. What is on the main lunch menu is either unspectacular or nice and unfussy, depending on whether you are expecting gourmet food in the air or not. Mains include fillet steak, chicken breast and poached plaice. The wine list is a small but effective choice of the fine and reliable like Chateauneuf du Pape.

Richard Branson obviously knows that Business Class is a hugely competitive market, especially over the Atlantic routes, and his airline has a product here that will keep it well-placed in the coming years. The plusses of the new Upper Class experience are the limo transfers, the on-ground treatments available in the stylish Virgin clubhouses and the in-flight massages. Above all, in typical Virgin fashion, the airline has cheekily observed that ‘size does matter’ and created their roomy suite accordingly.

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