Ba

[Sparksy72]

We always go for the best price. This year we flew on Virgin to Orlando in August and then on BA to Orlando in December. They were both fine, Staff were polite and efficient, economy seat sizes felt similar and the travel times were accurate (no delays for either).

[Rac20]

I’ve flown with various airlines including Virgin and I really don’t get why people love them so much. For me, it all depends on the service on the day. I’ve always had great service with Emirates on every occasion I’ve flown with them and there have been quite a few. I’ve flown with Virgin twice and the cabin crew were not that great. Equally, flown with Thomas Cook and thought their cabin crew were amazing so in the future if I could (obviously I can’t) I would choose Thomas Cook over Virgin every time. I would go with the cheapest price with the my most preferred route. This year, I’m flying BA. Slightly anxious about strikes etc. as another poster pointed out, they do seem to strike a lot.

[chelynnah]

I haven’t read the replies yet, but I’ll throw in my 2p. I’ve never travelled Virgin so can’t compare. I have travelled every class on BA (the two upper class cabins either on points or upgrade on check-in, the two lower cabins on cash or points if that makes any difference). I’ve never had a bad flight. I’ve had some that could have been better. I had a really badly uncomfortable seat on a fully booked flight, but the cabin crew allowed me to move across into his seat (a full one not a fold out one) so I only needed to sit in mine for take-off and landing. I’ve had a bad IFE unit, headphone jack, and some meals I wasn’t overly enamoured with. However all of those things I expect to happen on any airline and any mode of transportation that sees the numbers of people those planes do.

I’ve never had a bad experience with a flight attendant, in fact I’ve only had very positive experiences. We mainly use BA because we started collecting their Miles ages ago. I travel to Canada or the US at least once a year and sometimes up to 3 times a year if needed (my family is ‘back home’ in Canada). I’m obviously not crossing the ocean every week, but I feel with the number of flights I’ve had with them over the past 15 years or so, in all different cabins, it’s a fairly good representation. That’s not to say there aren’t bad flights, negligent crew members and other faults, just in my experience they’re not common.

But as the few original answers I’ve read say, don’t worry so much about the airline, if the price is significantly better then go for it, especially if you’re not tied to a specific loyalty programme.

As for Gatwick to Orlando specifically we’ve flown that route several times (one was the time with the bad seat), and never had a significant issue. In fact aside from the dodgy seat, they’ve been some of the best flights.

Edited for some awkward autocorrect typos - apparently I was flying in a canine and not a cabin

[metalguru]

Always flew virgin since 1989 up to 4 years ago, then went with BA as virgin prices were ridiculous even with wife's virgin discount. Been with BA since. Staff better and essentially the same service. Booking BA to Baltimore this year.

[hornetgirl]

At one time VA was a tiny airline. They only flew to Miami. They also earned themselves a stellar reputation. Since then they have grown and become like pretty much every other airline. Somehow they have managed to hang onto the reputation even though they no longer deliver the service that earned it. They're not rubbish, just no longer any different to the others, at least in economy.
These days there is very little difference between VA and BA.

[thingy003]

Having flown BA, Virgin & Delta I don't really see much difference between them but with Virgin being the worst performing of the 3 and Delta the best. Price is the main factor for me when booking. The only issue that I had with BA back in October is that they ran out of beer on the LGW - MCO journey. And then they ran out of Jack Daniels.

[Budmiester]

Originally Posted by thingy003

The only issue that I had with BA back in October is that they ran out of beer on the LGW - MCO journey. And then they ran out of Jack Daniels.

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Oh the humanity! 😂😂🥃 better not happen to me on the way home in May 😂😂

[thefergies]

Flew ba to Orlando for first time in Nov as best price by a long way gla-lgw-orl. All OK on way out although found seats narrow. Coming back, flight from orl was cancelled due to latest IT failure. However, they had me on new flights - albeit 2stops philly and Dublin - with American Airlines within an hour of me calling and then my compensation and expenses paid within a week.

[stargazer69]

Thanks all for the comments.

The prices became very similar after adding on seat reservation, and the comments of the seat being narrower, concerned me, so ended up booking Virgin, plus it keeps the missus happy

[duchy]

Yet my experience of Virgin is horrible across probably 5 or 6 return transatlantic , we’ve had the mean girls with horrible attitude problems, we’ve had the drunks , dirty planes, delays yet with about the same number of BA flights every flight has been good or excellent (for economy)
So you can experience it with either ... go for the cheaper option ... and don’t forget to collect the avios !

Originally Posted by tinytots

A Terrible experience with BA. Emergency on board and dumped in Cardiff instead of Gatwick and had to make our own way home after waiting for transport that never turned up.
The other back from Vegas- rudest member of Staff, split coffee on me, wasn't bothered and a few things like that and also broken IFE etc in Premium. In fairness to her I think she had been partying in Vegas and normally crew are great. Never had any problems like that with Virgin.
That said, these days it comes down to cost and I would still fly BA as their cabin crew are generally very good. If it was marginally more for Virgin I would go with them but thats just my preference of Airline and past experiences.

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