Virgin Atlantic Premium Review 787 Dreamliner – Is Premium Economy Worth the Upgrade?

If you are booking any flight nowadays you are often offered the choice of upgrading your Economy cabin to what is known as premium economy. The level of service and cost of this upgrade varies wildly between airlines from little more than a few free drinks to a near first-class experience. For our latest Hawaii adventure, we were flying Virgin Atlantic and decided to upgrade to Premium Economy so we could provide our Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy Review.

We were booked onto the latest Virgin Atlantic 787 Dreamliner and were looking forward to flying in style. Upper-class is well beyond our budget so looked forward to Virgin’s Premium Economy. Many people want to know, is premium Economy worth the upgrade? Our review should help you decide if the upgrade is worth the extra or if you should continue to slum it in coach!

Original Flight – March 2019

Latest Flight – July 2022

Booking

The Virgin Website is a fairly well-polished site and we had no problem booking at any point and this was for a pretty complicated Multi-stop booking. As we required a few days in L.A to explore and recover before Hawaii we had to book 3 flights. The booking system had no issue with this and came back with a great price for economy, Just before final confirmation it offered us the upgrade of £250 for all flights. As we see below we happily took this option, especially considering the 2-night flights we had to take!

Virgin Premium on other Aircraft?

This review is specifically for the Premium on the 787 Dreamliner Aircraft. While similar there are a few differences on other aircraft. We have separate reviews for these:

A350 Premium Review (2022)

You may also want to compare the Economy experiences as well to see if paying less is the better option for you and your family.

Virgin Atlantic Economy Review A350 (2021)

Virgin Atlantic Economy Review – 787 Dreamliner (2022)

Virgin Atlantic Economy Review – 747 (Retired)

Virgin Atlantic Economy Delight Review – Cut Down Premium (2022)

Is it Worth Upgrading to Premium?

This question is impossible to answer really and that is because of the huge range of potential prices between Economy and Premium. Depending on the flight and current booking level we have seen upgrades from £50 to £800 and upwards per flight! Also, value is very different to some people. For some, the thought of “slumming it” back in economy is horrifying for others, like us, we really rate the Virgin Economy Product so an upgrade is a luxury rather than an essential.

For the flight we took as our review flight we paid fairly little for the upgrade. We were flying From London Heathrow to Hawaii on the following routes:

• LHR – Los Angeles – Operated by Virgin
• Los Angeles – Kahului  – Operated by Delta
• Kahului – Seatle – Operated by Delta
• Seatle – LHR – Operated by Virgin

The TransAtlantic legs were operated by Virgin and the USA Legs were operated by Delta. We were offered an upgrade at booking for £250 per person for all 4 flights. With the Delta flights upgraded to Comfort plus. This works out at just £62.50 per person per flight. At the time Virgin was charging £30 per seat to reserve seating (this has changed somewhat with the new 3-tier Economy Product recently introduced) So we would be getting all the benefits of Premium economy for just £32.50 per flight. At that price we can say resoundingly YES it is worth it. But when prices are £600+ it would feel an awful lot of money compared to the current Economy product!

July 2022 Update –

We recently took another Premium Flight on Virgin’s Dreamliner so have edited this review to reflect the POST covid situation. This was a return flight from London Heathrow to JFK New York. On the whole, not too much has changed but there are fewer drinks services, but it is essentially the same service as before.

What you get in Premium

We feel the best way to decide if Premium is good value is to look at the benefits and simply work out based on the price if that feels like value to you. So let’s take a look at what you get and what the flights are actually like to help work out if it represents good value for you!

So What do you get?

• Premium Check-in
• Seat Selection Included
• 2x23kg Baggage – Yes, you read that right 2 bags EACH
• Priority Boarding
• Welcome Drink
• Much Larger leather Chair in 2-4-2 config
• Premium Cabin
• Premium Cabin Crew
• Upgraded Meal with Real Plates and Cutlery
• Upgraded Wine Offering
• After Dinner Liqueurs – Retired due to Covid
• Wander Wall – Help yourself to Snacks and non-alcoholic drinks in-flight
• Extra Airmiles and Tier Points
• Access to First Class Bar***

This all sounds great but how does it play out in practice and is the product as good as it sounds? Let’s take a look at our experience.

Out Bound – Day Time Flight

Airport and Boarding

Our flight left Heathrow at a pretty reasonable hour and we headed to the airport around 8 am. Arriving at T3 the went straight to our first perk: dedicated check-in. While this was excellent and we wheeled our 4 cases straight to the front with absolutely zero queues. Great, but in all honesty, the other economy desks were basically empty too. So it didn’t save us much. But that’s a good thing. After checking the cases we headed to security. There are no added benefits to get through security so we joined the masses*.

2022 – On our recent flight through JFK this actually changed and we were directed to Priority Security. This knocked a good 30 mins off our airport time, but we are not sure if this was an error, the second agent looked very unsure we were entitled to this, but let us through as she didn’t want to argue.

After security, we grabbed a coffee and sandwich while we waited for boarding. After they called for boarding we headed for the gate. Here we had our own dedicated boarding desk and basically walked straight onto the plane. Well, we would have if the TSA had not preselected Kate for additional Checks…No level of service can get you past the TSA if their random computer falls on you.

Once boarded we were very quickly offered our welcome drink, a choice of Fizz or Orange juice, which for us is no choice. We were then provided Newspapers to while away the time before take-off.

2022 – Again the welcome fizz arrived as soon as we were seated, however, we had quite a delay due to baggage handling issues and there was no sign of a top-up or any other service until we finally got into the air an hour late!

Cabin and Seating

The Premium Cabin is separate from both the economy Cabin and the upper-class cabin. This gives it a Really exclusive feel. With only 30 seats in 5 rows of six (2-4-2). it is a quiet and refined space that feels really personal. We love the 2-4-2 seating layout. 3-3-3 or 3-4-3 leads to us being trapped into our row should we want a window seat, which we do. More often than not a solo traveler will occupy a single-seat and solo travelers have a habit of getting some sleep in. Meaning any excursion into the aisle for the toilet or getting drinks or even just to stretch the legs means disturbing the poor soul.

Having just the two seats to ourselves just works so much better. And we hate having to pay for assigned seats so would have needed to pay for this also, although seat selection is again included in Virgin’s economy price assuming you don’t go for the economy light option.

The Seats are also a significant upgrade. They are a lot more spacious and far more comfortable than standard Economy seats. We think they are far better than most Premium products even and are pretty much on par with most first-class products that are not of the lie-flat variety. A big thumbs up here from us!

The seats offer a pretty impressive 38-inch seat pitch as opposed to the meager 31 back in Economy. This gives a lot more space to stretch out! Width wise the increase seems more modest at 21 vs 17 inches, but that will be a lot more comfortable for larger passengers, and this does not take into account the extra wide armrests that give even more space, a big advantage for solo travelers wanting distance from a random seat-mate.

The Recline is also pretty good, but this is a double edge sword. It’s great on night flights when you all want to grab some rest but pretty awful when you are seated behind a habitual recliner who slams the seat back the second the seatbelt sign goes off and refuses to move until the cabin crew forces them to for landing. The extra space of the 38″ seat-pitch does help with this and it’s not as claustrophobic as Economy, but it’s still pretty intrusive.

Being on the 787-9 Dreamliner also has a few extra benefits. The Aircraft has much larger windows than most aircraft and plastic manual blinds are a thing of the past. The windows are now electronically controlled blackout windows. A press of the button darkens or lightens the window. The big upside is you can put a 50% tint on it meaning you can still see out the window but still see the IFE Screen properly. This makes for a great flight experience. Of course, this is also enjoyed by Economy and First class passengers.

There is also the “Wander Wall” at the front of the Cabin. Here there is a selection of drinks (non-Alcoholic) and snacks for you to help yourself during the flight. The selection was quite intriguing with lots of unexpected items like pepper and lemon corn kernels and various crisps and chips and chocolate. You can also pop your head around to the Upper-class bar. While not strictly a Premium Economy Perk we were advised by the Cabin crew this would be ok.

A lot is made of the 787’s mood lighting but tbh we hardly noticed it and didn’t feel it really affected the flight in the positive or negative, it seems mostly a gimmick. What we did notice was the Cabin pressure” Obviously not directly, but the reduced altitude pressurization (8,000 ft instead of the usual 10,000ft) Made for a much more comfortable flight. Normally flying to the west coast of the US from the UK would leave us tired and grotty with dry mouths and irritated sinuses. On this flight, we couldn’t even tell we had been flying. Of course, we were still tired but no different from a day at work or such. Again this is shared by all passengers not just Premium.

In-Flight Entertainment

The Vera IFE is one of the best we have used and is rammed with the latest films, TV, and Music. After 20+ hours in the air, we were left frustrated as there were still things we hadn’t got round to watching! The Touch screens on the 787 were also really fantastic and were actually responsive and easy to use, a rare thing for Aircraft touch screens!

2022 – We were blown away by Vera when we first saw it back in 2019 but things have aged really fast. The new screens in the A350 really blow these away, even in Economy, the screens are far better. This is simply a case of technology improving faster than Aeroplane Refits. It’s still a great system on the 787 but the A350 tops it significantly.

Movie selection also seems to have dropped off. When we first jumped on a plane after the international; re-start the film selection was Dire! Thankfully this has improved but is still not quite up to the standard of the old selection. But we didn’t struggle to find something to watch.

The only negative we really have is the system is the same for all passengers. So not a real negative it just doesn’t add to the Premium experience as everyone has the same fantastic system.

There were also AC and USB Power sockets in case any of your own devices were running low or you wished to work.

2022 – We noticed the connectivity was much poorer than on the A350 where you get full US/EU/UK 2-3 pin plug sockets. This is much more useful especially if you plan on using a Laptop with the “Pay-To-Use” Wifi.

Food and Drink

One thing you will never want for on a Virgin Premium Economy flight is food. Apart from the Wander Wall where snacks are available for the entire flight, you are constantly plied with food. Right after take-off, you are given pretzels with your first drink. After 1-2 hours depending on the time of the flight the Meal service comes around. The Premium Meal is pretty much what you get in Economy but the little touches of it being served on real crockery with real knives and forks just make it that bit more special.

Our meal for this flight was a starter of Walnut and Orange Salad, a choice of Lasagne, Chicken in herb cream sauce, and Mousaka. We both went for the Lasange. And for dessert was a sticky toffee Slice. All are accompanied by a choice of red or white wine and a bottle of water. The Starter was … a bit rubbish. The lasagne was fairly tasty and the dessert was not great, a little dry and a bit nothingy. But really Airline food is never fantastic and this is as good as any other flight. To be honest we just think we lucked out on a less-than-brilliant menu day as the return flight suited us better.

The meal was followed by tea/coffee in a real mug. and then a choice of Cognac or Amarula Liqueur. And we then settled into our big comfy chairs and the IFE system.

2022 – The post-lockdown food does seem to have improved a little, or maybe Economy has dropped off, but the meal was markedly better on our recent flights than in the past. One of the very few improvements of post-covid flying!

As the flight went on we were fed at regular intervals. First an Ice Cream, then later a Steak Pasty, and then finally shortly before landing a Cream Tea, which was excellent.

Drink-wise, we were a touch disappointed. After lunch, the cabin crew seemed to disappear. We had received two drink services plus wine and a liqueur so it’s not like we were starved of alcohol but after a gap of around two hours we were ready for another and our personal crew were nowhere to be seen. Call buttons unanswered. When they finally reappeared and provided us with our drinks they suggested going forward to pop our heads into the Upperclass bar, just behind the curtain if we needed anything again quickly.

This is possibly a little picky and it hardly ruined our flight. It was just a bit odd to have such difficulty in getting a drink. We were not intent on getting sloshed but when stuck on a plane with nothing to do but sit, eat, drink, and watch, it was a bit disappointing when one is taken away. A small thing really. That aside the bar trolly had the usual selection of beers, wines, spirits, and mixers.

2022 – Drinks service has dropped off even further post lockdown. We only got one full drinks service on our NYC flight. Along with wine for dinner and after dinner tea/coffee, we asked for alcohol instead which was allowed. The After-dinner Liqueur is gone, a covid casualty, and while we could possibly have asked for alcohol with High-Tea we like tea with our …err..tea.

The trick of pooping into the the Upper-class Bar was pretty much a no-no but you could always ask for more drinks. This was a short flight however so we hope things would be more forthcoming on longer haul trips. We certainly got more on our last economy flight into Vegas.

Service

Apart from the disappearing act mid-flight the service was excellent. Being in the premium cabin means you have a dedicated crew serving just the 30 seats in that cabin. This gives a very personal, fast, and attentive service. It feels pretty special and does add to the feeling of exclusivity. We never like to rag on any service personnel as long as they are trying their best. We have been on the other end and know what a hard thankless job they are doing. We see so many examples of them being treated poorly and never wish to contribute to this. The Premium Cabin crew are really a cut above the norm though, it is not just false praise. You are just treated to a much more intimate level of care for the majority of the flight.

2022 – Some crews are operating on a skeleton staff, on our flight out we had one member of the Cabin Crew to service the whole premium Cabin, to begin with. He was later joined by another Crew Member and all it meant it we had to wait 10mins for drinks instead of 5, it just shows what staffing pressure they are under! Despite the enormous stress they are operating under, you couldn’t tell! They are as polite, professional, and wonderful as ever!

We really do love the Virgin Cabin Crews and make sure we let them know how much we do. they are operating under horrific pressure ATM and just being polite and kind back to them really can help a little!

Arrival

The final two perks are all related to arrival. And these can be big advantages when trying to get through US Customs. Premium Economy is second off the plane only behind the upper-class guests. This means you get the run on the immigration desks. If you haven’t been to the US, let us just say immigration can be painfully slow. Any advantage you can get here is a big plus. On arrival at LAX, we were lucky to get to immigration with almost no queue knowing there were hundreds of people from our flight behind us.

On top of this, your bags are prioritized. Getting off the plane and through immigration first is kind of pointless if you have to stand for an hour while everyone else’s bags get to the conveyor first. Being in Premium means your bags are among the first onto the conveyor.

The upshot of all this is from the moment the doors opened to us getting to the car rental was less than an hour. This is truly incredible considering how big and difficult to negotiate LAX is. We were literally on an almost non-stop walk from the plane to the Hire Car bus.

One Perk not included that would have been much appreciated was the “guaranteed L.A Sun”, this is not what we expected on arrival! Of course, we can’t really blame Virgin Atlantic for this…Can we?

2022 – Again we were first off the plane and straight into immigration. We were outside grabbing an uber less than an hour after landing which is pretty amazing!

Return Flight – Night Flight

Our return flight left Seatle at 14:00 and was due to land in London around 7:30 am the next morning. We had already taken an overnight from Kahului so our recollection of this flight is a little hazy! The return flight was much the same in terms of basic perks and service levels but there are some notable differences due to the fact the majority of the passengers want to attempt to get some.

Food and Drink

Drinkwise the service was very top-heavy. Plying us with as many drinks service as possible in the first part of the flight to help us get off to sleep. We were also provided with a nice Herchel branded Amenity kit, which makes a nice change from the basic plastic wallet-type kits handed out in Economy, although it didn’t actually contain many extras. The provided pillows also feature a cut-out to try to assist in sleeping and we had the customary Virgin purple blanket as well.

2022 – The Amenity kits have turned a little Green and are now Paper-based which is a little less luxurious but at least they are trying and we appreciate the reduction in plastic, but we always reused the Kit bags.

Food-wise it’s quite different. Dinner service was the same as lunch on the outbound and included the after dinner Liqueur. But after another drinks service, the cabin crew dim the lights and leave you pretty much alone for the rest of the flight. While on the outbound we resented the lack of presence, throughout the night any lack of disturbance was most welcome. The cabin was dark and apart from the Hum of the engines and 600mph winds rushing by, very quiet. It was the perfect environment for sleep.

The actual main meal was basically the same as the outbound but a different menu and one that suited us better. Kate had four cheese pasta and I had beef stroganoff. The Starter salad was a little more substantial and the lemon and pistachio dessert much better than the dry Sticky toffee slice.

After a night of fitful and restless “sleep,” we were brought around by the rising sun and the cabin lights. Coffee or tea was served and then breakfast. The breakfast was actually one of the best we have had on a plane. Often we are served Soggy Sausages some flaccid eggs and maybe some baked beans. After 10+ hours in the air, this is the last thing you need. Our breakfast was a fresh-tasting, warm, Pan Au Chocolat with a granola yogurt pot, and some a fresh fruit salad served with coffee and Juice. It was just what the doctor ordered and helped clear a little of the fog that had descended overnight.

We didn’t get any pictures as we were so tired and irritable at this point we just couldn’t be bothered. We were at 50 hours + Since actually getting any decent sleep so taking photos of our breakfast had become pretty unimportant!

2022 – More of the same on this flight with no discernable differences apart from the reduced drink services. Breakfast was again really good, with a Bacon Roll and a really refreshing bowl of coconut rice and fresh fruit!

Service

Like the outbound flight, we received nothing but excellent service and witnessed the crew sort out a disruptive couple who had not bothered to book seats, a free perk for Premium, and were complaining they were not happy with their seats. While under no obligation to help they managed to reseat some passengers to allow them to be next to each other.

The Cabin crew retired from view for the majority of the flight as they were aware of the need for most to try and sleep but we did notice frequent trips through the cabin, in stealth mode, offering juice and water to anyone who was awake. There was also the Wander wall obviously for anyone wanting to grab their own Snacks.

Arrival

Like the Outbound flight, our early disembarkment from the plane allowed us to get through immigration and baggage in super-fast time. Unfortunately, this leads us straight out into horrendous rush hour traffic and it was nearly 3 hours after landing before we were free of London and heading home. this was unfortunate timing, nothing more.

2022 – Again, first off the plane but this was little help with the embarrassing Chaos that is Heathrow Airport Arrivals currently. Immigration was horrific, with queues right out of the main hall, down a long hallway, down another long hallway, and right back along the travelators and gates exits!

So yeah we were first to get to this chaos but several flights had just landed before us so it was little help. Even with this Delay, we still beat the bags! And the current ground transport at Heathrow is a JOKE! anyway enough ranting! – None of this is Virgin’s Fault!

So, IS it Worth it?

As we said this is all very personal. It is certainly not helped by the fantastic Economy product offered by Virgin Atlantic. But that also means the Premium product is a very high-quality offering to try and set it apart from the cheaper economy product.

Really the offering is far more akin to some upper-class products. Virgin’s upper-class product is out of this world but for other airlines, it gets you little more than the premium product offered by Virgin. So the question of value really boils down to how much you are being asked to pay, how much your budget is, and simply how much the above extras mean to you, and could that money be spent better on things to do and food and drink at your destination?

We often hear from the older generation that “Flying just isn’t what it used to be” In Premium, it is far more like that experience. It even helps ease the process at the airports each end.

The extra bag each is also great value for those that travel heavy or are going for a long time. We were heading to Hawaii for nearly 3 weeks so need quite a lot of baggage having two bags each really took the pressure off. We actually hear people say they only book premium for this reason…this is pretty poor decision making however as you could always just purchase a second bag for £65!

Our next VA flight is to New York for a long weekend. Virgin was asking £300+ per person. This is way above what we want to pay the Economy fair was only £330, and we don’t NEED some of the extras so this time chose to go economy.

So as you can see it’s a question with many variables and is hard to answer. You just need to ask yourself if the perks you get are worth it to YOUR for your trip. What we can say very clearly is that the Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy Product is a fantastic offering. It’s right up there with some first-class products and is a brilliant luxury way to travel that can be bagged for a brilliant price on certain flights. We would not hesitate to book if the price is right!

£150 and under – per flight – At this price, we feel Premium is a real bargain! You are getting so much for your money and this fairly modest outlay will transform your trip!

£200 – £250- per flight – this is the dilemma price point. It’s still a reasonable deal but that money really could start to transform a different part of your trip. This is £800-1000 extra for a couple return and that’s a good few decent meals or some pretty high-end excursions!

£300+ – per flight – When the price rises over £300 per flight or £1200+ per couple return, we start thinking this is just too much. In the past, we have paid this for upper/business and this sort of money can just be better used elsewhere. Virgin’s Economy product is still pretty great, we can suffer that for the knowledge we will spend the money far more wisely at the other end!

One final way to look at it is Regret! We never regret taking the Premium Upgrade. As we know what we are getting we can easily assess if the price is right for us. We also never hear anyone else saying they regret it. It really is a great product.

Here are a couple of other things to think about when booking Premium

Single Leg

Sometimes the Premium price is sky high, but if you drill down you may find this is just one leg that is expensive! We often do this and find the upgrade for one of the legs is really cheap and the other leg is bumping the cost up. In this case there is no problem just booking the one leg, just remember that the upgraded baggage allowance will only count for one leg, if you take the extra bag you will need to pay the added £65 fee for the other leg.

Expensive Economy

Sometimes you have fixed travel dates and can’t flex the trip to get the best prices. We often find if we are stuck for dates and economy is looking pretty bad value, Premium is often …not much more! This can make the pill a bit easier to swallow!

Final Negative

Premium is a REALLY nice product and a great way to fly. This unfortunately has a bit of a drawback, you can get a bit addicted. It really is hard to go back to cattle class after experiencing Premium! We suppose this is a theatrical negative, but we will let you decide that next time you have to travel in the back after experiencing Premium!

Have Your Say

Let us know about your Virgin Premium Economy Experience? Did you enjoy your experience? What aircraft were you on? Did you feel it was good value? What is it like compared to other Premium experiences? Just drop us a comment below, we love to hear from you. Also, drop us a comment below if you have any questions?

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