Virgin Atlantic announced their brand new business class in April but it wasn’t yet possible to buy a flight with these news seats.
The product will debut on the airline’s new Airbus A350 aircraft. Every seat is angled towards the window, has power, and the center seats in the 1-2-1 configuration have privacy screens. All seats are fully flat with direct aisle access.
Seat switching etiquette is – I think – fairly well established, at least here in the United States. You’re entitled to the seat on your boarding pass. If someone prefers a seat other than the one to which they’re assigned they should ask politely, but it’s entirely up to the person with the desired seat whether or not to switch. They can say no for any reason, or no reason.
If you want to switch seats it pays to have a generally desirable seat. Don’t offer me a bulkhead window seat in first class, or a middle seat by the lavatory in coach. If you have a poor seat and you’re asking to switch be extra nice, have an extra good reason, and even consider offering something (find a Coasian solution: offer your worse seat plus cash).
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
I’ve reviewed this property several times, and a review (there’s a great pool!) isn’t the point of this post. Instead it’s elite benefits on a simple trip that I didn’t have to go halfway around the world to take advantage of.
There’s an important lesson for airlines, too. Increasingly airlines treat you based on how much you’re spending on a given ticket. But when you’re spending a lot on a ticket, at least when it’s not transatlantic business class where you need a night’s sleep before going straight to work on the other end, you may not even care much about the treatment. Real loyalty is secured on cheaper stays or points redemptions when you’re creating moments with family.
I recently spent a few hours in a Qantas coach seat onboard on of their Airbus A380s. I came away amazed by the experience. The seat itself was comfortable and well padded. I can’t say enough about the importance of padding, something that many modern ‘slimline’ seats designed to squeeze half an inch of space per row and make it possible to add more seats to the plane compromise on.
I fly Southwest Airlines all the time. Southwest has a motto ‘we do short better’ and Southwest coach is great for up to 3 hours or so. I wouldn’t love to fly them to Hawaii, but I’ll gladly jump on their Washington National – Austin flight since they’re the only one that can legally fly it and it saves me a connection.
How the European group of airlines including Lufthansa and Swiss attracts high yield passengers. Surprisingly business class passengers choose Lufthansa because they offer a first class, and cheap coach tickets are important to retaining premium passengers too.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Details on the conditions under which the auto-pilot won’t promptly disengage aren’t yet available. However crucial seconds may matter in an emergency and this item is listed among critical issues Boeing must address. The FAA is looking to re-certify in conjunction with other major regulators, so EU insistence effectively means that Boeing has to solve this problem before the plane can fly again in the U.S. as well.
One of the dares in the spin the bottle game, it seems, was to get naked and run down the hallway of the hotel knocking on other guest room doors.
Last year, apparently, British Airways had to change crew hotels in Singapore after a female flight attendant ran through the lobby in her underwear.
Southwest’s status match offer isn’t once in a lifetime. Under the terms they’ve described I should be able to status match using my American Airlines status once my current Southwest status expires, and do that each and every year.
As long as Southwest runs this offer, provided they honor its terms, elites with any US airline should be eligible for continued Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards A-List status — you just need to let your Southwest status lapse before applying again.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
