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For the Northern Hemisphere Winter Season, Virgin Atlantic has scheduled one of its new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to operate its route between London and Barbados. This means that customers flying in the airlines Upper Class cabin will be treated to Virgin Atlantic’s best Business Class seats.
Virgin Atlantic’s regular Business Class cabin is terrible. I hate it. I really love the airline and its crews but its regular Business Class seats are the only premium cabin seats I know that make me long for British Airways’ antiquated Club World seats – that should give you an idea of just how bad I think they are (reviewed here).
Fortunately, Virgin Atlantic also has a vastly improved Business Class seat that’s currently only available on routes operated by the airline’s new A350-1000 aircraft. So far we’ve only seen this aircraft scheduled to operate on a handful of routes but from later this year, the London – Barbados route will be joining that exclusive club.
From 14 December 2020, A Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 will begin operating between London and Bridgetown Barbados in place of the A330-300 that will have been operating the route up until that point. Here’s the planned schedule:
VS131 LHR 11:40 – 16:50 BGI (Mon-Fri & Sun)
VS131 LHR 12:35 – 17:45 BGI (Sat)
VS132 BGI 18:45 – 07:10+1 day LHR (Mon-Fri & Sun)
VS132 BGI 20:35 – 09:00+1 day LHR (Sat)
The A350 is set to operate this route through to the end of the airline’s winter season on 30 April 2021.
While the change of aircraft to an A350-1000 will be a huge upgrade to anyone booked to fly in the Upper Class cabin, the news isn’t so good for Premium Cabin passengers. Virgin’s legacy Premium Economy cabin is excellent and offers some of the most spacious Premium Economy seats in the world (reviewed here). The Premium Economy seats on the new A350, however, are not nearly as spacious and are no better than what you’ll find on carriers like American Airlines, British Airways, and Delta.
What Virgin Atlantic gives with one hand (in the Upper Class cabin) it takes away with the other (in Premium Economy).
Bottom Line
Starting from 14 December 2020, Virgin Atlantic will operate a new A350-1000 aircraft complete with new Upper Class suites on its London – Barbados route. The new Business Class seats are a big improvement on what the airline usually offers on this route (on its A330 and 787 aircraft) but Premium Economy passengers will end up missing out as they see their personal space reduced.
[HT: Routes Online]
