In mid-April I wrote about Virgin Australia’s new business class product, which is finally being rolled out on their 777-300ER aircraft. This new product was first announced in 2014, though unfortunately there have been significant rollout delays due to issues with getting the seats certified.
However, the first 777 with the new seats is finally flying to Los Angeles, so you can now experience the product on a longhaul flight (though until all the 777s have the new cabins, there’s always the chance of a last minute swap).
Virgin Australia just shared pictures of their new business class product on their Facebook page, and it looks incredible. It might just be the most stylish business class product out there.
Man, they really know how to tease based on the pictures, and seem to get the little details right.
Two pillows rather than the standard one pillow offered by most airlines? Yes please!
The onboard bar looks pretty great as well for a 777 — I don’t know of any other airline which has a bar on the 777 (several airlines have them on the A380, and Virgin Atlantic has them on their A330s, A340s, 787s, and 747s).
Reverse herringbone seats are the all around best business class seats out there, and this looks like the slickest configuration I’ve ever seen. This is the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seat, which is the same as American’s new business class seat. However, I expect American’s cabins won’t look nearly as stylish.
I’m planning on reviewing this product very soon. I’ll book it by transferring Starpoints to Virgin America Elevate points at a 1:1 ratio (which is an incredible deal), and then for 80,000 points roundtrip I can fly Virgin Australia between Los Angeles and Sydney.
Unfortunately Virgin Australia isn’t nearly as generous about making business class award seats available as they used to be (which I can’t blame them for), though there are still some dates with availability.
Is anyone else excited to try Virgin Australia’s new business class product?
@2paxfly : That link you posted about losing 2 toilets is very much CORRECT....However business NEVER lost 2 toilets....... They ALWAYS had 3 toilets in both the OLD config and the NEW config........ the 2 toilets lost were at door 3 which is in the economy Cabin....... Theres are still AMPLE toilets in Economy especially in the rear of the cabin....
As for China Airlines version of this....... Well each airline have their own...
@2paxfly : That link you posted about losing 2 toilets is very much CORRECT....However business NEVER lost 2 toilets....... They ALWAYS had 3 toilets in both the OLD config and the NEW config........ the 2 toilets lost were at door 3 which is in the economy Cabin....... Theres are still AMPLE toilets in Economy especially in the rear of the cabin....
As for China Airlines version of this....... Well each airline have their own aesthetics and this for Virgin is seamless alongside their Domestic fleet as well as their lounged and the whole branding........ The wood Veneer or fake wood on China Airlines would also outdate, makes for a very cheap look too.....so we can say any material would be good for the future because anything will date overtime. I mean take a look at Emirates cabins, they STILL have that wood veneer look, but its almost looking modernised because they have the money to splash on "GOLD" trimmings here and there and everywhere even on their coffee.......
Virgin Australias poduct is the one to beat over the Pacific. but while comfortability is very improtant, its the onboard crew that has made ALL the difference especially with Virgin Australia International, there is just a professional yet personable feel about their international crew!
It is not easy finding a business class award seat on Virgin Australia using Virgin America points. In April I was able to book 1 business class reward seat in July 2016 on an LAX-BNE flight. It was VERY difficult to find a day which had an open reward since Virgin Australia only makes a small number of these seats available to its partner airlines. When I found an open date the Virgin America agent...
It is not easy finding a business class award seat on Virgin Australia using Virgin America points. In April I was able to book 1 business class reward seat in July 2016 on an LAX-BNE flight. It was VERY difficult to find a day which had an open reward since Virgin Australia only makes a small number of these seats available to its partner airlines. When I found an open date the Virgin America agent told me that it had been a long time since she had seen an open business class seat.
@Josh, Premium Economy sales not down the drain per se. VA is now pitching the product as a Business Lite rather than Economy Plus and as a result Premium Economy now has 41 inch of pitch, rather than the 35-36 that other airlines offer. Hence there are less seats in the cabin to accommodate for the bigger pitch.
The bar area is quite well done. The seat is giving QF's new J some competition.
Flying BNE-LAX on old product tomorrow....sigh. Booked with expectation of new product install no later than Q1. Oh well, will certainly beat QF J we had on the way over.
@ JDL - I know folks like to rag on Virgin Australia's old biz seats (and I don't know how often you've flown them), but a handy tip: if you can snag seat 5D or 5G, I had one of the most comfortable flights I've ever had, even in First. They pull a heavy curtain around row 5 so it's totally private, dark and secure. It's like a cubby house. Awesome. Enjoy the flight.
Having sat in this seat on 2 PER - MEL flights (on A330), if I could afford it, I'd definitely be happy to sit in this seat from SYD/BNE - LAX...That on-board bar looks sweet and there are some very similar design traits that VA have put into their lounges as well (ceiling above on-board bar being the most noticeable).
You're a mensch, Josh. Thanks.
@ Rose - 80k is saver level, yes (although I don't think the Delta site will show partner availability at any level other than saver, so it's probably a moot point?)
How have you not mentioned the citi prestige card or the amex platinum... are you ill?
Thanks, Josh. And are 80k SkyMiles each way the "saver" level that VX can see?
So just to be clear-- you're looking at DJ award availability on the DL site, to use VX points to redeem on DJ?
What are you looking for-- dates with 80k DL availability (in other words, is that the "saver" space that VX can access)?
Thanks!
DJ doesn't exist any more, Rose. That was Virgin Blue. But yes, he's searching the DL site for VA availability to redeem VX miles.
Ben, you said, "Virgin America charges 45K one-way or 80K roundtrip. :) Availability matches what Delta sees, which is why I use their site. They also have an easy to use five week calendar."
Where do you find any partner booking engine on Virgin America? I see their calculator, but I've never been able to find a partner search engine on the Virgin America site.
One interesting thing I noted is that VA's Premium Economy sales must be down the tubes, as they've basically halved the number of Premium Economy seats while expanding Business by 12%. This is the first time I've seen an airline be anything but bullish on PE. Wonder why it didn't work.
Lucky, your team probably knows the answer to this question better than anyone: "isn't nearly as generous" seems like understatement with regard to Virgin bus. award availability trans-pacific. Last summer it went from being almost a gimme to flat-out gone. Currently, the only availability I can ever find for a single seat with VX or DL miles is for short notice bookings (10 days or less), which means confirming a return is impossible. Is Virgin...
Lucky, your team probably knows the answer to this question better than anyone: "isn't nearly as generous" seems like understatement with regard to Virgin bus. award availability trans-pacific. Last summer it went from being almost a gimme to flat-out gone. Currently, the only availability I can ever find for a single seat with VX or DL miles is for short notice bookings (10 days or less), which means confirming a return is impossible. Is Virgin a realistic option for someone hoping to plan award travel?
I've got a flight from AUH-SYD in late July on the reconfigured J product so I'll keen to see how it looks. That bars roof looks very much like the skylights in their Brisbane and Perth domestic lounges which is very impressive.
As Dave says, pretty sure you meant 80,000 points one way; that's what it cost me on a recent award LAX-BNE.
Question: Do you use the DL search because it matches availability for what Virgin America offers in terms of awards? Just curious.
@ TravelinWilly -- Virgin America charges 45K one-way or 80K roundtrip. :) Availability matches what Delta sees, which is why I use their site. They also have an easy to use five week calendar.
Following up on @Dave's question -- if I'm reading VA's award chart right, one-way in business class is 95,500 miles. Am I missing something? https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/Redeem/Airlines/PointsTables/
@ Without Bacon -- That price is when booking through Virgin America Elevate, not through Virgin Australia Velocity.
Are you sure about 80,000 points round-trip? The screenshot of the DL reservation shows 80,000 points for one way.
@ Dave -- That pricing is if redeeming Delta SkyMiles. It's 80K roundtrip if booking through Virgin America Elevate.
This is also the same seat as Air Canada's 777s and 787s. Quite nice.
Have flown this style of seat multiple times on China Airlines and reviewed it on another blog. It's an absolutely fabulous seat and my favorite J class accommodation. My biggest complaint is that the tray table latch that keeps it int he forward position nearest the IFE monitor gets loose or stops working altogether. In two different seats I've had the issue where the table slid toward me during takeoff, or simply wouldn't stay in...
Have flown this style of seat multiple times on China Airlines and reviewed it on another blog. It's an absolutely fabulous seat and my favorite J class accommodation. My biggest complaint is that the tray table latch that keeps it int he forward position nearest the IFE monitor gets loose or stops working altogether. In two different seats I've had the issue where the table slid toward me during takeoff, or simply wouldn't stay in the forward position at all, meant I was constantly dealing with moving the table if I wanted to change positions in the seat.
As Nemme mentioned, I'd argue that China Airlines' cabin design and aesthetic is nicer. Their wood tones beat the pants off Virgin's hippy-dippy purple and shiny black/white modern look. It comes off as cheap to me. Just take a look at how Virgin America's planes have fared...not that well, to be honest. This kind of cabin seems nice for the first 10-20 flights before the shiny plastic shows scratches, pen marks, etc, and the leather gets wrinkled from multiple butts.
Couple questions
1) How long do transfers to Virgin America take?
2) Is it "premium reward" that we are looking for? I see available on Virgin Australia but not on Delta - does that mean it's for velocity redemption only?
@ Nai -- Haven't done a transfer yet, so not sure, but expect it will take at least a few days. The premium rewards wouldn't count -- you'd need the saver level ones, which should all also appear on Delta's site.
They have made some compromises to accommodate this, including losing 2 business class toilets. See http://www.2paxfly.com/2016/05/virgin-australia-new-777-interiors.html
Hate reverse herringbone. Congested. Great for amends someone who doesn't like making eye contact. Bad for everyone else.
Agree with @Alpha - seat (including two pillows) is very close to China airlines and I'd argue their cabin design is nicer. Virgin looks great too especially the bar.
Wish more airlines did the bar on 777
Australian Business Traveler seem to have already posted a review of this seat on SYD-LAX:
http://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-australia-the-business-class-sydney-los-angeles-boeing-777-review?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=flipper&utm_campaign=home-flipper
This is essentially China Airlines's new biz class seat, which I can attest is very nice.
That's an impressive looking product.
I'm still waiting on your review from your last Australian trip (or did I miss it?)
Having moved to Australia again, I can certainly say these are the seats I am most looking forward to with regards to Business Class. They look great!