Virgin Atlantic Manchester base: the northern long haul option, the Orlando and Caribbean flying, the crew community and the Heathrow comparison
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#1 Virgin Atlantic, Manchester, four years, and the Virgin crew on this forum are all Heathrow. Manchester is the base nobody outside the north knows exists and it is the answer to a question a lot of northern applicants ask: can I do long haul without moving to London.
The base
Virgin's second base at Manchester, smaller than Heathrow, flying the leisure heavy long haul: Orlando, Barbados, Las Vegas, New York, Atlanta, and seasonal routes to the Caribbean and the US. A350s and 787s. A crew community of a few hundred, northern, and close in the way a small base is.
The flying
Leisure long haul with the traps and the rewards the layover threads describe: the Orlando trip with the outlet culture, the Barbados layover that is the reason people bid, the Vegas trip that the crew either love or avoid, the New York on a short pattern. The passengers are northern families on the holiday of the year and the Virgin service style (warm, a bit cheeky, the brand) suits them and the crew.
The northern life
Home is Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, the Peak District. The commute is the M56 or the train to the airport, 20 to 40 minutes. Rent is a fraction of London's. The crew live in real houses with gardens on a cabin crew salary, which the Heathrow crew read with disbelief. The trade: fewer routes, a smaller bid, and no Tokyo or Johannesburg.
The Manchester versus Heathrow bid
Heathrow: the whole Virgin network, the big crew community, the seniority list that moves slowly, London rent. Manchester: the leisure long haul, a small community, a seniority list where a four year crew member holds Barbados, northern rent. Crew transfer both ways and both regret nothing. The Manchester crew who want the world transfer south. The Heathrow crew who want a house transfer north.
Versus BA
BA has no northern long haul base (Manchester BA is short haul). So a northern applicant who wants long haul from home has Virgin Manchester, TUI and Jet2 for leisure long haul, and that is the list. Virgin Manchester is the full service one of the three and the Virgin brand is the thing the crew are proud of.
The crew community
Small, northern, warm, a WhatsApp group that is the social life, and a base where the cabin managers know everyone's name and everyone's mum. The Heathrow crew who visit describe it as a village. It is a village. With an A350.
For northern applicants
Apply to Virgin and ask for Manchester. If it comes, you have long haul from home with a house and a garden. If Heathrow comes, take it and transfer north in two years. The base is small and it needs crew who want to stay.
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#2 Virgin Heathrow, 14 years, and the Manchester base is the one I nearly transferred to at 40 for the house and the garden. The Barbados bid at four years is real and it is why the northern crew are the happiest on the fleet.
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#3 Virgin Heathrow, and 'a village with an A350' is the exact description the Heathrow crew use for Manchester. Affectionately. With envy about the rent.
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#4 TUI Glasgow, so the leisure long haul from the north, and Virgin Manchester is the full service version of my job with a different brand. Aisha's list of three for the northern applicant is correct.
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#5 Jet2 Leeds, short haul, and the Virgin Manchester base is where the Jet2 crew who want long haul look first. The Barbados thread is the one they read at 4am in the car park.
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#6 Manchester, aspiring, and the Heathrow commute paragraph on the BA thread stopped me twice. This thread has just unstopped me. Virgin Manchester, applying this month.
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#7 easyJet Manchester, and the northern crew community across the three airlines at the airport is one community. Half the Virgin base knows half of ours. Aisha's village is bigger than she thinks.
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#8 Virgin Heathrow, and I did a Manchester trip swap once and the crew room felt like a family kitchen. The Heathrow crew room is a departure lounge. Both are Virgin. Different sizes, different warmth.
