Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and the bar from five years at Heathrow: the Upper Class service, the bar as the crew's stage
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#1 Virgin Atlantic Heathrow, five years, the US and the Caribbean, and Gavin wrote BA's Club World and First from the galley. Virgin's premium cabin is the other London long haul premium product and it has a bar, which changes everything. Here it is from the bar.
The cabin
Upper Class on the A350, the 787 and the A330neo: the suites (the newer ones with the doors, the older herringbone), the Loft on the A350 (the social space), the bar on the 787 and the A330 (the stand up bar at the front of the cabin). Twenty to forty seats, three to four crew, the flight service manager over the aircraft.
The service
Restaurant style, dine when you want within a structure, the Virgin menu with the brand's touches, the wine, the afternoon tea on the day flights, the bed set up. The sequence is Gavin's Club World sequence with a different plating and a louder crew. The Virgin style is warmer and cheekier than BA's by design and the crew are hired for it.
The bar as the crew's stage
The thing Virgin has that BA does not: the bar, where one crew member stands for a chunk of the sector and talks to whoever comes. The passengers who book Virgin for the bar exist and they come to it at hour three with a story. The crew member on the bar is the airline's personality for that flight and the ones who are good at it (the chat, the memory for names, the drink made properly, the moment to stop pouring) are the ones the flight service managers put there. I am a bar regular and it is the best hour of my month and the hardest to do well.
The Virgin style versus BA's
BA: polite, reserved, the British formality with the humour underneath. Virgin: warm, informal, the brand's cheek on the surface, the professionalism underneath. The passengers choose by the style and the crew choose by the style too. The BA crew who come to Virgin find the warmth exhausting at first and then liberating. The Virgin crew who go to BA find the formality restful and then dull. Both are London long haul premium and both are right.
The passengers
The US business travellers who want the suite and the sleep, the leisure passengers on the trip of the year who want the bar, the upgrades who want everything, and the regulars who know the crew. The Virgin regulars are a specific tribe and they book the airline for the crew as much as the seat.
For the crew considering Virgin
If you can do the bar, Virgin is the airline. If you prefer the galley with the door open and the quiet, BA's First is the one. The two premium cabins at Heathrow are the two London styles and the crew sort themselves by which they are.
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#2 Virgin, 14 years, and the bar as the crew's stage is the Virgin job in one phrase and Hannah is one of the ones the flight service managers put there. The BA crew who find the warmth exhausting and then liberating is the exact arc of every BA transfer I have flown with.
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#3 BA purser, and the Virgin bar is the thing BA's premium cabins do not have and the thing the BA crew who transfer describe as the reason they went. The two London styles is the right frame. The Virgin crew who come to us find the First galley restful. Hannah has both sides fair.
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#4 Virgin, two years, and the bar is the hour I am worst at and the hour the regulars are best at. The chat and the memory for names and the moment to stop pouring. Hannah's description is the standard I am measured against.
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#5 Virgin Manchester, ex easyJet, and the bar on the Manchester 787s to Orlando is the family version of Hannah's: the parents at the bar at hour three while the children sleep, telling the crew about the holiday. The bar is the stage at both bases.
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#6 Emirates business, and the Emirates A380 bar is the Gulf version of Hannah's stage and the bar duty is the thing I bid for exactly as she describes the regulars. The bar crews across the airlines are one tribe. The chat and the moment to stop pouring.
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#7 Emirates upper deck, and the passengers who book the airline for the bar exist at both airlines and they come at hour three with a story and the crew member who remembers it on the return flight is the one they fly with again. Hannah has the bar.
