Virgin Atlantic's Premium is actually miles ahead of Delta One
Yes it is, if only unintentionally
Travel long enough and some things become crystal clear: the British don’t know how to cook bacon (because they don’t actually cook it). The French don’t really know how to make French toast (triste but true). And American airlines are just really bad at business class.
Put that down to a lack of service culture in the United States, where it’s all and only ever about the bottom line and manufactured narratives. And by way of example, take our recent ho-hum experience aboard Delta One.
The “finishing touch” on that overpriced journey — a cheapie stale chocolate square — pretty much said it all: Delta doesn’t care. About you, or the impression they make, because it’s a big airline and they don’t have to care.
We flew Virgin Atlantic from London to San Francisco and the finishing touch was a little gold-wrapped Lindt chocolate Easter Bunny — and fookin’ ay, they didn’t even mind if we took two.
Oh, I know that Virgin Atlantic has some kind of partnership with Delta but that’s their problem, not ours.
And that the seat in Premium is not “lie-flat”, though it’s still pretty decent.
The truth is that Virgin Atlantic’s premium product is head and shoulders above Delta’s sorta sad “Delta One” business class offering.
There are plenty of reason for this, not least of which is that the price-quality ratio with Virgin Atlantic just makes a lot more sense.
It’s not that what Delta One does is bad — in fact, the food we had was mostly very good — but Virgin Atlantic just does it better. There is more food served, and it is better. The snack bar is more copious and creative (think Virgin Bloody Mary flavoured potato chips and strawberry fizzy gummies) The service is friendlier. There are more and better treats brought out, at regular intervals. You never have to ask. At Virgin Atlantic they’ve nailed anticipatory service, while over at Delta HQ in Atlanta they apparently don’t even know what that means.
Want to learn in more detail why you should make Virgin Atlantic’s Premium your choice for your next to journey to London (and onward journey)?
