I couldn’t find any business class saver award seats on the nonstop flights from Atlanta to London on the date we needed, but I did find space on Virgin Atlantic from JFK through Flying Blue for 67,000 miles plus $243 in taxes and fees per person. That’s a little steep for a seven hour redeye, but I did actually earn those miles from a 150% transfer bonus from Bilt back in 2024 so it actually cost me a total of about 54,000 Bilt points plus taxes for the tickets.

We left the Delta One Lounge about an hour before the scheduled flight departure and walked over to gate A3. They were just about ready to start boarding.

We were seats 1A and 2A along the window. I picked those rather than the center seats because Virgin made the weird choice of having the center seats be herringbone (facing the aisle) instead of reverse herringbone (facing the center). You can sort of see that in the cabin picture above. I just thought we would both have a more pleasant flight in a seat angled toward the window. The seats in Row 1 also have a larger footwell and more space on the side of the legs. Here’s a picture of the larger footwell from the return flight.

The seats are comfortable and well-padded. The seat controls were very sensitive and not the easiest to use, but we managed. The screen was crisp and clear and fairly large at 18″. The seat had very limited storage with just a couple of small shelves and small countertop.

The screen slid out from a slot, but you could leave it out throughout the flight. There was also a shoulder belt required for takeoff and landing. The seat wasn’t in great shape even though the aircraft was only five years old.

There were overhead air vents which were much appreciated (paging British Airways, why didn’t you do this?)

The amenity kit was in a paper pouch that can be recycled. There was also bedding at the seat including a mattress pad, duvet and decent pillow.

We also were offered pajamas and I picked a large pair. I changed in the restroom before takeoff. Virgin decided to put a window in the Upper Class restrooms and call it a “loo with a view.”

Pre-departure beverages were offered. The choice was between sparkling wine, orange juice and water. I had the sparkling wine. Note the box of water left for me at the seat behind the tray table.

There was a pre-order menu for this flight which we received seven days out with some extra entree choices.

My wife skipped the entree she had ordered as she wanted to sleep and just ordered the soup. I ordered the buttered chicken as I like Indian food on planes since the taste of most things is duller in the air than on the ground.

We also received a menu for the flight at our seats. Sorry about the mood lighting.

I ordered a glass of the scotch for after takeoff and we taxied out in the chilly JFK evening.

VS10 A350-1000
JFK-LHR
Scheduled: 21:30-09:20
Actual: 21:36-09:21

Upper Class was not full on this flight. There were quite a few empty seats including those across from us. Not long after takeoff, there was a hot towel service and our drinks were served along with spicy crisps. That makes a change from the bland nuts most airlines serve.

I liked the design of the tray table as it folded down from in front of the seat then the top part slid around and angled correctly. You could leave the main part of the table down without it being across your lap if you needed it.

I skipped the appetizer as I was still pretty full from the lounge. The butter chicken was tasty but a bit overcooked. It was served with bread.

I tried the butterscotch pudding dessert for review purposes. It was very good, but I couldn’t finish it. The flight attendant also emptied those cute salt and pepper shakers from dinner and let me take them.

It was time to make the bed and try and get some sleep. I put the mattress pad over the seat and it was fairly comfortable. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good picture of the seat in bed mode so you’ll have to take my word for it. I actually got a solid 3 hours of sleep according to my Oura ring so that wasn’t bad on a flight that was in the air all of five and a half hours. Earplugs and a sleep mask from the amenity kit helped.

When I woke up, we were about an hour from landing. I decided not to get the full breakfast and just ordered the breakfast bowl and croissants. They had an espresso machine so I ordered a latte and it wasn’t bad.

We landed early after circling a bit and taxied into Terminal 3 where we had to wait quite a while for traffic and our gate to be ready.

Overall, the food and service were very good on this flight. I enjoy the more informal and friendly service from the Virgin Atlantic flight attendants that fits in with the overall style of the airline.

Our Blacklane driver was waiting for us in arrivals and we were whisked off to central London. On our return flight, I’ll focus more on the food, service and in-flight entertainment as I didn’t end up sleeping on that flight.

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