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How to pre-order your meal on Virgin Atlantic flights using Pre-Select

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I only recently found out that it is possible to pre-book your meal when flying Virgin Atlantic.

And no, I don’t mean the usual dietary / special meals that you can order when you log into Manage My Booking – I mean a full, proper menu, with the same dishes (and more) that you find on board.

The only reason I found out was because it was mentioned in the menu on my return flight from Shanghai on Virgin Atlantic recently. So, I thought I’d give it a try the following week on my next Virgin Atlantic flight!

Virgin Atlantic food pre-ordering

What is the benefit of pre-ordering your meal?

Assuming you don’t mind losing a bit of the spontaneity and surprise of choosing on board, pre-ordering your main course lets you choose from a much wider range of options.

In my case, on a flight from London Heathrow to Male in the Maldives (my coverage of that trip will appear next week) I had a choice of ten different main courses. This is a huge increase from the usual three offered on board.

Which flights are eligible for meal pre-ordering?

Anyone flying in Upper Class, Premium or Economy Delight can pre-order their meal in advance. It is available between seven days and 24 hours in advance.

Virgin Atlantic makes it clear that the service is available on all flights departing from London Heathrow as well as all inbound flights returning to London from the US and Caribbean.

It is NOT available when returning from other destinations including Asia, Africa and the Middle East, which included my return flight from Male.

How do I pre-select my meal on Virgin Atlantic?

Annoyingly, it’s not quite as simple as it ought to be.

You won’t find it in Manage My Booking together with the option to pre-order special, dietary meals. That would make far too much sense! No, you need to head to this special mini-site and re-enter your booking reference and name.

Once you’re in you’ll be able to pre-select meals for all the passengers on the booking individually.

What are your options with Virgin Atlantic pre-select?

Here is what I was offered when I logged in for my flight to the Maldives.

As you can see, there are a large number of options – ten in total. The last three are ‘exclusive’ to pre-select and would not otherwise be available on my flight.

Virgin Atlantic meal pre-ordering

Here are the choices I was given in Upper Class:

  • Herb roasted chicken breast with fondant potatoes, broccolini, wild mushrooms and madeira sauce
  • Roasted trout fillet with jasmine rice, pickled radish and carrot, charred bok choy, coriander cress and a light Thai green sauce
  • Spinach and ricotta tortellini with sage butter sauce, grilled baby courgettes and artichoke topped with a parsley panko crumb (vegetarian)
  • Sweet and sour pork with jasmine rice, crispy onions and bok choy
  • Chicken achari with cabbage and carrot thoran, basmati rice and paratha
  • Cauliflower sweet potato and chickpea curry with pea pilau, mushroom garlic palak and naan bread (vegan)
  • Spiced apple and parsnip soup with a gouda cheese and chilli jam toastie (vegetarian, Express Meal)
  • Herb crusted North Atlantic cod fillet with a lemon caper butter, new potatoes and broccolini
  • Roasted pork belly with cauliflower and truffle purrée, boulangère potatoes, baby carrots, wilted kale and a cider sauce
  • Panko coated tofu with katsu vegetable curry, jasmine rice and pickled ginger (vegetarian)

Three of the dishes are vegetarian whilst one is vegan. You can also pre-order an Express meal which is served within an hour of take-off, usually as a one-tray service.

You can also, if you choose to, skip your main meal. I’m not sure what this means in practice: can you still change your mind on board or has Virgin Atlantic literally not loaded a meal for you?

Pre-select only applies to the main course. You’ll still be able to choose a starter from the menu on board, as well as a dessert.

Given the wide range of cuisines available, what I suspect happens here is that – apart from three ‘online exclusive’ options – you are offered the full range of meals that Virgin Atlantic is offering across its network on any particular day. Main courses offered on-board on your particular flight are usually tailored to the destination country.

You can pre-select your meal on the Virgin Atlantic website here.


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (February 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points

Comments (38)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • paul says:

    Probably only me who thinks the Icon used either shows someone getting off the toilet or about to bend and throw up into it.

  • Peter says:

    I have just returned from a holiday to Australia with all four legs flown business class with Singapore Airlines, and on each of the legs we were able to select at least one of our meals in advance online (through Manage my booking). The list of choices was lengthy (at least 15 choices from memory), covering western, Chinese, Malay and Indian meals. Quality was varying but I had a very acceptable curry on one flight – well flavoured without being too spicy. It was a bit of a risk choosing a curry but it paid off. Choosing meals triggered an e-mail confirming what we had ordered. And it was also possible to tick a box saying “I don’t want a meal”, which we did on the very late evening flight from LHR to SIN. We ate in the lounge and slept for the first half of the flight. I don’t know if there is spare food onboard in case one wants to change one’s mind. I suspect there is, judging from the crew’s entreaties for us to eat something and not just go to sleep.

  • Littlefish says:

    As a small data point. The pre-order worked fine for me to/from LAX UC last month. The online wizard is fine once you find it.
    The quality of the food itself was not great, not terrible. The on board service was slow yet the cabin crew where whizzing up and down.

  • SWFLY says:

    On flights to LAX earlier this month, and back to LHR, in premium, the pre-order options were exactly the same as those on the printed menu onboard. No other choices. And only 3 to pick from. On the return flight the FA put the tray infant of me and asked if I had ordered a “special meal”, which caused confusion, as I thought they meant a vegan meal for example, rather than just pre-ordered.

    The email invites definitely came through less than 7 days before departure, in both cases.

    Also miss beef on the menu. And one one flight there were 4 courses of cheese (mozzarella salad, man ‘n’ cheese, cheesecake, cheese & grapes). Bizarre!

  • Hampshirehog says:

    Apparently beef has been abolished from the menu as it’s not sustainable

  • Janine Bailey says:

    My husband chose to skip the main meal on a return flight from Miami, but selected the Gluten Free option on the usual special requirements so he could have breakfast.
    Guess what – no gluten free breakfast as the ‘skip the meal’ appeared to have applied to every meal, even though it was done in the order above!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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