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Shai Weiss on Virgin Atlantic’s future: Upper Class, Clubhouses, Heathrow and more

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Last week I interviewed Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss about the future of the airline.

Yesterday, I published an article looking at why I think Virgin is about to announce a new aircraft order at Farnborough.

In this article, I want to look at the future of the customer experience, from the Clubhouse at Heathrow to new routes.

The future of Virgin Atlantic

The future of …. Upper Class

Virgin Atlantic currently flies three different Upper Class seats:

Whilst innovative at the time, the 2003-era seat is very dated and lacks features more modern seats have, such as high levels of privacy and in-seat storage. At 6’2 with wide shoulders, I also find it quite narrow and short.

“It was one of the first true flatbeds flying. Some people love this herringbone. I personally do, but I understand that some people want more privacy.”

Whilst the A330s with the old seat are slowly being phased out with the arrival of the new A330neos, a decision on the Boeing 787s will depend on whether Virgin Atlantic decides to renew their lease or not.

“If we made a decision to retrofit the 787s, it would probably be in the configuration of the A330-900neo. You can see where our mind is with the A330neo and that’s the standard of the cabin we want to offer. It’s one of the best in the sky, definitely crossing the Atlantic.”

With no firm announcement made on the replacement or retrofit of the Boeing 787 fleet, it sounds like we are still years away from a wider rollout. At that point, the 2003 seat will have been flying for over 25 years.

The future of Virgin Atlantic

The future of …. the onboard bar

In a recent Sunday Times article Sir Richard Branson described the replacement of the onboard bar with the Loft social space as “a dreadful mistake. We’ll be bringing back the bar as soon as we possibly can.”

Unfortunately for Richard, it doesn’t look like the social spaces are going anywhere. Shai said:

“You know, we have a bar on the 787s and we have social spaces on the A330neos and A350s, and that tells us where we’re going. You can’t just change direction mid-course. The stream of planes coming in is of that nature. We like the bar, of course, but there are always trade-offs. The bottom line is that all our planes come with bars and social spaces.”

The future of Virgin Atlantic

The future of …. Clubhouse lounges

Virgin Atlantic currently operates six Clubhouses around the world, with the vast majority in the United States:

Virgin is currently in the process of assessing its Clubhouse portfolio. One casualty has been the Manchester Clubhouse which was announced in 2019 but delayed due to covid and now cancelled.

“For the level of activity there, we just couldn’t justify level of investment for a Clubhouse. It was a commercial decision.”

The Heathrow Clubhouse is now increasingly busy as Virgin Atlantic rebuilds its network. The spa and hair salon were dropped during covid and replaced with Peloton bikes for a short while, but haven’t returned.

During a press conference in Las Vegas last week, fitness fanatic Sir Richard Branson suggested that he would like to make better use of the outdoor terrace in the Heathrow Clubhouse and turn it into an outdoor gym. I think he may have forgotten the UK climate – this isn’t the British Virgin Islands!

The future of …. Virgin Atlantic at Heathrow Terminal 3

Whilst Shai has said he has a very good working relationship with Heathrow airport, there remain points of contention.

“We are in a terminal that needs some attention, Terminal 3, and we’re going to be there for a few years, that’s for sure. So I’d like to see a rapid expansion of the new security lanes, continued operational excellence and overall customer satisfaction creeping up.”

And long term?

“Support for a new home for Virgin Atlantic to be delivered by the end of the decade in Terminal 2.”

Is that even possible?

“It is possible. It’s already in the plan anyway, right? Not all of Terminal 2, the core Terminal 2.”

As Shai notes, Terminal 2 was always designed to be extended. A 2012-era Heathrow press release said:

“The second phase would extend the main Terminal 2 building northwards onto the existing Terminal 1 site. This phase, which would also include the construction of a second satellite building, T2C, would increase the capacity of Terminal 2 from 20 million passengers a year to 30 million passengers a year.”

A 2019 document said that an additional satellite, T2D, could increase passenger numbers to 52 million per year.

Work is moving in the right direction, with construction of a new baggage handling system underground between T2 and its satellite so that Terminal 1, where the existing system is, can be knocked down. This is due to be a six year project so Shai may have his work cut out if he wants a new terminal by 2030.

Pre-pandemic, Virgin Atlantic carried almost 6m passengers both in and out of Heathrow. A 10-million passenger capacity increase at T2 would allow Virgin and its SkyTeam partners to co-locate in a single, modern terminal building – “a home fitting for a flag carrier.”

The future of Virgin Atlantic

The future of …. new routes

During the 40th birthday celebrations, Shai and Richard announced the resumption of flights to Toronto – the third time Virgin Atlantic has attempted that route.

But there’s more to come. I’m told there are more new routes to be announced, although the only one we know of so far is to Seoul. This is part of a deal with the UK Competition and Markets Authority to approve the Korean Air-Asiana merger.

I asked Shai if he was confident the route would launch:

“We don’t control that …. we are a recipient of that decision. I think the last regulator to approve the merger between Asiana and Korean Air is the United States. As soon as that happens, we receive the remedy slots. It’s not paying us, but we get the slots at Heathrow and Seoul. It happens to be that they are also a SkyTeam partner. So I would hope that their merger goes through so we can announce the commencement of operations, but it’s not in our control.”

Flights to Korea would add much-needed capacity into East Asia, with Virgin Atlantic currently only flying to Shanghai. Hong Kong was dropped a few years ago.

The future of Virgin Atlantic

The future of …. Flying Club

Read the comments on any Virgin Points redemption article on Head for Points and the issue of sky-high taxes and fees soon rears its head. On some routes, it is now £900+ return in Upper Class.

British Airways, meanwhile, has introduced Reward Flight Saver. This caps surcharges on business class redemptions at £350 return on the majority of long haul routes, albeit with substantially more Avios required.

(Reward Flight Saver isn’t necessarily wonderful, of course. Far more Avios are required than before if you want to book the ‘low charges’ option. It IS good value if you are using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher, because if you are getting ‘2-4-1’ on the inflated Avios element. If you are not using a voucher then one of the ‘fewer Avios, more cash’ options may be a better deal.)

Will Virgin Atlantic introduce anything similar?

“We’ve been on a very nice journey right, where there was limited availability to Flying Club. We then went to guaranteed availability, 12 seats on every plane. And I think we have a few ideas to make that even more exciting. There’s a bunch of stuff coming out, starting very soon.”

The first announcement will be made in the coming weeks, but I am told several positive changes are in the works.


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (May 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 Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 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

80,000 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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

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

The American Express Business Gold Card

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 (150)

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

  • jj says:

    In principle, I love the idea of a gym in the airport – so much healthier and more enjoyable than drinking second rate beer whilst eating third rate food in fourth rate surroundings. Outdoors would be fine so long as a tarpaulin were I stalled as rain protection.

    But the first killer issue is what to do with the sweaty gym kit after the workout has finished. Leaving it to rot in a polythene bag for a transatlantic flight for 8 hours would create the mother of all stinks on arrival. You can hardly hang it over your armrest to air dry on the plane.

    Also, it takes 20-30 minutes to cool down after an aerobic workout. Do other passengers want to sit next to me while I sweat profusely in the lounge?

    Maybe workouts are best kept for real gyms.

    • Lee says:

      I agree. The spa is a better offering than a small basic gym. I never use it. I do go to a proper gym.
      I also hope they bring back the onboard bar in the new planes!!!
      Finally, also true that the food and drinks offering could be upgraded. It is not so good anymore either.

    • Rhys says:

      Don’t take anything Richard Branson says too seriously 🙂 Don’t forget, he doesn’t actually run the airline…

    • HertsSam says:

      Doesn’t have to be an aerobic or strength training session. How about a 25 min yoga or Pilates class starting every 30mins.
      No sweaty gym kit hopefully and then be relaxed before sitting in place for a few hours.
      But I supporse space might be an issue. You woud need room for the studio and male and female changing areas.

    • GM says:

      They could do like Korean gyms and provide clothing that gets laundered. But I never used the Peloton bikes since I need *steps* for my watch to tell me I’m a worthwhile person. An area for stretching might be nice? But I’d much rather they brought back facials etc – it differentiated Virgin from others and made it feel like a truly special experience. My first Upper trip was March 2020, and there’s even a big difference in the experience since then. A friend hasn’t flown them in longer, and I’ve warned him to manage his expectations if he tries again.

  • Catalan says:

    My money’s on the Flying Club voucher expiry date being extended.

    • Rob says:

      Hadn’t thought of that as an option but it would be a cost-free (virtually) improvement – mainly because it lets a family of four build up two vouchers to use simultaneously (albeit Virgin doesn’t release 4 guaranteed Upper seats of course).

      • mradey says:

        “…(albeit Virgin doesn’t release 4 guaranteed Upper seats of course)”

        Currently 1440 ex LHR VS flights have four or more UC reward seats, out of circa 11K flights.

      • RobH not Rob says:

        They loyalty guys were mooting offering the cashing in of unused vouchers for miles (if you were silver +) when I went to Crawley for a Travel Talk event a couple of months ago, amongst other things.

        • Rob says:

          They need to stop discriminating by status. It makes the product too complex.

  • InsiderFly says:

    Head of Clubhouses role is currently out for recruitment if anyone fancies a go.

  • CJD says:

    Interesting that Weiss and Branson aren’t singing from the same hymn sheet regarding the on board bar.

    • AJA says:

      I think Branson likes playing the good cop versus Weiss bad cop routine. Or maybe he wishes he still called the shots at the airline. Or maybe being the majority shareholder he thinks he still does?

      • Jonathan says:

        Branson lacks the expertise in the day to day running of the airline to make it a success, very few people have a skill like this that’s needed. Although Alex Cruz did a good job at running Vueling, as soon he went over to BA, and was just crash and burn at just about any given opportunity…

        The problem is that Branson is used to a lifestyle that he can accommodate himself to, and needs people making decisions on a move level headed mind. I’m not saying he’s out of touch with reality or his core customer bases, but you always need numerous different minds to look at things to all come together on mutual agreement about how things’ll move forward

    • Rhys says:

      Richard doesn’t run the airline and always speaks off the cuff. 50 years of media training haven’t changed that!

  • Russell G says:

    As someone that has been desperate to use an alternative to BA / OneWorld and is sitting on a load of virgin points and vouchers, there is still nothing here that makes any odds to me. I honestly think Virgin are losing this game badly. Here are the press announcements I’m looking out for:

    – Virgin IT systems now allow you to search for all partner availability online
    – Virgin partners with Etihad / Emirates and allows decent value redemptions (see BA / Qatar)
    – Virgin improves 2-4-1 voucher to match the offering of BAs 241
    – Virgin undercuts BA on reward seat taxes + surcharges
    – Virgin clubhouse (re)introduces spa / haircuts / a la carte dining / special champagne / high end wines
    – Virgin starts serving high end food / champagne / wine in Upper (see Qatar Airways QSuites offering)
    – Virgin status grants you access to some amazing experiences around the world

    I get it, it feels like BA are dominating Virgin and Virgin is doing all it can to just stay alive. But unless they do something radical they’re just going to fade in to obscurity. I know they only have three class planes, but why not try something innovative like “Super Upper”, which utilises the same physical seat (maybe just row 1 or something) but serves caviar / Krug / high end wines? These don’t require any special prep or storage and people will happily pay more than the cost of those items for the feeling of being treated. Just one idea of many but they’ve got to do something cos right now BA are winning and it’s not even close.

    • EC says:

      Myself included. I would love to dump BA at the next best opportunity, but realistically Virgin haven’t provided anything worth switching for. A matching of BA’s 2-4-1 voucher and guaranteed air miles flights would build a huge loyalty base. Even if they do fly to less places, I’d happily shift my business elsewhere

    • BOSSMANTRAVELS says:

      +1 All you hear is people moaning about what to do with Virgin points as they are such poor value and high taxes. Got rid of the Virgin CC years ago. Have the ability to switch points via Amex but never have.

    • Lou says:

      Virgin service is great, I much preferred flying with them then with BA – but… When something goes wrong, they are utterly useless. At least with BA I know how to get stuff sorted

  • Dev says:

    Now that they are in SkyTeam, I can’t be bothered to begin with FlyingClub … I’ll take a risk with UC and credit to FlyingBlue.

  • neekhales says:

    Does anyone have any way of getting in touch with Virgin Red – or getting them to contact you? Trying to make a redemption and my account seems to have locked itself out, won’t let me in. My Virgin Atlantic points are safe (can see them in Flying Club) but really just need to speak to someone somewhat urgently! Thanks so much

  • Jonathan says:

    T3 is incredibly overcrowded these days…

    It doesn’t help that BA use it for flights that they ideally should be operating out of T5

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      Isn’t enough room in T5. Would need 5C to be extended and 5D built.

      Plus BA have operated flights from T3 for a very long time.

      Plus plus if it wasn’t BA it would be another airline operating from T3 so it would still be busy.

      • JDB says:

        BA does have enough room in T5 but even though it’s costly to split their operations, they want to keep all their options open, so they will continue to squat there much like they do at LGW. If they left either, they wouldn’t get back in.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        Believe T5D is only really required if other one world US carriers join BA in T5 which would surely make sense is a T2 / T5 world.

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