Airline Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Boeing 777

The Virgin Australia Business Class in the Boeing 777 might be one of the best business class products out there. While just available on selected routes from Australia to destinations in the US as well as to Abu Dhabi, you should try to go out of your way to fly Virgin Australia’s new long haul Business Class. You’ll learn why in our extensive airline review!

• Check out our rating of the Virgin Australia long haul Business Class!

Instead of flying from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi on the direct route with Etihad Airways’ Business Clas in the Airbus A380 (which I’ll review later), I decided to fly via Sydney with Virgin Australia.

• Airplane: Boeing 777-300ER
• Cabin Class: Business
• Daytime: Noon
• Food: Dinner & Breakfast
• Seat Pitch: 80 Inch (203 Centimeter)
• Seat Width: 25 Inch (64 Centimeter)

After an enjoyable flight in the regional Business Class (which I’ll also review later) and the Etihad Airways Lounge Sydney (same), I boarded flight VA 29 to Abu Dhabi, which departed in the early afternoon and was scheduled to be in the air for 14 hours. Even though the Virgin Australia Business Class cabin was quite full, I was able to snap a few nice pictures! Upon boarding, I was also explained the seat with all its functions. Moreover, you can find a leaflet explaining the seat and its functions.

Seating in the Virgin Australia Business Class

The Virgin Australia Business Class in all Boeing 777 aircrafts is brand new and comes with a reverse herringbone configuration.

This means there are four seats per row, with the window seats facing the window and the middle seats facing the middle.

The seats themselves come with a beautiful design with a combination of white, dark and purple.

The middle seats feel surprisingly private due to a large privacy partition. My seat 12A, which is a window seat, also came with decent privacy even though being directly located in front of the Premium Economy Class cabin.

The seat comes with a comfortable cushion and one of the largest entertainment screens I’ve seen in Business Class so far. The Virgin Australia long haul Business Class seat also comes with tons of storage space, which I’ve not seen in other configurations yet.

The seat is quite comfortable in the upward position and feels like a little suite offering a full three windows, which you can “control” yourself. The table is located below the entertainment screen and doesn’t hinder you from leaving the seat even when in use.

You can also find three different lamps (one adjustable) at the seat, which make reading or working at night comfortable.

Sleeping in the Virgin Australia Business Class

The Virgin Australia long haul Business Class is only used on relatively long flights, making sleeping an essential thing. As the seat expands to a fully flat bed, you can enjoy a decent sleep in the seat itself.

The fully flat bed in the Virgin Australia Boeing 777 Business Class itself is relatively long and comes with a large enough foot cubicle. I didn’t have any problems sleeping on the side and the back. What’s especially worth mentioning is the bedding service in the Virgin Australia Business Class, a rare feature usually limited to First Class (for example the Etihad Airways First Class).

In addition to the two pillows already waiting at your seat upon boarding, you can get a nice padding as well as a decent blanket for a more enjoyable flight. Surely, the bedding service is executed by the crew.

On the flight to Abu Dhabi, the crew also distributed a comfortable pyjama, which made sleeping even more comfortable.

While I just wanted to have a short nap, I ended up sleeping straight five hours, which definitely isn’t the norm for me on airplanes, even in Business or First Class.

Catering in the Virgin Australia Business Class

On flight VA 29, you are served dinner and breakfast (even though you are actually landing in Abu Dhabi in the evening).

After already getting a drink prior to departure (including champagne), I was also served another drink with some nibbles (nuts, olives and peperoni) after departure.

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The meal service in the Virgin Australia Business Class started approximately one hour after departure with a table cloth, some bread (I chose garlic bread), another drink and the remarkable Sydney Opera House salt and pepper dispensers.

For the starter, I chose the prawn and soba noodles, which were a little spicy, but decent.

For the main, I had the barramundi filet, which was well executed.

Afterwards I just had the cheese, which came with some crackers.

The food was absolutely fine, yet nothing to talk home about. To finish off the meal, I had a Nespresso cappuccino, which was quite good.

Even though the flight was 14 hours, I found it somewhat annoying that the dinner service in the Virgin Australia long haul Business Class took more than two hours. Breakfast was served approximately 90 minutes prior landing with all options on one tablet, making the service way quicker.

I had ordered the Bircher Muesli, which came with a roll and passion fruit yoghurt. Other than that, I enjoyed the very good freshly squeezed orange juice and another cappuccino.

Overall, the meal service in the Virgin Australia Business Class is absolutely fine, but definitely not over the top.

Entertainment in the Virgin Australia Business Class

If you are flying with Virgin Australia in Business Class, you might enjoy several different entertainment options. Before departure, you are offered a choice of newspapers and magazines (with a focus on Australia).

Already waiting at your seat is the board magazine, which I found quite enjoyable. Most important, there is also a large entertainment screen, which is one of the highlights of the Virgin Australia Boeing 777 Business Class. The screen can be used with touch and comes with both, good reaction time and a very good resolution.

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The offerings stretch from movies to shows to documentaries to music. While I found a few interesting things to watch, I found the choice to be somewhat limited (there were below 100 movies and just three episodes of The Big Bang Theory for example). I’m not sure whether you can find enough interesting content if you are flying with Virgin Australia Business Class regularly.

Amenities in the Virgin Australia Business Class

While I’ve already mentioned the two pillows and the pyjama earlier in the review, you are offered a few more amenities in the Virgin Australia Business Class.

These include a nice looking amenity kit by Mandarina Duck, which came with decent amenities by REN, a toothbrush with toothpaste, eyeshades, socks, a vanity kit, tissues and a pen.

Other than that, there are also noise-cancelling headphones waiting at your seat. These are not bad, yet not as good as my Bose noise-cancelling headphones, which I ended up using for most times of the flight.

What’s worth a special mention is the on-board bar in the Virgin Australia Business Class, which is located in between the two Business Class cabins in the Boeing 777. The bar is available after dinner service and looks quite stylish.

You can order snacks and drinks of your choice and get into a talk with the crew and other guests. While I ended up working and sleeping for the entire flight, the bar was quite frequently visited after dinner service and everyone seemed to have quite a good time!

Bottom line Virgin Australia Business Class

I’m still impressed by the Virgin Australia Business Class. While I didn’t really like the fact that the meal service took that long and the fact that there is no Wi-Fi on board the Virgin Australia Boeing 777 aircrafts, everything else was absolutely great. From the friendly crew to the beddings service to the comfortable seat to the good night sleep to the very good entertainment screen.

The entertainment options available are decent and the amenities and the bar are a cool addition. What you shouldn’t expect of the Virgin Australia Business Class in the Boeing 777 is over the top service, an incredible meal or any bling. Instead, Virgin Australia offers a product, which is ideal for any business traveler, who wants to enjoy a good night sleep onboard.

Book your Virgin Australia flight now:

• Expedia
• OneTravel

 

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