virgin flight ?

We are flying with virgin this xmas with an 8yr old boy, can anyone give me tips and report on there flights. Also is the virgin welcome party worth going to, or is it just another chance to sell their excursions.

We took a nine year old last year. He was fully entertained by his personal TV. This provided Nintendo games and an excellent selection of suitable films. The whole party were very happy with the level of service and entertainment.

Timmy

with regard to the virgin welcome meeting we went the first time in Florida and found it very long winded and as we had already bought all our passes a bit of a waste of a morning, but that was six or seven years ago. The kids got incredibly bored and started playing up so that did`nt help matters

I also have only attended the Virgin welcome meeting once, and that was the first time I'd travelled with Virgin Territory and not my first trip to Orlando. After 20mins I was desperate to get out as they were only telling me everything I already knew.

If this is your first trip to Orlando, then I would suggest you attend as it is very informative. However, if you have been to the Orlando area before, then I'd say don't waste your time;)

Matt

We flew with Virgin a couple of years ago and they were absolutely brilliant. My daughter has to have a gluten free diet and she still had a good meal. My youngest, who was 18 months old at the time wouldn't stop crying and our flight attendant was really helpful (couldn't stop her crying but it did make it more bearable). On the return flight my eldest was sick. They helped clear her up and as they didn't have any more blankets she had a duvet from first class. Superb all ways round. Inflight entertainment has a thumbs up too.
Sammi

Virgin also supply a kids back pack for children with some goodies in it (not for lap children though). You should get this when you pass through the boarding gate in the UK, but the last couple of times we flew, they missed us and we had to ask on the plane.

Perhaps that was because our boy was only 2 and maybe they thought we hadn't bought a seat for him to sit in.

--Kay

this is just a quick comment about the kids food on virgin I have a very fussy 11 year old you never touches the plane food spoke to someone at VA and said we could take a packed lunch for him but must not take any food into Florida

You are not allowed to bring fruit or meat products into the USA. You can bring in biscuits (cookies), crisps (Chips), sweets (candy), crackers, spices, teabag (important if you like your cuppa).

If you have any fruit or meat products you can dispose of them on the plane or there should be disposal facilities in the airport.

We have brought into the US baby food with meat in, and the little packs of del monte fruits in juice. I did ask one of the agriculture guys because I realized when we were collecting bags that I still had some items left. He said it was OK to bring them in (that may have changed). Do ask US customs agriculture people if you are unsure. They do have facilities to dispose of unacceptable items.

The sniffer dogs have very sensitive noses and can pick up the slightest trace of banned products. They even picked up the residual scent of very ripe bananas that I had packed in my hand luggage for the flight!

--Kay

We always fly with Virgin as we have 2 children and we are very pleased with how they treat the children.

With regard to childrens meals on the flight, I would suggest that you order a child's meal before you fly, as they only supply so many and if you are one of the last to be served, there are normally no child meals left and they end up with the normal adult meal.

This happened to us when we went with my sister, we had booked seperately and I had ordered child meals, she presumed that they had them anyway, but unfortunately not, her children had to have adult meals, and they were not impressed:(

We flew virgin 2002, and ordered kids meals before we flew.
Outbound was fine, on our return flight we were alloted seats at the rear of the aircraft, they still ran out of kids meals:(.
So no gaurantees youll get one it seems.

Got back Sunday after using Virgin and was impressed. Went Premium Economy and the kids had a great flight (better than us) - Happy Kids mean Happy parents.

Would use Virgin again. Although we were first timers, we boned up on the area and skipped the meeting. There was a Kids Eat Free offer in certain restaurants but you could pick those up in coupon books anyway.

CS