Having just used this facility at Gatwick Airport yesterday, we would definitely recommend it. You can check in up to 24 hours before your flight by logging on to the Virgin Atlantic website. You need your booking reference and passports for all travellers and key in your information.

Although limited, you can choose your seat allocation (we had pre-booked our seats, but were able to change our seat numbers and move more than 30 rows up the plane).

The best part was arriving at Gatwick - the DIY check-in aisle was empty and we were shown straight to the counter and handed over our luggage. The normal queue must have been 50 deep and even the premium economy queue was fairly long. It was a great start to the holiday. You can also log on and use the facility for the return flight.