Who has the best premium economy seat and product – Virgin Atlantic or British Airways?

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Who has the best premium economy product – Virgin Atlantic or British Airways?

Ever since EVA Air introduced it in 1991, premium economy has proved hugely successful. The CEO of Emirates has recently spoken publicly of his regret at not introducing it sooner, following the launch earlier this year.

As well as proving popular with corporate clients who want to restrict access to Business Class, it has also worked well with the leisure market. The more cynical, of course, will argue that booking Premium Economy in 2021 is simply getting you the same seat that an Economy ticket would have got you in 1980, before the days of 10-across seating.

Virgin Atlantic has traditionally had a superior Premium Economy offering, but British Airways has been investing in the cabin in recent years. Has the gap narrowed? Let’s take a look.

Who has the best Premium Economy seat?

Let’s face it. Premium Economy is not a half-way house between Economy and a Business Class bed. It is simply a higher quality Economy product.

This comparison between BA and Virgin is only for guidance, especially as the exact specification will vary by aircraft type. In general, following recent improvements by British Airways, both airlines now offer comparable premium economy products although Virgin Atlantic retains a slight edge.

Here is a comparison of some key areas. This is primarily taken from the Premium page of the Virgin Atlantic website and the World Traveller Plus page of the British Airways website. Where cabins differ across the fleet we have tried to use the figures from the latest generation aircraft – the A350.

We have reviewed both products in the past few years. You can see our review of Virgin Atlantic Premium here and our review of BA’s World Traveller Plus here.

Free seat selection at time of booking:

Virgin Atlantic: Yes
British Airways: No (for non-Silver and Gold customers)

Seat width:

Virgin Atlantic: 18.5 – 21 inches
British Airways: 18.5 inches

Seat pitch (gap between consecutive seats backs):

Virgin Atlantic: 38 inches
British Airways: 38 inches

Dedicated check-in desk:

Virgin Atlantic: Yes
British Airways: No

Priority boarding:

Virgin Atlantic: Yes
British Airways: Yes at Heathrow via the new group system, No otherwise

Lounge access:

Virgin Atlantic: No
British Airways: No

Priority baggage handling:

Virgin Atlantic: Yes
British Airways: No

TV screen size:

Virgin Atlantic: 13.3 inch on the A350
British Airways: 12 inch on the A350

Food and drink:

Virgin Atlantic: All meals served on china with metal cutlery, all meals upgraded vs Economy
British Airways: All meals served on china with metal cutlery, all meals upgraded vs Economy

Power socket at seat and wi-fi:

Virgin Atlantic: Yes (wi-fi on most aircraft)
British Airways: Yes (wi-fi on most aircraft)

Luggage allowance:

Virgin Atlantic: 2 x 23kg
British Airways: 2 x 23kg

Dedicated cabin crew:

Virgin Atlantic: Yes
British Airways: No

Frequent flyer miles earned on non-refundable PE ticket:

Virgin Atlantic: 100% of miles flown
British Airways: 100% of miles flown

Frequent flyer miles earned on flexible PE ticket:

Virgin Atlantic: 200% of miles flown
British Airways: 150% of miles flown

Can you upgrade your ticket to Business Class with points?

Virgin Atlantic: Yes, but Virgin also allows Economy tickets to be upgraded to Business Class (requires a reward seat to be available in Upper Class)

British Airways: Yes – World Traveller Plus tickets can be upgraded to Business Class, but standard Economy / World Traveller tickets cannot (requires a reward seat to be available in Club World / Club Suite)

Whilst it used to be true that Virgin Atlantic Premium used to be significantly better than World Traveller Plus, in recent years British Airways has been closing the gap. In early 2019 it revealed a new, dedicated meal offering for premium economy served on china, and has also introduced new amenity kits, blankets and pillows which are genuinely good.

Virgin Atlantic has also rolled out new amenity kits in the form of its sustainable ‘Goody Bags’ although the design of these is, frankly, a little plain. Premium on Virgin Atlantic still benefits from priority check-in which British Airways does not offer.

For a closer look, Rhys reviewed British Airways premium economy (World Traveller Plus) on an A380 in late 2019. We hope to run a similar review with Virgin Atlantic in the future.

You can learn more about Premium on Virgin Atlantic here and World Traveller Plus on the British Airways website here.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2021)

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, one has a bonus of 15,000 points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 points bonus and the most generous non-Amex for day to day spending 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: