Virgin Atlantic affords three totally different cabins on its plane: financial system, Premium (premium financial system) and Higher Class (enterprise class).
However do you know its financial system cabin affords three very totally different fare sorts? What are the variations, and which must you select?
Associated: Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership: Find out how to earn and redeem factors for max worth
Virgin Atlantic economy-class fundamentals
All three Virgin Atlantic financial system fare sorts embody the next:
- A seat within the financial system cabin of the plane
- One 22-pound piece of carry-on baggage
- All meals, snacks and drinks
- Inflight seatback leisure
- The flexibility to earn Virgin factors for the flight
The three economy-class fare sorts, referred to as Gentle, Basic and Delight, then differ as follows:
| Class | Economic system Gentle | Economic system Basic | Economic system Delight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checked baggage | Not included | One 50-pound bag* | One 50-pound bag* |
| Seat choice | Obtainable in the course of the check-in course of (pays further to pick out upfront) | Obtainable anytime | Obtainable anytime |
| Seat sort | Commonplace-legroom seat as much as 31 inches | Commonplace-legroom seat as much as 31 inches | Additional-legroom seat as much as 34 inches (together with in exit rows) |
| Upgradeable to Premium or Higher Class with Virgin factors | No | Sure | Sure |
| Precedence check-in | No | No | Sure |
| Precedence boarding | No | No | Sure |
*Passengers flying to or from India, Nigeria and South Africa have a totally different baggage allowance.
So why are there three totally different choices for a similar cabin? Virgin says it’s about giving passengers extra journey decisions and never charging them for issues they do not need or want.
Do not want checked baggage for a cheeky weekend in New York Metropolis? Do not pay for it.
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Need seat choice to make sure you sit subsequent to your journey companion? There’s that choice, too.
Economic system Delight comes with some perks that airways often reserve for his or her elite members who’re flying financial system — now everybody pays for these advantages.
The three choices additionally assist Virgin compete with low-cost service Norse Atlantic Airways on most of the identical routes to america. Norse Atlantic affords very low headline fares much like the Economic system Gentle choice with Virgin Atlantic. When incredible sale fares are marketed with Virgin Atlantic, they are going to most definitely be Economic system Gentle choices.
I’d argue that an Economic system Gentle fare with Virgin can be considerably higher than the identical on Norse Atlantic, as Norse Atlantic doesn’t embody a carry-on bag, meals or drinks at no cost on its most cost-effective fares, whereas Virgin Atlantic does.
Associated: This feels acquainted: A evaluation of Norse Atlantic Premium on the 787 from London to New York
How a lot do Virgin Atlantic Economic system Gentle, Basic and Delight value?
Taking a look at a spherical journey on the busy route between John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) and Heathrow Airport (LHR) in Might 2025, I can see fares priced as follows:
- Economic system Gentle: $583
- Economic system Basic: $743
- Economic system Delight: $843
So, Basic is $160 greater than Gentle, or round 27% extra. Delight is $100 (round 13%) greater than Basic and $260 (round 44%) dearer than Gentle.
So which sort must you go for?
You possibly can assume that Gentle is affordable for a transatlantic flight on a full-service airline — Norse Atlantic might have an identical value and never embody seat choice or checked luggage, nevertheless it additionally will not embody a carry-on bag and meals and drinks like Virgin.
Worth examine: Are airline bank cards value it anymore?
One other means to take a look at it’s that the Basic and Delight fares are considerably dearer than the Gentle choice, so contemplate for those who want all these extras bundled collectively in Basic and Delight fares in case you are attempting to determine amongst them. If you will get away with solely carry-on baggage for an extended weekend and do not wish to improve your fare with factors, keep in mind that you may pay for seat choice if you want — even doing that each methods, you will nonetheless get monetary savings versus paying the Basic value.
If you happen to do must examine a bag, notice that Virgin will cost a steep $150 round-trip for the privilege on an Economic system Gentle fare, which is almost the identical value distinction as upgrading to Economic system Basic; you’ll be higher off paying for Economic system Basic given it additionally affords free seat choice and no change charges (a fare distinction might apply). An extra $50 every means for an extra-legroom seat is also a clever funding in Economic system Delight, particularly given that you may choose an exit row seat with a Delight fare.
All Virgin Atlantic economy-class award redemptions guide into Economic system Basic, whether or not you redeem Virgin factors by Flying Membership or use a companion forex like Delta Air Traces SkyMiles miles or Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles.
There isn’t a technique to guide Economic system Gentle or Delight fares with factors or miles, and you can’t improve an Economic system Basic redemption to Economic system Delight with money, factors or miles, which is an odd restriction.
Associated: Is Virgin Atlantic Economic system Delight value it on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner?
Find out how to earn Virgin factors
It is easy to spice up your Virgin factors stability with the proper bank card, as Flying Membership is a switch companion of each main program with a transferable forex:
Among the above packages provide common switch bonuses to Flying Membership, that means you may want even fewer factors than you first thought.
Many of those packages provide playing cards that characteristic terrific welcome bonuses. Listed below are a few of our favourite journey rewards playing cards that earn transferable factors and miles that may be transformed to Virgin factors:
Backside line
Virgin Atlantic has cut up its financial system cabin into three totally different fare choices.
You solely must pay for what you utilize, and you’ll select between very low-cost fares with out bells and whistles and fares with nearly every thing an financial system passenger might need.
All the time keep in mind that Virgin Atlantic is a full-service airline, so you may earn factors and luxuriate in meals, drinks and leisure on all flights.
If extra space is your prime precedence on lengthy flights, paying for an extra-legroom seat with an Economic system Gentle fare is perhaps a greater funding than paying for Economic system Delight.
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