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Home » Virgin Australia » First Impressions: Virgin Australia 777-300ER Business Class
Virgin Australia

First Impressions: Virgin Australia 777-300ER Business Class

Matthew Klint Posted onJuly 30, 2019November 14, 2023 11 Comments

Hello from Brisbane! After 14 hours onboard Virgin Australia I am relaxed and ready for the day ahead.

Brisbane is merely a transit point on this trip–my end goal is Singapore–but I could not pass up the opportunity to finally give Virgin Australia a try, part of my “bucket list” for 2019. For details on how I booked and what I paid, click here.

In short, Virgin Australia offers great food, efficient and professional service, and an overall positive onboard product.

But let’s start with the seat. I expected to sleep well for the majority of the flight, as I usually do when traveling to Australia. Instead, I only managed about six hours of sleep, which is less than half of the flight. I do not want to blame the seat for my lack of my rest, but I did have trouble finding a comfortable position.

When it comes to reverse herringbone seats, there are two types. One is called the Super Diamond seat by Rockwell Collins (used by British Airways on its new A350, China Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Qatar Airways, and WestJet among others). The other is the Cirrus seat by Safran/Zodiac (used by Air France, American Airlines, Delta, Finnair, JAL among others). Virgin Australia uses the Super Diamond, which has a fold-down tray table below the entertainment screen.

an airplane with rows of seats

a row of seats with monitors on the side

a row of monitors on an airplane

a room with purple lighting

a seat in a plane

a seat with a monitor on it

The problem is that I find this tray table interferes with my legroom. I banged my knee against it and found the “cubby hole” tight…it did impact my rest. There’s also no individual air nozzles on Virgin Australia.

a bed with a tv in the back of it

But that aside, there were so many things I liked about this flight:

  • An excellent dinner after takeoff and breakfast before landing, complete with good cappuccino

a plate with food on it

a bowl of soup and a bread on a table

a plate of food with greens

a plate of food on a table

a cup of ice cream and a cup of coffee

a tray with food on it

a cup of coffee on a plate

  • A cool bar area that is even more nicely done than on Virgin Atlantic

a room with a bar and chairs

a bar with stools and drinks

  • Caring and attentive service
  • Efficient service – the meal was service was distributed immediately after takeoff and done within 30 minutes. That is so impressive for those who wanted to eat while still maximizing sleep
  • Moderately fast wi-fi that functioned the entire flight

a screenshot of a computer

CONCLUSION

I’ll have much more to say in my full trip report, but did enjoy the flight very much. “The Business” on Virgin Australia is a comfortable way to get to Australia from the U.S. West Coast.

Next up: a Virgin Australia 737-800 to Bali

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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11 Comments

  1. Dick Bupkiss Reply
    July 30, 2019 at 11:53 am

    Any business cabin that includes a “bar” area is a non-starter for me. The last thing I want is to try and sleep in a bar. Always a terrible idea.

    • Matthew Reply
      July 30, 2019 at 1:56 pm

      The bar area is separated by a thick partition and remained empty throughout the flight.

    • emercycrite Reply
      July 30, 2019 at 8:34 pm

      Why would you “sleep in a bar”? You’ve got your own lie-flat bed, sleep in that. If the fear is noise and light pollution simply select a seat further away from the bar.

  2. Pete Sanders Reply
    July 30, 2019 at 4:27 pm

    Travelled Brisbane – LA return last year in bussiness class on this 777. Arrived LA at 6:30 am feeling great after a good sleep and fantastic service. Highly recommended.
    Having a seperate bar area gives you a chance to get out of your pod and enjoy virgins hospitality.

  3. emercycrite Reply
    July 30, 2019 at 8:37 pm

    Matthew, did you find VA’s version of the Super Diamond seat was worse than other Super Diamond seats you’ve experienced? AFAIK all such seats have the tray table stowed under the IFE screen so wouldn’t your comfort be just as adversely affected if you’d been travelling on any other airline with the Super Diamond seat?

    • Matthew Reply
      July 30, 2019 at 10:33 pm

      I don’t remember the cubby hole being as constrained, but it must have been — it’s the same seat. But I certainly noticed it here.

  4. Lukas Reply
    July 31, 2019 at 4:54 am

    I too much prefer the other reverse herringbone seat with a fold-away IFE screen and table. Recently flew EVA 777, which have the other seat, and then QR A350, which has this seat, and the difference is huge when trying to sleep. That said, this seat looks much classier.

  5. Mario Reply
    July 31, 2019 at 7:41 am

    Love the salt and pepper shaker in shape of the Sydney Operahouse! Nice detail!

    • Matthew Reply
      August 1, 2019 at 12:38 am

      Yes, they may have found their way into my bag, at the urging of the crew! 😉

  6. nathan Reply
    July 31, 2019 at 5:32 pm

    Just flew in on VA 7 from BNE today. Fly LAX-BNE pretty regularly. A real treat is VA 6, the day flight on Saturday from LA-BNE. Great time to stay awake and enjoy the bar 😉

    The seats are a bit overrated in my opinion, but the crew on VA are always excellent.

    • Matthew Reply
      August 1, 2019 at 12:38 am

      Yes, I was eyeing that! Would have loved to have experienced that daytime flight and spent the night in BNE!

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