“The Booth” Debuts On Virgin Atlantic’s Leisure A350s, With Wine Tastings & More!

In September 2021, Virgin Atlantic revealed a new onboard lounge concept for the A350s. The first plane with this feature is now flying, and we have learned about some of the unique experiences that will be offered here.

Virgin Atlantic gets “leisure” Airbus A350s

The flagship aircraft of Virgin Atlantic will be the A350-1000. The London-based carrier has already taken delivery of eight of these planes, and the airline has 12 of them on order.

The first seven A350-1000s that Virgin Atlantic took delivery of have 335 seats.

• 44 Upper Class business class seats
• 56 premium economy seats
• 235 economy seats

The most recent A350-1000 that Virgin Atlantic took delivery of had an all new configuration intended for leisure routes. A total of 407 seats will be included in Virgin Atlantic's remaining A350 deliveries.

• 16 Upper Class business class seats
• 56 premium economy seats
• 335 economy seats

Business class seats are being traded for economy class seats. The leisure configured A350 has 100 more economy class seats than the business class seats.

While the standard configuration flies to destinations like New York and Los Angeles, you can expect the leisure configuration to fly to destinations like the Caribbean. The first A350 has just entered service between London and Orlando.

This new configuration has nothing to do with coronaviruses. The two different configurations had been planned all along, as Virgin Atlantic had split up its fleet of jumbo jets, with some of them having just 14 seats.

New social space on leisure Virgin Atlantic A350s

Virgin Atlantic has a lot of social spaces on its planes. The carrier's fleet used to have a small onboard bar.

The Loft was introduced by Virgin Atlantic as a gathering place for business class passengers. The idea is that you could have drinks and chat with other passengers.

The concept isn't practical with Virgin Atlantic's new A350s.

• That would be quite a big social space for just 16 passengers
• The business class cabin will no longer take up the entire space between doors one and two, so the social space would actually be in the middle of the premium economy cabin, and that doesn’t make sense

Rather than having a full lounge, the leisure A350s have a small area with a single table and two seats, so travelers can hang out. There are two touch screens, along with a pair of audio connections, in this area.

The Booth is located at the forward left door, where you might normally find a bathroom.

Virgin Atlantic’s “The Booth” features unique experiences

Virgin Atlantic has revealed some unique experiences that passengers can have in this space, designed specifically for leisure customers.

What should passengers expect?

• A wine tasting experience with drinks by “The Uncommon,” the UK’s number one producer of wine in a can, including an English white, rose, and spritzer
• A cognac tasting with chocolate pairings, courtesy of Delamain; any passenger taking part in the experience will receive a tasting glass to keep as a memento of their journey
• A “dinner for two” private dining experience, should a couple wish to dine together in this space
• A “game time,” where guests can compete with their travel partners using exclusive Virgin Atlantic playing cards

The first leisure oriented A350 from Virgin Atlantic just arrived between London and Florida. The airline is changing up its onboard lounge concept due to the fact that the plane has a significantly smaller business class cabin and a larger economy cabin.

The Booth is a smaller space that can seat two people. The location of the Upper Class cabin and how few seats there are make sense. There are a number of cool experiences for this space, including a wine tasting, private dinner space, and the ability to play cards.

The execution of this concept is pretty good. The Booth is great for people traveling together to dine face-to-face, while The Loft is simply a social space with no real concept beyond that.

What do you think about Virgin Atlantic's new concept?