With pictures of Virgin’s newest, freshly painted A350 circulating on the internet, it’s only a matter of weeks before the airline officially takes delivery and begins a new flying chapter.
Virgin Atlantic A350
The plane is already a leap for Virgin Atlantic, going from an ageing fleet to one of the newest and most advanced planes in the sky with a funky and refined business class, top class premium economy and next generation economy seats. Basically, it’s a step up for everyone. But there’s one feature no one else is (yet) talking about: the capabilities of the new and improved “loft bar”, reserved for Upper Class passengers. Like, silent discos, or group movie hangouts for up to eight passengers.
For over a decade, Virgin remained one of the few airlines to maintain a bar in the sky on nearly its entire fleet. With limited space which made for slightly awkward social encounters, it was a bit of a novelty, but anytime that novelty is a bar on a plane, it was a wonderful problem to have.
For the airlines latest iteration, they’ve massively improved the space, creating areas suitable for solo travellers, small groups and couples alike, with technology that makes it pretty fly.
To take the in flight experience further, Virgin Atlantic invested in bluetooth connectivity for the loft bar entertainment system. In practice, what that means is that up to 8 wireless headphone sets can be paired together to watch a film on the loft bar’s big screen, or in theory – throw a silent disco at the bar area too. Having checked out the bar first hand, I can confirm that there’s a perfect table space for a DJ set up!
This would’ve been perfect for the airlines recent Pride Flight to New York, which sold out in under a day and featured live performances in air. Perhaps next year?
Obviously, scheduling could be a bit of an issue here, but on a quiet flight, the idea of 8 people being able to sit and relax at the bar together and enjoy a favourite film or album wirelessly over bluetooth is a really unique and interesting concept. One could say it’s very, very “Virgin”. With the use of wireless headphones, noise issues would be negated and any previous awkwardness of the space would be alleviated – it’s not like people make small talk when you have headphones on.
