An Honest Virgin Australia Business Class Review of the A330 & 737

In our review, we will cover both Virgin Australia Business Class options from Perth; the newest A330 The Business and the older type 737.

Business Class flights allow you priority check-in plus access to the Business Lounge. You can find out what to expect in our Perth Virgin Business Lounge review. The aircraft can also be boarded at any point once it is ready.

Virgin Australia Business Class 737

We flew on the 737 from Perth to Sydney on the Red Eye which departs Perth around 11 pm and lands in Sydney just over 4 hours later. Hoping for a few hours’ sleep, we booked business class seats.

Business Class 737 Cabin

Virgin Australia Business Class cabin only has 8 seats and is in a 2+2 configuration. Our family of four sat in the second row. It was very clean and bright and cheerful.

The leather seats have a 38-inch pitch and are more like Premium Economy than business. They do have a recline but it didn’t seem to go back very far at all. Consequently, we didn’t manage to get any sleep on this flight.

Comfort packs are provided, which includes a blanket and pillow, for flights departing between 1900 and 0259.

Food, drinks and service on the 737

We were offered a choice of water, juice or wine before take-off. I obviously chose the wine.

Being an overnight flight, we had a snack after take-off and then a continental breakfast before landing. It was ok but nothing compared to International Business Class food we’d had.

The service was good, better than economy but not up to the standard of other Business flights.

Entertainment on the 737

There are no in-seat entertainment screens on this service and since October 2019, tablets are no longer provided either. So you will need to bring your own device if you want to access the Virgin Entertainment App.

Virgin Australia Business Class A330 – The Business

Let me start by saying this was a totally different experience to our Perth to Sydney flight. You would think it was on a completely different airline.

We flew on the A330 from Sydney to Perth on the 7 pm flight which takes around 5 hours.

Business Class A330 Cabin

The A330 Business Class Cabin has 20 suites in a 1-2-1 configuration, each with full access to the isle.

The best part were the seats that lie fully flat and are so comfortable. You can also adjust them so that you are reclined with our without your feet being up.

There is plenty of storage with compartments, shelf space, and an Ipad holder plus you have a reading light and USB and power ports. Pillows, blankets, and bottles of water were also provided.

Food, drinks and service on the A330

When we got to our seats, one of the cabin crew asked if we had flown in The Business before and showed us how to use the control for the seats and other features.

The service is the best we have received on ANY flight, both domestic and International, including Business Class with Thai Airways and Malaysian Airways. Not only were we greeted at our seats but the Chief Purser also came around and introduced herself and asked if there was anything she could do to make our flight more comfortable.

We were offered sparkling wine, water or juice as a pre-flight drink and a hot towel was also brought round.

Drink and food orders were taken not long after take off. The crew were very attentive and always asked if I wanted my wine topped up. The drink was served with olives and nuts, both of which were very tasty.

Dinner was a three-course meal served on a crisp white table cloth with your own salt and pepper pots, china and cutlery.

You could choose to have a Nespresso after dinner or a Hot Chocolate or one of the many teas. Of course, there was also the option of a whiskey or brandy.

Entertainment on the A330

The A330 Business suite has a large 16-inch interactive touch screen that has access to over 500 hours of movies and TV. A set of noise-canceling headphones are also provided for use during the flight although we have our own so we didn’t use them.

Our Opinion

Would we use points to fly Business Class with Virgin Australia again? Well, it would depend. If we were guaranteed the flight would be on the A330 then without a doubt. However, most of these are going to be used for International routes so it’s going to be harder to get the A330. We wouldn’t use points or pay for Business Class on the 737, it certainly wasn’t worth the extra points or money.

Also, bear in mind that they can change Aircraft type at any time. This happened to us. When we booked our outgoing flight to Sydney, the aircraft was an A330 but it got changed to a 737 a couple of weeks before departure.

We used points for our flights which were 35,500 plus around $30 per person each way. A good way to earn Velocity Points is by using a credit card that rewards you with points. There is plenty of information about Credit Card offers on Points Hack.

Have you flown Business Class? What was your experience? Tell us in the comment section below.

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