jmh

I flew Virgin Atlantic recently (premium economy) and was very impressed. Service on the ground was good too.

Steerpike

Personally I stick with United most of the time because I'm in their frequent flyer program, and manage to get a free transatlantic flight about once a year; free flights trump socks, toothbrushes and masks in my book. Virgin are (were) teamed with Continental, IIRC. Note also that SFO is a major 'hub' for United; so just about anywhere you want to go from SFO will be served by United.

I would go first with whoever is cheapest, and only if it's within say $50, decide on other factors. Having young kids might tip the scales in favor of whoever has the seatback entertainment systems, though (personally, a flight is a chance to read a book!). I flew Virgin a few years ago, and they seemed to have the earliest of seatback systems; I seem to remember the space under the seat was severely reduced by the 'controller' for the system; something I have not noticed on other airlines (but this is a hazy recollection).

Last time I flew from LHR to SFO on United, they inexplicably gave me a free upgrade to Biz class. I'm in their frequent flier prog, but by no means a 'heavy' traveler any longer; but for whatever reason, they notified me at check-in that I was upgraded, and it was very nice.

One new factor that occurred to me, in light of the recent 'US Airways' hudson river landing ... I've noticed that Virgin, Jet Blue, and Southwest have relatively young flight crews (generally considered that a plus); but I wonder whether the US Airways pilot and crew got that plane down, and evacuated, so smoothly because they are a bunch of crusty old professionals ... just a thought!

chartreuse

You're up late!

What you describe can be a problem on all airlines. Best to check out the seats in advance, using http://www.seatguru.com/.

bromleygirl

So just to clarify, do United have the seat back entertainment systems on the LHR to SFO planes?? I guess for me having children it's a vital element as they have become used to having this when they fly Northwest to Minneapolis and for any parent its a god send!!

AmerLisa

We flew Denver to LHR and return and they did have the seat back entertainment - wasn't fantastic, but they had it.

tonrob

Might be worth checking with them for up-to-date info. I've flown American a fair number of times between BOS-MHR (not through choice - they're miserable sods) and always had (their crappy version of) seat-back entertainment. Until my latest trip back two weeks ago. Smaller plane than I've been used to - and no seat back jobby! In fact the whole plane looked like some 1980s throwback.

Steerpike

Unfortunately, these things are changing all the time. They didn't have it last time I flew the route, but that was a few years ago. In October, I flew JFK-> Madrid, and returned Madrid -> Atlanta, on Delta. I used Delta simply because they were cheapest for that route/time. I was shocked to see that Delta had the very best seatback entertainment systems I've ever seen! In addition to more movies / shows / whatever than I could comprehend, they had a 'trivia' game that pitted passengers against each other - you know, a question would pop up ("which president signed the...." type of thing) and four answers were presented ... whoever pressed the right answer first got the 'points'. The score was displayed at the end. The time 'flew' by ...

I would think you are more likely to get this on a Virgin Atlantic plane than a UA plane, but you never know. I can't tell you how many flights I've been on where someone near me has had a system that wasn't working, and the flight attendants spend ages trying to fix it ... !

OK, United's 767-300 has in-seat video;
their 777-200's have in-seat video;
but their
747-400's even after a mid-2009 upgrade, economy won't have AVOD (audio / Video On Demand).
What I can't determine for sure is, which airplanes do they use on which routes and ... on some pages they use the term 'AVOD' but on others, just 'in seat video' - which could mean a screen but no individual control. I'm sure others know how to figure that out !

The Horticulturalist

Check on seatguru, they usually have pretty accurate details on what's available.

The Horticulturalist

Like you I wouldn't book an airline based on their free socks, but the entertainment system is a bit of draw on such a long flight with two small kids.
We flew with Delta - Gatwick to Atlanta - earlier this year. The outbound flight had drop down TV's, the plane itself looked very dated inside which was not very reassuring! The return flight had seat back TV's.

welshgirl1

I LOVE flying with Virgin. I'm always in economy / coach, but such is life! Even back there the service is great, they feed and water you non stop, you can get free alcoholic beverages with your meal, an ice cream with your film, the fims start when you want, so there's no watching one film then going to the next channel and realising you have to wait another hour and a bit until the next film starts that you want to watch, chair back screens everytime Ive flown, etc.

I have always been rally, really pleased with Virgin.

I find United a bit like stepping back in time: Their planes seem quite old, and you're stuck with 1 screen every few rows, the few times I have flown with them. The assistants are nice and friendly though. You do have to pay for alcoholic beverages (£5 a drink last time I was flying I believe). Please note, alcohol is NOT that important to me, I just happened to have notcied these things! An ok flying experience, but nowt special.

The Horticulturalist

Yeah, I heard or read somewhere that Sully would have been to old to fly in the UK (I think he's 57), don't know if that's correct or not.

chartreuse

I told him to do that earlier, but he pretended not to hear me

Giantaxe

This is an excellent site. I always look at it when I am making seat reservations for a flight online.

The Horticulturalist

Oh hey, looks like I wasn't paying attention either!

Steerpike

It seems to be a great site (as does the similar site I linked to above) but, when you are booking a flight 3-6 months ahead (as Bromleygirl is), I don't think any site can tell you what plane you are going to get - and without knowing the plane type, you won't know if they have video/etc. I guess that tends to favor Virgin for the OP, then, because it seems only Virgin have an entire fleet that has the appropriate video systems.

I always carry a laptop with me these days (even on vacation, because of photography mainly - to upload images from camera) and it works great as a video player - better screen than those seat-back thingy's! Battery charging is a challenge, though ... though some airlines are now offering in-seat chargers.