Review of Virgin Australia Business Class

Virgin Australia operates its own branded domestic lounges in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne (T3), Perth (T1) and Sydney (T2). Australians adore their flat whites and long blacks, and a hallmark feature of all lounges is the Barista-made coffee.

There is a buffet with menu options for breakfast, lunch and dinner and bar service (open from midday) with curated wines and craft beers. Some services - shower facilities, business centre services, newspapers and magazines etc. are currently unavailable, but the situation is changing by the month, so do check for the latest information. Lounges come with fast and free Wi-Fi - good enough for streaming.

If you are visiting the Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane lounges on a Thursday or Friday night – you are in for a special treat. Virgin Australia has partnered with Betty’s Burgers to serve delectable bites that include Betty’s Truffle Cheeseburger and Betty’s Crispy Popcorn Chicken.

The Virgin Australia lounges in Sydney and Melbourne both feature Premium Entry – a private entrance from the airport’s drop-off road, complete with check-in at private reception desks (carry-on only) and a security screening point that leads directly into the lounge. In Melbourne, where the lounge is located before the security checkpoints, the airline offers Premium Exit, a private fast-track security as you leave the lounge for the departure gates.

In addition to the regular Virgin Australia lounges, the airline also offers new Beyond lounges in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. Beyond is Virgin Australia’s invite-only, better-than-Platinum membership. These special lounges - with entry via a discreet door using a digital membership card - are reserved for corporate partners, high-status Velocity Frequent Flyer members and key opinion formers. The Lounges have oak timber walls, plush leather armchairs and privacy pods surrounded by transparent frosted glass. Guests can dine from an a-la-carte menu and enjoy plenty of privacy as they relax before the flight.

Premium check-in desks and priority boarding is available at all airports.

Virgin Australia planes have a white fuselage with the tailfin sporting the iconic Virgin logo (produced for Branson’s record company by calligrapher Ray Kyte back in the Seventies). You’ll find another Virgin signature on the nose: the ‘Flying Maiden’ carrying the Australian flag. She used to be styled like a 40s pin-up but now has a more classical appearance and is conceived as the symbolic ‘guardian of your Virgin Australia experience’. Virgin Australia’s planes also all have names. They were previously girls’ names attached to a place in Australia (for example, ‘Sassy Sydney’), but now the fleet is named after famous Australian beaches or bodies of water (‘Binalong Bay’).

Virgin Australia offers Business Class on all flights. There are 8 Business Class leather recliner seats at the front of the plane in a 2-2 configuration. The seat has a width of 19.5 inches (49.5 centimetres), a pitch of 37 inches (94 centimetres) and a recline of 5 inches (12.7 centimetres). Each seat has an adjustable headrest and a large tray table and a small retractable drinks shelf in the armrest. Only some aircraft feature AC power outlets. Many aircraft feature mood lighting, helping give the cabin a contemporary look.

When new Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 10s start arriving in 2023, they will be crowned by a new Business Class seat. In fact, two of the older Boeing 737-800s have already been fitted with prototypes of the new seats for testing purposes. The new design includes extendable leg rests, which are missing from the older seats, a deeper recline and AC and USB power sockets.

The flight search on BusinessClass.com features images, videos and seat maps for most airlines and aircraft. Search results also highlight details including seat pitch, width and recline. You can visualise the seat and cabin configuration of the flight in which you are interested before making your choice.

Virgin Australia Business Class passengers can expect good meals, but no tablecloths or course-by-course dining. On the longer sectors, meals include an antipasti main course and dessert, all served on one tray with a linen napkin and proper cutlery.

Business Class passengers are offered two plated menu choices, depending on the time of day and the duration of the flight. Expect one cold and one hot option. Australian local produce features heavily in the menus, which change bi-monthly. Breakfast is served on flights departing between 3am and 10am, lunch between 10am and 4pm and dinner after 4pm.

Breakfast highlights include yoghurt with passionfruit coulis, croissant with salmon & capers or zucchini (courgette) fritter with goats cheese & roast tomato. Lunch and dinner highlights include antipasto plate with salmon, chicken tagine with jewelled rice or cheese tortellini with basil and nuts, pesto cream & pumpkin. A passenger favourite is the lamb and rosemary pie served with mashed potato on the side.

Virgin Australia does not offer any pre-ordering service of meals for Business Class passengers, and with only eight passengers, options may run out. A seat on the first row makes it more likely that you will get your preferred choice. Special meals based on dietary requirements are not available.

Biscuits, nuts, and soy mix are available on request from the “pantry” for passengers still feeling peckish after the meal, or only wanting a light snack.

Pre-departure beverages including sparkling wine, water or juice are offered in Business Class.

Drinks include Australian white and red wines (for example, Grant Burge NV Sparkling); Australian craft beers (for example, Green Beacon Tropical Pale); a selection of spirits (Gordons Gin, Jim Beam Bourbon White Label, Bundaberg Rum, Johnnie Walker Scotch Red Label, Smirnoff Vodka) together with Premium tea, coffee, juice, and sparkling water. Hot drinks are not served on the shortest flights.

Virgin Australia does not serve Champagne in Business Class.

The flight search on BusinessClass.com includes information on which Champagne is served in Business Class and First Class on many airlines. We do our best to keep track of any changes, but feel free to let us know if there is something we missed. 

Virgin Australia’s standard of service and commitment to passengers is generally excellent, with Business Class crew regularly chatting with passengers and making sure they have everything they like. 

The crew’s fetching uniforms were designed by the 2008 winner of Project Runway Australia, Julie Grbac, launched in 2011. Female cabin crew wear red two-piece outfits with silk scarves of various colours depending on their role and seniority. Men wear dark suits with an assortment of ties depending on their designation. Old uniforms are recycled through charities like Dress for Success and Dress for Work (in 2017, 1.2 tonnes of garments).

Crew can hang jackets at the back of Business Class, with separate coat hooks as a backup.

There are no personal monitors in any cabin class on Virgin Australia. Inflight entertainment is however offered via its app called ‘Entertain’, which features a good selection of movies, television shows, podcasts, books, and music. But don’t forget to charge your device, download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play before your flight and bring your headphones. There are no tablet holders in the current Business Class seats, but this will be a feature of the next generation seats.

While Virgin Australia aircraft have Wi-Fi capabilities, there is currently no inflight Wi-Fi access.

The flight search on BusinessClass.com includes information on Wi-Fi and inflight entertainment.

As Virgin Australia does not fly long haul, there is little in the way of amenities in Business Class. There is no amenity kit, but blankets and pillows are available on the longest flights.

Virgin Australia flies primarily short flights, with the longest being the 6-hour journey from Sydney to Denpasar, Bali.

Virgin Australia created the world's first Government-certified carbon offset scheme in 2007. Passengers can add Carbon Offset as a Travel Extra when they book a flight, with contributions funding programmes including the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC). The TLC manages over 30,000 hectares of habitat for rare and endangered species like the Tasmanian devil and the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle. Virgin Australia aims to reduce emissions by acquiring new, more fuel-efficient aircraft. The four Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft scheduled to start entering service from 2023 will reduce emissions by 15% per journey, with the 25 Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft arriving later the same year, lowering emissions by 17%.

The flight search on BusinessClass.com includes information on CO2 emissions for each flight. Our quality algorithms also give a higher score to flights operated by the most modern and environmentally-friendly aircraft.