Virgin Atlantic will launch an Upper Class Wing at London Heathrow’s Terminal 3 next month.
It says the new Wing, which opens on 2 November, will allow business class passengers to move from limo to lounge in under 10 minutes.
The Upper Class Wing is part of BAA’s £1 billion investment plan for Terminal 3 over the next 10 years.
Later this year Virgin will open a new check-in area for Premium Economy and Economy passengers, in Zone A.
Virgin expects 80% of its passengers at Heathrow to be using online or kiosk check-in by the end of 2008.
Silverjet CEO Lawrence Hunt was quick to dismiss the move.
“Finally the legacy airlines have realised that it’s unacceptable to charge customers four thousand pounds and then subject them to the kind of treatment you’d expect a farmer to be dispensing to a herd of Friesians,” he said.
“It’s this complacency that’s enabled us to steal a march on the likes of Virgin and BA by treating customers like royalty not like animals.”
He said despite Virgin’s security fasttrak improvements “there’s no escaping the pain of the over congested airports”.
By Bev Fearis
