17-07-2025
How prudish Gen Z sucked the fun out of flying
The revelation last week that Virgin Atlantic's onboard bars are to be consigned to history marks the end of an era for an airline that made its name by making flying fun.
The bars' removal follows the gradual loss of other quirks that helped Sir Richard Branson's airline stand out from the crowd – and made rival British Airways appear drab by comparison – including in-flight massages and a putting green at Heathrow.
By calling a halt to communal cocktails, Virgin Atlantic will use the space freed up in its Upper Class cabins to install more of its new 'retreat suite' seats – which allow four people to sit facing each other for impromptu business meetings.
However, this represents more than a mere onboard makeover.
It illustrates how Virgin is no longer targeting the baby boomers who once formed its core clientele, but rather a generation of sober youngsters more interested in being online than propping up the bar.
Among a tech-heavy list of initiatives planned for the next few years are the rollout of free Wi-Fi provided by Elon Musk's Starlink, a completely new app, and an AI-powered virtual concierge service that the airline says will outdo Amazon's Alexa.
The changes are part of a five-year overhaul at Virgin Atlantic, which has moved on from its brush with bankruptcy during Covid to recently post its first profit since 2016.
Shai Weiss, Virgin's chief executive, told The Telegraph that he had a soft spot for many of the concepts that helped to create a party atmosphere at Virgin – but he admitted that the airline had to move with the times.
'I would love to do a lot of this stuff but that would be clinging on to the past and we are a forward-looking company,' he says.
'They will be gone, but replaced by other things. Right now, you can see it's going further with technology and generative AI. There'll be the concierge, the new app, the connectivity via Starlink.
'Our point is to be first, and these are all firsts, harnessing the best of the Virgin product in so many more ways.'
Changing travel habits
Mr Weiss, 57, says Virgin's strategy has always been one of 'continuous evolution'. He says services that were sharply on-trend when they launched have always fallen by the wayside as times and travel habits have changed.
That includes the famed massage service, provided during flights on cordoned-off tables by a company-wide team of 280 beauty therapists. It was halted after almost two decades in 2008.
'People talk about the masseuse on the plane and the manicures and pedicures, but that's been gone for 15 years,' Mr Weiss says.
Virgin Atlantic is also embarking on a remodelling of its Clubhouse airport lounges, which in their day were just as unique as its in-flight quirks.
The first Virgin lounge opened at Gatwick in 1990, modelled on the bar at Raffles Hotel in Singapore.
Complete with wicker chairs, replica palm trees and tropical murals, though garish by modern standards, it was the first in the industry to offer at-table food and drink service. It sparked a lounge arms race among leading carriers around the world.
The opening of a far larger Heathrow lounge three years later saw Virgin expand on the idea of flying as fun – with a sprawling train set delivering snacks, a music room with soundproof walls and gadgets and games including ski simulators and a mini golf course.
Later iterations of the Heathrow lounge included a cinema, library, spa and a hair salon,
All those offerings are now long gone, with Covid most recently forcing the closure of the spa.
Virgin's three Clubhouses – down from around 10 at their peak – now style themselves as offering five-star hotel-quality dining, while also seeking to cater for Millennials and Gen Z by marketing an area perfect for meditation.
At Heathrow, a mini gym with three Peloton exercise bikes opened after the pandemic but was closed last year.
Under Virgin's plans for the coming five years, the Heathrow and New York JFK lounges will be restyled and 'inspired by Hollywood' – though with their own local touches.
Weiss says the aim will be to achieve 'an elevated version' of the Clubhouse rather than to reinvent it.
While the future of Virgin Atlantic – which is 49pc owned by America's Delta Air Lines – may be pegged to advances in technology, it is also targeting more well-heeled travellers after a surge in demand for higher-priced tickets.
This has also triggered a rethink about the layout of their jets.
The existing economy, premium economy and business – or Upper Class – cabins will remain, but the latter two will be expanded so that they account for 45pc of seats.
At the same time the number of suites in Upper Class, which sell for $300 (£224) more per flight, will increase from a maximum of two per plane to as many as eight – reconfiguring the 'social space' aboard and delivering a new flying experience.
Mr Weiss says: 'When we start to have eight suites we can say that, if you need to do a business meeting or splash out on a bigger bed and a bigger screen, then you can. That's innovation.
'With modern retailing on board, with the connectivity, whether you want to have a premium drink or a special something for a birthday, or you want to host a meeting.'
As for the barflies – including Sir Richard, who only a year ago described the decision to remove drinking areas from some planes as 'a dreadful mistake' – Mr Weiss says they will still have a chance to say goodbye to a relic of the old Virgin Atlantic.
'If you love the bar, they're only disappearing from 2028, so there's still time to enjoy them.'
