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Virgin Atlantic selling Seoul flights
Virgin Atlantic’s new daily service from London Heathrow to Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, is now scheduled to commence on 29 March 2026. Operated on the Boeing 787-9, the route cements Virgin Atlantic’s continued expansion eastwards, making up for BA’s seemingly US centric focus. Virgin also recently announced Phuket flights, which I am very excited by as a direct service from the UK.
The route was launched as a result of the merger between the two Korean Airlines, Korean Air and Asiana. This meant that one of the Heathrow slots had to be operated by another airline to provide competition. Virgin only has to operate the route for 3 years until they can keep the slot for any other route that they want.
The new service is perfectly timed for the cherry blossom season in early April and the Garden of Morning Calm Spring Flower Festival.
The Lotus Lantern Festival in mid-May also sounds amazing, with the city hosting lantern parades, music, and traditional displays in honour of Buddha’s birthday.
Virgin Atlantic also has a close partnership with Korean Air, so you can connect through Seoul to an abundance of new Northeast Asian destinations such as Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo Haneda, Tokyo Narita, Fukuoka, Okinawa and Hokkaido in Japan, Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, Auckland in New Zealand, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang in Vietnam and Hong Kong.
Juha Jaervinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic, commented:
“We’re thrilled to be launching our new service to Seoul at one of the most captivating times to visit this vibrant and forward-looking city. From historic palaces and world-class shopping to a thriving food scene and cultural festivals, there’s so much for travellers to explore. And thanks to our collaboration with SkyTeam partners including Korean Air, travellers can easily connect onwards across South Korea and beyond, all while enjoying the premium service which Virgin Atlantic is renowned for.”
The route is on the B787-9, which features the older style Virgin seating, although they are due to be refurbished by 2030. Personally, I don’t mind the old seats at all, as they offer aisle access and have a bar, but not everyone is a fan, especially since it’s a long 14-hour flight.
Reward flights are available, but they are extremely pricey in Upper Class with no saver fares that I could find. The cheapest I saw was for 277,000 miles, but most were over 400,000. Hopefully, they may introduce some saver fares in the future.
| Aircraft type
|
Boeing 787-9
31 Upper Class, 35 Premium Economy, 192 Economy seats |
| Frequency | Daily |
| Flight timings and flight numbers | VS208: LHR – ICN: 14:10 – 10:30(+1)
VS209: ICN – LHR: 12:20 – 18:50 |
| First flight | 29 March 2026 |
| Fares | Fares from the UK start from £799 Economy, £1493 Premium, and £3113 Upper Class. |
British Airways finally announces the launch of Starlink
BA has been taking steps to improve Wi-Fi access on board, offering free messaging for Club members, but it was beginning to lag behind the pack, with many airlines announcing free Starlink Wi-Fi for all passengers. Today, they have announced that they have signed a major deal with Starlink to provide every customer in every cabin with free Wi-Fi. You can learn more about Starlink and its benefits in this article, which includes a demo video showcasing its capabilities on Qatar.
British Airways will start rolling out free, reliable, and lightning-fast Starlink Wi-Fi connectivity from the start of next year. Hopefully, this will improve the main issue I see with their current Wi-Fi – reliability. The deal was done with IAG rather than BA and Iberia and LEVEL have also announced they will be introducing it I’d expect Aer Lingus and Vueling to also announce they will use it
All customers will be able to enjoy complimentary gate-to-gate, super-fast Wi-Fi, allowing them to stream video, work, and remain connected on multiple devices. This will be available on BA Mainline and Euroflyer so I’d assume not London City yet. It will be interesting to see if they follow Qatar’s lead of allowing video and phone calls on Starlink, which, personally, I am not a fan of. Currently, BA does not allow this.
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ Chairman and Chief Executive described the addition of Starlink connectivity to the BA fleet as a major milestone in the airline’s transformation journey: “We’re continuing to focus on transforming our customer experience. Launching Starlink on both our long-haul and short-haul aircraft is game-changing for us and our customers, elevating their experience on board our flights by offering them seamless connectivity from gate-to-gate. Especially on short-haul, this will really differentiate us from our competitors.”
“With our new Wi-Fi powered by Starlink, our customers will be able to enjoy lightning-fast, low-lag internet from the moment they board to the moment they land - even over oceans and remote regions. It’s Wi-Fi that feels like home, even at 38,000 feet.”
British Airways cuts five routes and gives slots to Vueling at Heathrow
BA is having a shuffle around of its routes for next summer, including cutting four routes and giving some slots to low-cost IAG airline Vueling.
BA CityFlyer will cut 2 routes, with flights ending by 28 March 2026:
- London City – Düsseldorf
- London City – Frankfurt
British Airways will end 3 Heathrow routes, with final flights on 28 March 2026:
- London Heathrow – Cologne
- London Heathrow – Riga
- London Heathrow – Stuttgart
British Airways will also lease 14x weekly Heathrow slots to Vueling next summer, which is probably as a result of cutting those routes. Although the slots indicate that they are for Barcelona, Vueling has just announced a new direct flight between Seville and London Heathrow Airport, which will begin operating daily from around March or April 2026. So I would assume that it will also be for Seville.
It will be good to see more leisure routes from Heathrow, although for those with oneworld status or collecting tier points, it is less good news since you can only earn Avios on Vueling, not BA tier points, and will not get lounge access either since Vueling is not part of Oneworld. You can read my review of flying with Vueling here.
HT: @SeanM on X
Qatar cuts free seat selection on award tickets
Qatar already has seat selection charges for their business lite ticket category; now they have extended the charge to passengers who upgrade to Business Class using Avios or Qcredits, or who book redemption Business Class tickets. This change is part of an update to the seat selection policy and took effect on November 3, 2025. It alsom appears to apply if you booked through another airline such as BA. Initially, it still states that seat selection is included, as they haven’t updated the website; however, when you attempt to select the seats, you will see the charge.
If you have Sapphire or Emerald status within Oneworld, you will still be able to select seats for free, the same as for Business Lite fares. If not, you can select a seat at online check-in. Apart from the terrible old B777s with the 2-2-2 configuration, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem other than maybe for those who want to secure middle seats with their partner and/or family. All Q Suites have aisle access, although I can understand that some people don’t like the backwards-facing ones. If you decide to purchase them, you will pay around £85 per seat, which is similar to BA, who charge everyone for seat selections except those with status.
2 comments
Interesting timing for this article. Booked Qatar LHR to MEL business as a Silver card holder a few months back. Invoice paid last week and prebooked seats have disappeared. Qatar advised agent due to me reverting to Bronze end of October.Flights and seats were booked months ago. Qatar states I need to pay as I’m Bronze. Lesson learned: don’t rush to book!
I had a marketing email yesterday from Virgin telling me the new Seoul flights were now available. I had been waiting for the route to open (following that Korean Air/Asiana merger agreement) and had been looking forward for a chance to bag an Upper Class return (don’t we all!) I agree with the article that most of the dates had no Upper saver reward seats and and most Upper seats did fall into the 270,000 – 400,000 miles redemption range. But I think I must have been an ‘early bird’ as there were a few Uppers departing LHR on a few Sundays in May and one in June although no Upper Reward Savers for the return leg. Nevertheless I bagged one of the Upper flights outbound and a suitable Premium saver reward Inbound for a total 63,000 points plus £600. I was ok to compromise with ‘only’ Premium on the way back – despite its 14 hour block time! I suspect more Uppers were available earlier but so few, that only the early birds like me with a lot of travel date flexibility could catch them. By being ready to jump at the announcement of the route opening for sale I was able to find and pick up an acceptable “deal/bargain” even if the return in Premium is a compromise.