Jaunted

· New Upper Class meal service, coming March 2012.

Back in November, economy class enjoyed an upgrade to new crockery, new cutlery and improved meal selections as Virgin Atlantic went for "restaurant service" with individual courses. Naturally, the changes coming to Upper Class will be more exciting, as these flyers will also get new crockery, cutlery and menu items, but also mini cocktail shakers, which are really S&P dispensers (take a peek at them here).

Get up from that Upper Class seat to hit the renovated in-flight bar (a Virgin Atlantic trademark) and grab one of the signature VS cocktails, but then be sure to head back for the afternoon tea tray. If you're lucky with your flight timing, you could even enjoy afternoon tea twice (once in the lounge and once onboard).

· New Clubhouse at JFK, coming March 2012

Finally, anyone who's been to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Terminal 4 at JFK knows that while it's lovely service- and design-wise, it's also been outgrown. And it's pretty annoying to have it before security, because then you're still worrying about the TSA and making your gate on time. Welllllllll...the new Clubhouse will be airside (after security), hallelujah, but also adjacent to the gates.

At 10,000 square feet, it'll have much more room, plus the airline's first oversea spa. And yes—that means the Bumble & bumble hair salon is crossing the Atlantic as well, which will be the only hair salon in a business class lounge in the USA.

That's not all. The design of the lounge is supposed to be "uptown," funny because we consider Virgin Atlantic more downtown in their style and sensibility. Oh well, business travelers want what they want. To expand on this a bit more, the clubhouse will be "private members club, boutique hotel lobby, restaurant service and chic bar plus a few surprises."

All in all, every single bit of this news is good stuff, made all the more exciting by the fact that it's coming very soon.

[All photos: Jaunted]