Virgin Australia is a big winner in the 2021 AirlineRatings.com Excellence Awards taking out the highly coveted Best Cabin Crew and being named in the global Top Twenty. AirlineRatings.com the world’s only airline safety, product, and COVID rating website promotes excellence and innovation in the airline industry, and the pinnacle of these efforts is its Airline Excellence Awards. AirlineRatings.com names its Top Twenty AirlineRatings.com names its Top Ten Low-Cost Airlines Best Cabin Crew Virgin Australia has once again won this award. AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said, “Virgin Australia’s cabin crew treat every passenger whether in row 1 or at the back of the aircraft as a special guest.” “Their commitment to their passengers is outstanding and is a benchmark of what cabin service should be. And this applies to ground staff as well, where the standards are just as high. "The airline's staff have gone through a very turbulent 12 plus months with both COVID and receivership but their smiles have never left, Mr. Thomas said. Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said; "At Virgin Australia, it is our people who make the difference. We know many of our guests are going through a challenging time with the pandemic and every day our team goes the extra mile to make their journey as easy and enjoyable as we can. "This award acknowledges our commitment to delivering experiences our guests love and is a testament to what makes us Australia’s most loved airline. "I am proud to lead such an extraordinary group of people who have today been recognised by industry peers for delivering the very best cabin crew service in the world." Top Twenty  Virgin Australian also made the global Top Twenty. For rankings, the editors of AirlineRatings.com, some of the most experienced and awarded, combine international industry and government audits, with another 11 key criteria that include: fleet age, passenger review ratings, investment rating, and key product offerings to arrive at a ranking. “We are looking for leadership, airlines that innovate to make a real difference to the passenger experience particularly in economy class,” Mr. Thomas said. For Virgin Australia that innovation is Economy X and the airline has reconfigured the first three rows of the economy cabin on its Boeing 737 fleet to give passengers -for a fee - an additional three inches (7.6cms) of legroom. Combined with exit row seating, this means one in five seats in its B737 economy cabin — 30 seats on a B737-800 —  are now branded, Economy X. Economy X passengers also get preferred overhead locker space, priority boarding, and priority security screening.