Virgin Australia is a big winner in the 2022 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. 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 two years with both COVID and receivership but their smiles have never left," Mr Thomas said. READ: Top Twenty Airlines for 2022 READ: Top Ten Low Cost Airlines for 2022  Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said: “This award acknowledges the ongoing commitment, passion and talent our team has to deliver the best cabin crew service in the world, and we continue to do this year on year despite the ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic. “We know it’s our people that set us apart from any other airline in the world and I’m proud of our team who continue to set the highest global benchmark for in-cabin service,” said Ms Hrdlicka. Top Ten   Virgin Australian also made the global Top Ten. 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. In Business Class the airline has slashed fares by up to 60 per cent compared to its major competitor.