A330-200 Routes

[mitchja]

I suspect the call centre staff only see the same A/C type info that displays on the website as most ex MAN to ATL & JFK in late 2018 are still showing the aircraft type as an A333 but yet there’s zero Premium Economy availability as apparently according to VS social media; Premium Economy isn’t been sold *in case* the aircraft does switch to an A332 which hasn’t got the Premium cabin.

Worth remembering as well that there’s also been no mention what so ever so far about the proper Upper Class suite being installed in any of these A332’s.

I am really confused! We have booked LGW to Grenada via St Lucia for November 16 return on 30 direct with VA and Virgin said they have no idea when the new fleet will be available and could be at late as March 2019 ( they even spoke to the Aviation team) who confirmed this. I am a bit resistant to pay for seats in Economy if a new aircraft is used and new seats are allocated to new passengers, not sure that VA would help in this matter to reinstate our seats or at least give me a chance to pay for an upgrade to PE or the balance due? Any ideas? Will it be A330 - 300 or 200?
Thanks

New user/member!

So how far in advance of a flight do they decide whether its going to be a 200 or 300 aircraft? Presumably, as soon as a 300 aircraft is allocated, they will advise passengers booked in economy that there are now PE seats available? Or will they?

Don't forget the original reason for obtaining these ac was to cover the loss of use of the 787's while waiting for the engines to be updated. IMHO VA are unlikely to spend vast sums of money on upgrading the interior of these old AC for a short term lease and I can't see them being needed when the 787 fleet with the last new ac still arriving gets back to strength, they are considerably less economical and have no PE to Upsell. OTOH, If AC have PE capacity, VA will do there utmost to sell it at the optimum price, but don't think that we will be able to rely on VA to provide a PE service from either Manchester or Gatwick to the holiday destinations into the forseeable future.

I can’t help but think there are long term plans to keep these aircraft for VS (3+ years!)

If they’re installing a PE cabin later in the year, and have begun fully painting, this would seem like these aircraft are here to stay, and when the 787s return to service, could enable further route expansions?

Just my two pence worth...

I can’t help but think there are long term plans to keep these aircraft for VS (3+ years!)

If they’re installing a PE cabin later in the year, and have begun fully painting, this would seem like these aircraft are here to stay, and when the 787s return to service, could enable further route expansions?

Just my two pence worth...

These are my thoughts also

And mine.

VS has said, has it not, it will be fitting the 200s with PE towards the end of the year, which suggests to me they’ll be in use for at least 2 or 3 years.

Of course in an ideal world they wouldn’t be needed at all. But the Dreamliner engine problems left VS with little choice - either find replacements quickly or be forced to cancel flights (as BA has done). While the lack of PE on the 200s is clearly very frustrating for those affected, it was the least worst option.

So I suspect the plan is to get through the summer timetable with what they’ve got, then start installing PE on the 200s in Oct/Nov when there’s less demand on the fleet. Yes, unfortunately it means a year of uncertainty for PE pax from LGW & MAN, but better that than having to cancel flights because they don’t have enough planes to operate the timetable.

(I don’t, incidentally, think they’ll bother changing UC. AB had a perfectly good business seat which I suspect could turn out to be more popular than the VS suites thanks to the cabin layout.)

Well, I remain confused. It seems the four 200 aircraft will operate primarily from Manchester, yet no London Gatwick to Caribbean flights are offering PE seats for the whole of 2018 as far as I can see. Surely this will send potential customers wanting PE across to BA in droves?

No doubt it will, yes.

But VS have clearly decided - rightly IMHO - that it's better not to attempt to sell something they can't promise to deliver than to seriously let down thousands of customers who buy a PE ticket in all good faith only to find themselves involuntarily downgraded. For many that's already happened and I can imagine how they're feeling about VS as a result. Best to limit the damage as much as possible.

On LGW flights where no PE has been sold but there is, after all, a PE cabin one would assume VS will try to sell upgrades at check-in. Or even drum up some goodwill and positive social media chatter by giving away op-ups.

[mitchja]

I wonder how many seats VS are selling in Upper Class on these routes as well? If an A333 is loaded into the res system and VS do sell all 31 seats, whats happens if the route switches to an A332 with only 18 seats in 'Upper Class' as that will leave 13 J pax with no seat ?

I would guess (or at least hope) VS are only actually selling 18 J seats on every potentially effected route, but who knows?

Seeing as it's now known what routes they will be on until late-October, how long will it be before we find out what routes VS plan to use the -200's on (PE cabin or otherwise) in November? I'm interested as I'm booked MAN-JFK in Economy in November which is showing as an A330-300, but aren't taking PE bookings now. All flights late-May till late-October on that route are now 747's I see.

Well, I remain confused. It seems the four 200 aircraft will operate primarily from Manchester, yet no London Gatwick to Caribbean flights are offering PE seats for the whole of 2018 as far as I can see. Surely this will send potential customers wanting PE across to BA in droves?

No, VS are using the -200's on a few Caribbean flights this summer. It would suggest though that they could end up being used ex-LGW for longer than already advertised.

As for BA, it will probably only attract those who really want PE, but it's difficult because although VS might lose custom, it wouldn't be a wise idea to sell PE seats only to then change the aircraft which doesn't have PE. VS have had to do that already, so is probably trying to avoid doing that for more flights if they can to avoid annoying even more passengers which, to be fair, is a sensible move IMO in a time where loyalty only goes so far for some folk.

I can’t help but think there are long term plans to keep these aircraft for VS (3+ years!)

If they’re installing a PE cabin later in the year, and have begun fully painting, this would seem like these aircraft are here to stay, and when the 787s return to service, could enable further route expansions?

Just my two pence worth...

I read somewhere they have a four year lease.

The website and bookings have now updated to the A332 for Aug MAN-SFO. My seats were automatically reallocated in UC (not very well) but have managed to get in and pick a better match.

I suspect hat part of the problem is that Rolls are unable to be too specific about the engines re-builds- lots to do and limited capactiy.

My flight home in economy (extra leg room booked) has now changed to the 330-200. I have been moved to 18A, which is much further up the cabin & I’m concerned that I’ve been put in a windowless seat!! Does any one know which seats on this plane do not have a window? I will be absolutely gutted if I end up with this seat, as I love to look out of the window.

AB A330-200 did not have any 'blind' a row A widow seats AFAIK, though I'm not convinced the ELR seats went that far back. Worth checking.....

No PE available on our LGW ANU flight on 27/11/18 either. UC showing as only having 2 seats left on booking engine but seat map for choosing UC seats shows lots of seats left so I am expecting this to change as well.

[mitchja]

Booked MAN>ATL + JFK>MAN in late Dec 18 / early Jan 19 yesterday. Showing A333 seat maps on both flights (so far). Really hope it doesn't change but I suspect it will. No Premium being sold on either flight.

Oddly yesterday, for the JFK flight home, J showed 8 seats showing as taken, 7 of those are now showing as free today.

Who knows what will happen if VS sell all 31 J seats and then switch the A/C to an A332?

Should the strongly rumoured MAN-DEL route be confirmed and announced shortly in conjunction with Jet Airways (each airline operating on set days through the week) it's likely this will operated by the A332s too. One to watch for sure.

Jon

Should the strongly rumoured MAN-DEL route be confirmed and announced shortly in conjunction with Jet Airways (each airline operating on set days through the week) it's likely this will operated by the A332s too. One to watch for sure.

Jon

Very interesting, MAN-Asia is quite a gap in the market, I was hoping VS would exploit this.

[mitchja]

Another wave of changes just announced, affecting LGW routes between August - October:

IMG_0034.png (152.39 KiB) Viewed 8246 times

I think basically it looks like the 4 330-200s will operate from MAN and LGW and the 330-300s will all move to LHR

I think basically it looks like the 4 330-200s will operate from MAN and LGW and the 330-300s will all move to LHR

Whilst sort of predictable (VS keep the full product available at LHR to compete with BA), it's also such a shame.

BA abandoned all UK regional airports for long-haul travel. VS have has the foresight to expand in MAN. I know the RR engine troubles are beyond their control, but once again, as soon as the chips are down, London wins every time.

MAN Premium Economy? MAN Clubhouse? I would not mind if the MAN Upper Class fares were cheaper to compensate for the loss of a Clubhouse, but they're not. Normally to within a £ of two of ex-LON fares.

We are travelling to BGI later this month UC out PE Back.

We have decided, due to the growing uncertainty of aircraft that our Feb/March 2019 trip will not now be with VS which is a great shame but of their own making.
We have been loyal for the last 8 seasons.

Maybe by 2020 things will be clearer.

A sad day, I doubt that I am alone

I think it’s being rather harsh on Virgin to criticise them in these circumstances. They don’t want 787’s sitting outside maintenance hangars but the reality is that RR don’t have the shop space to repair them.

An aircraft can’t fly with two of the affected serial number engines and new engines can’t be sourced. The existing engines therefore need fixes that require extensive shop time and RR don’t have that capacity.

Many airlines would simply cover the 787 issues by utilising the likes of Hi-Fly to provide wet leased aircraft to cover such issues, providing a vastly inferior product.

Instead Virgin with help from RR have taken aircraft, painted them in full colour scheme and given a Virgin refresh to what is a industry standard lie flat business seat (I believe I read somewhere it is the same design as the Emirates business class seat). The economy seating configuration is on par with their own offering. The IFE system also seems fairly decent and modern.

I’m not sure of the specifics but I’m sure there will be new seat covers, cushions, and carpets and possibly even the mood lighting.

The aircraft will just be another Virgin aircraft to all but the most educated and informed customer. Of course the lack of PE is dissapointing. As the company have said, they can’t just source PE seats in 2-3 months. There are really long lead times on new seats. If they simply could pick them off the shelf they would, as they are really good revenue earners. Of course they lack a bar but so does B747 G-VBIG.

I honestly think Virgin should be applauded for the way they are handling this unfortunate situation. It would be great if after the 787 issues are sorted these aircraft get used to open additional services from MAN to Asia, the US and
Caribbean, that may have less premium demand than their existing MAN flights.