V-Flyer

Please be careful when referring to LGW based 744.

I read many times about the ex-Alitalia planes!!!

The aircraft are not ex alitalia aircraft, this sounds like they are second hand!!!

Alitalia changed there order from 744 to 777 and Virgin took the chance to get 5 brand new 744 from the Boeing factory.

So the aircraft are Virgin aircraft not Alitalia ones!!

Hi declansmith,

Thanks for that. I will try to be more accurate in future ( how about " new planes from a cancelled Alitalia order?"

Regards

TBS

Or even just LGW based 744.

Customer Relations get a bit annoyed when people refer to the Alitalia planes.

A while ago crew were told not to refer to them as 'ex-alitalia' planes because there were not Alitalia but brand new Virgin Atlantic ones!

Hehe so if I phone up Customer Relations and say "I hope I am not booked on one of those rubbish Alitalia aircraft"... it would not go down well? tee hee.

I must admit I think I am guilty of referring to them as Ex-Alitalia oops. [}:)]

I agree this must get a little confusing for some!

I guess this is systematic of the fact that the LGW fleet have a non VS product on board - i.e. different upperclass seats, and Nova IFE.

After Suites & V:Port get fitted people will hopefully more fluently refer to them as the LGW fleet!

my two cents!

Yep would be good onces the fleet is standardized. If I was a frequent traveller I think I would get bothered that a lot of the aircraft come in different flavours

quote:Originally posted by declansmith
A while ago crew were told not to refer to them as 'ex-alitalia' planes because there were not Alitalia but brand new Virgin Atlantic ones!

Out of interest, as I have never travelled on one, do these aircraft have bilingual Italian/English placards and signage? Or is it 100% English?

Mike

The majority of LGW pax are holiday makers and would not know the difference between LGW and LHR planes.

The main thing is the IFE and as long as the plane has it they are happy.

The inside and outside looks just like any other Virgin aircraft and the J seats just look like pre J2000 seats.

Mike

quote:Out of interest, as I have never travelled on one, do these aircraft have bilingual Italian/English placards and signage? Or is it 100% English?

If memory serves me well, the only place you notice any "Italian" influence is in the loos;)

Declan

I too have hae been remis in the past about referring to the LGW fleet - please accept my apologies as they are fine aircraft with crew to match. IMHO much better than the competition out of LGW

Buns

The planes may be owned by Virgin, but the UC seats and the IFE on these planes were what Alitalia ordered, not Virgin standard. And the Recaros are different from the old-style UC seats too. Sorry Declan, but I'll keep on referring to 'em as the Alitalia (cancelled) planes until VS kit them out properly in Upper Class. (Hopefully only another 6 months to wait until this gets started).

Oh, and I may be in a minority, but I would like to think that plenty of people who travel VS on business also like flying with them on holiday. That's what we do, after all, and we do notice little details of difference like the UC seating, IFE, bar (or absence thereof), lack of an arrivals lounge at LGW etc etc.

Sure, VS is still a great service ex-LGW, just don't try and convince me that the planes compare with those ex-LHR. At least not yet...

BC

I'm with BC re: noticing the difference but I suspect we are unrepresentative of the normal (modal) passenger group from LGW whilst probably being representative of the demographic of this board.

Only plus point for these is the upper deck exclusive PE cabin had fantastic flights and service up here.

The only problem I have ever had with these planes is the Nova IFE.

The main plus points that VS have for me as an economy passenger - i.e. the staff, the food and the attitude are the same, no matter what metal you fly on.

Nick