New LHR 744 config

The new 744 LHR config has been revealed... which will be rolling out with the new Echo Wcl seats (though some aircraft may get new seats or config before the other) and due to the popularity of the VS Upper and Premium Cabins we'll be seeing more seats in both.

Upper from 44 to 54
Premium from 32 to 62
Economy down from 310 to 228

[mitchja]

Thanks Ben [y]

Upper from 44 to 54

Only place I can think of to put an extra 10 UCS seats would be on the upper deck? That would mean PE only on main deck though [:?]

Regards

Wowwww, they are some pretty big changes.... 10 extra J seats and 30 extra PE seats!!!! Does this mean the end for PE seating upstairs though??? I would imagine that the extra J seating will be upstairs...

Good move VS....[y]

Hmmm.. not sure about this one. No PE on upper deck? That's a blow for PE travellers... and more UC seats slightly dilutes the current product.

Perhaps.

[HighFlyer]

Thanks Ben! Just goes to show the changing demands of the consumer.

I'm hoping the bubble goes all PE, but i am doubtful.

Thanks,
Sarah

[mcmbenjamin]

Wow! Great. When will this all be done?

And I'll be the first to ask, Will this total refit include a V:Port or new IFE install? (assuming no)

[Neil]

Wondered how long it would be before VS started having more PE seats. They seem to becoming very popular, and like Sarah, I hope that it will go all PE upstairs like the LGW a/c, leaving the new J seats to be downstairs instead of the Y seats.

Neil:)

And I'll be the first to ask, Will this total refit include a V:Port or new IFE install? (assuming no)

These aircraft already have V-Port

I cannot see VS moving the existing PE seating that is downstairs to install extra UC seating. They will want to keep the 3 classes all together for the benefit of the onboard staff and for better service.

The only answer can be to install UC upstairs and the extra PE seating behind the current PE seating downstairs....

I am chuffed with the extra availability but it will be a shame to see the PE seating go upstairs....

Originally posted by Attitude23
Wondered how long it would be before VS started having more PE seats. They seem to becoming very popular, and like Sarah, I hope that it will go all PE upstairs like the LGW a/c, leaving the new J seats to be downstairs instead of the Y seats.

On the LHR a/c my money (such as it is) would be on all U/C in the bubble and the extension of the PE section downstairs back over the wing (rows 30 - 38). I can't see them pushing UCS further back in the lower cabin due to the noise factor.

Perhaps LGW / MAN will now become in demand for those who want to travel PE in style [}:)]

Paul

Originally posted by pjh

Originally posted by Attitude23
They seem to becoming very popular, and like Sarah, I hope that it will go all PE upstairs like the LGW a/c, leaving the new J seats to be downstairs instead of the Y seats.

On the LHR a/c my money (such as it is) would be on all U/C in the bubble and the extension of the PE section downstairs back over the wing (rows 30 - 38). I can't see them pushing UCS further back in the lower cabin due to the noise factor.
Paul

Oh, I hope not! I hope there's still UC on the main deck. The one reason I like UC is the suite makes it possible for me to fly long-hauls with my legs up and not spend 2x days recuperating. Too many back injuries from too many horses! [B)] Stairs uptop to UC? I have one of those rebuilt knees too; I do stairs as a last resort. Unless the bar is moved uptop as well, there goes my socializing.

I like the pointy end... make mine 9K, please! [y]

Agree with the view that the upper deck will become all, er, Upper. additional 10 seats = 5 rows which sounds a pretty good fit.

This also means the same simple arrangement when boarding via the front door - left or upstairs for Upper, right for PE and Economy.

My 2 questions would be:

1) Assuming upstairs becomes all Upper, how would this work with the existing 2 toilets location and the snooze zone? Would upstairs become all snooze zone? Not sure how many toilets are at the back of the bubble in PE.

2) Bearing in mind my displeasure at the lack of 'freedom' with regards to food on my last flight, how on earth will Virgin keep the freedom concept alive with another 10 Upper pax?

Thanks,

David.

Do you have a seat map that we can see V-BEN?

If you think about this sensibly there is no real benefit for UC on the upper deck, where as there is a benefit of PE on the upper deck. I can see PE on upper deck in total and UC reaching further down the cabin and just over the wing.

LGW/MAN will be following when????

Paul

Soon I hope!

[fozzyo]

Oooh sounds good! Would be great if they made upstairs exclusively PE. Really help add that extra to the product.

[mcmbenjamin]

Will there be a bigger bar or IFBT area? Possibly locate both in the upper deck to create a lounge mood.....

Just as a thought, would moving UC any further back not mean that you'd get Y passengers trapsing through during boarding? I seem to recall that the UC aisle is narrower than in the other classes, would loading from Door 2 and having 200+ people walking through a rearwardly extended UC not be asking for trouble? It seems to me that keeping UC forward of 2 and upstairs is more sensible from an operation standpoint...?

Just as a thought, would moving UC any further back not mean that you'd get Y passengers trapsing through during boarding? I seem to recall that the UC aisle is narrower than in the other classes, would loading from Door 2 and having 200+ people walking through a rearwardly extended UC not be asking for trouble? It seems to me that keeping UC forward of 2 and upstairs is more sensible from an operation standpoint...?

Having people walking through UC to reach other areas is a very bad idea[V] People bash the suites as it is, so adding an extra 200+ people to the mixture would not be helpful indeed.
TBH, I don't really like this new config at all. Firstly, it dilutes the product of both classes as James (I think[:I]) said. Secondly, one has even less chance of securing a treatment on board in UC.

BTW, you need to have seats in a certain class on both decks to allow for wheelchair access.

VS.

Originally posted by vs_itsallgood

Originally posted by pjh

On the LHR a/c my money (such as it is) would be on all U/C in the bubble and the extension of the PE section downstairs back over the wing (rows 30 - 38). I can't see them pushing UCS further back in the lower cabin due to the noise factor.
Paul

Oh, I hope not! I hope there's still UC on the main deck. The one reason I like UC is the suite makes it possible for me to fly long-hauls with my legs up and not spend 2x days recuperating. Too many back injuries from too many horses! [B)] Stairs uptop to UC? I have one of those rebuilt knees too; I do stairs as a last resort. Unless the bar is moved uptop as well, there goes my socializing.

I like the pointy end... make mine 9K, please! [y]

I don't think there's any danger of UCS moving from its current position at the pointy end, just that (IMO) the bubble on LHR 744s will have 10 UCS added to those already there, replacing the PE seats, becoming exclusively UCS rather than the UCS / PE mix that currently prevails.

Paul

From looking at the seat map, 228 in Y seems to be more or less from row 49 back[:?]

VS.

IMHO one of the biggest drawbacks from this change in setup will be the addition of two middle seats in PE (2x4x2) as the cabin is extended rearwards. Until now PE has had a very nice 2x2 setup on the LHR 744s.

AF

[mitchja]

Originally posted by VS045
From looking at the seat map, 228 in Y seems to be more or less from row 49 back[:?]

VS.

I think Y would start at row 39, as the front Y cabin (rows 30 - 37) has 76 seats in it. Take away the 6 seats in row 38 as well and there's your -82 Y seats.

Then put 7 rows of W seats in that cabin as 2-3-2 = 49 W seats, together with the 12 W seats already on the main deck gives you 61 W seats close to the number Ben mentioned in first first post.

Not forgetting the 10 extra J seats on the upper deck.

That's my guess anyway

Regards

I wouldn't fancy being involved with an a/c going tech with the new config, all 5 LHR 744's are used on daily cycles so one route would have to be sacrificed.

The replacement a/c can only be an Airbus which would have approx 10 less J seats and a minimum of 24 less W seats. If the flight was pretty well booked you would have a very large number of unhappy passengers being downgraded, re-routed or travelling the following day.

One disadvantage to the new config but potentially only a problem in a very, very small number of instances....

Im hoping PE stays on the upper deck, although it looks doubtful. Knew i should have made the most of it the other day...