VS39 LHR-ORD canceled this morning

Hi all,
Well Mrs. Clubman was really looking forward to her PE flight this morning to ORD, and we were told upon arrival to the airport that it had been canceled.
They opened a desk where they were rebooking everyone, and were putting almost everyone on AA or UA downgrading any PE passengers to Y of course...

About 2 hours later and after a lot of persistence (lucky I went in with her...) she was booked on one of the BA flights in World Traveler plus.
At first they were insisting BA have no seats, and even showed me the computer showing as 0, I insisted they have at least 3 seats on the 12:45 flight.
I have to say that the girl really did go out of her way to sort it out.

This I guess is the problem when there is just one flight a day!

Anyway, just curious, anyone know what went wrong with the aircraft? (it was a maintenance issue apparently)

That's very unfortunate and I hope Mrs C reached ORD safely and not to delayed.

Now, I'm going to be very harsh about VS here (and there's a personal twist because I use this route a lot and don't want it to happen to me) ... VS have cancelled the 39 at least five times this year and it's only early March (as far as I am aware none of these was because the plane went tech, today excepting).

Yes, loads are bad and light (on one of my trips there were 24 people on board!) but when I asked the FSM about this on my last trip she said VS were committed to it, and the cargo more than compensated for light loads.

Any other route cancelled so frequently though? Come on VS, get a grip of your plane issues if it is the lack of them causing this.

Yes, loads are bad and light (on one of my trips there were 24 people on board!)

How come it never happens to me, my flights are always full. Are there certain days which are lighter than others?

we were told upon arrival to the airport that it had been canceled.

i was just wondering whether VS cancel the flights due to the poor loads.

Originally posted by clubman
(it was a maintenance issue apparently)

Just to clarify, this is what we were told, not necessarily the real story...

Perhaps it's down to other routes with greater loads experiencing technical failures and the aircraft from this route being used as a replacement ?

And I certainly wouldn't like to be put in a UA or AA economy cabin having been booked PE. From my experiences in both they're a downgrade from VS Economy.

Paul

Originally posted by pjh
And I certainly wouldn't like to be put in a UA or AA economy cabin having been booked PE. From my experiences in both they're a downgrade from VS Economy.

A downgrade even from VS Economy I would say...

It is showing delayed until 14.30 today as well. Not VS's most reliable route I think.

Originally posted by anteo
It is showing delayed until 14.30 today as well. Not VS's most reliable route I think.

Well the weather is delaying quite a few flights today, so it may be that. Looks like people are in for bumpy take offs and landings all round today!

Actually, looking at the BAA LHR flight information it looks a real mess!

Originally posted by slinky09
Well the weather is delaying quite a few flights today, so it may be that. Looks like people are in for bumpy take offs and landings all round today!

Quite strong crosswinds at STN and EDI and a long time before we breached the cloud cover on the way up.

I only heard of one flight from STN being cancelled before 9 a.m. due to the weather, and that was to Rotterdam. There were a fair number of flights running late though even first thing, so I'm glad I'm not flying back this evening after all the knock on delays.

Paul

Paul

Originally posted by anteo
It is showing delayed until 14.30 today as well. Not VS's most reliable route I think.

Now showing 17.30

and there was a VS1601 to Jo'burg this morning on LHR departures?!

[Neil]

Originally posted by clarkeysntfc
and there was a VS1601 to Jo'burg this morning on LHR departures?!

VS usually add a '1' to a flight number if it was delayed/cancelled the day before so not to have two flights departing on the same day with the same flight number.

Yesterday's JNB flight was cancelled and left at just gone 9am this morning as flight VS1601.

Question:
If the VS39 is cancelled, and you were booked in PE..
..and they put you in BA WTP, for example, same day.

Can you still use the Clubhouse (as VS Gold)?
Do you still get VS miles/TPs?

Can you still use the Clubhouse (as VS Gold)?
Do you still get VS miles/TPs?

1. Probably not as the BA flight will go from a different terminal and you would have to wait there for your flight
2. Yes, if you are rerouted involuntarily you should still get miles/tp's

Ah yes, I forgot about different terminals. Doh!

Originally posted by McMaddog

Originally posted by anteo
It is showing delayed until 14.30 today as well. Not VS's most reliable route I think.

Now showing 17.30

And finally left just after 18:00, 7 hours late!

Originally posted by pjh
Perhaps it's down to other routes with greater loads experiencing technical failures and the aircraft from this route being used as a replacement ?

And I certainly wouldn't like to be put in a UA or AA economy cabin having been booked PE. From my experiences in both they're a downgrade from VS Economy.

Paul

Correct. Aircraft are not dedicated to specific routes. If an aircraft goes tech, ops will juggle the fleet to try and avoid any service being cancelled. If a service has to be cancelled, they will obviously choose the flight that is going to allow for the easiest management of the consequences. If the ORD flight has the lowest loads out of all the proceeding flights that have to operated, once the problem has arisen, then this is the flight that will be cancelled. Fewer people to have to rebook. It appears ORD may be one of the worst performing LHR flights from comments made here, and therefore is the one that will be most affected when there is a spate of tech issues.

AF

VS39 information from ExpertFlyer:
On Time 57%
Delay Avg 18m
Delay Max 44m
# Flights:
Total 53
Cancelled 5
Diverted 0
Late:
>15m 10
>30m 8
>45m 0

It seems that when it does fly it's not too bad however 5 cancelled out of 53 flights nears 10% [:(]

Read today in a London paper that the load on the BA route recently coming back from ORD was 5 people!! Oops!

Well the ORD was cancelled again on Friday (9th), after a bit of hassle at the airport I made it home on AA, will do a TR when I get round to it [;)]

Just re-reading this thread it has occurred to me.

If you are in PE and get moved to an AA or UA flight in economy, I would definitely want my miles and TP's, but would you be reimbursed financially as you have paid for a 'premium' product and not received it?

We must have been lucky, we flew this route only 2 weeks ago, both inbound and outbound, no delays. The loads were light, there were only about 15/20 in UC.