VS027 & VS015: Why 2 flights to MCO?

Dear All,

I'm intrigued to understand why Virgin operate 2 daily flights to MCO (1.25hrs apart). Is it because of high demand? I can understand during the summer holidays when the kids are off school but surely demand falls afterwards. I fly with family next Tuesday on VS015 in PE. I was wondering how full our flight will be considering there is a 747-400 taken off 1.25hrs before? We have reserved seats (made during phone booking) and have checked the website which shows the allocation (74A,C & H) for those of you who are interested.
What happens if PE is fully booked, are we likely to be upgraded to UC even with a 3.5 year boy? I read no one under 12 years is allowed in UC so would we be downgraded to Economy?
Trip report will follow post flights.

Cheers

NeilH:)

Hi Neil

Basically, yes it is due to high demand. In addition we have a daily 747 from MAN and during the peak periods we have a 3rd daily 747 from LGW! The VS27 isn't actually operating on Tuesdays at the moment (quiet period prior to half-term) but generally flights are full eg tomorrow VS15 440pax, VS27 435pax (on 439 seater, incl overbooking factor). Your flight has 410 booked at the moment. If classes are overbooked then pax will be upgraded but I'm not sure about the policy regarding children.

Cheers
Alan

I can tell you all about the kidz.

We have been opuped twice PE to UC to ANU and back, our kids were 8 and 11 then.

Booked UC to MCO dec kids will be 9 and 13. No problem[8D][8D]

FA in UC told me how nice my children were[:0] I replied that they were always nice when asleep[:o)]

Only problem now is they always ask me if we can fly UC[:0]

Whatever class on VS its always a laugh[:p]

Gents,

Many thanks for your useful responses!:)
I was wondering if you/anyone had some tips regarding overbooked flights and how to deal with them in order to get a satisfactory outcome bearing in mind I shall be travelling with my wife and 3.5 year old son. As stated, I shall be flying VS015 PE to MCO and returning VS006 from Miami. Being bumped up to UC will be nice but with a 3.5 year old? Yes, asleep they are!:D
Looks like my flight is nearing capacity - all I can say is Florida is very popular with us brits![8D]

Cheers

Cheers,

You asked a guru these questions and i will try to help but remember i am no guru just a VS fan who has learned alot. Moderators will step in where i go wrong;) and get all embarresed when i do[:I]

Remember on the MCO flights UC row 11 and 12 are usually used as PE ie UC seat with PE service. if this is the case then there are only 16 seats in UC (14 in UCS config). so not much space up
front for opup.

Cant help with over booking, only ever happened to me once with BA [:0] not BA i hear you say:D. offered us £100.00 each to fly home venice via hanburg???? (i think) late on a sunday with 2 little people. I think not![}:)]

You could always come along in January when my 3 year old will be hogging an UC suite! :D:D

[quote]Originally posted by AlanA
You could always come along in January when my 3 year old will be hogging an UC suite! :D:D

You spoil that child, you must stop before they are 4 or 5 othwise they remember how nice it is and will demant UC travel forever:D I know and my bank manager knows[:0]

Joking aside my two totally spoilt kids (their defence is that its my choise to spoil them) are heading into uncharted waters here. I can just see my daughter being taken on holiday by a boyfriend and her saying "what do you mean NOT VS UCS !!!!":D:D:D

Makes me giggle:)

How overbooking is delt with depends upon the airline and the airport oyur flying from. Here are some examples of carriers dealing with overbooking:

Air NZ: Services from AKL to Fiji are always over booked, they ask if u mind traveling on the Air Pacific Service which departs 30mins later or if that is overbooked then mind staying in Auckland hotel for the night and being given $300NZ to travel on the flight the next day- seat is guaranteed!

Singapore: This has to be the most generous overbooking reward i have ever been offered. 3 flights a day LHR-SIN, my 6pm departure was full! If I waited until the 10.30pm departure then they would upgrade me to business class from Y, provide me with £200, overnight accomodation in Singapore for connecting flight (if needed or £150 if not) and a free return Y ticket to any SQ destination in the world!

Air Canada: Had an a/c change due to atech reason and 20 people had to be left behind. Voulnteers asked for- no one forth coming, so they just picked 20 people at random upon boarding and they were put on the later flight to LHR or flown out the next day.

VS: Now this one was a few years ago now. But the LGW routes were full, was offered to fly to MAN and then bus to LGW, if i did this then i could have 2 free Y class tickets to any VS destination for use in the next year.


So different airlines sort out overbooking in different ways. Rememember all airlines overbook! 9 tiems out of 10 you will be asked and if u say u dont want to take up there generous offers then they will leave you alone. In the case of the air canada service mentioned above, all pax took up the problem with AC and recieved 2 free Y flights! So dont worry about overbooking- the above egs show how they treat Y class pax so PE and UC will get much better service than that! This all help?

quote:Originally posted by stephen

Originally posted by AlanA
You could always come along in January when my 3 year old will be hogging an UC suite! :D:D

You spoil that child, you must stop before they are 4 or 5 othwise they remember how nice it is and will demant UC travel forever:D I know and my bank manager knows[:0]

Joking aside my two totally spoilt kids (their defence is that its my choise to spoil them) are heading into uncharted waters here. I can just see my daughter being taken on holiday by a boyfriend and her saying "what do you mean NOT VS UCS !!!!":D:D:D

Makes me giggle:)

Stephen,
does the boyfriend know what its going to cost him over the years?? as you will of course be demanding that she spil you in your dotage the way you spoilt her :D

AlanA

I think that i am well aware that i will be funding my kids till the day they put me in that long wooden box:D:D:D

quote:Originally posted by stephen
AlanA

I think that i am well aware that i will be funding my kids till the day they put me in that long wooden box:D:D:D

and if anything like me, afterwards as well! :D:D:D

AlanA

VV Funny, you made me laugh, cough and splutter!!!!!!!!!! just hope they look after me and mrs me when we are old and frail. we spend loadz of time with my wife's inlaws, hope to take them RTW with us next year. So that's the payback for them helping us:D:D:D + they are fun and never moan:)

There is no age limit for a child travelling in ANY class, including Upper.

Declan,
That is one of the reasons why we fly with Virgin, they do not restrict passengers by age to a certain cabin, on the MCO route only Virgin and BA as far as I know do not restrict.

It would, however, be easier for us to fly from MAN, but as Virgin do not have their own clubhouse, our son is unable to go into any of the lounges there, they all have age restrictions on them.

Dear All,

Thank you for your feedback!:D:DSorry for delayed response.
May be I got the age restrictions with the Clubhouse mixed up.[:I]
I'm encouraged to hear this chaps:D.
I understand the UCS for the LGW fleet has not yet started. Am I correct?

Hi Neil

1st LGW 744 to be UCS'd is VROS which goes to Dublin on Fri 01 Oct. VFAB will come over from LHR to cover.

Cheers
Alan

Hi Alan,

Thanks for that!:)
How's my flight doing for next Tuesday?

Rgds,

Alan,

I know this has been debated before, but as the first LGW refit is only a week away do you know if they are getting V:port (with new PE and Y seats) or an upgraded Nova[:(] ?

Hi Neil

418 booked now...still spare seats in all classes.

Hi Kpen

I enquired today and it turns out that the LGW 744s were planned to get v:port but due to the excessive cost they will indeed get a Nova software upgrade which will mean 4 extra movie channels and 5 extra tv channels. No games though [:(] I've got no info on what PE/Y seats will be installed I'm afraid.

Cheers
Alan

quote:Originally posted by airchabum
Hi Kpen

I enquired today and it turns out that the LGW 744s were planned to get v:port but due to the excessive cost they will indeed get a Nova software upgrade which will mean 4 extra movie channels and 5 extra tv channels. No games though [:(]
Cheers
Alan

Well, that just sucks [:(][xx(]
LGW gets no V-Touch on board, smaller bar, no Revivals, no V-port, none of the extras which are advertised as specials at the LHR clubhouse for the same cost

AlanA

BUT:D It will be a fab cabin with just 14 UCS just like the finest 1st cabins in the world. FA will have just 14 pax to lookafter:):):)
I think the LGW UCS will be better than LHR[:0]

Hi Declan

quote:Originally posted by declansmith
There is no age limit for a child travelling in ANY class, including Upper.

I'm sure I've read that the UCS doesn't take bassinets or sky cots so doesn't this rule out babies by default once the entire fleet is fitted?

I know its all down to cost, but surely with LGW having the B+S routes so more children on board, wouldn't installing some games make sense, to keep the children quite on long flights.

So the VS fleet (seats and IFE) will still not be the same for a long time to come!! [:(][:(!]

There is a bassinet position on the A340-600 fitted with the UCS. As modifications to the UCS are rolled out, the 747-400s will have a bassinet position as well.

It would be great to have IFE and seat commonality across the fleet. However with costs continuing to rise (especially oil) it will be a while before this becomes a reality.

quote:Originally posted by airchabum
Hi Neil

418 booked now...still spare seats in all classes.

Cheers Alan, thanks for that. With 4 days left I wonder if we are heading towards overbooking territory? It would be nice to have a few seats spare on the upper deck (PE):)

Cheers!