V-Flyer

I've been in contact with Virgin Engineering about the sale of the old J2000 seats as the new Suites are rolled out accross the fleet. They are selling them off and they've given me the name of the man in charge. I've emailed him for the details. As soon as I have them I'll post them here. They have stressed that they will not be selling the seats to anyone who will put them to "Commercial Use" - what would they make of my office?[:I]

Once again the people at Virgin have proved themselves worthy of our loyalty. Prompt and friendly emails. The original email was passed on three times to get the answer - many airlines just wouldn't bother to respond.

Nice one Jon.

We will wait with interest.

Nick

Great news Jon, I'll add a pair to my ex Fifth Floor Restaurant chairs, more of a talking point!

I do not know where they are going to go but I want a pair

Cool - I'll be interested in a pair for my new LHR Clubhouse themed office at my new house.....

Keep us updated Jon!

Thanks,
Richard

Looks like that could be ten five pairs so far? Maybe we can get a bulk discount?

Would any other interested members please post to this thread, thank you.


Edited because I can't count (obviously) [:I]

Im really interested, they would look so cool in my house!!

I'm up for a pair, so make it 11 pairs. Must be a discount given those numbers.

No reply from the man at VA as yet, but I only emailed him on 26/02. I'll give him until middle of next week, if still no reply I'll give him a call.

I'll certainly mention that plenty of people from this site are interested and see if we can get a discount, maybe even FF miles!;) I wish!

Anyone like to hazard a guess at the price? If they're not to be used for commercial purposes then this surely makes them virtually worthless?

I'd be happy to pay 50 quid each for a pair.

Presumably we will have to organise collection and distribution, anyone have a lorry?

quote:I'd be happy to pay 50 quid each for a pair.

At that sort of price, I reckon I'd be interested too

Well are you ready? The man from Virgin says:

"Jonathan, Virgin would be in a position to sell you some of these seats. As they are still a current product we would need some assurances about their use and where they would be placed. I would also have to seek approval from the product department if you wished to retain the Virgin colour scheme. We are having some success in selling them as whole ships sets for use by another airline so it may be several months before we would have some available to sell you, but I think there is a good chance we would be able to supply 5-10 pairs. The seats come without In flight entertainment systems. As a guide we are getting well in excess of £1000 per seat place or £2000 per pair currently so you would need to offer in excess of
these numbers. If this is a more than you had hoped you may be better to wait to the other end of our installation programme and see what we have in the way of leftovers, particularly if you had seats that had no tables or electrical drives (eg the expensive spare parts) they would be a good deal cheaper. I won't know about these for around 12 months."

They'd need to be - looks like it's way over my budget [V]. If anyone is interested then please email me and I'll give you the contact details.

Anyone like to speculate who the other airline is?

Jon,

A little over what I was considering, guess I will wait for the 'left-overs'. [:0]

As for which airline, well that would be interesting to discover!

Jon

Thanks for the update - too rich for me to!!

Please let us know if the 'leftovers' are any cheaper.

Nick

Yup, thanks for the update, but waaaay outta my price league. Would rather put that towards a suite seat that's going over the pond

Oh dear a bit pricey at <£2000 I think I have seen Qatar airlines publicity pictures with what looked like J2000 seating and they do have some hook-up with VS I think they use the LHR clubhouse.

Cool - I'm off to the Maldives in Nov with Qatar airways via Doha - would be good if they did offer the J2000 seats in their J class

Yikes, a bit far outside my price-range also.

I hope the prices will drop later in the year as one of those seats would look great at my computer desk!

TJ

I think the other airline is Lufthansa. If you have a look at airliners.net and go to the photo search page and search for A340-600 Cabin Views, you will see that the seats are the same shape as the J2000 seats (In Luftansha seat covers.) You will also see on the General Discussion board of this website, a forum about LH new A340-600 seats.

Thanks

Its a different seat just a rip off of j2000

Hi Jaguar pig, actually looking at the LH biz cabin pic on the LH A340-600 it does look different than VS's. I wonder who the airline is that the J2000 seats are going to
BTW: I think that LH's rip off J2000 is terrible, but it doesn't matter, when the largest biz flat bed is rolling out with VS and their bar and massage and service!

Hi Dan

I too would love to know who the other airline is, as the J2000 seats have been the start of so many great holidays. My contact at Virgin is remaining tight lipped and the official line is "that's commercially sensitive information". As far as I can see, there are two possibilities:

a) they've sold them to a similar size airline due to the relatively few number of seats involved

b) they've sold the seats to a larger airline along with the design/patent rights to allow the other airline to copy them en-mass.

Regards
Jon

I think I have said somewhere on here before Qatar airways have a seat that looks like J2000 http://www.qatarairways.com/InFlight/BusinessClass.htm After just finding this picture I am not so sure looks more like the LH seat.

I seriously doubt that either Qatar or LH would buy the old J2000 seats. If you look on the Qatar website, i think you will find that whilst the seats look like the J2000 they are in fact an updated version. I also cant believe that a carrier as 'rich' as Qatar would buy a brand new 330 and then put in a 7 year old J2000 seat- just doesnt make sense. Remember that Qatar are supposed to be the new EK? I cant see them buying second hand goods.

I would guess that the seats are being sold to a far easten 'charter' type carrier. Wouldnt mind betting that someone like Orient Thai or Pukhet Air have snapped them up. Indeed Pukhet Air are now operating to lGW from Bangkok using a 747 so could well be them. Africa would also be a good plae to look for an answer! I doubt it will be a major carrier who has brought them.

The Qatar J seats are 'kind of' similar to J2000 but they dont go down as far towards the floor as J2000 seats do. The Qatar J seat is a lot chunkier and a lot less comfortable IMHO too. On board service is also not a patch of VS Upper Class.

Regards