GVSUN back with VS

Not unusual for a hangar to be booked up years in advance & if 'UN' was a surprise return to VS SRT would be hard pushed to getthe aircraft in for a big job like IFE/Cabin refit.

Originally posted by Denzil
Not unusual for a hangar to be booked up years in advance & if 'UN' was a surprise return to VS SRT would be hard pushed to getthe aircraft in for a big job like IFE/Cabin refit.

If only I owned the airline, I could make it happen.

GJ

Blame commercial for VSUN coming back! They launched the Nairobi route and then thought about where the aircraft would come from....! They tried hard to work it without bringing VSUN back but because of the customer specific layouts of airbuses it was easier to bring VSUN back than lease an A343/6 from elsewhere to fill the fleet gap

Apparently later in the year a LHR 744 will opperate the route so loads of space!

In September they are using a 744 - however this is a LGW config, no Vport [:(]. At least I get to fulfil going upstairs....

I have just tried to access my booking on-line, and it has advised me there is a problem, so phone VA. They checked my booking and said there was a change and then enabled me to access my booking online again. Just gone in, and it now appears that the date for this plane to operate the NBO route has been brought forward to 2nd September. Therefore my trip on the 744 is no longer going to happen!
This accepted, is the seating plan for GVSUN the same as the A340-300 on the seat ratings chart? Also, what am I going to get in the way of PE on this flight? Thanks all

[mitchja]

The way to tell if the seat map is the old A343 config is by counting how many Upper seats there are across the cabin on your seat map.

If it's 3 (A D K)- then is an UCS A343
If it's 6 (AC DG HK) - then it's a J2000 A343 (G-VSUN)

There's also only 4 rows of PE on G-VSUN and 5 rows on all the other A343's.

The seats are the old style fabric covered PE seats with no leg rests, which where the same as what used to be on all the other A343 A/C before they where replaced with the brand new leather ones.

The message on the VS web site has now also been updated:

PASSENGERS TRAVELLING TO NAIROBI
For Passengers travelling Upper Class to Nairobi from 2 September 2007, please note the aircraft scheduled will be the Airbus A340, which has the lie flat seat. This will be for a temporary period only.

Regards

Wonder how much of a pain in the backside G-VSUN is gonna give VS to ensure that it stays on LHR-NBO circuits, especially if it goes 'tech'!

G-VSUN is scheduled to be refitted in mid April with UCS, new Premium seats...........and v:port [^]

[Nottingham Nick]

Thanks for the update Jetstreamer. [y]

If they are going to this expense, I assume they intend to keep it for the foreseeable future.

Nick

Encouraging news it will be converted. Colleagues who 'scored' this plane to BOM 3 weeks ago haven't stopped moaning about it.

Originally posted by Swanhunter
Encouraging news it will be converted. Colleagues who 'scored' this plane to BOM 3 weeks ago haven't stopped moaning about it.

I should imagine [:I] - it's a shocker that VS thought it acceptable to have this config in the fleet to start with, now for thepowers that be to realise that other dated 343s need updating with VPort, then not least the LGW fleet [n].

V:port[^]

Lets hope this extends to the rest of the A343 fleet (and over to LGW as well)

45.

Originally posted by Swanhunter
Encouraging news it will be converted. Colleagues who 'scored' this plane to BOM 3 weeks ago haven't stopped moaning about it.

Thats unlucky as the the a/c has pretty much been limited to the Nairobi route for the last 3 months.

I think I am going to give up trying to work out what the short term fleet plan for VS is. It was only 12 months ago that we were looking at G-VSUN leaving for good now she seems to be around for a long time.

I still think V:Port on the LGW fleet will depend on what happens with regards to changing or keeping the LGW 744's.

Well, it worked to BOM again on Sunday night. Thankfully I was on BA, but 3 colleagues were...and were rather underwhelmed. 10K miles were offered as compensation(which seems pretty mean as BA offer that for non functional AVOD).

Anecdotal this may be but I flew back on VS351 on 7th Feb - I was meant to fly back on 6th Feb but meeting overran - another night in Mumbai - such joy....

Anyway the IFBT told me on the 7th February VS351 flight that a lady passenger boarded the VS351 flight on 6th February - saw it was the J2000 version - and left the flight immediately and was rebooked for the following day. So narrow escape for her and me?? Nope. On the 7th the inward flight landed at DBX for a medical emergencey and we arrived in LHR at @22.00.

Not sure what was worse for her - avoiding J2000 seating or arriving @3 hours late the following day.

Anyway back in Mumbai again and back on 20th on VS351 - at least its a day flight if VSUN rears its head...

[Darren Wheeler]

If that is true, it must be nice to be able to afford to do that. It's only a seat. I wonder if it was the outbound leg??

Just found out that I'm on SUN this morning to ORD. Currently in the Clubhouse waiting for the Concierge to find out for sure that it's SUN operating the flight today. Grrrrr.

(wonder if I'll get the bonus miles?)

Originally posted by robertmalpass
Just found out that I'm on SUN this morning to ORD. Currently in the Clubhouse waiting for the Concierge to find out for sure that it's SUN operating the flight today. Grrrrr.

(wonder if I'll get the bonus miles?)

Very suprised VS are sending G-VSUN to ORD. They must have no other options for aircraft rotation. I would have though ORD would have been a priority for UCS aircraft given how competitive the route is.

VS must have more than one A343 unavailable at present which is forcing their hand..[:#]

OK, VSUN to ORD has just gone technical and the flight cancelled. Apparently there was a fuel leak. We've all be herded down to transfers and put on AA. Really disappointed as we used miles to upgrade to Upper and now we're on AA they've bumped us down to Y. However we've had a good few hours in the CH and 90mins sat on VSUN being topped up with Champers. Kudos to the VS crew who were really attentive. Boo-hoo to AA! Just looking forward to the return leg in Upper which will hopefully yield a functioning 343!!! Also relieved they discovered the fuel leak while still on stand and not half way across the Atlantic!

[Decker]

Bad news - hopefully you'll get a mileage refund for the difference. I admire your fortitude.

In a way this can be seen to travellers advantage if G-VSUN is out as the UCS is a certianty but this could be fixed by tommorow, lets hope its out until around erm...when the refit is done[}:)]

Frustrating that no replacement aircraft was available or could be found to avoid being bumped onto AA. [:?]

You seem in very good spirits given the double dose of bad news you've had already today!

Keep us posted with the correspondance you get from VS. [:)]

Sorry to hear your plans went wrong, but as said at least they spotted it on the ground. Unfortunately the T&C's already cover this:

4.2.3 In the event that any of VAA's flight programme or operations are altered, suspended, cut-back or cancelled, we are unable to guarantee that any affected reward flights booked will be honoured. Miles for such reward flights booked but not honoured will be reinstated to members' accounts. If we are able to transfer the reward flight to another airline, travel will be for economy/coach class only, subject to availability. In this instance, no miles will be refunded to the members account.

[preiffer]

Hadn't spotted that in the T's and C's before, anteo, and have to say that's HARSH. [n]

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by preiffer
Hadn't spotted that in the T's and C's before, anteo, and have to say that's HARSH. [n]

Indeed. Given that CR are more than happy to chuck miles at people for nonsense such as 'a broken IFE screen in an empty Y cabin'.

I think that T&C needs a revisit damn quickly, you never know what might come off the back of it....