DXB to get the 789

I’m booked on the VS400 on 3 May and it’s just switched to a 789 rather than 333.

Unsure when and where it’s opertaing the route but it seems DXB is to see the Dreamliner at last!

I think it must be selected dates - I’m booked at the middle of May and am still showing an A330 both ways.

Incidently some very competitive Y pricing via Opodo at the moment... £289 return for Economy Light for certain dates next month.

Ramadan starts in mid-May. Usually bargains to be had then.

Looks like last nights 400/401 was the first 789. Scheduled again for tonight.

Interesting and possible related - 105/106 to Seattle is now an A333

My flight to Seattle on 29th May and return on 11th June are still showing as 789s on Manage my Booking. I hope it doesn’t change as I’ve been looking forward to trying the Dreamliner.

[mitchja]

Read a few online articles this weekend that the FAA are about issue a temporary mandate to reduce the ETOPS single engine flight time from the current 330 mins down to just 140mins for all B789's fitted with Trent 1000 engines and shorter maintenance cycles until Roll Royce sort this issue out. A/C cannot be more than 140 minutes away from a usable airfield during any flight so this will likely impact TATL flights.

I wonder if this is the reason VS are switching A/C?

That does seem a very plausible explanation.

It looks like there have been no 787’s covering any of the east coast USA routes (JFK/EWR/MIA/IAD) for the past few days - all 333’s and 346’s.

Might be just a coincidence or maybe there has indeed been a change.

It does look like this switch is permanent, certainly for the foreseeable future. My flights mid May changed to a 787 last night.

Incidentally it looks like the seat selections haven’t all copied over to the new layout. Mine seem to but others haven’t. Might be worth checking if anyone is booked on this route in the next couple of months.

I was just about to post about this as a separate topic as it has screwed up my flights next weekend.

My girlfriend and I were booked into window and aisle seats together in premium out to DXB. We're on separate bookings (me on revenue, GF on miles) which I know is risky. I happened to be looking at our bookings this morning and noticed our seats have changed, I now have a middle seat in premium and my GF has been downgraded to economy. No-one had told us.

I called flying club and just kept getting told Computer Says No. Asked why they had picked me to move as an AU. Can they not put my GF back and downgrade someone else - must be something they can do to help out an AU. No, Computer Says No.

There are now eight seats available in Upper (there were none previously) but none are G and nothing they can do with those.

We're flying UC on the way back - I hope they don't mess that up for us too!

Very frustrating that they won't help out an AU who is flying every three weeks with them for the next few months especially as they haven't told anyone about the seat moves yet.

How infuriating.

I’m sure the agent you spoke to didn’t forget to tell you your girlfriend is entitled to a 75% refund of the miles for that leg as compensation, as mandated by EC261/2004.

Don’t give up hope altogether - anything can happen at the airport. Even if check-in can’t or won’t sort things out, try asking the Clubhouse concierge. I’ve found they can sometimes make the seemingly impossible possible.

Yes, I've always found the clubhouse concierge to be excellent so will definitely ask them for help if I can't fix it before then. My guess is that with 8 seats available in UC now that at least one will turn into G over the next few days.

There was no mention of EU261 but I will definitely claim the mileage back (I booked her using my miles) if its not sorted. I am surprised they won't jiggle things for an AU though, all they did was tell me that they'd kept me in Premium (in the wrong seat) because I was AU!

This sounds so frustrating for you, especially as an AU I’d be very surprised if they didn’t manage to sort something out for you at the airport. Do try phoning Club again and speaking to a different agent - this has been known to make a difference before.

PE loads seem to be very high on this route, a lot of VH traffic I’d imagine. PE is completely full on my outbound yet there are still 17 seats free in UC.

Please let us know how it works out.

Yes, the flight is full (so in reality overbooked) in both E and PE with 8 seats left in UC:

J8 C6 D6 I4 Z2 W0 S0 H0 K0 Y0 B0 R0 L0 U0 M0 E0 Q0 X0 N0 O0 V0 T0

I will let you now how I get on!

Given how prem heavy the route is I think this will be a nightmare for VS right now. I am travelling next weekend as well - coming back I notice its just switched to a 789 but my seat has remained the same, I'm travelling on an S class ticket as AU though so fingers crossed they keep me where I am.

My outbound to Seattle has now been changed to an A333. Inbound still shows as a 789 but I suspect that may change as well. I had seat selections of 10A for my wife and 11A for me. As the A333 only has 10 rows in A, mine has changed to 10A and my wife’s to 10K which is not ideal. There’s no A seats left, but 11G is free. Does anyone have experience of what that seat’s like?

Both my LHR-DXB outbound and inbound flights in late May have changed from the A333 to the 789. I'm calling this a good thing.

My UC seats in row A haven’t changed, nor do the need to as the configurations are so similar (not the same as PE as the above poster is realizing). The 788 is better in row A because there’s no front lav down that aisle so there’s considerably less foot traffic.