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-   -   Premium economy Virgin or Norweigan? (https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1056894)

Lulu-Belle 1 Dec 17 05:36 PM

Premium economy Virgin or Norweigan?
 
Just wondering if anyone has traveled on both and can pick a favorite. The prices are quite high at the moment so i am hoping they come down.

Norwegian has had good reviews but my concern is if there is a problem with the aircraft on the day will they have another they can put us onto?

With virgin i can't seem to see seat plans for the bubble so wondering if they are only from certain airports. We will be going from London.

Thanks

loldis 2 Dec 17 12:01 AM

I haven't flown on Norwegian yet as I'm still running down my miles with VS. But FWIW, Norwegian has a much larger fleet of planes than Virgin do - about 150 planes compared to 40, I believe most of these are their shorthaul planes though. They do run fewer trans-Atlantic services though as they're still new to that market.

I am a fan of the VS PE product though, the seat width in particular which is still unmatched on these routes. Makes such a big difference to comfort on a long haul! The LGW planes have bubble seating, you want the 747 seat map which is always used on the LGW>MCO route unless there's a last minute aircraft change and no other 747s are available.

baboons 2 Dec 17 09:12 AM

This is a really positive review of Norwegian PE: https://thepointsguy.com/2016/01/nor...w-york-review/

Leyfy 2 Dec 17 09:32 AM

We've flown with both and we sat at the front of the bubble with Virgin and economy with Norwegian. If you are on the dreamliner with Norwegian you can book the exit rows for free (if you choose the tickets that allow you to choose the seats as well). We sat in row 9 which is by the exit door, has all of the legroom and we were first off of the plane!

The bubble was nice but having flown both I'd go with whoever is cheaper, which generally seems to be Norwegian as Virgin always come out really expensive when I look!

On another note, we got delayed with Aer Lingus last December going via Dublin and they didn't have any direct flights the next day to Orlando. They got us on another flight over to the US and then down to Orlando, so the carriers will get you there eventually!

Warkman58 2 Dec 17 12:27 PM

I have looked at Norweigens premiumclass and I find the prices very close to BAs Club World and AA business indirect.
BA and American business class us far superior to Norweigen s premium, including flat beds, better and more choice of lounges, plus daily flights

Just one other thing, make sure you have end user failure insurance.
This article yesterday (and quite a few other reports) was questioning norweigens long term future. Sounds a bit lije flyglobespan...

https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/art...g-and-a-prayer

Guest 2 Dec 17 03:18 PM

If your worry is just in terms of having spare planes, then you may well have the same issue with Virgin, although a bigger airline, their fleet is almost at capacity usage. I'd go with the cheapest - in all honesty the amount of times a plane goes out of service is to few to get worried about, and if it's a maintenance issue it's likely all planes are susceptible to the same issue so having more may not necessarily be a good thing

stanleycamel 3 Dec 17 04:20 PM

This email from Virgin may not be applicable to Florida routes which correspond with parallel Norwegian flights but could affect other journeys - something to bear in mind when planning especially if you are wanting to travel on 787. At the moment it is a little vague but worth keeping an eye on.


"We need to let you know of changes to our flying programme which are the result of an industry-wide shortage of the Rolls Royce engines we use on our Boeing 787 Dreamliners. We’ve had to temporarily park some aircraft of this type but we’ve been working hard to ensure we still honour our passengers’ travel plans.

We’re continuing to work with Rolls Royce to source replacement engines as soon as possible, but in the interim we’ll be proactively introducing other plans to make sure our customers can travel with certainty and in comfort. As part of this plan, we aim to lease additional aircraft into our fleet. These will be Virgin Atlantic aircraft, operated by our pilots and managed by our world class cabin crew. This will ensure our customers continue to receive the service and experience they know and love us for.

This has led to some changes in our available inventory and as a result, on a small number of services it will not be possible to book Premium Economy seats.

We’re currently working on exactly what our flying programme will look like so we can’t give specific route and date details at this point, but you may currently find less Premium Economy availability on some of our flights. As soon as we have final clarity over the dates and routes we will share this information with you."

scooby99 4 Dec 17 02:49 PM

Hi, further to stanleycamel's post, there was very good article on HeadforPoints over the weekend re Virgin & their PE service; they advise that those with PE bookings keep a closer eye on them.

salmim 4 Dec 17 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooby99 (Post 12967103)
Hi, further to stanleycamel's post, there was very good article on HeadforPoints over the weekend re Virgin & their PE service; they advise that those with PE bookings keep a closer eye on them.

Yes I read this to, seems the 787s are "dogs" with major engine issues and Virgin have 2 or 3 out of service for some time. Be really frustrating if end up on a replacement plane with no PE.

florida girl 5 Dec 17 12:34 AM

We flew VA to Miami recently our original booking was on a Dreamliner and got changed to a 767 both ways. We were in PE .The planes we flew on were both old style so that might explain the change.


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