Premium economy Virgin or Norweigan?

[diddyskipper]

We’ve flown both Norwegian and VA, and from our experience we will never fly Norwegian again. Terrible service, worst long haul flight I’ve ever had.

We fly back to Gatwick tomorrow and we are both dreading it.

[stupet11]

The NA Dreamliner was the most comfortable flight to the US we have been on - everything trumped Virgin, except for the choice of current films... the IFE was bigger and better to use, seats / comfort of cabin better, staff much better. Maybe it's down to expectations...never felt like a 'Rock Star' with Virgin...more a hindrance...where as NA is supposed to be the budget offering.

I'd go with the cheapest though...but would hope it was NA over VA all day long.

[BrightlyBob]

Virgin have really caught a cold on the Dreamliner Rolls Royce engines and have leased a few A330s, rumoured to be bankrupt Air Berlin inventory. The problem is the new leases are 2-class only with no PE and a non Virgin business seat at the pointy end. They have then placed these aircraft onto routes operated by A330s into Manchester moving the Manchester Virgin 330s over to LHR to replace the 787s sat on the tarmac.

What this shuffling means is that Virgin has made a decision that the inconvenience here should fall on Manchester flights, and not London ones. London fliers booked on a 787 will simply have an equipment change to a Virgin A330, they’ll still have the Virgin seats they booked. All the inconvenience here will fall on Manchester customers. And if it does turn out these are ex-Air Berlin aircraft it’s going to be quite the inconvenience as they are the tightest transatlantic planes out there with a RyanAir-esq 30” pitch in Economy.

At the moment the scheduling is only up till May 2018 which would suggest the problem should be resolved by then but new rumours surfacing indicate Virgin is planning to retrofit a PE section into some of these leased A330s which is a pricey thing to do, suggesting Virgin believes they could have 787s sat on the tarmac throughout 2018. At the moment this is not effecting Virgins MAN-MCO flights but as it ramps up summer frequencies Virgin flights from Manchester to Orlando could get caught up in this.

What does it mean? Nothing for Economy passengers, other than a tighter seat, which is probably more than enough, and, though it may annoy Upper customers who’ll not be getting the Virgin UC seats they booked, nothing for them either, aviation regs appear to indicate one business ticket is the same as any other. But for PE customers it’s a bust down to Economy for them. And so it is for me, I received an email on Wednesday telling me my April JFK-MAN flight was effected and my Premium seat needs to be busted to Economy and giving me a variety of non-penalty alternatives “different day or time, to or from a different airport may have PE” or remain on the same flight, take the bust and receive a 75% refund. Today I’ve received an email advising that my seat has changed from 25D at the back of PE to 51D, the very back of Economy. Me, I’ll take my downgrade and 75% discount and very last row seat, as I’m travelling alone it’s not a biggie and the discount is welcome.

[ChrisS]

Recently flew VA PE, A330, Man to Atl [on to RSW], our return, 24th May 2018 Atl to Man, originally a 747, had a schedule change to the usual A330. A 17.5" economy seat isn't an option for my mobility issues, so I'm hoping VA remain with the A330/747. If a non PE cabin aircraft is scheduled we'll request an alternative route, perhaps MCO to Man. This is the first year since early 2012 we've flown in-direct into RSW.

[stanleycamel]

This is a list of the proposed flights affected by the VS 787 problem, I notice they mention that they are their aircraft etc.

"We intend to add four A330-200 aircraft to our fleet – they’ll be Virgin Atlantic aircraft, operated by our own pilots and world class cabin crew, delivering our own service and experience.


Flight number

Dates

Route

VS 127 / 128
DL* 4350 / 4351

01 March 2018
to
14 May 2018

Manchester (MAN) to New York (JFK)

VS 109 / 110
DL* 4354 / 4355

02 March 2018
to
31 May 2018

Manchester (MAN) to Atlanta (ATL)

VS 121 / 122
DL* 4343 / 4344

23 May 2018
to
30 May 2018

Manchester (MAN) to Boston (BOS)

VS 125 / 126
DL* 4345 / 4346

22 May 2018
to
29 May 2018

Manchester (MAN) to San Francisco (SFO)

VS 77 / 78

17 May 2018
to
31 May 2018

Manchester (MAN) to Barbados (BGI)"

[ChrisS]

It seems our 24th May flight is aboard the A330-200, so I did a tad more research. If, as previously stated, VA will be using the Air Berlin A330-200 aircraft it appears the seat map contains business, XL and economy.

Unfortunately 17.7" in an XL is not going to cut the mustard for me and I've contacted VA regarding a different route with their 21" PE seat width.

That'll teach me for taking the in-direct route into RSW, first time in 5 years!