jewls,

You'll find lots of aircraft information on our What Aircraft? guide (link below) with links to aircraft photos, seat plans, cabin information, seat pitches, etc. It's ultimately up to the passenger what they prefer. Many of the scheduled airlines offer 31" or similar on their economy seats with the option of premium or business class. It's only since First Choice introduced their Star Class concept introducing 33" seat pitch in economy back in 2005 that the charter airlines sat up and took note. Thomsonfly copied the idea before the merger in 2008 and Thomas Cook followed suite. First Choice offer an excellent economy product and premium economy. Have a look at our What Aircraft? guide, I'm sure that'll be useful for you as well as the respective airline topics on the forum.

Darren

Returned back today from LGW-GBI on 26th November and BGI-LGW on 3rd December.

Compared to last year which was bad enough, things have gone worse.

Virgin may have to learn some lessons from Thomson Airlines on how to effectively run an operation centered on customer services.

Mark

Hi Mark,
We are flying to Barbados on the 6th of March can you advise on the problems you had on your flights?? We are flying from Manchester PE.

Hi Quatarman,

(Guess you're staying at the Escape at the Gap again - we were there last week - still as great as before).

We didn't fly PE so can't speak for the kind of service that those passengers received. But in standard economy it was just terrible. Meals are getting smaller, cost cutting left, right and centre. Staff rushing service for them not to be seen for long periods of time. They say that you can get drinks from the galley - all fine and well but why o why do they close those curtains?

(Maybe a member of an airline staff can answer that question).

The icing on the cake was my OH asking for a drink and been told to go back to her seat as they were to serve drinks in a short while. Two hours later and the only drinks offered were coffee or tea to accompany the sandwiches towards the end of the flight. All she wanted as an OJ

Would not recommend. But as Virgin is the only TO that offers Escape at the Gap (an hotel we prefer), we will have no choice but to use them again.

Unfortunately.......

Mark

Thank you Mark seems its cutbacks on service with most Airlines now,yes we are going back to EATG our last time i am afraid retirement looms.
Will let you know if the PE is suffering the same problems.

Hi we have finally booked our trip for 3/9/11 Manchester to orlando flight nos VS075 & VS076 i see that they are on what i believe to be the new A330-300 can anyone give me some info on what is different about these planes ie layout or anything else that would be usefull.

many thanks

Stephenjm99

stephenjm99,

Other than it being a different airframe (the A330 series are very nice aircraft), you'll not notice much difference to the usual 747-400 from a passengers perspective. Seating and facilities are basically the same, although an announcement will be made in Feb 2011 with a revised specification for all classes. Seating is 9 abreast in economy with 31" seat pitch.

Darren

There will be a much improved IFE system in the new A330 aircraft.

Hi

Im flying to Jamaica from Gatwick on VS 66 in the premium economy cabin. Does anyone know which version of the 747 is used on this route as 1 version doesn't have ant PE seating in the bubble.

Ant

Imbrugliasboy,

The assigned aircraft changes almost daily as they are rotated between routes. You can only narrow it down to an LGW/MAN suite aircraft.

Darren

I take it they'll know by the time they open up the seat plan to pick seats as the 4 different versions shown on the virgin site all have different seat congigurations?

Ant

Imbrugliasboy,

They'll obviously know internally for when the seat selection / check-in opens, but it's impossible to track externally. There are 4 seating configurations for the 744, but only 2 of them are the LGW / MAN suite (config 1 + 2). The others are LHR based aircraft (config 3 + 4), so you can narrow it down to 2. V-Flyer is a little more specific than Virgin Atlantics website.

Darren

Thats great Dazbo! Virgin was confusing and i'd resigned myself to the version 4 with no PE in the bubble! As soon as seating opens up i'm going to try and bag one upstairs!

was booked on a flight from gatwick to las vegas on 9th birthday for my 40th b/day on the 10th. virgin have cancelled the flight on the 9th and put me on the 10th feb flight (my actual b/day) however id booked a flight from manchester to gatwick with BA early morning of the 9th. now its going to cost me £120 to change flight to the 10th or get a hotel in gatwick overnight on the 9th feb. am really upset about this. should virgin pay for this or can i claim off my travel insurance? does anyone know where i stand. it was a package through ebookers, they say its the airlines fault and virgin say they cant do anything as it was a package through ebookers. may as well hit my head against a brick wall. does anyone know where i stand? regards in advance.

Hi - I am flying with Virgin from Heathrow to Dubai April 27th.....I have looked at the available seats and it is hard to tell which ones are the best. i am looking at seats towards the back of the plane and the centre seats reduce from 4 seats to 3 seats.....have the outside seats got more room at this point? It also looks like the outside seats are not directly behind the seat in front so would that give me a problem with IFE ( or would it fold out of the arm ).

Would also apreciate knowing what plane I will be on so that I can look at the pictures and any idea about the IFE yet.

Sorry for so many questions......

britabroad,

I'm mobile at the moment so don't have the information to hand, it should be an A346 though. I'll check when I'm back later. There are no best seats, seating is personal preference. All the current IFE information is on Virgins website, it's probably too early for April though. Where the seats are staggered due to the fuselage narrowing, the tray tables fold from the armrest in the centre seats. Screens are still on the seat backs infront so are misaligned with the seats. There isn't any extra room on this row other than extra storage space with there being 4 eats in front to put things under, but no extra legroom.

EDIT: I'm home now. LHR-DXB (VS400) is operated by an Airbus A340-600. IFE details are here.

Darren

Just returned from a Manchester/Barbados/Manchester flight with Virgin and i have to say the crew both ways were top class which is more than i can say about the aircraft we were in PE and the cabin was to say the least tatty,IFE still on the loop system with the tiny screen(come on Virgin you can do better)
The food was acceptable both ways,is it worth the upgrade to me yes as i have a bad back to others maybe keep your money towards another holiday.

Hi Darren, can you tell me please what aircraft flight no. VS007 is from Heathrow to Los Angeles flying on 1st April 2011 at 11.30 am and what the layout of the seating is please so we can have a look where the exit seats are.

Many thanks

Mdollar,,

LHR-LAX (VS007) is operated by an Airbus A340-600. You'll find a seat plan on V-Flyer.

Darren