pat,

Virgins aircraft are in different configurations depending on where they are based. The Heathrow based 747-400's have a greater number of business (upper) class seats for example as they are serving mainly business markets rather than liesure. These are therefore designated the LHR suite aircraft. The ones based at Gatwick and Manchester have less business (upper) class seats and are therefore designated LGW / MAN suite. It's just their way of distinguishing between the two sub-fleets.

Darren

pat,
Have a look around the v-flyer website, it details their fleet quite well.
Virgin have 13 747s of which I think 7 are LGW/MAN Config 1.
The thing is, the first of these has just gone off for a refit/refurb, at a rate of about one a month (better estimates once the first returns!).
So those of us going to CUN in the autumn will hopefully have a brand new interior / seats / telly etc!
Will be gutted if we end up on one that hasn't been done yet!
I'm no expert on this - just relaying what I've read on the v-flyer forums.

Hi does anybody know if Fight VS035 to Barbados 25th April (tomorrow) will be the updated Spec. Just booked on online and it looks like it not the updated cabin in premium economy?

colinj,

It won't be a refitted cabin on tomorrows flight, no.

Darren

Darren
Thanks

Has anyone used their frequent club airmiles to upgrade seats on a virgin holiday? I booked the holiday in the travel agent and when I asked them they said I could but I would have to do it direct with virgin airlines. When I rang the airline direct they didn't really answer my question as they said they couldn't check as I didn't have enough airmiles yet. By the end of the month I should have enough just wondered if anyone else had any luck

I was told by Virgin Atlantic that its not possible to upgrade using air miles if you are booked on a Virgin holiday.

Virgin holidays book all their passengers in the lowest fare class(each cabin is split into alphabetised letters, depending how flexible your ticket is)
Virgin Atlantic stipulate that you must be in the 2-3 higher fare codes to then use miles, these are usually cheaper than the most restrictive code in the next cabin up. You then have to shed loads of miles just to get into that cabin, this usually only
Applies to virgin Atlantic direct sell customers, this policy. Although I'm sure ive read it can or has been done in the past with VH customers

On the day you can sometimes upgrade with miles Depending on how overbooked your cabin is or what miles campaign they have running(virgin likes customers to have shed their miles frequently)

Have a look at v-flyer.com website, this question has been asked a few times over their and the members will be able to give you their first hand experience and the best ways.

It will usually work out best to contact VH and request an upgrade price to the cabin you wish, it's usually the cheapest and easiest way. Also keep an eye on manage my booking in the virgin atlantic website they occasionally offer upgrade offers within this section.

Grrrrh sounds like I've been conned with these airmiles it's not at all clear on the virgin website it just says you can upgrade your seats, might just try on the day don't really want to pull out any more money holiday gas cost enough already!!

Virgin to pull out of Kenya

Virgin Atlantic will stop flying to Kenya at the end of the summer, blaming high taxes, soaring fuel costs and a lack of slots at Heathrow for its decision.

The last flight from London to Nairobi will be on September 23 and the last flight from Nairobi will be on September 24.

Chief commercial officer Julie Southern said: "We have taken the difficult decision to withdraw our services between London and Nairobi.

"Despite the best efforts of our employees, external factors including the high price of fuel, increasing aviation taxes in the UK and insufficient passenger numbers throughout the past five years have contributed to the decision."

"These are still challenging times for the airline industry and we have to deploy our aircraft to routes with the right level of demand to be financially viable."

Virgin said that since the service launched in 2007, fuel costs have increased by over 50%. Air Passenger Duty (APD) has more than doubled.

President Sir Richard Branson said: "Virgin Atlantic is extremely sad to be withdrawing from Kenya. During the past five years a combination of record fuel prices, higher and higher taxes imposed by the Government and a poorly timed slot not providing connections from London, have made it uneconomical to fly from Nairobi.

"Governments must be more realistic about the aviation taxes they impose and we urgently need to increase capacity at Heathrow. From this autumn we will be returning to Mumbai and adding an extra flight to New York as operating more commercially viable trans-Atlantic capacity allows us to provide better connections via Heathrow on to our services to Africa and Asia.

"Virgin remains committed to the future of Kenya and it is a well known fact that I love the country and its people. For the past five years our team in Nairobi have worked incredibly hard and we hope to return should the economic situation change."

With permission from Travelmole

Hi. Hope that you can help. Please could you advise the aircraft that will be used 23/09/12 to Orlando from Gatwick. Trying to find on website but gives 4 types of 747-400 .Also, cannot prebook seats through "my booking" ,as aircraft are being refurbished. Any idea when we will be able to book (premium economy)seats? Many Thanks

blondie3,

LGW-SFB-LGW (assuming flight numbers VS027/8?) are operated by Boeing 747-400 in the LGW/MAN suite (Config 1 or 2). You'll find seat plans on V-Flyer.

Darren

Thank you for your quick response.My flight details say VS 15 Gatwick - Orlando 23/09/12.Has there been a change in flight number?Thanks again

blondie3,

That's why I was questioning your flight numbers, there's more than one flight. It's always important you provide a flight number when requesting aircraft details so we get the correct one. Your flight numbers are correct for the flight you're on.

Darren

Dazbo HT Mod wrote:

blondie3,

LGW-SFB-LGW (assuming flight numbers VS027/8?) are operated by Boeing 747-400 in the LGW/MAN suite (Config 1 or 2). You'll find seat plans on V-Flyer.

Darren

You've been answering to many Thomson/Thomas cook questions...

Hi

Off to Havana on Thursday 9th Aug from LGW on flight VS063.

Any idea if this flight will be on one of the 2 newly refurbished planes?

Thanks

Jet-Set-Go,

Aircraft are rotated regularly, they aren't assigned to any particular flight so it's impossoble to tell this far out.

Darren

I am flying from London Heathrow to LAX, using the Virgin Atlantic VS023. I am in seat 61A. I am not sure if that's a bulkhead seat... is it a good seat? :S Please respond as soon as possible. Thank youuuu (It's in economy.) And does it recline?

Is 61A on the VS023 a bulkhead seat, and does it recline? Is it a good seat?