I fully agree with Joshl257's comments above. Virgin are giving their Manchester passengers a second rate product compared to flying out of London & it's about to get worse next year.
I can put up with the lack of a Clubhouse (for now) as I know there are space constraints in MAN T2 (i.e. no spare space for a CH) - but that will change in a year or two as the T2 expansion works progress. VS better have a Clubhouse on the cards for MAN as part of the T2 expansion plans! That said, does the journey to LHR or LGW from Nottinghamshire warrant itself for a few glasses of bubbly / Redheads & a Clubhouse burger? No, in my opinion.
Now the onboard product is another matter entirely. I generally only fly UC & more often than not on the MCO route, so I'm not affected (at the moment) by the A330-200's. The initial lack of PE is clearly going to annoy some passengers, as is evident on this thread - people having to downgrade / travel from London to get the PE product they want. I'll reserve judgement on the Business / Upper Class product on these aircraft for now. Some people do not like the UC suites - I personally like them & particularly like the fact it's a separate seat & mattress surface... but on the flip side I know some don't like the fact you have to get up to go from seat to lie-flat. The fact remains that the product on offer will not be the shiny Upper Class suite that Virgin have photographed extensively on their website.
Virgin are a small airline & should be able to manage their fleet better than they are doing. Ensure that any "new" aircraft are delivered to the fleet with the full VS product fitted to ensure passengers get consistent service & product offer. I would bet very good money that VS scheduling / operations will be under strict orders to ensure that these A330-200's never see the light of day on lucrative ex-LHR routes if at all possible.
I can put up with the lack of a Clubhouse (for now) as I know there are space constraints in MAN T2 (i.e. no spare space for a CH) - but that will change in a year or two as the T2 expansion works progress. VS better have a Clubhouse on the cards for MAN as part of the T2 expansion plans! That said, does the journey to LHR or LGW from Nottinghamshire warrant itself for a few glasses of bubbly / Redheads & a Clubhouse burger? No, in my opinion.
Now the onboard product is another matter entirely. I generally only fly UC & more often than not on the MCO route, so I'm not affected (at the moment) by the A330-200's. The initial lack of PE is clearly going to annoy some passengers, as is evident on this thread - people having to downgrade / travel from London to get the PE product they want. I'll reserve judgement on the Business / Upper Class product on these aircraft for now. Some people do not like the UC suites - I personally like them & particularly like the fact it's a separate seat & mattress surface... but on the flip side I know some don't like the fact you have to get up to go from seat to lie-flat. The fact remains that the product on offer will not be the shiny Upper Class suite that Virgin have photographed extensively on their website.
Virgin are a small airline & should be able to manage their fleet better than they are doing. Ensure that any "new" aircraft are delivered to the fleet with the full VS product fitted to ensure passengers get consistent service & product offer. I would bet very good money that VS scheduling / operations will be under strict orders to ensure that these A330-200's never see the light of day on lucrative ex-LHR routes if at all possible.