V-Flyer

The bar MUST stay imho, it's a service differentiator from BA Club... and lets face it Emirates and other airlines have bars in business now.

Some of my best memories are of being at VS Bar having a drink and chatting with other passengers, some of which I still stay in contact today! Flights will all be a bit sterile without a bar and you won't meet strangers. Conversely BA's layout will lead to stranger meetings more, and may be more desirable.

Just my personal thoughts.

I've also had the situation where the bar was hogged by 2-3 pax entire time, and didn't get a sniff of a seat! How the passengers were standing on landing was an entirely other matter. Fully plan to sit, chat and use bar in UC on the 747 out of gatwick in May (and hopefully not be a bar hog myself)

starquake wrote:The bar MUST stay imho, it's a service differentiator from BA Club

So were the on-board massages. And the afternoon tea trolley which I understand is being "enhanced" away in April.

I'm sure the bars will stay in the short to medium term. But with crew numbers on each flight being cut, UC crew having to work some of the service in PE and the abolition of the senior CC rank all imminent, I fear the days of crew having the time to chat for an hour or two are numbered.

I'm sure Crawley Towers will be monitoring feedback from passengers who find themselves barless on G-VBIG. Call me cynical if you like but I wouldn't be surprised if bars are missing from whatever aircraft they eventually choose to replace the 747s in the next 5 years or so.

gumshoe wrote:I'm sure Crawley Towers will be monitoring feedback from passengers who find themselves barless on G-VBIG. Call me cynical if you like but I wouldn't be surprised if bars are missing from whatever aircraft they eventually choose to replace the 747s in the next 5 years or so.

Perhaps we need to organise rotas so that the bar is always is use....then they cannot say there is "no demand".

Has it actually been confirmed that there will be no bar on VBIG? Otherwise there's a lot of conjecture for an 'I heard from someone else that this is happening' thing. I imagine if there were plans to phase out the bar they wouldn't be fitting them to the dreamliners.

pjh wrote:
Perhaps we need to organise rotas so that the bar is always is use....then they cannot say there is "no demand".

sounds like a plan

David

SlimpyJones wrote:Has it actually been confirmed that there will be no bar on VBIG? Otherwise there's a lot of conjecture for an 'I heard from someone else that this is happening' thing. I imagine if there were plans to phase out the bar they wouldn't be fitting them to the dreamliners.

I don't think there are any plans to phase out the bar, its more the case that as VBIG is being refitted to LGW spec, they don't have a small version of the bar to fit into the forward cabin.

Pretty sure the original info came from a staff member.

David

starquake wrote:Fully plan to sit, chat and use bar in UC on the 747 out of gatwick in May (and hopefully not be a bar hog myself)

I too was planning to utilise the bar at some point during my UC flight out of LGW in October. Makes a nice break from beig stuck in the seat. It'll be my partner's first UC flight (first long haul flight for that matter) and something he was looking forward to. Knowing our luck, we'll end up on VBIG. Ah well...

gumshoe wrote:And the afternoon tea trolley which I understand is being "enhanced" away in April.

So that's being axed too...? Do you know if there are plans to replace it with an "enhanced" product at all, or will VS no longer be serving food in the short window before landing?

One of the VS staffers will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is there'll be a wider selection on the graze menu, available to order up until 90 minutes before landing.

At that point food service will stop as the UC crew will have to work in PE which loses its dedicated CC.

Yes most of above is correct I'm afraid to say BIG changes are on the way to ALL cabins from 1st April 2016:

1. No more senior cabin crew rank, so anyone can work in Upper Class. (Currently you are promoted to senior and go through a 5 day training course at the training facility, this will now be a quick online course!!)
2. Loosing up to 2 crew from each aircraft, most notably the Upper Class cabin supervisor.
3. No dedicated crew in Premium cabin, crew from economy will start in Premium & work straight through to economy, so you may be sitting with your meal tray in front of you for sometime!!
4. Extended graze items inc afternoon tea will be available in Upper class until 90 mins before landing, after which the Upper class service will stop as crew needed to help elsewhere.
5. With the reduction of crew, good luck even getting served a drink at the bar, never mind the crew having time to stop and chat to passengers!
6. Upper class ice creams have gone, spare back up Premium meals have gone & Upper class hot meal ratios have also been reduced.

vscss wrote:Yes most of above is correct I'm afraid to say BIG changes are on the way to ALL cabins from 1st April 2016:

1. No more senior cabin crew rank, so anyone can work in Upper Class. (Currently you are promoted to senior and go through a 5 day training course at the training facility, this will now be a quick online course!!)
2. Loosing up to 2 crew from each aircraft, most notably the Upper Class cabin supervisor.
3. No dedicated crew in Premium cabin, crew from economy will start in Premium & work straight through to economy, so you may be sitting with your meal tray in front of you for sometime!!
4. Extended graze items inc afternoon tea will be available in Upper class until 90 mins before landing, after which the Upper class service will stop as crew needed to help elsewhere.
5. With the reduction of crew, good luck even getting served a drink at the bar, never mind the crew having time to stop and chat to passengers!
6. Upper class ice creams have gone, spare back up Premium meals have gone & Upper class hot meal ratios have also been reduced.

Thanks vscss, yes that confirms what I'd heard. From your name I assume you're directly affected by these changes and I really feel for you and your colleagues who - as I'm sure most V-Flyers will agree - through your hard work, professionalism and sparkle make VS the airline so many of us love.

We're getting very off topic though, so I think this is worth a thread of its own given the impact it'll have from April.

pjh wrote:Perhaps we need to organise rotas so that the bar is always is use....then they cannot say there is "no demand".

Count me in

G-VBIG Has just landed at gatwick does this mean her re-fit has been done? Didn't think it wasn't getting done till April.

Looks like BIG has just left CBG. Shame, I work in Cambridge and if I had known would have gone to take a look! I assume she's all kitted out for leisure routes now?

anyone know if the re-fit included the IFE. the database still shows Vera OD vice Vera touch?

Yes, it included new IFE.

Bump this thread ..

V-BIG went over here (south East kent) at 6 pm and flew towards Denmark at 19000 ft.

She has gone to Germany for "maintenance" Surprising as she was the last 744 to have a heavy check when she was modified for holiday routes and LGW ops earlier this year.