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#962290 by kiss from a rose
02 Sep 2023, 13:49
We have booked to fly tampa to heathrow and upgraded to upper as we were so impressed with new neo aircraft.

There has been an aircraft change and we are now flying back on an A330-300.

We are a family of 5 and paid for the upgrade (not miles/companion etc) so the cost was rather significant. I am looking at the upper class product on this plane and it seems so disappointing. It looks like it lacks privacy, is outdated and worn out. Also the entertainment system looks dated. The cabin looks cramped and the bar area fairly small compared to the one we have used on the retired 747's. Storage also seems limited. I wouldn't have upgraded knowingly to this. It looks like the upper class I first flew in back in 2008!

Ive spoken to my travel agent and i do have the choice to get a partial refund (just losing £50 per person admin fee) and fly back in economy. My thinking is save the cash until next time and use it for a better product. We are talking many thousands of pounds.

What I'm wondering is if the upper class isn't as bad as it seems. Is it a product that comes across badly on photos/youtube and is it worth it? Or is it the sort of upgrade that would be fine for miles usage but not worth cash? Also is there a chance we might be reverted back to the neo or is this now unlikely. I would be gutted if we downgraded and then it changed back! I know it's always possible for an aircraft to change right up to departure but with only 6 weeks to go now will this likely be the airplane.

It's my first time flying back with Virgin after using other airlines and I am so disappointed with the service. Show customers a shiny new product, get them to book and near departure change the plane back to what they maybe always intended to fly. Would their new Tampa route have sold so well with the older aircraft shown upfront -i'm not so sure. of course this is covered in the t's and c's but i always felt like if they did change the plane the product would be more comparable.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the A330-300 upper class product and if it justifies a cash upgrade.
#962295 by Marmite1981
03 Sep 2023, 10:59
In all fairness to Virgin there is never a guarantee of the aircraft type, it can be changed right at the last minute…I have flown upper on the a300 300 on day and night flights and always been comfortable and managed to get a few hours sleep through the night each time.
#962298 by CommanderB
03 Sep 2023, 11:48
Yes the 333 isn’t as new as the 339 and the onboard product is different.

But I think you’ll still enjoy the 333. The bed is one of the best in the sky for a night flight. And the real differentiating factor is often the crew rather than the physical seat in my experience.

The aircraft type may also change back again.
#962299 by mitchja
03 Sep 2023, 12:15
I'm not sure where 'worn out' is coming from either? The Upper Class cabin on the A330-300's is actually only about 5-6 years old and so is newer than the equivalent seat on all the B787-9 aircraft. The 2 oldest A330-300's in the fleet (SXY & KSS) are still only 12.5 years old.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the A330-300 seats or cabins.

You will get the same amazing crew as well as the same food and drinks etc.
#962320 by Chinafish
05 Sep 2023, 11:58
Deleted: I realised I was on the A350 seats and not the A330 seats which is being discussed so my comments are irrelevant for this.
#962327 by broono83
05 Sep 2023, 21:46
kiss from a rose wrote:We have booked to fly tampa to heathrow and upgraded to upper as we were so impressed with new neo aircraft.

There has been an aircraft change and we are now flying back on an A330-300.

We are a family of 5 and paid for the upgrade (not miles/companion etc) so the cost was rather significant. I am looking at the upper class product on this plane and it seems so disappointing. It looks like it lacks privacy, is outdated and worn out. Also the entertainment system looks dated. The cabin looks cramped and the bar area fairly small compared to the one we have used on the retired 747's. Storage also seems limited. I wouldn't have upgraded knowingly to this. It looks like the upper class I first flew in back in 2008!

Ive spoken to my travel agent and i do have the choice to get a partial refund (just losing £50 per person admin fee) and fly back in economy. My thinking is save the cash until next time and use it for a better product. We are talking many thousands of pounds.

What I'm wondering is if the upper class isn't as bad as it seems. Is it a product that comes across badly on photos/youtube and is it worth it? Or is it the sort of upgrade that would be fine for miles usage but not worth cash? Also is there a chance we might be reverted back to the neo or is this now unlikely. I would be gutted if we downgraded and then it changed back! I know it's always possible for an aircraft to change right up to departure but with only 6 weeks to go now will this likely be the airplane.

It's my first time flying back with Virgin after using other airlines and I am so disappointed with the service. Show customers a shiny new product, get them to book and near departure change the plane back to what they maybe always intended to fly. Would their new Tampa route have sold so well with the older aircraft shown upfront -i'm not so sure. of course this is covered in the t's and c's but i always felt like if they did change the plane the product would be more comparable.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the A330-300 upper class product and if it justifies a cash upgrade.


Hi, wonder if you are flying same time as us. As a bit of an av geek the only VS upper I've yet to collect is the a339 so we have it booked for LHR-TPA on 9th Nov, it's just flipped to an a333 which I've flown a few times already. V disappointed as I was intending to try for retreat suite too.

Especially annoying as they have heavily marketed the TPA route as an a339 special and they seem to have swapped it out on only 5 days around my flight, unfortunately I'm no longer date flexible.

My only hope is they swap it back but pretty peeved right now too.

I'm also booked on 4 Qatar flights next year on all it's "good" variants of business class and they are renowned for the same bait and switch >-(
Last edited by broono83 on 07 Sep 2023, 11:48, edited 1 time in total.
#962329 by territt
06 Sep 2023, 09:32
broono83 wrote:
kiss from a rose wrote:I'm also booked on 4 Qatar fligjts next year on all it's "good" variants of business class and they are renowned for the same bait and switch >-(


The difference is, virgin doesn't market any of the business as a different product and is open about aircraft changes,

Qatar has been marketing the Q suite as a different product, getting people to buy and then swapping the aircraft.
#962337 by broono83
07 Sep 2023, 11:47
territt wrote:
broono83 wrote:
kiss from a rose wrote:I'm also booked on 4 Qatar fligjts next year on all it's "good" variants of business class and they are renowned for the same bait and switch >-(


The difference is, virgin doesn't market any of the business as a different product and is open about aircraft changes,

Qatar has been marketing the Q suite as a different product, getting people to buy and then swapping the aircraft.


While I somewhat agree, I think on the Tampa route especially Virgin have been heavily advertising it as a new route with a new place and a chance to experience their new suite product, the 2 have been mostly synonymous.

Also I don't fully agree Qatar market the Q Suite as a different product (although I think they lost a court case in NZ on this?) but they certainly make a big deal of which flights feature it when booking, which are not guaranteed to stick and notoriously don't.
#962341 by territt
08 Sep 2023, 10:45
kiss from a rose wrote:
Also I don't fully agree Qatar market the Q Suite as a different product (although I think they lost a court case in NZ on this?) but they certainly make a big deal of which flights feature it when booking, which are not guaranteed to stick and notoriously don't.
[/quote][/quote]

When you got the page to select ticket type it showned some flights as Business and others were showing
Q Suite, so people would pay for the more expensive flight for the Q Suite, that's why they got in trouble.
Virgin Atlantic

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