Main VS 787 Thread

Next august for Boston it's showing as a a340-300 instead of the 787, is this because vs haven't updated there summer schedule as I thought all the a340-300 aircraft are leaving?

Nah the VA website defaults to a340-300 if it doesn't know what the actual aircraft type operating the service will be.

Nah the VA website defaults to a340-300 if it doesn't know what the actual aircraft type operating the service will be.

Thought so was just concerned when I think I saw a JFK flight had the 787 scheduled on it next august

What is the 787 like in economy, as it will be interesting to see how much difference there is compared to BA's, who received a lot of criticism for theirs.

I'm flying to Washington DC in April next year, so is there a reasonable chance I'll be on one of the new 787s? It's showing as an Airbus A330-300 if I try to book it...

What is the 787 like in economy, as it will be interesting to see how much difference there is compared to BA's, who received a lot of criticism for theirs.

Should be very interesting as both are 3-3-3 with the same seat pitch. The main critisism of BA is the narrowness of the seats rather than the legroom, and the position of the IFE boxes under the seats. It's also strongly rumoured that due to the number of complaints that BA are to configure there 787/9 2-4-2 when they arrive next year.

What is the 787 like in economy, as it will be interesting to see how much difference there is compared to BA's, who received a lot of criticism for theirs.

Should be very interesting as both are 3-3-3 with the same seat pitch. The main critisism of BA is the narrowness of the seats rather than the legroom, and the position of the IFE boxes under the seats. It's also strongly rumoured that due to the number of complaints that BA are to configure there 787/9 2-4-2 when they arrive next year.

VS will learn the hard way just like BA has unfortunately but VS were probably too committed and in the later stages of the build to change it

Looks like birthday girl has started to earn her crust again on the VS11/12 flights

What is the 787 like in economy, as it will be interesting to see how much difference there is compared to BA's, who received a lot of criticism for theirs.

Should be very interesting as both are 3-3-3 with the same seat pitch. The main critisism of BA is the narrowness of the seats rather than the legroom, and the position of the IFE boxes under the seats. It's also strongly rumoured that due to the number of complaints that BA are to configure there 787/9 2-4-2 when they arrive next year.

Given that Virgin has a year of BA flying the 787 ahead of them I hope the team behind the 787 launch have flown it a few times and have found a layout or seat that works better. Agree that it's a little too late to change it though. If BA do go 2-4-2 on the 787-9 then that could be quite a big issue for Virgin. I hope the 787 works for them as it seems to be key to the future. The A346 was in hindsight the wrong choice and I hope this isn't too far the other way in terms flying as many passengers as possible in a much smaller space.

Why were 340-600s the wrong choice?

Expensive to run with 4 engines as opposed to the 777 with 2. I was also told by a crew member that they ended up being heavier than planned. The UCS is also heavy so the balance pushed the plane down at the front. I don't think Virgin ever took all the options they had.

Why were 340-600s the wrong choice?

They weren't at the time. The interior was more flexible and you can run with a larger business class division, ideal for pioneering new routes over sparsely populated areas such as the Far East. They were the right planes at the right time. Unfortunately that time was 16 years ago.

[mitchja]

According to businesstraveller VS are now delaying the 787 service to IAD and EWR by a few weeks.

IAD will be from Jan 7th 2015, EWR from Feb 1st 2015.

[Darren Wheeler]

Why were 340-600s the wrong choice?

There was thread somewhere on here that shows Airbus had knowingly overstated the fuel efficiency of the 340's. Part of the 'compensation' package included reduced A380 prices.

Dream Girl

https://www.flickr.com/photos/moonm/15644440169/
and Miss Chief

https://www.flickr.com/photos/moonm/15644444569/

Looks like birthday girl has started to earn her crust again on the VS11/12 flights

The Aircraft Database is showing no flights taken for V-NEW, and no flights at all on any aircraft for the VS11/12 since November 14th. Is there a problem with the database/feed, Pete?

I see that a VS 827 has appeared on the flight status page from PAE-LHR next Tuesday. Could well be the arrival of G-VAAH...

G-VAAH is down for delivery on 27/12 but and its a very big but it hasnt even had its first flight yet. Boeing has a huge backlog of undelivered aircraft on the ground at Paine Field. Some are held up on finance issues others for seat delivery, none of this applies to AAH. There are at least eight completed aircraft including AAH awating first flight. I am not hopeful that the delivery date will be met unless first flight happens in the next day or so.

Apparently VS 7 LAX will be on the 787 from April/May

Wow that's a big capacity cut.

Flight plan for AAH first flight just filed, so it might make it for 27th.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE28

Apparently VS 7 LAX will be on the 787 from April/May

Looking on EF it first appears no change, however looking at the seat maps they are for a 789.

Checked our VS7 flight and indeed we are now on a 789 on 24th July. They transferred us from 16 & 17A to 2A and G, how did they arrive at that?

Question is now which seats to go for, any ideas?

Regards,

gnjb.

Wow that's a big capacity cut.

Although the VS23/24 is restarting...

Question is now which seats to go for, any ideas?

Somewhere in the middle on the A side.

Wow that's a big capacity cut.

Especially considering it's been a 747 during the summer for many years!