V-Flyer

Without wanting to sound like a broken record, after a flurry of announcements and vague media comments involving timelines of "couple of months/ later this year etc"... Still no news on VS's plans for alliances !

are they joining alliances,
are they sitting back and watching BA gather up the BMI mess? and then cry about it afterwards....

Expect there'll be no news in 2011??

Any updated thoughts ?

Well, NH...

As seems to be the way with VS, lots of rumour and hinting, nothing concrete.

You'll have seen various hints dropped about service improvements that are imminent, but really, I'll believe it when I see it.

There's been a few articles in the aviation press (some of which I've posted here), talking about VS, BMI etc etc, but again, nothing concrete.

To be honest, where VS is concerned, I think we all need to live with the ambiguity!

Whether or not they "miss the boat" or fall behind in service offering compared to the competition, only time will tell I guess.

Not sure this was the kind of ansewr you were looking for, but as no-one else has posted, I'm guessing there is nothing new to report!

If I were VS right now I'd hold fire and see what happens to BMI. The prize might be access to Star Alliance, a much better option than the rag bag that's Sky Team.

Cabib crew yestreday told me that starting 1st November the whole in-flight service was being enhanced.
Whilst that does mean no more plastic salt and pepper sets which, oddly, seems to upset some people - she did say that everything from the food offering to the cutlery was being improved (specifically in UC and PE.

It's Economy that's re-launching on November 1st. The entire service has been changed in terms of delivery, appearance and quality. There's also some nice, new 'extras' being brought in as well.

As for Upper, the service is staying the same for now (until 2012) but the crokery and cutlery is changing from Nov 1st.

Ryan Barry wrote:It's Economy that's re-launching on November 1st. The entire service has been changed in terms of delivery, appearance and quality. There's also some nice, new 'extras' being brought in as well.

As for Upper, the service is staying the same for now (until 2012) but the crokery and cutlery is changing from Nov 1st.

Welcome Ryan
Thanks for the info.
Maybe I should have taken a "Y" for VS603 27th. November to see the changes ):
Never mind, I'll put up with my 1st ever UC experience in the current un-enhanced state ii)

BTW does anybody know if the UC menu for flights to CPT is the same as every other destination? If so can it be posted on here, please?,,Sorry if I've missed it on an earlier post.

Cheers

Paul

Co wrote:
BTW does anybody know if the UC menu for flights to CPT is the same as every other destination? If so can it be posted on here, please?,,Sorry if I've missed it on an earlier post.

Cheers

Paul

My experience of the UC menu into South Africa has been that it is broadly the same but with the substitution of one dish to one with a South African bias. Last year I had a lamb tomato bredie which was really tasty and a couple of years ago I seem to remember that ostrich was on the menu but I can't remember if that was in or out of JNB

Ryan Barry wrote:It's Economy that's re-launching on November 1st. The entire service has been changed in terms of delivery, appearance and quality. There's also some nice, new 'extras' being brought in as well.

As for Upper, the service is staying the same for now (until 2012) but the crokery and cutlery is changing from Nov 1st.

Ryan - does that mean that the menu is staying the same for even longer. Ugh, if that's the case I'm booking BA just for a change.

Oh and PS when is in flight WiFi happening? If I can type this on an ancient AA MD80 with WiFi, why can't VS get with the programme?

Slinky the menu changes on the 1st November too.

Tinks, thank heavens for that, there just so much beetroot tortellini that I can take ... good.

Currently tucking into something indescribable with beef, cheese and pastry on a flight from Palm Springs to Dallas ... but tonight we'll be in New Orleans so yippee!

Tinkerbelle wrote:Slinky the menu changes on the 1st November too.

Given the normal rotation of menu does that mean we will have this menu for:

a) one month till the December rotation
b)four months till the March rotation
c)three months and then a new rotation of February, May, July, November

You'll definetely see BIG changes across the front and back cabins (Premium is staying pretty much as it is).

Upper is changing in two stages; the physical items first i.e crockery, cutlery and menu style. The second stage will be the delivery of the service, which will be in Spring.

As for Economy, from what I know and have seen, it's a vast improvement and much more inline with the expectations set by the brand and its advertising.

Not long to see for yourselves now.

All sounds exciting.....not long now.

Tinkerbelle wrote:Slinky the menu changes on the 1st November too.

Tinks... Once again you bring good news! yay! I didnt like the look of the UC menu... glad its changing on 1st Nov. I hope someone will post it on here so i can choose what to have everyday till I fly with Gerry...

Mike

PS any new bottles of Vodka on sale at duty free in BOS?

Ok so if anyone is on any US - LHR flights in UC on the 1st could they please post before my flight on the VS10 on the 2nd?

Ta !

At last we're starting to see some of the changes happening/announcements:

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/fr ... %2011-_-UK

- JAM IFE - great to see this implemented, hopefully eventually with the WIFI enabled at some point.

- PE seats, sounds like they'll be implementing the current LHR purple seats, still can't wait to see what the cabin layout will be and if PE will move downstairs.

Can't wait to hear more!

(Surprised to see they used 'IFE' is this not jargon? Yes we all know what it means, but what about the majority?)

Just had a flying club email promising some "fabulous news" in line with this news item.

Email also states that GVTOP will be retired in 2013.

Cal346 wrote:http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/fr ... %2011-_-UK

Good to see Steve Griffith's making mention of all those Pax who utilise VS from MAN... assume they don't count... :w

stevebrass wrote:Email also states that GVTOP will be retired in 2013.

Hmm wonder why VTOP? There are older 747's in the fleet. Guess that explains why its not gone into the paint shop when it clearly needs it.

Back to the original thread comments, looks like IAG (BA) has bagged BMI, see here, just in time for the IAG earnings release tomorrow.

Upon reflection, I've never been sure that VS owning a short haul airline with BMI's cost structure would work. That allied with an old SRB comment about being very careful when buying, due to culture differences, and therefore being much happier starting up, leads me to wonder if it was ever on? Whatever the case, BA gets much, much stronger at LHR if this happens, and VS is either buying some slots on the side from LH or is hoping for some redistribution, otherwise VS is going to get pretty badly squeezed.

Better to know when to walk away from a deal than pursue an ill-timed/priced acquisition.

As for addressing competition concerns, it depends on whether this will be stipulated by the regulators or not. If you look at the American/BA transatlantic venture, they did not have to dispose of slots outright. What they were required to do was make available slots if someone wanted to enter onto a route where competition would be reduced by the venture. In bmi/BA's cases this would be LHR-EDI, CAI, DME etc.

slinky09 wrote:Back to the original thread comments, looks like IAG (BA) has bagged BMI, see here, just in time for the IAG earnings release tomorrow.

Although on our One O'clock News today when reporting that Aer Lingus revenue and passenger numbers were up for Q3 they also said that EI had put in a bid for some of the BMI slots.

Just as an aside, Dublin Aerospace which was set up 2 years ago when SR Technics pulled out of Dublin are creating new jobs and have secured contracts with EI.

Imagine, my little baby started working with EI just a week and a half ago and look at the difference he has made! LOL!

I don't think VS buying BMi would work; they are a real bag of nials.

Hopefully if IAG buy they will be forced to auction some slots and VS will get some and be able to intorduce some new routes using the 332s or re-distributing them on to 346 routes.

If the could be the Star long-hial carrier at LHR that would be a plus, though Lufthansa might not like that.

What routes though - Mexico Brazil Moscow Cairo Djkarta, Kuala Lumpar -that should keep them busy.

I'm assuming BAMi has gone form Cairo and Moscow.