Aircraft Types.

Hi there!

A friend of mine recently returned from MCO. She's had a couple of nightmare flights with VA before, so was reluctant to fly with them again. I managed to convince her to book again, and was only to happy to give her the benefit of my experiences, plus any tips found on this great site.

She did start to panic though, as her VS075 flight was swapped with the 747-400 from VS073 ( presumably due to low sales ). This was essentially a deal breaker for her, the prospect of travelling on the new A333. I did explain to her that this can happen at any time, and VA would endeavour to reassign Seats as best they could, which they did, and she had a very pleasant flight.

What puzzled me though, was that she was under the impression that the 747-400 she travelled on was an updated one. It was my understanding that the refit programme was commencing mid Apr this year, lasting about 20 weeks. Could it be that the 747-400 she travelled on was just a more modern LGW/LHR Aircraft?

We've flown 3 or 4 times on VS073, and it's usually been English Rose or Jersey Girl- both fine flights, but clearly showing their age Cabin wise.

[Neil]

None of the LGW/MAN 747's have had their refits yet - so it wasn't one of those.

The VS75 was operated by a 747 on the 17th January (all other flights have been operated by an A333), but it was G-VAST, so a current config MAN/LGW a/c, not an LHR one.

The VS73 throughout January has been operated by only 3 different a/c so far, XLG/AST/ROS, which are again all LGW/MAN config 747's.

What specifically did your friend mention to suggest it was an upgraded a/c?

Thanks,
Neil

Thanks Neil for the info. You've confirmed my initial suspicions. I'm wondering if she is referring to "upgraded" as a discounted upgrade to PE for the inconvenience. I only spoke to her in passing to ask the usual pleasantries about a flight etc, but she said that the plane was "Upgraded". I had mentioned to her about the refit programme after her previous lamenting of Man/Mco Cabin conditions, and i, maybe incorrectly, assumed that was her inference. I will check with her and let you know. Thanks y)

I managed to confirm with my colleague that it was in fact a £99 upgrade to P.E that she was referring to, by way of compensation for the flight change, which i think was quite generous of VA to be fair.