V-Flyer

Vs 28 to Cardiff what's all that's about, just seen this flight going to cwl which is Cardiff anyone know why ?

Intrestingly the BA from MCO has diverted to Shannon. VS haven't updated their site as yet other than saying 'We're sorry your flight is delayed'. BA's site confirms exactly what's occurring with the flight having touched down at SNN & a revised ETA into LGW of 09:13 (1.5 hours late). Perhaps strong headwinds & lack of fuel?

Thanks
James

Agree with Vegascrazy - if BA from MCO have also diverted, it has got to be weather related. Unexpected / un-forecast headwinds leading to a lack of fuel.

Howard has confirmed on the VS FB page that is landed at Cardiff for fuel, it has landed at LGW now.

blimey how tight was it that it had to stop 100 miles short ????

just headed in opposite direction, wonder if we will get some big tailwinds ?

flabound wrote:blimey how tight was it that it had to stop 100 miles short ????

just headed in opposite direction, wonder if we will get some big tailwinds ?

Probbaly more belt and braces rather than running on fumes (but there strict rules on how much fuel a plane should have on landing and the CAA can and will fine airlines for breaking the.. Yes they could have probbaly made it to LGW but all it would take would be for some problem on the runway to delay their landing ...

They won't be short of fuel, they'll have "stopped off for fuel" so that they don't get short.

There are operational and indeed legal minimum fuel amounts they will be adhering to.

For example, they need to arive at destination with x minutes fuel remaining plus enough for planned alternate airports etc.

Concorde - I was editing my post re the limits as you posted yours.

It's disgraceful that whilst still legal that airlines run the fuel that tight. On my family's last flight back from MBJLGW we too were diverted to Cardiff as we didn't have sufficient to hold. This delay added to the fact that the flight had already left two hours late meant that we missed our connecting flights to MAN. this cost nearly £650 to rebook our family. VA washed there hand of it and didn't want t know. It was nearly two years before I and my family flew with Virgin after that and I was Gold at that time.

Hold on people - put this into perspective.

It's not a case of "wouldn't have sufficient [fuel] to hold" - it's that they wouldn't have had enough to hold, PLUS a legal margin (which is large), PLUS enough to divert should an emergency occur on final approach, PLUS a company margin.

The divert would have been to keep the plane above ALL of those safety margins - and it could likely have stayed in the air for another 1.5-2 HOURS beyond Cardiff before actually, properly, running dry.

They just want to make sure the margins never get compromised in any situation - something I for one am pleased about.

The fact they refuelled is a GOOD thing - and the right thing to do. But at no point would this have put people in danger : that's WHY these margins exist.

Well, they don't run it "tight" really.

For every extra kg of fuel, they'll burn more to carry it - ultimately, they are trying to arive at the planned destination with the planned amount of required fuel for holding and alternate airports etc. Occasionally, the weather amongst many other factors, will intervene and upset the plans.

Ultimately, if they carried more fuel, the fares would need to rise.

So whilst I apprecaite you were highly pt out about your experience, it's fairly rare.

Concorde RIP wrote:Well, they don't run it "tight" really.

For every extra kg of fuel, they'll burn more to carry it - ultimately, they are trying to arive at the planned destination with the planned amount of required fuel for holding and alternate airports etc. Occasionally, the weather amongst many other factors, will intervene and upset the plans.

Ultimately, if they carried more fuel, the fares would need to rise.

So whilst I apprecaite you were highly pt out about your experience, it's fairly rare.

That may be the case but when an airline is already leaving its departing airport two hours late and it knows that London airports can back up it should carry extra fuel to avoid any further delays due to diverting or at east have the decency to carry the cost of changing onward flights especially when he passenger has slowed five hours between connections.

Spanishvirgin wrote:That may be the case but when an airline is already leaving its departing airport two hours late and it knows that London airports can back up it should carry extra fuel to avoid any further delays due to diverting or at east have the decency to carry the cost of changing onward flights especially when he passenger has slowed five hours between connections.

The airline would of put as much fuel in as they thought would be needed for a flight, plus all the extra, but obviously the winds were unexpected (or whatever the reason), seeing as the BA flight diverted too. Diverting to Cardiff would of incurred costs, plus I expect the fuel would of been more expensive than at VS served airports where they have contracts, so it's not like they were being tight at the fuel pump. What's the point in having sooooo much fuel than is needed? It's expensive and pollutes the environment even more.

RE missing your connect, Virgin fulfilled their part of the contract, to get you from A to B, if you have onward flights, it's always advisable to have it all booked on one ticket if possible, then Virgin would of had to cover the cost to get you to your final destination. Personally if I was booking a separate connecting flight, I would book it or the next day, leaving me much more room for error.

I was on this flight this morning. For the first part of the flight we were on time - sky map showing arrival at Gatwick at 7.29am. Than for the rest of the night until around 6am the arrival time kept getting later and later until we were due to arrive 30 minutes late.

Sky map also showed that the plane had taken a diversion south.

At about 6am, we turned sharply left and the sky map destination changed to Shannon. It then very quickly changed to Cardiff.

We were advised that Newfoundland had closed their airspace overnight and we had to refuel to legally land at Gatwick.

We were on the ground at Cardiff for about an hour and arrived at Gatwick about two hours late.

Any ideas because I can't find anything on news websites - airspace closed unexpectedly and we were told 15 other planes diverted to Shannon - and nothing except on here.

Peter

pbroad wrote:
Any ideas because I can't find anything on news websites - airspace closed unexpectedly and we were told 15 other planes diverted to Shannon - and nothing except on here.

Peter

A news report in today's Irish Examiner referred to yesterday's BA flight being diverted (apparently the Olympic Torch was on board). It said that the flight was forced to divert to Shannon for extra fuel after ATC issues in Canada forced it to take a longer route. That would explain the airspace being closed unexpectedly

Thanks. That's helpful to know.

Peter