V-Flyer

whats going on at Gatwick today
all the VS flights are delayed by over an hour ?|

Two flights in look like they were late, but then five are departing late between 2 and 3 hrs now ... some problem with turnarounds perhaps?

The 73 ex MAN is also late, so it seems all the LGW/MAN 747 flights today are running late - how bizarre.

I have seen a post on the DIBB from someone travellling today, blaming on new caterers. No idea if this is true or even likely

twirlygal wrote:I have seen a post on the DIBB from someone travellling today, blaming on new caterers. No idea if this is true or even likely

makes sense if all there planes are delayed,must be looking for the ice creanm

:w

Entry on the FB page that it is a problem with the new caterers.

Greg did not specifically deny it was this that was causing the delay.

twirlygal wrote:I have seen a post on the DIBB from someone travellling today, blaming on new caterers. No idea if this is true or even likely

What is the DIBB? I have heard this a couple of times now.

Spill I think the DIBB is a message board forum thingy for all things Disney related - Disney Indoctrination Bulletin Board.

There are 2 Dibbers sat onboard Barbarella right now, getting ever so slightly annoyed at the delay.
The Dibb is an amazing resource, it's not just a Disney forum

disney infomation BB there is some good advice on there,but also a lot of repeated questions and answers and also a lot of Virgin topics

and so some knock on delays to flights tomorrow expected I guess...

Greg now says

While I believe we have new caterers today, as far as I'm aware this isn't the reason for the delay to your flight. This is due to a late inbound aircraft following a late aircraft change due a technical issue with the original aircraft. Apologies if you were advised otherwise. Greg

(sorry don't know how to link direct to a FB post so have quoted)

Seems only the ANU flight left on time, and is arriving early, good news as I'm on the return leg

On the back of this does anyone know why VS 045 has been delayed by an hour over the last 2 days.

Don't think I ever been on a Virgin plane that has taken off within 30 minutes of scheduled time,was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA etc

jodash wrote:Don't think I ever been on a Virgin plane that has taken off within 30 minutes of scheduled time,was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA etc

I've been on plenty, and on plenty of occasions we've taxied in front of say a BA 747 ... I don't believe LHR favours one airline or another once they've left the gate.

slinky09 wrote:

jodash wrote:Don't think I ever been on a Virgin plane that has taken off within 30 minutes of scheduled time,was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA etc

I've been on plenty, and on plenty of occasions we've taxied in front of say a BA 747 ... I don't believe LHR favours one airline or another once they've left the gate.

must admit normally fly out of LGW on the bucket and spade routes,think the Chicago trip is 1st time out of LHR with Virgin

jodash wrote:Don't think I ever been on a Virgin plane that has taken off within 30 minutes of scheduled time,was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA etc

Surely arrival time is a better measure than departure time?

Look at the scheduls in the tool box and you will see lots and lots of on-time departures.

And it is ATC and NATS that control the takeoffs and departures. and VS owns part of NATS.

jodash wrote:Don't think I ever been on a Virgin plane that has taken off within 30 minutes of scheduled time,was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA etc

What do you mean by scheduled time? The times in the schedules are the times the flight aims to leave the gate, not the runway time. Obviously, airfield delays affect both -- but the latter are much less controllable by an airline. Are you saying that VS are more likely to have longer airfield delays than the average because of a lack of clout? I would be interested to see some data to support this!

I touched on this subject on a different thread last week forum/index.php?f=4&t=274751&rb_v=viewtopic#p812067

I felt that Virgin is running its LGW operation on a very tight schedule and the slightest incident ( whether VS fault or not ) causes these delays. Whilst I accept that most of us on this forum are PRO VS I feel that flight delays whichever way they are perceived damage VS more than any other complaint.Five years ago I couldn't have seen my family using any other airline, our holidays were taken where VS flew to. BUT delays do spoil holidays and with onward flights can incur big costs, and therefore pst like these occur.

at240 wrote:

jodash wrote:Don't think I ever been on a Virgin plane that has taken off within 30 minutes of scheduled time,was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA etc

What do you mean by scheduled time? The times in the schedules are the times the flight aims to leave the gate, not the runway time. Obviously, airfield delays affect both -- but the latter are much less controllable by an airline. Are you saying that VS are more likely to have longer airfield delays than the average because of a lack of clout? I would be interested to see some data to support this!

So are you saying if the flight leaves the gate on time but stands on the runway for a hour it is not a delayed flight,I was in no way knocking virgin (other sites make a good job of that)as we have flown with them for years, and apart from a 24 hour delay on a MCO flight home have no problems with them,but just made the point that there always seem a delay on the flights that we have taken be it 10 mins or 1 hour,and if you read my orignal post it said "was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA"

jodash wrote:

at240 wrote:

jodash wrote:Don't think I ever been on a Virgin plane that has taken off within 30 minutes of scheduled time,was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA etc

What do you mean by scheduled time? The times in the schedules are the times the flight aims to leave the gate, not the runway time. Obviously, airfield delays affect both -- but the latter are much less controllable by an airline. Are you saying that VS are more likely to have longer airfield delays than the average because of a lack of clout? I would be interested to see some data to support this!

So are you saying if the flight leaves the gate on time but stands on the runway for a hour it is not a delayed flight,I was in no way knocking virgin (other sites make a good job of that)as we have flown with them for years, and apart from a 24 hour delay on a MCO flight home have no problems with them,but just made the point that there always seem a delay on the flights that we have taken be it 10 mins or 1 hour,and if you read my orignal post it said "was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA"

As far as I'm aware airlines measure there OTP in two ways. Exactly on time and within 15 mins of STD. The Scheduled time as mentioned above is the time of pushback. If the flight encounters airfield delays then as long as it has pushed back on time it is classed as an on time departure. Most airlines anticipate slight airfield delays and incorporate them into their schedules.

A good example of this is JFK to LHR. we all know that around the VS4 and VS46 departure times departure delays can be excessive.

Looking at the block times (push back till chocks on at gate) for the three VS flights:

VS4 7.20
VS46 7.20
VS10 6.50

VS as do most other airlines 'pad' their schedules to allow for these delays. Therefor VS add taxi ing time to the VS4 and 46 to make up fr the anticipated delays on departure at JFK. This helps maintain schedules and although we may trundle around the taxi ways at JFK for what seems like an age, whenever I operate the 4 or 46 we normally arrive on time.

Maybe I've went off on a tangent but yes, if you push back on time then it's classed as an on time departure.

Pheew!

If a flight leave the gate on time then it is classed as an on time departure. It is very rare to get significant delays on the airfield, JFK departures aside. Usually an a/c wont leave the stand until is has a slot. Also, if you look while an a/ might depart late sometimes, it quite often still lands early or on schedule.

Also don't forget sometimes a/c leave late on purpose.if the light time is due to be significantly than expected, and it will mean an arrival when there could be restrictions in place, they might hold the departure to ensure there are no problems on arrival.

Neil wrote:If a flight leave the gate on time then it is classed as an on time departure. It is very rare to get significant delays on the airfield, JFK departures aside. Usually an a/c wont leave the stand until is has a slot. Also, if you look while an a/ might depart late sometimes, it quite often still lands early or on schedule.

Also don't forget sometimes a/c leave late on purpose.if the light time is due to be significantly than expected, and it will mean an arrival when there could be restrictions in place, they might hold the departure to ensure there are no problems on arrival.

thanks Neil,although I stand by what I said,did not think it would turn in to such a debate for what was a just of the cuff remark

:#

jodash wrote:So are you saying if the flight leaves the gate on time but stands on the runway for a hour it is not a delayed flight,I was in no way knocking virgin (other sites make a good job of that)as we have flown with them for years, and apart from a 24 hour delay on a MCO flight home have no problems with them,but just made the point that there always seem a delay on the flights that we have taken be it 10 mins or 1 hour,and if you read my orignal post it said "was told that they did not have the clout of the major airline BA,AA"

I didn't mean to irritate you. My apologies. I just think that focussing on the times is only part of the answer because there are so many variables at play. Gate delays, airfield delays, weather delays, schedule padding... all of these things make it very hard to determine the real on-time efficiency of a particular airline -- and some of them are not under the airline's control! I was not trying blindly to defend VS -- I was just trying to probe the assertion you made about their clout.

I would like to know if VS is genuinely worse than average, or even worse than its key competitors. This is a rhetorical question because I don't suppose anyone here has access to that data.