V-Flyer

Flew back from MCO last night on VS28 on VTOP..
I know the fleet is being upgraded and VTOP is leaving the fleet but this plane is a disgrace to the Virgin name.

We flew upper class he over head lockers were held together with gaffer tape in 2 places the IFE system kept freezing and had to be restated at least 4 time mine is 6A never did work.. good job it was an over night flight the suite in 7A did not convert into a bed and had to be manually forced into the bed position.
There were other bits of the cabin facer that was held together with tape.
If this had been my first experience with Virgin I would have made my mind up and never came back.
The only saving grace was the excellent service from the FSM and her fantastic team who had a really hard job trying to keep everyone happy.

Thankfully VTOP does not have much longer to fly but its a very poor image for Virgin to be portraying and at the price of an UC fare it was far from value.
luckily we fly with virgin on a regular basis and no this is not the norm but I do feel that a plane should never be left to get in this state.
I felt for the passengers in Econ and Prem who also had to endure the poor seating as well

was any compensation offered ? If not its complaint to Virgin towers time

A Email is winging its way as we speak but compensation is not real an issue !

Couldn't agree more!!!!!

Not good.

Oh well, look forward to a few miles from Crawley!

Poor Virginia plane she must be feeling very left out with all her sisters getting makeovers - just hope whichever airline she goes to sends her to the beauty parlour!

Getting a bit worried by all the comments regarding VTOP!
Due to fly LGW to LAS on 11November and am trying to work out the odds of getting this 'delapidated' aircraft. Seems that there is a reasonable chance but due to the inability to book seats in PE in advance there is no way of knowing.
Because I am travelling will not be able to check in beforehand to bag a good seat, so fingers crossed I manage something decent.

There is a 1 in 6 chance for your flight you will get TOP (providing XLG goes for her refit before that date, otherwise it will be 1 in 7).

virginboy747 wrote:Poor Virginia plane she must be feeling very left out with all her sisters getting makeovers - just hope whichever airline she goes to sends her to the beauty parlour!

She will be renamed Virgina plain!

Flew on her Thurs 25th in Econ......nearly all the seats around us were broke, lap trays did not open or were unstable, IFE was hit & miss.
Cabin crew told us she was going out service within 2 months......she is getting a bashing in her last fewweeks though. 4 return trips to MCO and off to vegas now all within 5 days....umm when has the engineer got time to fix the faults reported (thats what we were informed when faults reported--yeah right ha ha)

I have a bit of a soft spot for Virginia Plain as I flew on her a few times when she was in the LHR fleet. Like virginboy747, I do hope she gets a makeover wherever she goes

Also remember that just because the cabin may be somewhat battered, the engineering aspects which keep the aircraft in the sky will be in just as good a condition as those on the refurbished fleet.

I thought VGAL was worse with its poor NOVA Entertainment system but now it is refurbished. VTOP is leaving when VXLG returns from Reconfiguration in November/December 2012

I had 7a out on said plane, the service on that flight was well above expectations and the bed worked then, but I did notice the gaps in the ceiling and gaffa tape.

Oddly I was well pleased to get a refit home and the service was dire and the bed ( 7a again ) was broken and had to be forced down with the electric off.

i reckon there is a good chance i will be subjected to VTOP when i fly UC to Grenada in November, I have decided my tactic will be to sit at the bar and get smashed

The wife and I are flying out to Las Vegas on Saturday in 6A+K I hope her IFE is working, pretty sure we will draw the short straw that is VTOP, I too will be enjoying the bar.

I imagine V-TOP will be the most watcehd aircraft over the next month or so, with everyone that's due tofly trying to work out whether they'll draw the short straw LOL

I've flown twice on V-TOP in the last six months and agree with all the comments here.

Every time I've complained, I've been told about the refurbs for the other aircraft at LGW. 10,000 flyer miles seems to be the standard compensation.

Flying UC in two weeks to the caribbean and will be most annoyed if I am on V-TOP again. It should not be in service, period. It's fairly clear that any issues have been bandaged up without wanting to spend any money as she's going out of service shortly. This is still not an excuse though. One of the front toilet doors in the bubble was broken and held on by some tape - mid-flight the door came loose and the smell that gulfed the front few rows was vile (clearly had not been cleaned for some bit).