V-Flyer

Hi a friend of mine recently asked Virgin what there thinking was in mixing premium and economy passengers in the bubble of the 747 I thought it worthwhile showing their response as it seems a bit weak, your thoughts please, I think they may have gained the extra economy seats by reducing the downstairs premium section

"Thank you for your email regarding your recent flight with us . It’s clear from your email that you feel we’ve let you down in relation to our new seating layout in the upper deck of this aircraft and for this I wish to apologise.

The aim of these refurbishments were to match the current trends and demand that our customers have told us they wish to see on board. In recent years it has become clear that there is a reduced call for Upper Class and Premium Economy and a subsequent increase in demand for Economy.

We receive on-going feedback about the changes we have made to the Upper Deck on the Boeing 747’s in question, when perhaps some feel that it would be better to be kept exclusively to the higher cabins. In theory this would be the ideal situation for all. However, it is for the time being no longer cost effective or practical for this to continue. I will point out however, that we do not necessarily foresee this to be a long term scenario, and that this layout has not been rolled out to all of our 747 aircraft.

All the departments and staff both on the ground and in the air have worked hard to ensure that the same quality of excellent service is provided to our passengers on the upper deck. I can only apologise again, if you feel that this was not the case on this occasion.

In closing, may I reassure you that at Virgin Atlantic, we passionately believe in our product and service and want to make sure our customers feel the same. I know that your opinion of us may have been lowered by this experience and I want to assure you that this certainly was not our intention.

Your custom is very much appreciated."

I don't think it is weak. Yes, it is a typical CS type reply but what else would you expect really? VS have made a commerical decision that best suits them at this time, and while some PE pax might be annoyed it isn't going to change so whatever VS put isn't going to really appease an unhappy pax.

Having flown in Y on the new split upper deck (after being involuntary downgraded) a couple of weeks ago, I actually think it works quite well. For PE they still get priority service and two dedicated crew, and not once were there are queues for people using the toilets or people milling around. For Y, you get a much quieter cabin and dedicated crew.

Heathrow aricraft have been split Upper/Economy for about 5 years now.

Darren Wheeler wrote:Heathrow aricraft have been split Upper/Economy for about 5 years now.

And there wasn't half the fuss that PE travellers are creating about it. In fact when I started flying in PE, the Upper Deck was split UC/PE. There was only a short period when the upper deck was totally UC

As a frequent Y flyer I am delighted that there are some Y seats upstairs as it is a much more pleasant experience y)

Hi, I'm with Neil on this one.

I recently travelled back from Las Vegas on a refurb 747. I will confess I was sceptical about the changes to the upper deck having travelled in the PE 'bubble' for many years but my concerns were unfounded. There was absolutely no difference having a split cabin. My fear that there would be a constant stream of folk lining up to use the loos did not happen. The curtain between the cabin was not drawn across. Our PE seats in row 23 H&K were very comfortable.

Priority boarding worked fine and the crew was waiting with a pre takeoff drink. The issue of getting off the aircraft after the economy passengers was no big deal, I did notice the cabin crew was still holding back downstairs economy passengers when we landed at Gatwick.

I personally would not chose the sit in the first two rows of the new PE set up because they are right near the toilet and passengers do stand around waiting. I still prefer to sit upstairs because it is quieter and those few extra passengers do not make it feel any different. Maybe the bigger PE cabin downstairs suits family groups.

We had a good flight (after a very long delay taking off from LAS). Tops marks to the crew for not aborting the flight due to being 'over allocated working hours' . The FSM was extremely pro-active, helping with the meal/drink service y).

Lastly, the PE section downstairs has increased in size, so not sure what the OP means by "I think they may have gained the extra economy seats by reducing the downstairs premium section" Think they must have meant 'upstairs section'

The issues about added noise, queueing and priority boarding aren't too much of a problem. But at the end of the day VA is a business and like all other airlines change their product based on profitability and efficiency. Whilst it may not be ideal, I don't believe that it poses as too much of an issue/let down for what is only 7+ hours.

For me, the concept of a split cabin is not an issue, its the way its been designed that is the problem. There's no getting aroud the fact that having the shared toilets at the front of the PE cabin is a disaster. We had thefront row PE seats on one of our flights and there were people stood next to us for practically the whole flight. Definitely not a premium experience. I'm not too bothered about boarding priorities etc, but having a reasonably quiet and peaceful seat is what I would expect from PE. I guess it really depends on whether the Economy section in the bubble is full or not.

hunterdwmgzt wrote:For me, the concept of a split cabin is not an issue, its the way its been designed that is the problem. There's no getting aroud the fact that having the shared toilets at the front of the PE cabin is a disaster. We had thefront row PE seats on one of our flights and there were people stood next to us for practically the whole flight. Definitely not a premium experience. I'm not too bothered about boarding priorities etc, but having a reasonably quiet and peaceful seat is what I would expect from PE. I guess it really depends on whether the Economy section in the bubble is full or not.

I know what you mean about the toilet issue, but that was really still an issue with a PE only upstairs cabin and is an issue in all classes in some way.

The extra Y seats upstairs means there are only maximum another 11 seats which really doesn't add that much extra toilet traffic.

Neil wrote:I know what you mean about the toilet issue, but that was really still an issue with a PE only upstairs cabin and is an issue in all classes in some way.

Completely agree with Neil, there may still be people queuing for the toilet, the only difference with these people is that they've paid less than you to be in the same place.

Queues for toilets happen everywhere, I'm sure at some point a UC passenger had to wait in line too

Swelsh70 wrote:

Neil wrote:I know what you mean about the toilet issue, but that was really still an issue with a PE only upstairs cabin and is an issue in all classes in some way.

Completely agree with Neil, there may still be people queuing for the toilet, the only difference with these people is that they've paid less than you to be in the same place.

Not necessarily, someone flying in economy on a full Y fare, could easily have paid more than a PE pax that bought there K fare in a sale.