V-Flyer

Sounds like a rather grim night for pax on VS25 yesterday - even when you ignore the usual Mail sensationalism (there were CHILDREN on board!).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... nding.html

all the more reason to ban children...................

seriously surely everyones safety is most important, would VS really land a plane what 60-90 minutes short of its destination with all the hassle involved if it wasn't needed ?

Poor article really. Missing the following stock words:

Terrified passengers
Panicing crew
Screaming
"The plane felt funny"
"We all thought we were going to die..."

2/10

Not to ignore the fact that VS25 uses a the A330, so why show a 400?

Darren Wheeler wrote:Poor article really. Missing the following stock words:

Terrified passengers
Panicing crew
Screaming
"The plane felt funny"
"We all thought we were going to die..."

2/10

No community singing?

No plucky Brits sharing their meager food and drink to pass away the time ?


Sorry but not belittling how it must be for the passengers but the over sensational DM reporting does deserve mocking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23747391

"A spokeswoman said food and drink costs would be refunded"
I would have hoped they would provide food and drink

But if its an airport that virgin don't fly into with no virgin ground staff there's no-one to provide food and drinks

What time do the food outlets at Gander close?

250 pepperoni pizza please, to deliver.

Darren Wheeler wrote:What time do the food outlets at Gander close?

250 pepperoni pizza please, to deliver.

No, Darren, it's 249 pepperoni pizza and 1 vegetarian one please, to deliver!

honey lamb wrote:

Darren Wheeler wrote:What time do the food outlets at Gander close?

250 pepperoni pizza please, to deliver.

No, Darren, it's 249 pepperoni pizza and 1 vegetarian one please, to deliver!

No, someone just gets extra pepperoni.

virginboy747 wrote:But if its an airport that virgin don't fly into with no virgin ground staff there's no-one to provide food and drinks

Oh b****r, they wont can refuel then 8D

The people of Gander did a wonderful job of looking after the crew and passengers of 021 after the sky was closed following 9/11
http://www.thankstogander.de/stories.html

G-VRAY was also involved in a diversion to Shannon a few days ago also when operating VS025

I was telling my husband last night that when we flew to LAX from London years ago we had to stop in Gander to re fuel. God only knows what kind of metal we must have been on!

Yep, I also remember having to stop and refuel (as well as clear US immigration) at Bangor, Maine on several trips to Florida many years ago.

When I worked in Newfoundland I used Gander quite often and it was never busy, a far cry from when it was known as the "Cross Roads of the World".
There is a very interesting book about how the people of Gander dealt with the invasion of 39 aircraft due to the sky's being closed because of the 9/11 attacks
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Day-World-Came- ... 0060559713

Why does nobody think of the children?

On a (rare) serious note, they are saying this is an engine/fuel issue, will this have any affect on the ETOPS rating? Is ETOPS aircraft/engine dependant or does airline also come into it?

Although coming to think of it not sure Virgin does any ETOPS routes.

virginboy747 wrote:But if its an airport that virgin don't fly into with no virgin ground staff there's no-one to provide food and drinks

Surely if any airline entrusts a Captain with a multi million pound aircraft then the airline could issue a company credit card to that captain with a sufficient funding limit to cover refreshmen costs in such cases as this where an airline has no ground cover.

PaulS wrote:

virginboy747 wrote:But if its an airport that virgin don't fly into with no virgin ground staff there's no-one to provide food and drinks

Surely if any airline entrusts a Captain with a multi million pound aircraft then the airline could issue a company credit card to that captain with a sufficient funding limit to cover refreshmen costs in such cases as this where an airline has no ground cover.

I imagine in that situation the pilot has many more important issues that he has to sort rather than to pop to McDonalds and order 300 Big Macs.

I very much doubt that the pilot got his tool kit out and started the repairs and wouldnt his first responsibilty be to his paying customers, but surlely someone fom the crew or the airline could have sorted some refreshmens out. If this had been Ryan Air or BA then perhaps we wouldn't have been defending terrible customer service. This is not a dig at VS but at an industry that fails to pan for these unavoidable invents where aircaft have to divert to airport where there is no dedicated ground staff. v( v(

I wasn't suggesting he would be doing the repairs, but he is responsible for the aircraft. There will have been lots of communications back to base and with the local people about the issue and getting that resolved, plus all the necessary paperwork associated with the diversion. His priority will have been to get the aircraft sorted so they could continue with the journey.

It really isn't practical to expect any of the crew to be able to look after the pax in this situation. They will have no knowledge of the facilities or workings at each airport, so will be as much in the dark as the pax. VS will have agreements with ground handling agents for these situations and if what was provided was good enough then VS need to take that up with them and recompense any pax who were out of pocket.

I'm not defending VS, but it is just stupid to try and lay blame with the crew (flight or cabin) or suggest that in any way they should be expected by VS or pax to be in charge once they have left the airport.

I imagine the logistics of organising short notice catering for 250-odd passengers at 10.30pm at a small provincial airport are fairly complex. I've not been to Gander but I can't imagine there's a wide choice of outlets open - if any - at that time of night.

Yes, the crew could have ordered in 250 pizzas. But then you'd inevitably get complaints from people who don't like pizza and want a burger instead. Far easier to say "go and get what you want and we'll refund you up to $20" or whatever.

It's all very well saying airlines should have contingency plans to look after passengers at every airport in the world just in case they have to make an unscheduled diversion. But that's just not realistic.

Did the passengers and crew actually clear immigration into Canada or were they stuck air-side?

At least the pax were let off the plane unlike a recent incident involving BA where they had to stay on the plane for something like 12 hours.

I thought it was airline policy (so not just VS) that when this sort of thing happens that the flight crew stay away from (are kept from) the passengers.

And I don't think criticising Gander Airport helps either. After all how many of the catering outlets are open at LHR at 10.30 at night?