V-Flyer

Can anyone throw any light on why the VS200 seems not to operate 7 days a week now, e.g no flight on 16th Mar and it didnt operate on 9th March. Hope this isnt the begining of the end of this route.

There have been a couple of light loads lately and they've also used the 343 on the route
However it's going to a 787 from July 5th and being changed to the vs206/207 I'm told.

Booked flight last week for Sept in UC and at that point it was still showing as A346 with 200/201 flight numbers.

Quite fond still of the A346 plus loads of space in UC. If it does switch to 789 hope it feels as roomy.

I've just booked to go to HKG in November and the flights numbers are VS206 (LHR-HKG) and VS207 (HKG-LHR) both operated by a 789.

The flight number is changing due to atc request to change it for safety reasons as I guess another airline also uses flight number 200. The 787 is roomier than the 346

virginboy747 wrote:The flight number is changing due to atc request to change it for safety reasons as I guess another airline also uses flight number 200. The 787 is roomier than the 346

Yes it's Cathay
Don't know why it's become an issue after all this time

Hi

I'm on this route all the time and there always has been a couple of light spots in early March - people go to HK late March for the rugby 7s and delay plans in order to coincide! Late March/early April is also peak time for returning students.

The air crew have been chatting about a change of designation for ages - nothing sinister they say, just clarity. I assume they know!

Linyilee wrote:

virginboy747 wrote:The flight number is changing due to atc request to change it for safety reasons as I guess another airline also uses flight number 200. The 787 is roomier than the 346

Yes it's Cathay
Don't know why it's become an issue after all this time

Perhaps it wasn't an issue in the past but something happened (not necessarily serious enough to make the news) that it was felt wise to change the flight number.

VS and CX do sound quite similar.

Thanks for the information. I have been flying this route for 20+ years, remember Virgin Freeway miles, and I would hate to have to switch to the dark side as VS lounge in HKG far superior.

FC tell me that the number is changing because 200/201 was assigned to the LHR - SYDNEY route

Also apparently the booking team still have to manually select HKG because the computer system has not been "updated" to remove Sydney.

They also didnt know it was changing until I asked (and they checked). They first were hoping it was a second flight because told me that it is often full (my experience also)

iSTBC but I think the 200/201 was on the HKG route long before Sydney came along

property1925 wrote:FC tell me that the number is changing because 200/201 was assigned to the LHR - SYDNEY route

Also apparently the booking team still have to manually select HKG because the computer system has not been "updated" to remove Sydney.

They also didnt know it was changing until I asked (and they checked). They first were hoping it was a second flight because told me that it is often full (my experience also)

Now, why doesn't that surprise me? Good old VS IT

I wonder how long it will be before Delta tell VS to drop this route?

Thanks for the mention of VS200/201 changing to VS 206/207 - managed to bag a couple of Gs for September and wondered why the number change. I had selected seats on the 346 but seems the seatmap now unavailable and doesn't tell plane type now.

glennh wrote:Thanks for the mention of VS200/201 changing to VS 206/207 - managed to bag a couple of Gs for September and wondered why the number change. I had selected seats on the 346 but seems the seatmap now unavailable and doesn't tell plane type now.

Well done on getting couple of G's. Just seen the 789 is only 31 in J compared to 45 on the 346 so quite a drop in J availability. I expect getting G's going fwd will become even harder on this route especially as from my previous trips it seems to do well with corporate business travellers.

Just tried viewing seatmap for my flight and this is also unavailable now that they have changed to 789.
Does anyone have any idea of how long before seat maps become available for J when they are switching aircraft types based of previous route 789 introductions?

On topic of route number change still dont get why they are changing it. Certainly back in 2004 pre Sydney rounte it was always 200/201.

Got VS to reissue me the E-ticket and now I can access seat map for the VS206/VS207


Hope the 789 is still due to start service in early July.