Departures...

Is it just my imagination or has traffic on V-Flyer taken a dive recently? Several previous regulars seem to have gone on to radio silence and I am sure there are fewer trip reports and postings generally.

Which is a shame.

Or maybe everyone is on holiday?

i'd noticed the same, maybe a lull in travel after the summer? or maybe no one has anything much to say about VS things at the moment

perhaps we need a good scandal to inspire comment

I do wonder if it is the way we all 'arrive' in the forum. There are a couple of threads on how we login and some are seemingly only seeing a few threads.....

[Neil]

It's not unusual for site traffic/posts to go through busier/quieter periods through out the year.

End Sept/early Oct is actually make a busy travel / holiday period now so in the lead up its always busier as people become more focused on their upcoming trips, then it's quieter whilst they are away.

Also November is one of the quitest leisure travel months, so again there isn't so many people posting just before their trips.

Rollcall:
Dick D present sir.

Rollcall:
Dick D present sir.

Love it ! This could be the longest post ever !!!
hiljil - present sir

Here, but wish I was still in Florida - its baltic this morning !!

David

(and for what its worth, I think its a bit quieter as well - some of the threads seem to end very quickly)

[Neil]

Just to add, if you compare today to the 'golden' era of V-Flyer 8/10 years ago then it is a very different, but the way we all communicate and the amount of sites, information has changed dramatically in that time to. Also, there information and tools on the site have grown so quite often people can find the answer to their question without the need to post due to huge volume of similar questions.

As well as a site for information and questions, it was also very much a social place, but we didn't have Facebook or Twitter so there were far less places to be social online.

I noticed this too. it seemed to be that around the time of the site upgrade, the posts reduced. Did people have difficulty accessing then?

Well, BA has got me now. Sure the ground experience is crap, but the onboard experience good, and I do wonder if I will fly VS soon again... Not been any good sales either, so not likely...

I will be qualifying for BA Gold just after Christmas... I've let my VS one drop to red now...

[honey lamb]

OK, I'm posting from 10+ years on V-Flyer and apart from Pete, I think that buns, mitchja, Nottingham Nick, Neil and I are the only currently active mods on the site.

As Neil said, in previous years, there was much more social interaction on the site than now. In the past there were social occasions such as the Post Christmas Party and the Riverboat Shuffle which ultimately fell by the wayside with the advent of social media because of Facebook and other similar sites. This scenario is not solely confined to V-Flyer. Long before V-Flyer began, I was a member of a similar site which didn't have such a specific focus but had the ethos of respect and good manners that V-flyer employs. I joined it in 1998 and while it is now moribund to the point of being defunct (It was a US site which went through several incarnations as the parent site changed hands over time) I have a cohort of good friends which have developed from that site in the same way I have a good cohort of friends from V-Flyer.

V-Flyer is still active thanks to its links with a specific airline (while not excluding others) but does suffer from the rise and fall of the trends in the Virgin product;

We bemoaned when the Upper deck on the LHR 747 planes, (which when I started flying them at the turn of the century were a UC/PE split in there and were then changed to a full UC cabin) were reconfigured to a UC/ECsplit.

There was uproar when, following a much needed refurbishment of the LGW fleet the Upper deck which had been exclusively PE became a PE/EC split. That outcry was worse than the reconfig on the LHR planes!!

I can remember coming back from a holiday and finding a 17 page post about the introduction of the Snooze Zone on late night flights. VS tempered it to specific ex-USA flights.

And what about the uproar on the introduction of A330s and the glass divider between seats the UC cabin. That soon got changed.

I could cite many more examples of where V-F has been proactive and as a result has attracted more members (but I've had too many G&Ts to remember)but it must be remembered that there is a significant portion of people who post asking about their specific flight and having received our answers, are never seen again in spite of our requests for TRs.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a TR of my own to complete .

I don't post very much - but have to say I tend to be on here daily looking for tips etc on the best ways to fly with Virgin Atlantic. I expect there's many others doing exactly the same as me.

I flew to Seattle with Delta in November last year - and can still remember the flight very well - but have thought since I joined its far too late for a trip report.

Also I'm now at 55000 miles - should I keep on saving or find something to spend them on now?

Hazban reporting for duty!
I have been very active, checking the site at least daily, but unfortunately not been traveling too much. Things about to change though as family commitments which have been holding me back have resolved themselves.
The information provided by the learned folks has proved invaluable and some serious effort has been put in by the moderators to keep the information flowing and current.
Regarding the actual airline, my first experience UC in 2010, was frankly a disappointment. Admittedly this was on an "old" Gatwick 747 to MCO. However stuck with them quickly gaining AU and enjoying the limited advantages that brought. Experiences have been very mixed, some of the hardware is getting tired and the "spark" often missing from the crew on board. The personality and enthusiasm seems to be on the wain, perhaps the number crunchers are taking over?
There is a lot of decent opposition out there as I have discovered, maybe not as quirky, but certainly as professional with superior comfort and amenities (Clubhouse excepted!).
My next trip is BA First to SFO in November and I put the details on BA-flyer as I thought that was the correct thing to do? If you think this forum is short of traffic have a quick look over there!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a TR of my own to complete .

Come on dear lady. Chop chop !

There was uproar when, following a much needed refurbishment of the LGW fleet the Upper deck which had been exclusively PE became a PE/EC split. That outcry was worse than the reconfig on the LHR planes!!

Honey Lamb rolling back the years a bit with that bugbear, that's a change I really hated - was a regular bubble PE traveller out to Carib and LAS from LGW and really loved being up there as it was comfortable, cosy like a small plane and really sociable with so few passengers in the area - so much so that I rarely bothered with UC on the outward leg even when funds allowed the option, but I suppose they had to refresh and take the opportunity to fiddle around to get me down and front more often when the wallet allowed In fact it was PE in the bubble that really got me addicted to flying VS in the first place, whenever possible!

I guess the mods or Pete have access to statistics on lurkers to judge viewing interest, I just know that I used to browse the forum regularly, and often still do without logging in, for many years before joining as Trusse03 and Hazban said. IMHO it's a great forum and hopefully Pete and the mods will keep the enthusiasm for running it for many years to come!

"Here, Sir"/

TimCrawley - you have echoed my feelings on that matter exactly.

I too fly BA these days, so my currency of knowledge regarding VS is diminishing. In fact, it may get to the point where I have to ask "school boy" questions again were I ever to try and use the 100k miles or so I still have in my FC account.

Several factors mean I don't post with the regularity that I once did:
As mentioned, I fly BA at the moment;
I don't post all TRs anymore, understandably, TRs regarding BA don't generate a huge interest and conversation;
A lot of the "banter" and brilliant sharing of knowledge about far more than just VS has disappeared or become more stilted;
The new website was difficult to navigate at first, and seems slower to me - I also have specific difficuties with new websites whereby it takes me quite a lot longer to find my way around.

This is still a fabulously informed and polite forum, but I find I have less and less in common with it.

I always remember my first VS flight and that was before I found this site and could have done with a little forward thinking from like minded colleagues and friends . What the last few years have tout me as Honeylamb has rightly said we converse about the good , bad and ugly and can be to the point if Crawley Towers deserve it but also highly complimentary when needed.

Posts as maximum has dropped , but I always try to post a few lines as I am not very good to write essays and the photo thing still eludes me, but as I write I hope we can arrange more v-flyer meets

I don't post all TRs anymore, understandably, TRs regarding BA don't generate a huge interest and conversation;

I find them of interest even if I would find it a challenge to comment (though my BA experience is growing); The reduction in the VS footprint particularly going east mean that we all need to understand the alternatives. It's frustrating when you pen something and it generates very few responses, but perhaps we should all get more familiar with use of the "Like" button to show appreciation.

And there are so many other social media sites to consume our keyboard time. When I started with V-Flyer you had to have an .edu email address to join Facebook....

When I joined v-flyer nearly 5 years ago, I feel it was very different to how it is now.

Firstly I agree Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc command so much of people's social time.
In my opinion so many people are obsessed with talking to a load of strangers for some reason and give away so much personal information and photographs on these sites. Its weird but there are alot of folk who actually want, shall we say, challenging banter/arguements.
These sites are generally a 'free for all' where abuse is allowed. The v-flyer forum is monitorited very closely by the Moderators and they jump on any thread which does not follow the guidelines. Thank goodness. Also I believe any new member to the forum is watched closely and that stops any troublemaking troll gaining access just to stir up trouble.

Since the upgrade, I think the site is much quieter but that could just be a coincidence. Some days I'll log on and there has barely been six to ten new posts each day for ages, and these include 'old' threads bought back to life. I agree the answer could be because there is so much brilliant information stored within the various links on the site now. I found it hard to navigate around at first but I'm fine now. I used to have a v-flyer bookmark on my ipad and suddenly this would say 'access denied'. I was slow to realise I needed to refresh the bookmark for the new upgraded site!

I went back to 2010, 11 and 12 to read some of the posts I was participating in back then. Apart from the Mods, hardly any Usernames were recognisable. Perhaps people went away but then came back using a different Username? I do remember back in those early days feeling (rightly or wrongly) that v-flyer it was a clicky forum. I honestly felt that because I didn't travel in Upper Class, then I was somewhat of an outcast. I never ever thought of posting a trip report about my economy flights on VS !
There has been times when I have cringed when I have read a comment like "well if I cannot travel in UC then I wouldn't travel" . Such remarks maybe said in jest, but ........
I also remember sending a pm to one of the Moderators, asking why I had received such an abrupt and sarcastic reply to a question I had posted.

However things have changed. The kind support I received earlier this year when I had an issue with VS regarding a time change, was fantastic. I have had my advice acknowledged and I genuinely feel very comfortable with the current forum even though it may be a bit slower and have less active participants Looking forward to another five years.

Has this thread started an upturn in number of posts, or is there more going on???

I still log on day and night , I just don't post much or reply to other posts a lot nowdays but I think that's because I feel a lot of people can answer questions better than myself ,I always read and still thoroughly enjoy all TRs that get posted as well

I still log on day and night , I just don't post much or reply to other posts a lot nowdays but I think that's because I feel a lot of people can answer questions better than myself ,I always read and still thoroughly enjoy all TRs that get posted as well

+1 from me - started lurking in 2008 but only registered last year but am still checking two to three times per day - having only had two UC flights (yes I know there's an very overdue TR) a lot of the queries are covered those with more experience than me.

But I tell everybody who's looking at long haul to look at here and have completely amazed a couple of colleagues by sending them screen shots of ex-UK flights

Well this thread has now had 22 replies so it can't be that bad

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a TR of my own to complete .

Come on dear lady. Chop chop !

What he said, dear lady... (That's got me thinking Hinge & Bracket now)

I must admit I'd been thinking the same as Maximus, that there were fewer posts and some days I'd log on and find very few new posts. But as with all things, it waxes and wains. I'm very grateful I found the forum, it's the only one I belong to. My experience in the past of other forums is they're very clicky, and one some forums, those who are 'superior' take great pleasure in flaming newbies, which is instantly off-putting. That's what's different about v-flyer - it welcomes newbies. Ok there's been a couple of occasions where a newbie has made a faux-pas, such as asking for one of the fringe benefits on their first post. That got very mixed responses, but thankfully it never got ugly. And generally, everyone welcomes newbies, even if they're asking questions that have been asked a thousand times already.

I've got some good tips from here, not just related to VS travel, after all it's how I learned about packing cubes, and many of you know how I feel about them!

I'm also interested in TRs, from all airlines and in all cabins, and though I don't always comment, I read most of the TRs that get posted.

Anyway, I've just heard Outlook pinging, I think that means I've got work to do...