A330-300 Back On Caribbean Routes?

Apologies if this has already been mentioned on another thread that I have missed.

With the change from the A330-300 to the A330-200 to the Caribbean until further notice, I know V-Flyers are disappointed, so I want to share the following:

Either rightly or wrongly, when the announcement of the aircraft changes was made, I assumed all flights would be operated by an ex-Air Berlin aircraft. Today, my brother travelled on VS033 LGW - ANU, and it was on an A330-300 aircraft - great!

I don't know if this was a one-off especially as it is the first Saturday of the UK school holidays, but maybe over the summer season, VS will operate this aircraft where possible and when necessary.

The point of this post is maybe some flyers will also get lucky - Fingers crossed!

Ooh. A glimmer of hope for my trip to ANU in 5 weeks
Fingers even more crossed

Cooperman, keep everything crossed!

However, as I said before maybe it was just a one-off being one of the busiest Saturdays of the year.

Interesting though, the flight appeared to be full in all classes. How/when did VS sell PE when it hasn't been on sale since the introduction of the two class-only A330-200? - Y class upgrades perhaps??!!

Good luck!

We had an aircraft change and free upgrade from Economy Delight to Premium Economy when this happened with us (BGI-LGW back in June). At that point in time I'd been keeping an eye on things and there was, on average, a 'random' change to A330-300 about once a week.

Unfortunately we weren't upgraded to Upper Class as a few lucky people were! We were in the same seat numbers though, so I'm guessing the people who should have been right at the front of the Economy cabin on the -200 found themselves in Upper Class on the -300!

We had an aircraft change and free upgrade from Economy Delight to Premium Economy when this happened with us (BGI-LGW back in June). At that point in time I'd been keeping an eye on things and there was, on average, a 'random' change to A330-300 about once a week.

Unfortunately we weren't upgraded to Upper Class as a few lucky people were! We were in the same seat numbers though, so I'm guessing the people who should have been right at the front of the Economy cabin on the -200 found themselves in Upper Class on the -300!

Thanks for taking the time to reply as I was curious as to whether this was a one-off.

Good to hear you benefited from the a/c change Did you also receive PE meals and service?

I don't know if you have status with VS, if not, maybe it was Y class Gold and Silver Flying Club members who were upgraded to Upper Class?

Anyway, nice to know that quite a few passengers ended up possibly having a more enjoyable flight.

You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but when I look at LGW - MBJ for next June (paying as certainly no reward seats at the moment) it says that the flight is an A330 - 200 but they are selling seats in all 3 classes - is this not reflective of the actual cabin?

[mitchja]

All 4 the A330-200 aircraft should indeed have the standard VS 3 cabins by that time next year. The first A330-200 starts getting re-fitted with the new seats 'from November' this year.

With G-VINE having failed to complete the 89 today and returning with Hydraulic failure and no substitute a/c the flight has been cancelled.

Although I think only 2 789's are out of action now, it shows how hard the fleet is stretched, my VS89 in 10 days could be operated by almost anything I guess...

Is Bubbles coming back into service after her overhaul at MNL or going to the dessert?

Out of interest, does anyone know the current location of all the ex VS 346's, could any more come back?

GOA
BLU
SHY
MEG
OGE
EIL
MEG
SSH
WKD
ATL
GAS

Many thanks

Sorry - can't help with the last post, but I did speak to someone at FC about the LGW - MBJ route, and they said that although it is showing as a -200, it will actually be a - 300 doing that route next Summer???

I think many of the A346s have been scrapped. Three, GOA, SSH and ATL are flying for Mahan Air of Iran. EIL and GAS seem to be stored

Good to hear you benefited from the a/c change Did you also receive PE meals and service?

I don't know if you have status with VS, if not, maybe it was Y class Gold and Silver Flying Club members who were upgraded to Upper Class?

Anyway, nice to know that quite a few passengers ended up possibly having a more enjoyable flight.

Yup - PE meals and service, and a nice snooze after a cognac

We're lowly FC Red, and were on a reward booking. It may well have been those with better VS status who were upgraded. Amusingly, our reward booking was originally Premium Economy on that leg, and we got a 75% refund of the miles and cash element after being forcibly downgraded. We also got an additional 20K miles each after having inconveniences with an iffy seat and IFE....looks like we will have to go back again!

So despite being restored to Premium after being downgraded, you still claimed compensation for the downgrade? Is that not fraudulent?

Even if it’s not I wouldn’t be shouting about it here - VS staff do read V-Flyer and their revenue protection team may well be interested. If you did end up flying in the cabin you paid for I suspect they’d be perfectly entitled to reclaim the compensation should they be so inclined.

So despite being restored to Premium after being downgraded, you still claimed compensation for the downgrade? Is that not fraudulent?

No, that's not what I did.

The downgrade happened months before the flight due to the RR engine/Dreamliner issues. I did not claim compensation after the flight, it was given automatically months before we flew, and our booking/ticket was changed to Economy.

This is still happening.

Vs29 yesterday & today is a 300, also on scheduling down as a 300 tomorrow.

Any idea why? the 2x 200s don't appear to be flying at present?

Vs29 on 25th this month, booked in ED and silver so some hope!