V-Flyer

See my aircraft has changed to an A332 on 21/3 to Dubai?! Is this right as website says they’ll be used on the Caribbean routes?

Upper class looks pants, no bar, poor seats.

We are very worried and if there is no bar for example aren’t we entitled to claim our upper class experience was not what was shown when we booked?!

The A332s have all been refurbished. Not seen any Trip Reports on here about them yet so can’t comment on the quality of the seats but it’s safe to say they are not the same as the ones that they came with from Air Berlin.

The original VS plans were for them to be on specific routes but that does not preclude them being used on other ones given the 787 engine issues.

All airlines reserve the right to switch plane types.

Keep an eye out, we were booked in Upper on the A333 for later tonight, about a a month ago they changed it to the A332 (would’ve been better for us, managed to snag the couple seats before anyone else), about a week ago it got changed back to an A333. It still shows on the system as an A332 but seatmap has changed to A333.

The 332 won’t be doing DXB , seatmaps should change to the 333

My seat map was showing the A332 also until about a week before today then it changed back to a A333. I’m currently sitting on the VS400 and it’s definitely an A333. It’s also completely rammed full in all cabins. I noticed that Expert flyer seat availability and the pricing in UC really looked like it was being driven by the lower amount of seats on the A332. Definitely looked like the IT was screwed up tbh. Even with a possible AC change.

I will say one thing however. This does NOT look like a route making NO revenue.
I remember being on the Hong Kong back in 2006 and there were about 25 people on it.

Sooooo frustrating.

scruickshank wrote:I will say one thing however. This does NOT look like a route making NO revenue.
I remember being on the Hong Kong back in 2006 and there were about 25 people on it.

Sooooo frustrating.

A full flight doesn't mean it's profitable, it's all about yields. For all we know, half the passengers on your flight could have been redeeming miles. Revenue from cargo also helps.

Indeed. I was on a lot of busy VS400/401s but then oftentimes I paid peanuts for my flight.

SlimpyJones wrote:Indeed. I was on a lot of busy VS400/401s but then oftentimes I paid peanuts for my flight.

Indeed. The DXB route was always a pretty good bet for miles redemptions, particularly in Upper Class. It was often said that Virgin Holidays propped the route up for a long time - and the fares VHols sell are not fully-flexible ones (i.e. the ones that make a LOT of money for the airline).

As to cargo - can't see VS making anything on this route with only one flight per day from/to LHR. BA have two flights per day each way. And as to EK - enough said, they can get your cargo to an airport fairly close to where you want it in the UK, on multiple flights to each airport per day. Can't say I'm surprised to see the DXB route go - VS were a minnow in a big pond dominated by EK.

As an aside, the MCO route is very profitable for VS on cargo, as they are the largest player on the MCO-UK-MCO route (especially in peak season).

SlimpyJones wrote:Indeed. I was on a lot of busy VS400/401s but then oftentimes I paid peanuts for my flight.

Indeed. I use this route a lot and my fights always seem to be rammed in all cabins.

EK have a huge amount of seats daily on this route and the Y fares are very often sub £350 return. They will always have the monopoly and I guess it’s just not sustainable for VS to compete with this, even with the revenue from higher cabins, cargo and the VH feed.

There has been quite a drop in seats per day to DXB over the past year. QF no longer use it as a stopover in favour of SIN and Royal Brunei have also stoped serving. That’s at least 2-3 A380’s and a B788 that have been cut per day.

It’s a real shame as I can see prices increasing on this route going forward.

Flew out on the 16th and it was full in all cabins again apparently.

And for us it was a 333, then a 332, then a 333 seat map but showing 332 in app/website until about 2 days before departure. Scattered our seat assignments around the cabin on every change

Ended up on a what seemed like a full VS400 on Sunday with 244 passengers as per the pilots announcement. Definitely think I’d have preferred an A332, the A333 just felt too exposed.

Can’t believe how amazing the VS drive thru experience was as well as the lounge. Only thing that let the flight down was the
onboard catering (ordered a MOML, was given a AVML).

Not sure why they can’t hand out the pyjamas in the lounge, changing onboard was a bit difficult.

Zeb wrote:Only thing that let the flight down was the onboard catering (ordered a MOML, was given a AVML).

I suspect they’re one and the same. To save money, most airlines produce the bare minimum of special meals and ensure that each one is suitable for a range of diets.

Zeb wrote:Not sure why they can’t hand out the pyjamas in the lounge, changing onboard was a bit difficult.

Because not everyone in the lounge is flying UC and therefore entitled to them.

Also DL don’t offer Jim jams so it would cause confusion as to who got them and who didn’t.

Also you’d need a huge storage room given the potential number of just UC passengers flying each day. Much easier to distribute smaller numbers on to be given out on each flight

Can’t say I’ve ever had a problem changing onboard in the toilet and I’m not exactly svelte!

mattyp wrote:

SlimpyJones wrote:Indeed. I was on a lot of busy VS400/401s but then oftentimes I paid peanuts for my flight.

Indeed. I use this route a lot and my fights always seem to be rammed in all cabins.

EK have a huge amount of seats daily on this route and the Y fares are very often sub £350 return. They will always have the monopoly and I guess it’s just not sustainable for VS to compete with this, even with the revenue from higher cabins, cargo and the VH feed.

There has been quite a drop in seats per day to DXB over the past year. QF no longer use it as a stopover in favour of SIN and Royal Brunei have also stoped serving. That’s at least 2-3 A380’s and a B788 that have been cut per day.

It’s a real shame as I can see prices increasing on this route going forward.

Did Royal Brunei have 5th freedom rights between London and Dubai? If not, it's not a big drop and I suspect their main market is those traveling to Brunei or connecting there to places such as Melbourne. QF are in a JV with EK and they're now letting EK handle all the DXB-Australia flights. It was the JV that led to QF routing LHR flights via DXB.

EK have 6 daily flights LHR-DXB plus BA's twice-daily offering. EK also serve LGW 3 times per day and they're expanding their STN route to twice-daily soon. I'd argue there's still plenty of capacity between three London airports and Dubai and it's understandable why VS have decided to leave them to it and focus elsewhere.

Yes, Royal Brunei did have 5th freedom, I flew between LHR and DXB with them several times. They have a good offering, and although they’re a dry airline it didn’t matter to me one bit. I always found them to be consistently around 20-30% cheaper than EK/BA/VS on this route and a lot of people I know used to use them regularly due to their competitive pricing.

BA are actually 3x daily from LHR, although one of those is operated by Air Belgium at the moment due to the ongoing 787 engine issues.

Due to the upcoming runway works at DXB, all airlines are being asked to cut their schedules in April / May this year. BA are cancelling one of their daily rotations and replacing one of the others with an A380 during this time. There’s obviously a demand for this capacity...

mattyp wrote:Yes, Royal Brunei did have 5th freedom, I flew between LHR and DXB with them several times. They have a good offering, and although they’re a dry airline it didn’t matter to me one bit. I always found them to be consistently around 20-30% cheaper than EK/BA/VS on this route and a lot of people I know used to use them regularly due to their competitive pricing.

BA are actually 3x daily from LHR, although one of those is operated by Air Belgium at the moment due to the ongoing 787 engine issues.

Due to the upcoming runway works at DXB, all airlines are being asked to cut their schedules in April / May this year. BA are cancelling one of their daily rotations and replacing one of the others with an A380 during this time. There’s obviously a demand for this capacity...

Thanks for the info about Royal Brunei. Being dry wouldn't have bothered me either as I hardly drink when flying unless it's an evening/overnight flight and if I'm not driving when I get to the other end. I had forgotten about the frequency currently in the hands of Air Belgium.

Given the timing, I wonder if the runway works was one of the excuses VS needed to cut DXB?

Whilst Royal Brunei doesn't serve it's own alcohol non Muslims can take their own onboard and the crew will serve you.

There are several 'dry' airlines that are happy with the BYOB concept and will supply you with glasses and ice etc

So don't make a blanket assumption about 'dry airlines' though some really are dry and others should be in the 'slightly damp' category.

And even those in the 'damp' category may have rules about no alcohol in the actual country once you land. So best do your research.

Looks like it was G-VINE