V-Flyer

VS075 wrote:

Sealink wrote:According to one of the national rags Greybull are now involved.

Greybull of Comet and Monarch fame...

EDIT: They also shut down M Local and had questionable activities with British Steel.

The fact Greybull are linked is worrying enough. If they do get involved and invest, I fear the worst. As you say, their track record is not great and I’m surprised they’re looking to get involved in aviation again after how much they presumably lost with Monarch.

I am not actually sure they lost money with Monarch...

The Telegraph is reporting that one of the members of the US CV19 task force Dr Fauci is warning the UK - US travel ban will not be lifted anytime soon. Of course Trump in his unpredictable way could do his own thing.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... op-public/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11860839/ ... ths-fauci/

flyingfox wrote:The Telegraph is reporting that one of the members of the US CV19 task force Dr Fauci is warning the UK - US travel ban will not be lifted anytime soon. Of course Trump in his unpredictable way could do his own thing.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... op-public/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11860839/ ... ths-fauci/

Indeed Trump could make his own decision. As we all know he mentioned we might be seeing changes to the Europe ban soon, but whether that includes the UK who knows? Especially given we're the worst in Europe with the slowest declining rate of infection.

I received an USA travel advice notice from the FCO this morning that says
"Addition of Atlantic [sic] airport to list of airports operating transatlantic flights"

It will interesting to see if ATL will feature in VS schedules in the near future now.

Head for points this morning claimed it may be the autumn before the US ban is lifted, or possibly even when a vaccine is available.

Razorback wrote:I received an USA travel advice notice from the FCO this morning that says
"Addition of Atlantic [sic] airport to list of airports operating transatlantic flights"

It will interesting to see if ATL will feature in VS schedules in the near future now.

It will indeed.

And equally interesting to see if MCO is added to the list before July 20th. VS clearly believes/hopes it will.

Of course as long as the Presidential proclamation remains in force it’s a moot point for most Brits, but if VS can fly into MCO again that’s a hell of a lot of refunds it may avoid having to pay over the summer holidays.

FLL & IAH have now been added to the list

Boston-Logan International Airport (BOS), Massachusetts
Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Illinois
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Texas
Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), Michigan
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Hawaii
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), Florida
George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Texas
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Georgia
John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York
Los Angeles International Airport, (LAX), California
Miami International Airport (MIA), Florida
Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), New Jersey
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), California
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Washington
Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD), Virginia

Reported elsewhere, the following has apparently been sent to travel agents today:

"As a valued partner we wanted to let you know that we’ll be making some changes to our flying programme over the weekend. As a result you may experience some schedule changes.

We’re excited to share more details with you and will be in touch early next week with further information."

So hopefully some news about MAN, GLA and BFS flights - and knowing VS maybe an announcement of more route resumptions even though there’s no sign yet of Trump being ready to let Brits back in to the US.

gumshoe wrote:Reported elsewhere, the following has apparently been sent to travel agents today:

"As a valued partner we wanted to let you know that we’ll be making some changes to our flying programme over the weekend. As a result you may experience some schedule changes.

We’re excited to share more details with you and will be in touch early next week with further information."

So hopefully some news about MAN, GLA and BFS flights - and knowing VS maybe an announcement of more route resumptions even though there’s no sign yet of Trump being ready to let Brits back in to the US.

Fingers crossed this is what that means. I did see a comment in twitter saying they will update by 22nd June on other airports/routes. Hoping and praying they have some secret knowledge of borders xx

Well if true this will complicate things, i am sure the man in the big White House will make political capital out of any bans of US citizens even though he banned us months ago.

https://www.businessinsider.com/europe- ... ?r=US&IR=T

gumshoe wrote:So hopefully some news about MAN, GLA and BFS flights.

As far as I know, no Glasgow flights until Easter 2021

Indeed, that was the news.

Although at this rate I’m not convinced there’ll be ANY flights to MCO this year, however optimistic VS may be.

The NY Governor has announced a mandatory 14 day quarantine for travellers from high risk coronavirus states. I am sure this will have a knock on effect on international arrivals if and when they review current travel restrictions.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/york-jersey-c ... d=71429025

https://airlinegeeks.com/2020/06/25/vir ... undancies/

"Virgin Atlantic has written to its pilots asking for volunteers to operate flights in July, admitting it didn’t have enough crew to cover all flights, following the announcement from the airline regarding the resumption of flights next month."

VS have now further extended their booking amendment waiver window to cover all bookings up to November 30th 2020.

Full details here

Still no movement on a further Flying Club status extension yet though

Update from VS Trade on the upcoming travel restrictions;

VSbulletin - Update 01 November 2020

We continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation very carefully, including the latest guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), as well as any new entry or quarantine restrictions implemented by the countries we fly to.

We’re aware of the latest guidance issued by UK government, that from 5 November 2020, UK nationals should avoid all non-essential travel. We are currently evaluating what this means for our customers and flying programme. At present, our schedule remains as published and there is no change to our commercial policy.

mitchja wrote:Still no movement on a further Flying Club status extension yet though

When I login to my account, my tier points still show as 1,445. I last flew in March and my tier points should have rolled over July/Aug time. It's like the whole program is suspended; it would make sense if it is. Maybe it is and I missed something?

Yeah, there have been two six-month extensions so everyone's Silver/Gold status was extended by a year.

fwiw, my tier points expired "on time", decreasing from month to month

matt.hibb wrote:

mitchja wrote:Still no movement on a further Flying Club status extension yet though

When I login to my account, my tier points still show as 1,445. I last flew in March and my tier points should have rolled over July/Aug time. It's like the whole program is suspended; it would make sense if it is. Maybe it is and I missed something?

Hi
I had flights booked to fly in august to Orlando when the pandemic happen I choose to suspend flights rather than wait to see if flights were cancelled and get a refund. As we don’t really know when the pandemic will be over I have till end of November to rebook do you think I may now be able to get a refund

You should be able to. I had a flight to MCO cancelled last April and changed it to a open ticket at the time. Last month I contacted them to get a refund of the open ticket and it was refunded without any problem.

Whilst I don't think any of us want to speculate too wildly, especially in light of what Boris has said this evening about acting with caution, I do think we have clearly turned into a new chapter and perhaps the beginning of the end, if we dare to think about such things in our worldwide fight against Covid-19.

The stock markets have clearly spoken and seem to have some confidence, and there is still further work to come out of the Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine.

All of this coupled with the excellent news stateside at the weekend, have left me with a ray of hope that we might just see some travel in 2021! Let's hope eh?

Sunseeker wrote:Hi
I had flights booked to fly in august to Orlando when the pandemic happen I choose to suspend flights rather than wait to see if flights were cancelled and get a refund. As we don’t really know when the pandemic will be over I have till end of November to rebook do you think I may now be able to get a refund

Yes, you should have no issues doing this with VS. I’ve done this recently as I asked for a refund for what was an open ticket after VS canceled my first return flights earlier this year.

VS will probably try and bribe you with a silly amount of miles if you are a Flying Club member; along with either a companion/upgrade/clubhouse vouchers first to rebook it. They did with me anyway.

ColOrd wrote:Whilst I don't think any of us want to speculate too wildly, especially in light of what Boris has said this evening about acting with caution, I do think we have clearly turned into a new chapter and perhaps the beginning of the end, if we dare to think about such things in our worldwide fight against Covid-19.

The stock markets have clearly spoken and seem to have some confidence, and there is still further work to come out of the Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine.

All of this coupled with the excellent news stateside at the weekend, have left me with a ray of hope that we might just see some travel in 2021! Let's hope eh?

I'm thinking it's still going to be many months, probably more likely 2022, before things are closer to normal. It's indeed good news and a cause for optimism that the Pfizer vaccine is getting positive results, but it still needs regulatory approval and then the small matter of manufacturing and distributing them in their millions. I know there's also other vaccines under development which, if equally as successful, will help get the global population vaccinated more quickly. I believe the UK government have contracts signed with 5 consortiums alone for vaccines providing they're successful and achieve regulatory approval.

I just hope VS can hold out until then and, in the short-term, hope the new routes they're intending to launch are successful. If anything, the pandemic has proven VS were perhaps wrong to put most of their eggs in one basket, so to speak.

As for the US border, I think Mr Biden will have more pressing issues in his in-tray to deal with first once he gets the keys to the White House, though he seems to be saying the right things so far with what he intends to do to get a grip on COVID in the US. Even if the borders were open, I haven't really felt comfortable travelling over there at this time anyway given their record of handling it so far (not that the UK has been perfect mind, but at least I won't get charged for going into hospital!) and I was relieved but gutted in equal measure that my planned trip to Florida in September was cancelled for me.

Hi

No bribe text received at 0451 to say I open ticket now has till December 2022 to book I requested full refund
Have now just received text saying full refund requested Ed please allow 30 days to be processed