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#955826 by Disneylover754
11 May 2020, 10:53
Hello,

We are due to be going on VS 75 from Manchester to Orlando International Airport in October 2020.

I have a few questions:

Is it likely that we can go?

Can I take my 1 year old daughter's pram to the door of the aircraft?

Now that the 747 has been retired, what aircraft can we expect to fly on?

Thanks in advance.
#955827 by mitchja
11 May 2020, 11:02
Welcome to V-Flyer :)

1) No-one can yet answer that question unfortunately. It depends on UK FCO travel advice being relaxed along with US entry requirements also being relaxed.

2) I believe that is a yes. It will be tagged and taken off you at the aircraft door and then handed back at the same point on arrival as you leave the aircraft.

3) Can potentially be anything. Unlikely to be a B789 or A350 though. More than likely will be an A330-200. I would guess now that VS ops at LGW are stopping, the A330-200's will all move to MAN and stay there going forwards.
#955828 by Disneylover754
11 May 2020, 11:18
mitchja wrote:Welcome to V-Flyer :)

1) No-one can yet answer that question unfortunately. It depends on UK FCO travel advice being relaxed along with US entry requirements also being relaxed.

2) I believe that is a yes. It will be tagged and taken off you at the aircraft door and then handed back at the same point on arrival as you leave the aircraft.

3) Can potentially be anything. Unlikely to be a B789 or A350 though. More than likely will be an A330-200. I would guess now that VS ops at LGW are stopping, the A330-200's will all move to MAN and stay there going forwards.

Thank you.

1. I really hope that we can go.

2. Happy to hear that it can come to the aircraft door and that it will be at the aircraft door in MCO. What is the chance of it getting broke? When I went to Orlando from Man in 2017 I remember seeing Virgin gate crew handing clear plastic bags to people to put their prams in, do they still supply these bags?

3. How would everyone booked on the 747 fit onto the smaller aircraft?

Sorry for all the questions.
#955829 by mitchja
11 May 2020, 11:41
Don't worry about asking questions, that's what we are all here for.

The demand probably isn't going to be there to fill a 744 now, certainly not for the rest of this year anyway.

Unfortunately, holidays abroad are going to very low on the priority list for many people now for some time to come. There will probably be quite a lot of cancelations. Also are people wanting to still fly after all this? I suspect many will be put off for some time to come yet.

No-one knows yet for sure what, if any measures the airlines and airports are going having to put in place for social distancing when traveling? How are all the theme parks going to deal with social distancing as well (queuing for rides etc) once they re-open?

There are still a lot on unanswered questions.

IMHO social distancing is going to stay with us for a long time to come now in many parts of our life.
#955830 by Disneylover754
11 May 2020, 12:11
mitchja wrote:Don't worry about asking questions, that's what we are all here for.

The demand probably isn't going to be there to fill a 744 now, certainly not for the rest of this year anyway.

Unfortunately, holidays abroad are going to very low on the priority list for many people now for some time to come. There will probably be quite a lot of cancelations. Also are people wanting to still fly after all this? I suspect many will be put off for some time to come yet.

No-one knows yet for sure what, if any measures the airlines and airports are going having to put in place for social distancing when traveling? How are all the theme parks going to deal with social distancing as well (queuing for rides etc) once they re-open?

There are still a lot on unanswered questions.

IMHO social distancing is going to stay with us for a long time to come now in many parts of our life.

Hello,

Oh ok.

The Orlando theme parks have already announced how they will be implenting social distancing.

Can you answer the following questions about my pram??

What is the chance of it getting broke? When I went to Orlando from Man in 2017 I remember seeing Virgin gate crew handing clear plastic bags to people to put their prams in, do they still supply these bags?
#955831 by VS075
11 May 2020, 12:23
I am also taking the same flight as you in late-September so we're both in the same boat.

Mitchja has answered the questions well. This is all we have at present with respect to social distancing in parks...

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/trav ... g-70451998

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disney-wor ... ing-masks/

It doesn't appear to be the final plan as yet, but it's something the parks will need to plan and implement as it will be a challenge to ensure everything is kept clean and people comply with it. The reduced capacity proposal doesn't come as much of a surprise given the confined spaces of some rides, though it will be interesting to see how this works and whether you have to pre-book your day. It wouldn't surprise me if virtual queues are implemented as it will reduce the amount of people being confined into queues in physically small locations.

Finally, whether we can go anytime soon will depend on the following...

*FCO lifting its advice against all but essential travel
*US lifting its own restrictions (the UK and other European countries are on the current ban list)
*Parks not prohibiting access to international visitors
*Agreeing and implementing workable solutions

It's a big dilemma for parks to come up with workable solutions to this. What Disney are doing at Shanghai could be an indicator of what to expect in Orlando, though I can't imagine it will be comfortable wearing a face mask for several hours in the Floridian climate. I also see Disney Springs is planning to reopen next week, so that's probably another way of finding out what Disney's thinking is of managing social distancing. I can't see Universal's plans being much different to Disney's.
#955832 by Sunseeker
11 May 2020, 12:31
I am booked to go on 23rd September via LGW and at this moment in time I am not expecting to be able to with the current restrictions
#955833 by Q_Division
11 May 2020, 12:55
At little late and I think Mitchja is on point as usual.

I can't remember if I saw the bags when I flew last Nov. or not (and I wasn't really looking) but whilst they probably help keep your pram "clean" I don't think they do much from a protection standpoint. That said whilst there is always a risk to luggage, based on anecdotal evidence they're pretty safe from breaking.

Slightly off topic but as I'm in the same boat so to speak with a Sept. trip currently booked and I haven't written it off yet. Most has already been said but I'll add a couple of points. I can't see mask being a requirement for guests but can see more use of virtual queuing with distancing for the last "leg" of the queue along with hand sanitizer before and after ride boarding.
#955835 by gumshoe
11 May 2020, 14:33
VS075 wrote:What Disney are doing at Shanghai could be an indicator of what to expect in Orlando, though I can't imagine it will be comfortable wearing a face mask for several hours in the Floridian climate.


It’s a recipe for disaster I fear.

Chinese people are used to obeying rules and, by and large, do so without complaint. They are also far more accustomed to wearing masks as a matter of course.

Americans (and to a lesser extent Brits) - not so much.

So I predict non-compliance will be a major issue when WDW and Universal reopen. Whether and to what extent they enforce the rules will be very interesting.
#955836 by virginboy747
11 May 2020, 15:00
Plan is for the 787/350 to operate from LHR and the 330 to operate from MAN (mainly because the MAN based crew aren’t trained on the other two types yet)
#955837 by matt.hibb
11 May 2020, 18:07
Disneylover754 wrote:
mitchja wrote:2) I believe that is a yes. It will be tagged and taken off you at the aircraft door and then handed back at the same point on arrival as you leave the aircraft.

2. Happy to hear that it can come to the aircraft door and that it will be at the aircraft door in MCO. What is the chance of it getting broke? When I went to Orlando from Man in 2017 I remember seeing Virgin gate crew handing clear plastic bags to people to put their prams in, do they still supply these bags?


If you are in upper and have a simple collapsible pram, it's usually worth asking at the gate if you can take it onboard and have it stored. More often than not, the crew are happy to do so. Having been able to do that 3 times in the last 18 months or so, I'm not sure if prams are taken at the gate or aircraft door. I do know however, that on arrival, prams are generally NOT available to pickup at the aircraft door. This was the case for many families on arrival into MCO, ATL and BOS. Having been lucky enough to have ours stored onboard in upper each time, we have nearly always been asked by people in the immigration queue how we managed to get it. My advice would be to take a carrier onboard if possible to use if the immigration queues are long (it can also come in handy onboard to go for a walk for a short bit of entertainment, or if your little 1 is having trouble nodding off).
#955841 by flashh0
11 May 2020, 21:04
Hi

Our experience with prams is they give a bag out at the gate whilst waiting to board then you leave it by the aircraft door.

It will not be at the aircraft door on arrival but will be placed with oversized items by the baggage carousels after immigration.

We are in a similar situation and waiting for our trip in December which we are hoping can go ahead
#955878 by jonathanb
13 May 2020, 20:31
virginboy747 wrote:Plan is for the 787/350 to operate from LHR and the 330 to operate from MAN (mainly because the MAN based crew aren’t trained on the other two types yet)


Interesting. What is the likely UC config from MAN?

Thanks,

Jonathan
#955879 by mitchja
13 May 2020, 21:09
My guess will be that it’s the A332 ex-Air Berlin A/C which has the different forward facing lie-flat seat.

I suspect all 4 of the A332’s will work permanently at MAN until they are retired in early 2022.
#955880 by Dobbo
13 May 2020, 22:25
mitchja wrote:I suspect all 4 of the A332’s will work permanently at MAN until they are retired in early 2022.


If that is correct (I suspect it is) I wonder whether the delivery schedule for the A339neo replaces them on a 1:1 basis at the time they retire.
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