Virgin from Manchester

There had been a number of requests for information regarding the leasted aircraft used on the Manchester Orlando route. I fly this route 5 times a year and generally speaking the aircraft used is Island Lady. It was on the 15/11/03 amd 29/11/03. I am booked on this aircraft on the 15/1/04 and 30/1/04

The seat plan is different to the one shown on this site. Upstairs are just three rows 2 to 4. Downstairs the nose hias no row 5 and just 4 rows 6 to 9. The island in the centre is like on the old 400 series with no seating in the middle. The forward galley is in the centre and toilets eitherside. Premuim economy starts after this through from 24 to 31

The Upperclass cabins are re-named club orlando due to the fact that the full upperclass facilities are not available. However at approx £1200 a seat (Ticketed as Upperclass for mileage and tier points) you still get the upperclass cabin, lounges at both airports and full premuim economy service. Same seats from Gatwick £1000 dearer.

Service and comfort very good. Tried Delta Business Elite recentley and whilst food was, better seats were less comfortable with less legroom and it involved a change of aircraft and £400 more.

The economy cabin is no worse or no better that the gatwick aircraft.

Just wish Virgin would fly to Tampa

Paul

[Pete]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the update on that. I had heard that Virgin had revamped the cabin layout on the Manchester route. I sent an email to my contacts at Virgin, but still waiting for the info to trickle through the system before I can update the seatmap.

Good to have an expert on the MAN routes onboard!

Pix

Hi

I'm flying Club Orlando in August - can Paul or anyone else confirm if the seats are J2000. I was under the impression they were, then I saw this photo on airliners.net

http://www.myaviation.net/search/photo_ ... ize=medium

I don't recognise the seats at all - pix mentioned a cabin layout revamp - maybe the seats have been changed?
Also Paul mentioned lounge access at both ends - do you get an invite at check in? Are you fast tracked through security?

Thanks, Mark

[Pete]

The plot thickens

I'm not sure I've got the complete answer yet, but let's start with what we do know!

The seats in Upper on the MAN-MCO route are very likely to be different to the seats in Upper on the LGW-MCO routes because the LGW 747s have the Alitalia Recaro seats, whereas the MAN 747 was originally a Virgin aircraft, now wet-leased back to them from Air Atlanta.

Looking at that picture on a.net, those aren't J2000 seats, but rather the original Upper Class seats. I had thought J2000 had made it onto the Air Atlanta aircraft - but that's a pretty recent photo. This needs more clarification

As for the seat layout, it does sound like there's been a re-jig, and maybe this has something to do with the J2000 seats. I don't know, and - unfortunately - neither do my contacts at Virgin's marketing team. Since Virgin don't actually own the aircraft, the technical info is a bit sparse.

We'll get there, eventually.

Pix

HI ALL JUST JOINED BUT I HAVE BEEN READING THE POSTS FOR A WHILE NOW AND I HAVE HEARD THAT THE AIR ATLANTA PLANES ARE LEASED TIL MARCH,IF THAT'S THE CASE DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT VIRGIN WILL USE THEN AS I AM GOING 03/07/04 AND GET A DIFFERENT ANSWER EACH TIME I SPEAK TO VIRGIN?

[RichardMannion]

They are the pre-J2000 Upper Class seats in that photo. Remember J2000 did not make it across all planes in the fleet, I can't remember it ever been put on a Classic (200), which is waht all the wet lease Air Atlanta (T-FA**) stock.

5 Planes have the Alitalia Seats - the cancelled Boeing 400 order.

Do a search on the old V-**** registrations on airliners.net and you can see where the planes are now. Some are out in Mojave I believe.

Thanks,
Richard

Ref Virgin From Manchester.

I Have Photos of U/C Cabin (Club Orlando) upstairs Plane is Honeypie although Virgin sometimes uses Island Lady which has identical Layout.If anyone wants to see photos send email and I will attach to reply

Paul

Ps

The Club Orlando whilst being a D class ticket only attracts 1 1/2 mileage and 4 tier points. I am arguing with Virgin over this at moment as they take 80,000 miles if you want to spend mileage. Seem to be treating Manchester passengers as second class customers. Old planes and not a full U/C service. Still better than rest booked again for May

The photo is identical to the downstairs seating arrangement on Honeypie and Island Lady the two regular planes used from MAN to MCO. You can see PE is directly behind galley as described in my original posting

Paul

quote:Originally posted by pixuk
The plot thickens

I'm not sure I've got the complete answer yet, but let's start with what we do know!

The seats in Upper on the MAN-MCO route are very likely to be different to the seats in Upper on the LGW-MCO routes because the LGW 747s have the Alitalia Recaro seats, whereas the MAN 747 was originally a Virgin aircraft, now wet-leased back to them from Air Atlanta.

Looking at that picture on a.net, those aren't J2000 seats, but rather the original Upper Class seats. I had thought J2000 had made it onto the Air Atlanta aircraft - but that's a pretty recent photo. This needs more clarification

As for the seat layout, it does sound like there's been a re-jig, and maybe this has something to do with the J2000 seats. I don't know, and - unfortunately - neither do my contacts at Virgin's marketing team. Since Virgin don't actually own the aircraft, the technical info is a bit sparse.

We'll get there, eventually.

Pix

Thanks for the info PaulS. Why is it that it is so difficult to get a correct seating plan for this flight? I had what I thought was the correct one when making my seating request yesterday and it is completely wrong. What is even more disturbing is the fact that the staff at Virgin do not have details of the plan either. All they have is what seats are available... or so she said. I asked for bulkhead seats and was politely informed that they could not book those. So then I asked for the front row and was allocated row 18. Very interesting when Paul S has confirmed that PE is 24 through 31! My plan shows 6 bulkhead seats in row 28 and a full row of 8 seats behind so 29A and 29B do not have a seat in front of them. When I asked if 18A & 18B had seats in front she replied, "That information does not show on the screen." So do they have a seating plan in front of them or not?

Pixuk - Can your contact at Virgin say what the procedure is when they are allocating seats and why they do not have an actual plan of the cabin layout available?

The mystery continues. At least the return is settled as she was able to confirm that it was just rows 2 through 4 in Club Orlando.

Colin

I dont think that they know what they are doing. The first time I travelled this route I flew PE and was assured that I was upstairs although at that time I didnt realise that all PE is downstairs. The next flight was club Orland in the U/c cabbin and was assured that I was sitting upstairs but found myself downstairs. They also tole me that because Club Orlando is a G class ticket I would recieve full U/c miles and tier points. This was also incorrect. On the flying club statement it refers to the flight as upper deck (a class which dosent really exist does it)which causes I believe confusion amongst the Virgin staff. Try booking a Club Orlando flight on their website. It is time that Virgin got there act together in Manchester and realised the potential loyal customer base they have here. Iwas told by the flight attendant on my last U/c flight in January that VS075 is their most profiable route

With your connections in Virgin do you know if they intend to introduce a full U/C service from Manchester. I see that the flight nowecode shares with Singapore airlines who offer a business class seat on this plane? Cant see any logical reason for not offering U/C cabin is there Ticket price is getting close to competition Delta £1500

Paul

quote:Originally posted by PaulS

The Upperclass cabins are re-named club orlando due to the fact that the full upperclass facilities are not available. However at approx £1200 a seat (Ticketed as Upperclass for mileage and tier points) you still get the upperclass cabin, lounges at both airports and full premuim economy service. .

Paul,
Is that right?
i was told by the staff at Flying Club today when looking at Club Orlando that you dont get access to the lounges, though a few years back when we last flew Club Orlando, no lounge at man, but did get an invite to MCO's lounge.

The other question I have is that the last time we flew Club orlando from manchester (dec 1999) the upper level was only Club orlando, some 12 seats? the jumbo had japanese writing in the toilets as well. I take it this aircraft has now been changed? What is the seating for Club Orlando now?

Yes you get lounge access at both ends. Switched at Manchester from the Air France Lounge to the new Escape lounge in Jan. Ar Orlando its the Delta business elite lounge which is superb.

Planes in regular use are Honey Pie and Island Lady both with twelve seats up and downstairs. Look on aircraft data base and ignore rows 1 & 5 they dont exist. Also rows after 10 are PE. Best seats are rows 2 & 6.

You will get PE mileage but 4 tier points

Paul

[Pete]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the clarification. The seatmap for the 747-200 has been updated.

Pix

Thanks for updating the 747-200 seat plan Pix but I'm still confused. Our PE booking for September has been allocated row 18 which does not show on the plan. I'm calling back on Monday to get an allocation for our UC return so will query the outward then.

Colin [?]

I am also confused, there is five of us travelling in May and we have been allocated 18 A /C / D and 19 A / C - all supposed to be PE.

I notice one of the other topics says a 744 was used on this route yesterday - I also read in the news that European Avaiation who where operating 742 into Sanford from Manchester have gone under and Air Atlanta have picked up this business - could this mean Virgin are now operating this route again ?

[Bazz]

CeeJay999, from the seat maps you could be on an Airbus A340-300 or 600 config would give row 18 in PE, what seat numbers do you have?

Smithford, You look like you have an Airbus A340-300 config as you say you have 18 A, C & D, on the 600 there is no D the seat across the aisle is E.

Don't forget VS will switch planes due to load factor and other reasons of course, so although you thought you were on a 747 you may not be.

The seating plan is confusing. Row 17 starts after row 9 (dont ask) and the toilet block shown dosent exist. The toilets are behong row 9 on either side with a galley in the centre. PE extends for approx 8 to 10 rows then it is all economy from the entry door.

Paul:)

[Bazz]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the info (and your other post on seating), so this is a different 747-200 config then and CeeJay999 and Smithford may well be on a 747-200 afterall, sounds like pix has some more work to do with the seat maps section!

What seats do Virgin have in it's Club Orlando service? Do they have J2000 or a more 'standard' recliner business seat.

Regards

The photograph on the link below is identical to the downstairs UC on the MAN MCO routes. You can clearly see PE where rows 10 should be


Paul

http://www.myaviation.net/search/photo_ ... ize=medium

Paul,
Thanks for the pic, so it's not J2000 then? It still looks very comfy though!

Regards

[Bazz]

This is for CeeJay999 and Smithford,

Would it be possible for you to log on to the VS website go to your flights and bring up the seat map, you need to select the whole map, don't forget the upper deck and then either copy and paste (or drag and drop) into an HTML editor or even MS Word will do. The end document or page could then be emailed to pix for him to update the seat maps sect of the site to include this config?

Thanks in advance guys

I'm travelling from Manchester to MCO on 16/04 in Club Orlando. Has anyone any tips I should consider?