Change of planes and times from SFO to LHR

Off to San Fran in late Jan 2010, just had noticed as I though may happen that the flight is moved to 11AM (fine, more time in the clubhouse) but it's now on an A340-600... Not so happy about that, I was looking forward to my favorite seat on the 744!!!

Seems strange for the San Fran route to be run with a 346?

Yep you're right, it's on a 340-600 for the whole winter season from 24th October to 27th March. That is certainly a first and must have just been decided as we've had no info on our internal forum yet.
Looks like the 744s are being used on JNB, JFK 45 , BOS (certain dates), MIA (Certain dates), EWR VS 1 (Certain dates)
I guess with G-VAST being parked, one of the LHR 744s will be needed and based at LGW as no schedule reduction at LGW, unlike LHR.

Sad, but perhaps an indication that the 747s will indeed be undergoing refurbishment as discussed before, and a rather large cut in the number of UC seats. As SFO can easily support more UC seats than the 30-something you would have if they did convert the 747 upstairs area, it's bound to switch at some point. This might just be the beginning of the changeover.

Or maybe some schedule play as virginboy747 says, though having done BOS & SFO recently a couple of times I can't fathom how they'd take capacity off of one of the best performing routes out there for the 747. Ah well ...

It's a shame - i'm not a big fan of upper on the a340, nowhere near as exclusive as the 744.. Oh well, at least I get a couple of extra hours in the clubhouse for 'relaxing'.

Thanks for the heads-up, just checked my flight on 18th December, is now 11am, good thing I hadnt booked my onward flight from SF to Vegas yet

Damn!

I've been affected by this as well - going out Nov 7th
Like you I feel happier in a 744 - we had return seats upstairs which
I really like

Heigh Ho - at least the price was good....

Well, the earth does shake. SFO on a 346, how terrible and sad [:(].

As MarkedMan says, the LHR747 conversion may well be going ahead, another short term mistake IMO, meaning SFO needs the extra UC seats that a 346 will then have.

Three bar stools to five, a 346 to SFO just doesn't cut it. My first VS UC flight was SFO in Upper Class on a 747, boo hoo.

Yep, only done upper on the 340 once, not a patch on the 744 for exclusivity, feels more like any other business class. Although that particular flight was possibly the funniest i've been on, spending the entire flight getting suitably merry at the bar with Mark Morrison of 'Return of the Mack' fame.. Very surreal...

quote:Originally posted by LiamRugby
Yep, only done upper on the 340 once, not a patch on the 744 for exclusivity, feels more like any other business class.


Sorry, but I think the UC on the 340 is *worse* than any other business class. Pokey, narrow seating, to make you feel just like a battery hen.

Ick... back to UA for me...

[honey lamb]

quote:Originally posted by mike-smashing
quote:Originally posted by LiamRugby
Yep, only done upper on the 340 once, not a patch on the 744 for exclusivity, feels more like any other business class.


Sorry, but I think the UC on the 340 is *worse* than any other business class. Pokey, narrow seating, to make you feel just like a battery hen.

Ick... back to UA for me...

Totally agree. It looks like a boarding school dormitory from the Fifties!

Just logged on to do a periodic check of my booking for December and noticed that my return flight has changed from a 747 to an airbus 340-600.

They have also changed the flight time making it earlier by 15 minutes, although arriving at the same time. Makes my VX connecting flight from LAS look even more tight now!

I wonder why they would do this - is this unusual? I guess there are no drawbacks except less privacy, with triple the number of J up front, rather than the 'exclusive' 14 up front as on previous trips!

[Neil]

Well they have only changed from the LHR 744 config to the A346 due to the 744's being used on other routes during the winter period, especially as the LHR a/c are helping out the LGW fleet due to them parking one of their 744's. Overall there is a very similar number of J seats on both a/c, although obviously the different zones on the LHR fleet made it feel different I guess.

It is quite unusual for VS to do this actually, SFO is almost always operated by a 744, but these unusual economic and market conditions are leading to unusual actions by all airlines. 15mins earlier departure shouldn't affect you really, and will probably mean just 15mins less in the CH, which is always a bad thing.

Neil

at least its only a 15 minute change, the outbounds from LHR-SFO have changed from 9am to 11am, means extra 2 hours in Heathrow CH but not good for connecting to VX to LAS

Thanks for the above 2 postings - interesting facts.

Regards.

[honey lamb]

It was discussed here so I'm going to merge these two threads

I must be the only one here who significantly prefers UC on a 340-600 to a 747. Much quieter, which is most important when sleeping.

I once operated a A340-300 to San Francisco - that was a weird experience. Such a familiar route on an aircraft that never goes there!

From a Y perspective, prefer the A346 on the long SFO run - less people to climb over. And see the time has returned to the more preferable 11am departure that it used to be earlier this decade. No complaints from me!

AF