"New" Premium Cabin only at Heathrow London ? ! =(

The "new" premium economy cabin (leather seats etc) is only available on flights that are to and from Heathrow airport in London. Does anyone know why Virgin seems to hate all other airports? =p I’m flying out from Manchester next year and was hoping these newer seats would be available by then, but I doubt it =(
Is there anything else different between the two premium economy seating other than the material? More room perhaps?
Also when I flew with virgin a few years ago as a teenager with my parents, there was a problem with a couple of the Virgin planes down in London, so they took our planes from Manchester and gave them to Heathrow, leaving us with some borrowed planes from another company – might as well of built my own n flown it there myself it was that awful =P just really annoys me how London seem to get the better treatment – no offense to any southerners of course <3

[Nottingham Nick]

Welcome to V-Flyer - the perceived poor treatment of the northern base by VS, is well chronicled on V-Flyer, however....

Have a look at this (rather long) thread and you will see that the new A330 aircraft coming into service next year, are actually making their debut out of MAN - so in this case VS are treating MAN customers better.

Welcome to V-Flyer, by the way y)

Nick

Ahh nice =D

thanks for the link!

<3

The "new" premium economy cabin (leather seats etc) is only available on flights that are to and from Heathrow airport in London. Does anyone know why Virgin seems to hate all other airports? =p I’m flying out from Manchester next year and was hoping these newer seats would be available by then, but I doubt it =(
Is there anything else different between the two premium economy seating other than the material? More room perhaps?
Also when I flew with virgin a few years ago as a teenager with my parents, there was a problem with a couple of the Virgin planes down in London, so they took our planes from Manchester and gave them to Heathrow, leaving us with some borrowed planes from another company – might as well of built my own n flown it there myself it was that awful =P just really annoys me how London seem to get the better treatment – no offense to any southerners of course <3

Welcome to V-F!

As Nick says the issues you raise have been debated at some length on these boards!

Certainly it is not only a Manchester problem, remember that Manchester and Gatwick share the same planes, so this is not a North/South divide issue!

Whilst there is really no justification for the difference in service one of the reasons is due to the fact that LHR routes firstly face more competition from carriers with very good products and secondly LHR is where the more revenue creating routes are based. These two issues combine to result in VS feeling that it can 'get away' with a different cabin offering at LGW and MAN.

Rest assured though this is not a problem that is unique to VS. Other major carriers around the world, and ones which are considered 'better' than VS have the same issues, EK and SQ spring to mind.

Of course this issue is about to disappear!

Not wishing to be blunt, but Heathrow is Virgins premier hub of operations. The vast majority of pax, particularly those flying in Upper class, go via LHR; therefore 'taking' the planes from Manchester makes sound business sense.

It would be far less preferable to disrupt LHR passengers with chartered planes, given that a large proportion of us have paid four figure sums to fly on VS metal, than disrupt MAN or GLA operations where the pax volume and J class cohort is less.

[Neil]

Not wishing to be blunt, but Heathrow is Virgins premier hub of operations. The vast majority of pax, particularly those flying in Upper class, go via LHR; therefore 'taking' the planes from Manchester makes sound business sense.

It would be far less preferable to disrupt LHR passengers with chartered planes, given that a large proportion of us have paid four figure sums to fly on VS metal, than disrupt MAN or GLA operations where the pax volume and J class cohort is less.

I must say, this sort of thing really doesn't happen any more, and if anything it is usually the other way around. Quite often one of the LHR fleet is helping out on the MAN/LGW routes, and currently Virgin have one LHR 747 working almost full time ex LGW/MAN.

I know the seats and IFE are currently older on the non LHR a/c, but the PE section in the bubble with the old armchair style seats on the current LGW/MAN a/c is still one of the best and most comfortable ways to take a flight.

I'd say routes like Orlando are probably pretty high revenue. I believe up to 5 full 747's per day in the summer can't be bad!

Having experienced both "old" and leather PE seats, I have to say that the new leather is no great improvement in comfort - but they do look better.
The real difference is in the use of the bubble for PE on the LGW fleet.
At least at MAN we will have a choice of 744 or 333 when flying to MCO - I know that if I'm using PE then I will be selecting the 744 flight. Unless the 333 eventually is fitted with a much improved UCS, I will also select the 744 for UC.

I was disappointed with what we know of the 333 PE cabin - it could so easily have been a major step forward such as made by Air NZ.
So in some ways I have concerns about the upcoming 744 refit - at least that seems to be starting late 2011.

I don't use Y now so really can see no advantage in the LHR over LGW/MAN fleets - the downside for MAN/MCO is the lack of CH.

I do hope that VS buck up their ideas and improve the new cabins - staying still means that everyone else will catch up or overtake - VS is certainly, IMHO, loosing their edge .... and although I'm resistant to change, if VS don't keep up they will lose some custom.

[Scrooge]

I'd say routes like Orlando are probably pretty high revenue. I believe up to 5 full 747's per day in the summer can't be bad!

A full plane does not equal high revenue.

It's all down to yields.

With that said, W makes the most money per square foot and the LGW/MAN aircraft do have a load of them.