London Gatwick Entertainment Systems in need of Refurb

Hi Guys and Girls,

I have been a loyal Virgin flying-club member for a few years, usually flying from Heathrow.

I've flown out from Gatwick twice last year, and once in May - always to Las Vegas. I made a complaint last year as we booked PE and were placed at the front of the place, behind UC. The seats were completely broken, recline switches were cracked and the whole unit was detachable from the seat and the entertainment system was old, poor quality, fuzzy and you could hardly hear the audio. Virgin gave us 10,000 extra miles to say sorry. Not very impressive on a £1400 seat.

I was also told that upgrades were in progress to all Gatwick 747's.

I recently booked another Vegas flight, again from Gatwick, in UC for 3 people. The flight was not cheap. I did however ask the agent about the upgrades, as there would be nothing worse than paying good money for a 20 year old pile of rubbish, for 11 hours. He said "yes, upgrades have been started and it is very likely that your plane will be one of the refurbished models, unless they move planes around on the day". I was taking this as a good 80-90% chance of success.

I have also just read your posts about this, and I now think that the agent was lying to me...

Please give me some feedback! I think I made a mistake going to Virgin again... :# n(

Hi,

When are you flying?

[honey lamb]

You don't say when you are travelling. The LGW fleet is being refitted and the first plane is due to come back into service in April 2012

See here for information

10th October VS043

[honey lamb]

If you're talking about this October then I'm afraid the plane will not be a refurbished one. It will not necessarily be the same plane you flew on before and there is a possibility that a LHR plane may be pressed into service.

Umm... I doubt they will pull a LHR plane, and so I think I have been lied to...

I will have to kick some ass! It's pretty shoddy to be honest, I wish they would use LHR planes!

Umm... I doubt they will pull a LHR plane, and so I think I have been lied to...

That is a pretty strong allegation to make

BTW v-flyer is not the same as VS customer services. As we can do on here is provide help and advice.

tontybear - I don’t understand your comments at all. Did you read my post? I believe I have been lied to by Virgin, as they told me the systems have been upgraded, which appears to not be the case. I don't think it is unreasonable to state that I have been lied to when an agent of Virgin states that upgrades have been taking place, when they are not expecting aircraft to enter service until 2012. I booked my flights based on this information, and therefore it is not a strong accusation at all, it's the truth.

honey lamb - thanks for the feedback, I will contact Virgin Customer Relations to discuss this misleading booking. It’s unfortunate, as I am (was) a very big Virgin fan, but Gatwick planes are like old tin-cans!

Thanks guys

[honey lamb]

caspaton, it may surprise you to know that some of the LHR 747s are older than those in the LGW fleet. The LGW fleet does work hard though and also services the Manchester routes, and in the summer time the seasonal flight out of Glasgow

It is not unknown from time to time for a LHR plane to fly from Gatwick. They have covered several flights to Barbados, Orlando and Las Vegas from there so you might be lucky

honeylamb - One can only hope

I wouldn't mind so much if I hadn't chosen UC...

I've probably just always had good luck from LHR, and bad luck from LGW - will have to see if this time is different!

One thing I've never done before is the Virgin lounges, as we usually use No1 lounges as we have an Airport Angel account. I read up on the lounge at Gatwick - and the V website states that alcohol is an extra... Does this apply to UC too? Because we will book No1 if it doesn't (it is Vegas after all )

Thanks for your advice.

One thing I've never done before is the Virgin lounges, as we usually use No1 lounges as we have an Airport Angel account. I read up on the lounge at Gatwick - and the V website states that alcohol is an extra... Does this apply to UC too? Because we will book No1 if it doesn't (it is Vegas after all )

Thanks for your advice.

You must have been reading about the "new" V Room which isnt the Clubhouse. In the Clubhouse all alcohol / food is free, but its charged for in the VRoom.

Flying from Gatwick isn't as bad as alot of people make out, I am sure, apart from the IFE you'll find no difference to an Upper flight from Heathrow - enjoy

David

David - yes this is where I'm getting confused; V-Room and Clubhouse, I thought they were the same thing...

So with UC at Gatwick, its the Clubhouse? Not the V-Room?

If so, Are massages still included with UC do you know?

I look forward to your response.

Many Thanks

Cas

TBH I like v:port and the A346/LHR 744 Planes so I make a conscious effort to avoid LGW as much as possible.

The treatments at both Gatwick and Heathrow were all re-jigged last year .

A list of all the treatments is on this page http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/at ... garden.jsp

It kinda works out that the basic ones are free, but everything else (at both LGW and LHR) are chargeable now.

David

tontybear - I don’t understand your comments at all. Did you read my post? I believe I have been lied to by Virgin, as they told me the systems have been upgraded, which appears to not be the case. I don't think it is unreasonable to state that I have been lied to when an agent of Virgin states that upgrades have been taking place, when they are not expecting aircraft to enter service until 2012. I booked my flights based on this information, and therefore it is not a strong accusation at all, it's the truth.

I was simply stating that it is a strong allegation to make not that you had not been given mis-information.

I suggest that you contact VS and ask to speak to a supervisor, give them the details of the call - time date etc - so the call can be checked and investigated properly.

As to your Q re the lounges at LGW - As you are flying UC you will have access to the VS CH. The V-room is a virgin holiday lounge designed for their pax.

Hi David,

That's great, thanks.

Do they have a sauna at Gatwick do you know?

Cheers

Never seen one, but never really looked. They did refurbish the Gatwick Clubhouse last year and added many new features but dont know about a sauna (dont think so), but I am sure someone will be along shortly to confirm either way.

David

[honey lamb]

caspaton, I missed out on the fact that you are flying in UC in October. While there have been many complaints about the PE seats being broken, there have not been many with regard to the suites in UC and most of them seem to relate to the IFE.

Please do not stress as much about UC. You will be in a small cabin of only 14 suites (unless you get a LHR plane in which case the front zone will also have the same number of seats). There is a small bar for you and your companions can visit should you so wish and also you can convert your suite into a bed for a snooze if you like. The IFE could be problematic but why not bring a laptop or iPad preloaded with something to watch? I do even on the LHR run as there may not be a film I would be interested in. Other than that, sit back and enjoy the flight.

With regard to the Clubhouse, while the one in LHR is the flagship many on here prefer the intimacy of the one in LGW. Apart from some of the treatments which have already been pointed out to you everything is complimentary so enjoy it. You will enjoy the UC experience. One final point, on your return from Vegas, the lounge is not a Clubhouse but a shared lounge which happens in some of the destinations. Treatments are only available from LHR and LGW but everything else is complimentary

Cas, please post how you get on with VS Customer relations as I am interested to see how they deal with your situation. Sometimes they will be brilliant and others average!

To lie:

a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood

I'm not sure if the agent lied, but the person certainly misled for one reason or another, perhaps they did not read their brief properly, perhaps they mixed up dates ... who knows.

As to twenty year old planes, VS doesn't have any (BA has loads).

Honeylamb is right though, UC on the LGW fleet was installed much more recently than the old PE seats, you're likely to have a much different experience even if there's still snow in the IFE.

My last flight in UC from LGW was excellent, the cabin itself is very nicely laid out and with just 14 seats has a lovely intimate feel. There were no issues with the seats or seating area, the IFE worked fine throughout the flight.

I have no issue recommending UC on the LGW fleet!

caspaton welcome to v- flyer .
Regardless of the grotty IFE (and it is grotty) an UC suite on a LGW craft will be a huge improvement on a PE seat. One of my best UC flights ever was LGW-LAS (last November) and like Cal, I like the intimacy of the LGW UC cabin and find the service level on -board much better because of that.
FWIW I'm no fan of the refurbed LGW CH but that's a subjective opinion and it's still much better than many other airline J lounges.
You're off to Vegas. Enjoy . You never know, you may run in to me there ): .
DL

Thanks for all of the feedback... Yes DragonLady - I will enjoy Vegas

I have to say, despite the one bad VS experience earlier this year, I am very happy with VS. I am a silver flying club member, and have been somewhat loyal to VS overall. I have never flown UC before, always PE (upstairs) and that flight was the first time I sat downstairs, and to me the PE upstairs is MUCH better.

I am really looking forward to this Vegas trip, it was just a big shock to read some of the miserable and off-putting reviews on the LGW VS flights...

As for the club house, as long as it is better than the No1 lounge (which we fine fine), then we're laughing

it was just a big shock to read some of the miserable and off-putting reviews on the LGW VS flights...

I know what you mean, but for every one person that posts a miserable review, there will probably be five who thought the flight was OK and another four who thought it was good. Expectations differ, after all.

Besides, surely most of the bad reviews relate to PE and Y? I don't recall too many on here or elsewhere that relate to UC.

I hope you enjoy your first UC flight.

Thanks at240... I hope so too

I'm sure we will. The second that valet take my car away, my Wife, a friend and I will be starting the Vegas party. It is at 8am mind.... but who cares!

I emailed customer service, will be interesting to hear what they have to say!