New Flyer Questions

Hello all, few questions to pose for my Virgin experience !

I have been a long time flyer with BA, however the other half persuaded me to try Virgin for our holiday this year !

We are trying out the new route to Mexico (VS93/94) in September. Having spoken to Virgin last night, they advised the plan is to have all LGW / MAN planes upgraded to the new layout by October- we're hopeful we will have a new config 747.

We have booked in PE, do we get lounge access to the V-Room with PE or do we still need to pay ?

In terms of the flights, we have asked to be in "the bubble" which for the new config is all PE - any comments recommedations from anyone who has experienced it yet ?

Sure there will be many more questions before we go, but any advice appreciated

Regards

FC

[Neil]

Hi and welcome.

The agent you spoke to is correct that the current schedule should have all LGW/MAN 747's upgraded by mid-October. Of course there is still a chance you could have the old config, something you won't know until the day before your flight.

You don't mention if you have booked direct with VS or through VH. Flying PE does not grant access to any lounge, if you have booked through VH you can pay for access to the V-Room, if you have booked direct with VS then you cannot even pay for access as the lounge is a VH exclusive lounge.

None of the a/c have been refitted yet, but the current config has PE in the bubble and it is a great place to fly. If they keep it all PE upstairs (this hasn't been officially announced by VS yet) and you manage to get a seat up there at OLCI stage then you should hopefully have a great flight.

Thanks,
Neil

Hi and welcome.

The agent you spoke to is correct that the current schedule should have all LGW/MAN 747's upgraded by mid-October. Of course there is still a chance you could have the old config, something you won't know until the day before your flight.

Just to correct Neil, 1x B747 will not be refitted and will be withdrawn from the fleet during 2013 so there will definitely be a chance of getting that one unfortunately.

[Neil]

Hi and welcome.

The agent you spoke to is correct that the current schedule should have all LGW/MAN 747's upgraded by mid-October. Of course there is still a chance you could have the old config, something you won't know until the day before your flight.

Just to correct Neil, 1x B747 will not be refitted and will be withdrawn from the fleet during 2013 so there will definitely be a chance of getting that one unfortunately.

I thought it was leaving during 2012 or have I misunderstood that?

Also if you book direct with VH they make reference to the following ;

If you book to stay in a 4 or 5V hotel and upgrade to Premium Economy with Virgin Holidays you can enjoy the experience of the upper deck.

We have an exclusive allocation of seats on the upper deck and can confirm your seats at time of booking - call us for details

I can't find a link on the VH website but this is printed in the Mexico Brochure on page 7 so I would give them a call.

[honey lamb]

Also if you book direct with VH they make reference to the following ;

If you book to stay in a 4 or 5V hotel and upgrade to Premium Economy with Virgin Holidays you can enjoy the experience of the upper deck.

We have an exclusive allocation of seats on the upper deck and can confirm your seats at time of booking - call us for details

I can't find a link on the VH website but this is printed in the Mexico Brochure on page 7 so I would give them a call.

Yes, Virgin Holidays has the front half of the upper deck allocated to them on flights out of LGW and those that have not been taken by VH passengers are released some time before OLCI opens for general selection/allocation. This probably will not happen during the refurb of the LGW/MAN planes as the new configuration of PE is not known yet

Thanks for all the info - we have booked through VH, for a 5 star resort in Riviera Maya, and our confirmation has "bubble" in the extra's so I guess that means we will be upstairs All we need to do now is keep our fingers crossed its the new PE fit ! As for the lounge - seems a bit off by VH that they charge you best part of £900 for an upgrade, but don't chuck in a £20 pass for the V-Room, would be a nice perk, after all UC get full lounge access, this could be an oppurtunity for VH to show passengers PE is the way to go !

1 more question (and I'm not sure if this will be answerable yet as VS have not flown to CUN direct before !). I have been to Mexico before with First Choice, and we had to pay a departure tax of around £40 - I have read somewhere that this is only on UK Charter and not scheduled flights - as we are scheduled, does this mean no departure Tax ?

I called VH for clarity, they seemed a bit vague !

Cheers

FC

Have a look in the breakdoen of the ticket price - it should be listed there.

It is listed in the 'taxes etc' section if you book direct on the VS website - £ 17.70 departure tax and £ 13.60 tourism tax (same for all cabin classes)

There is a tendency now that these taxes are included within the ticket price rather than being paid seperatly at the airport.

Thanks for the info - a bit frustrating that for the time being we can't get any info on the flights as they don't start until June ! Oh well, guess we will keep an eye out for any gems before then.

I notice seat selection is not available yet, I guess this is because the plane Config is not know yet ?