New Upper Class and A330's

[honey lamb]

You know, in its time, I thought J2000 was fabulous, I loved the red leather ...

I did too. I also loved the scene from the film "Calendar Girls" when they bob up and down in them. It's a pity the film was released just after the suites had been introduced. It looked so dated

I loved the red leather ...

:0

I can see the 4-abreast UC seating work if it is something similar to the new business class on Cathay's B777 and A333's. I'm eagerly awaiting a (legit) press release or the first leaked photos!!! Does this mean the UC capacity on a A346 will increase to somewhere around 60ish? Could potentially mean easier reward tickets on some routes by, oh say, 2025 when Virgin finally has all the cabins updated...

As for that warehouse full of J2000 seats. At the time, I actually thought they were great, but were short lived when the fully flat beds came into play. I would however, be interested to see if the PE product could ever evolve into something similar - a sliding seat utilizing the space under the seat in front allowing you to either stretch out more or get a better sleeping position... Just a thought.

It could of course just be a giant cock-up in the VS design department who cut and pasted from the 747 and not an A343/6 template.

Anyone notice that the suites on the 330 plan are stubbier than on the other seat maps?

The aisles on the 343/6 are navigable for pax and CC (and the new trolley for the UC service of course) but I can' tsee them eeking out the width of a suite by narrowing the aisles.

And as the A330s and 343/6s are all the same width it would take some jigging about to get 4 suites abreast.

The current UCS that is on all the fleet currently is still a very good seat and with the improvements in on board services, it is still a very good J class offering.

Personally I really like the A346, and my last flight to NRT was excellent. The cabin was very clean and looked in very good condition. However, I wouldn't be happy flying UC and knowing there were other aircraft with a better/newer version of the product. Although that's just because I'd be jealous of those that were experiencing the new product.

Unless, of course, the price will be reduced on the old style cabins. Unlikely, I know.

I have to agree with those posted above, I flew UC on VS200 couple of years back and the 346 is a beautiful aircraft to fly on. Would obviously be nice to experience the new product on offer but the 346 will be a great alternative.

As this will be my honeymoon then I'll have to treat my new wife to be to a long weekend to JFK UC on the 333 once the cabin is up and running

[Neil]

It looks like G-VRAY (Little Miss Sunshine) will be the first A330 to enter the fleet in April, complete with new UCS, which will only be on the new a/c this year and from what I have been told is more a modification of the current suite and not anything radically different.

Have agreed with Airside Ops Mgr at LHR that when the new A330 (whatever it may be called) turns up, I can go check it out on its stand before anyone else gets a look in

Result.

Can't wait

Thought this might interest a few of you,
I was browsing the Virgin website and came across the seat maps.
They've loaded a 3 class A330 (Don't know how long its been there)
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/allaboutus/ourfleet/index.jsp?type=15

One thing they appear to have done is significantly improve the location of the loos - 2K is no longer blighted by one - and nor are the rear rows of PE (which is a nightmare on the 346 - 5 seats in poor positions). Yes, the 18AC & 19HK at the forward end of PE have loos - but they've also got a bulkhead....they may be leaving the bar off the seat plan at the moment for some grand reveal.....

Where's the bar gone? :0

[Neil]

Where's the bar gone? :0

It has been discussed in the thread, but panic not there will be a new 'futuristic bar' (so says the VS marketing blurb), but it just hasn't been positioned yet on the seat map.

Looks like the seat map has been slightly updated with the bar ... three stools but nothing futuristic here yet.

[Darren Wheeler]

They're not stools, they're spikes.

They're not stools, they're spikes.

Is that to stop the CC using them as places to fold napkins etc?

The A333 seat map appears on the VS3 from April 21st from what I can see.

The A333 seat map appears on the VS3 from April 21st from what I can see.

Well spotted, on EF it's showing as follows:

Screen Shot 2012-04-01 at 10.48.55.png (16.51 KiB) Viewed 4282 times

The announcement introducing the new UC shouldn't be far away you'd have thought?

last week there was an on board announcement that the new UCS would start flying today 1st April.
Maybe it is part of an elabortate April 1st joke ?

Heard a rumour today that a mock UCDS might appear in the LHR Clubhouse soon.

Ooh - I'm going to be in the Clubhouse on the 19th. Will be good to see, assuming it's there by then... although it's probably going to make me appreciate the UCS slightly less on my 11h stint to Jo'burg :/

I am flying out of JFK on 19 May in UC. I know the new A330 is on the VS3, but does this mean that the A330 will also be on VS4 on the way back? Or could it be the VS46 or VS10? Is there any way to check?

The 330 will operate the 3/4

This thread has suddenly caught my interest because having just booked my next flight, it turns out I'm going to be in one of the new UC seats on the VS4 on 28 April.

I've still not seen a definitive date mentioned for the first flight using the new suites - so is anyone on a flight sooner than me or there going to be a weight of expectation for me to post a TR quickly here |:)

RC

[Neil]

The first a/c will be in operation on the VS3/4 from the 21st April.

The first a/c will be in operation on the VS3/4 from the 21st April.

..and it looks stunning!