LGW 747 Refit

hi everyone

am flying economy LGW-LAS in Sept 2012 on Boeing 747-400 Vers. 2, do we hope that a/c on this route maybe ready by then?

There is always hope but it will depend on how the programme is progressing and if a refitted plane has been assigned to your particular flight that day.

hi all,
like many out there im one of those that cant select there seat in premium economy for a flight may 26th to barbados.
SO Annoying. v(
i notice that tubular belle has been flying this route for the last 3 or 4 days which is a LHR plane with the latest gizmos and gadgets.
i wander if this has been brought in to cover one of the regular gatwick planes whilst having a re fit.

anyone out there no how the refits are going , if indeed they are as theres a rumour its been delayed, or any other info??

jason

[mitchja]

Unfortunately, the LGW/MAN 744 refits have not even started yet. Nothing will start to happen until April when G-VROM will be the first 744 to get refitted.

The not been able to select your seat issue is nothing to do with aircraft re-fits. That's a completely separate IT issue.

[honey lamb]

Unfortunately, the LGW/MAN 744 refits have not even started yet. Nothing will start to happen until April when G-VROM will be the first 744 to get refitted.

The not been able to select your seat issue is nothing to do with aircraft re-fits. That's a completely separate IT issue.

James, the inability to select seats on the LGW/MAN routes between April and November is because of the re-fits. The IT issue of not being able to select seats is from November 1st and is across all routes.

i notice that tubular belle has been flying this route for the last 3 or 4 days which is a LHR plane with the latest gizmos and gadgets.
i wander if this has been brought in to cover one of the regular gatwick planes whilst having a re fit.

A LHR plane has regularly been brought in at different times of the year to cover the Barbados route because of the high demand for UC seats. It has nothing to do with the re-fits

hi all,
like many out there im one of those that cant select there seat in premium economy for a flight may 26th to barbados.
SO Annoying. v(
i notice that tubular belle has been flying this route for the last 3 or 4 days which is a LHR plane with the latest gizmos and gadgets.
i wander if this has been brought in to cover one of the regular gatwick planes whilst having a re fit.

anyone out there no how the refits are going , if indeed they are as theres a rumour its been delayed, or any other info??

jason

With the seats everyone else will be in the same situation so it is just something you are going to have to live with and do OLCI (though it might be worth checking a few hours in advance of olci opening.

One of the LHR 747s has been doing some of the BGI runs for a while now and especially on the popular travel dates - it is a planned rotation and not to help manage with the refits.

Not heard any rumours of any delays. Do you have a source for this?

i rung the VA reservations line and put on my stressed out / concerned voice that i was worried that the four of us would not be seated together, but she said we would , at this point she mentioned that the refit had been pushed a month forward,
i also manage to get out of her that there were only 18 confirmed seats in premium economy, so hopefully it will stay quite empty.

i want to get in the bubble , however because the booking is for 4 people, im quite sure the computer will seat us in one of the fours down below,
and with everyone else in the same position as me at OLCI the chances of me moving four people around before someone else gets in is going to be a challenge. :0

jason

So that could mean a LHR 747 being bought into the MAN/LGW - MCO route so one can go off for a refit?

Is there another A330 planned to come into the MCO route at all before the summer?

No, as now G-VROM is back from Aero Sur so VS are a plane up at LGW now anyway.

Although i have noticed that G-VHOT has operated the BGI route the last couple of days but this seems to be a seasonal thing now as a LHR 744 has been operating the BGI route for the last few summers now.

Can't believe I am the first to post this, at least it proves the refit has started, although only shows seats being taken out:

Video Link

I wonder how many 10p peices they found down the backs of the seats?

G-VROM is having the new livery applied up in MAN and is then being flown out to HKG where the refit is being carried and will be back in service in May. A refit will happen every 3/4 weeks from now until October when they are expected to have been completed.

Regards.

The external shot at the start of that vid shows GVHOT... She's currently on her way to JFK so I guess all the passengers are standing...

strange how they have disabled comments for the video. Was going to ask why havent they shown PE and UC. Altough UC is only a refresh would be interesting to see them haul them out of the aircraft.

The external shot at the start of that vid shows GVHOT... She's currently on her way to JFK so I guess all the passengers are standing...

I was just about to point the same thing out - oops, they did the wrong plane!

strange how they have disabled comments for the video. Was going to ask why havent they shown PE and UC. Altough UC is only a refresh would be interesting to see them haul them out of the aircraft.

If you look at just the right moment you can see the UC suites fully powered on with the blue recline lights all showing.

As for the exterior I guess they didn't want to show the Aerosur livery - it would just confuse those not in the know.

Can't believe I am the first to post this, at least it proves the refit has started, although only shows seats being taken out:

Video Link

Thanks for posting, here's a news story about it (even if they did put 737 instead of 747...)

http://www.aircraftinteriorsinternation ... wsID=38048

[Darren Wheeler]

How long before the frames pop up on ebay?

Out of interest, is there a reason the LGW/MAN fleet are not going to get the new Dream Suite? (I believe I'm correct in saying that).

It seems strange to me that Virgin are spending millions on a refurbishment yet not putting the latest product on their planes - surely upper class is going to be out of date before the first refurbished plane takes to the sky?

[Neil]

Out of interest, is there a reason the LGW/MAN fleet are not going to get the new Dream Suite? (I believe I'm correct in saying that).

It seems strange to me that Virgin are spending millions on a refurbishment yet not putting the latest product on their planes - surely upper class is going to be out of date before the first refurbished plane takes to the sky?

It has been discussed quite a bit on here, but the simple answer is that we don't really understand it either.

VS are only installing the new UCS on the new A333 a/c that will be operating ex LHR when they enter the fleet this year. They will over the next three years fit it to all the other LHR based a/c.

It seems that with such few UCS on the LGW/MAN 747's, and with them being used on leisure routes mainly, VS do not feel it is currently worth spending the money on installing them. They say the current UCS is still a very good product and that is their stand on the matter. If the new UCS is only an upgrade/enhanced version of the current suite, then it may not be such an issue, should it be very different then it is an odd thing to do, but I guess they won't be changing their mind anytime soon.

I'm not at all convinced that video (good as it is) is of the current re-fits - looks like a load of stock-footage to me.

G-VHOT in the video (not a LGW/MAN aircraft). Workers doing the work don't look particularly Chinese (you would expect more than a few workers at HAECO to look Chinese). UK number plate on the OCS truck the seats are lowered off the aircraft to ground-level too.

Look forward to seeing the re-fits actually start!

It confused me too with the shot of VHOT - I reckon it is VROM as all the seats are light brown with no red - I assume they were changed to that colour when it went out on lease.

I guess the old seats are being removed before they depart for HK to be refitted - cheaper?

[mitchja]

I suppose the seats might get ripped out here before the A/C leaves the UK possibly? I would imagine VS need to keep some as spares for other in-service A/C.

[Darren Wheeler]

Yes. Not much point flying old seats to Hong Kong when you can rip them out here and save fuel.

Would ripping the seats out make the aircraft too light?

(I remember seeing videos of A380 / B787 testing where they were having to fly with water-ballast tanks bolted to the floor as without them the plane would be too light).

Would ripping the seats out make the aircraft too light?

(I remember seeing videos of A380 / B787 testing where they were having to fly with water-ballast tanks bolted to the floor as without them the plane would be too light).

Erm, they are putting new ones back in ...

Slinky... They are on about ripping out all the seats in the UK, flying to HKG empty, and then having the new seats fitted there.

... And the associated weight queries.