LGW Refits FAQ

hi guys / gals
I'm flying Manchester -las Vegas on 11th nov a week today yay ! however I wanted to know if my plane will be a new retro fitted 1 or the old 747 vs085
returning on vs086 15th any help please thanks x

Hi, you should know about 2/3 days before hand by checking the seat map in the manage my booking section on the VS site. If its a mixture of PE and Y in the bubble (upstairs) then it's a refit.

Hi Guys,

With my recent outbound and inbound flight to Vegas from Gatwick both times the config changed the day before the flight. On our outbound the upper deck was all PE which I guess is the old config however the day before it changed to PE and EC. Same on the way back but the other way around. It was new to old config. Lots and lots of complaints at the airport about seat reservations changing. We had to confirm online about the 'change of flight'

Personally I cant believe that a year ago all 7 of their fleet at Gatwick was such bad quality. If i flew with them a year ago and didn't have the advantage of knowing about the refit I can guarantee i wouldn't fly with them again.

Dammit... just checked in online and it looks like we're on G-VTOP to Cancun tomorrow She was only there on Saturday but looks as if they're sending her back again. Boohoo! AND to add insult to injury, we only got Seq 3&4!

Unlucky mate, hopefully when we wave at eachother from oposite sides of the airport in Cancun in 2 weeks, I'll be bringing a nice sparkling refitted plane with me for you to come back home in

Unlucky mate, hopefully when we wave at eachother from oposite sides of the airport in Cancun in 2 weeks, I'll be bringing a nice sparkling refitted plane with me for you to come back home in

Yeah I like your positive thinking

I had been stressing for ages that I'd get one of the un-refitted aircraft when I fly out, but had a rare moment of clarity a couple of weeks ago, when I said to myself "oh sod it, does it really matter!!" it's only 11 odd hours out of 2 weeks in the sun, I'll have my kindle with me, so I can catch up on some reading if the IFE is playing up, have a couple of drinks then fall asleep for a while and get used to the new time zone quicker lol
one question though, did the OLCI open up exactly t-24 hours (12:30)?

Dammit... just checked in online and it looks like we're on G-VTOP to Cancun tomorrow She was only there on Saturday but looks as if they're sending her back again. Boohoo! AND to add insult to injury, we only got Seq 3&4!

We are on the VS073 on Nov 24th. There are 6 people under three different bookings, all in PE and we would really like to sit together. I am watching the Manage My booking section like a hawk, almost as much as I am on this site.

Does anyone know if we can link the three bookings together? If the system allocates our seats, will it be intelligent enough to know that we have three booking references linked?

By the way, what is the significance of the Sequence number?

Yep you're right - it's really not the end of the world! Seatmap had not appeared before I went to bed last night, but it was available at 8am today and allowed me to select seat. By half 9 it was locked down - still available to view but no changes could be made to allocation requests. OLCI then opened about 12.31, again no option to change or view seats and now seatmap appears as unavailable in MMB.

[Neil]

Dammit... just checked in online and it looks like we're on G-VTOP to Cancun tomorrow She was only there on Saturday but looks as if they're sending her back again. Boohoo! AND to add insult to injury, we only got Seq 3&4!

We are on the VS073 on Nov 24th. There are 6 people under three different bookings, all in PE and we would really like to sit together. I am watching the Manage My booking section like a hawk, almost as much as I am on this site.

Does anyone know if we can link the three bookings together? If the system allocates our seats, will it be intelligent enough to know that we have three booking references linked?

By the way, what is the significance of the Sequence number?

If Virgin have linked your bookings, then if the system allocates seats at OLCI stage it should try and seat you all together. When we flew last month, we had 2 different booking numbers for 3 of us and it sat us together.

No significance with the SEQ number, just the inner geek that knows you have been the first person to check in for the flight (if you manage #1 of course).

Yep you're right - it's really not the end of the world! Seatmap had not appeared before I went to bed last night, but it was available at 8am today and allowed me to select seat. By half 9 it was locked down - still available to view but no changes could be made to allocation requests. OLCI then opened about 12.31, again no option to change or view seats and now seatmap appears as unavailable in MMB.

Thanks for the information, See you in just over 2 weeks, I take you 'll be the one with the sad look on your face, and I'll be the one beaming from ear to ear )

Haha yeah that does sound pretty accurate :p Enjoy the build-up!

Have a wonderful trip yourself mate!!!

[Neil]

Just a reminder to please keep this thread for questions and information about the refits of the LGW/MAN 747's.

Hopefully shouldn't be too long before the last a/c is back now.

Thanks,
Neil

So, I'm flying tomorrow to HAV and the seat map has become available today. It's showing as all PE upper deck, which is disappointing...
No option to change seat allocation online but I have two questions;
1. Is it fairly certain I'm flying on VTOP or is it still open to change?
2. Are bulkhead seats (and row 75) only allocated at the airport?
Thanks in anticipation.
Rod

[Neil]

So, I'm flying tomorrow to HAV and the seat map has become available today. It's showing as all PE upper deck, which is disappointing...
No option to change seat allocation online but I have two questions;
1. Is it fairly certain I'm flying on VTOP or is it still open to change?
2. Are bulkhead seats (and row 75) only allocated at the airport?
Thanks in anticipation.
Rod

It looks likely it will be G-VTOP, but of course things can still change if there are issues/delays to other flights etc.

Row 75 is classed as an exit row seat, and can only be allocated at the airport.

Neil

hi guys
right so G-VTOP has just done St Lucia today, 9th of November and apparently it's doing Havanna tomorrow, 10th, so what's the chances of me getting it on the Manchester -Vegas on Sunday x

[Neil]

hi guys
right so G-VTOP has just done St Lucia today, 9th of November and apparently it's doing Havanna tomorrow, 10th, so what's the chances of me getting it on the Manchester -Vegas on Sunday x

While nothing is certain, it is unlikely if it does do UVF today and HAV tomorrow as they do the swap between LGW/MAN in either LAS or MCO, so as it will be going to neither it cannot in theory end up in MAN.

Of course, should there be some tech issues, delays etc, then normal planning tends to go out of the window so it could still happen, but I wouldn't expect it providing everything runs pretty much to schedule.

I've been keeping an eye on V-TOP's movements with great interest recently (as I am flying on 20th nov) and have noticed that she hasn't done any of the Manchester runs for quite a while (we're talking about a month) and even then it was only 1/2 trips. With this in mind, I would say that the odds are in your favour not to get her. Seems like VS are keeping her at Gatwick for some reason v(

Seems like we are all watching VTOP. You are right - she seems to have been glued to LGW for some time - perhaps time for a change! We are on 33 to ANU on 16th Nov, returning 2 weeks later. We would have to be very unlucky to get her, even more unlucky both ways as she has not been to ANU for a very long time. As previous posters have said it would not be the end of the world though - it gives us the last opportunity of a PE only in the bubble!

As previous posters have said it would not be the end of the world though - it gives us the last opportunity of a PE only in the bubble!

That's cetainly putting a positive spin on things!! I'll try and remember that if I see PE only when I do OLCI lol

Thanks to Neil's help and advice, I have managed to link my three bookings with Virgin, so now I am just hoping to avoid VTOP on the VS73 to MCO from MAN on 24th Nov.

Others have said they are watching VTOP, I would like to do the same but how can I do this?

As previous posters have said it would not be the end of the world though - it gives us the last opportunity of a PE only in the bubble!

One of 2 ways really:
At the top of the page, hover over the toolbox option and choose aircraft database, click on V-TOP( near the bottom) and you will see where she has been over the last few months.

Or option 2 for todays movements:
Toolbox - Staus Updates

Hope that helps

As a regular watcher of VTOP, hoping not to be on the old donkey in a couple of weeks,

Has anyone been upstairs in the PE on her? what state is she in?

As a regular watcher of VTOP, hoping not to be on the old donkey in a couple of weeks,

Has anyone been upstairs in the PE on her? what state is she in?

I popped up on top last week. All I can say is.... She's ready for her well overdue retirement!!!

Compared to the refitted quality its like flying Ryanair....

[honey lamb]

Compared to the refitted quality its like flying Ryanair....

Erm, whatever you might think about Ryanair, their planes are in good nick - a bit garish with the yellow, in-your-face seat backs, but other than that.....

Haven't posted for a while but recently booked another trip lgw-mco for October next year the man at virgin said we would be on a 747 which should by then be a refit. We have booked PE on the outbound and he said you cannot select your seats until 3 months before the flight ? But he would get our locator number for us at the end of November 12 when the flights go on the system.
We have travelled PE in the bubble a few times and with the new config wonder how it works with PE passenger disembarking first at MCO with a economy section in PE has anyone had any experience of this or would be better better staying downstairs there are 3 in our party.