New route to Atlanta

VS will be taking over one of Delta's heathrow to Atlanta daily rotations from
October

VS will be taking over one of Delta's heathrow to Atlanta daily rotations from
October

Thanks for that bit of news.

Any idea what plane and configuration it will be?

Just trying to figure the chances of rewards seats.
We holiday in South Carolina and have flown to Orlando and driven up. It seems to be a real struggle to get UC on the way back.
Atlanta is actually a slightly shorter drive so it would be my preferred route.
Sadly I've already bought tickets for MCO next year, but 2016?

Dick D

Oooooh somewhere new to try!

Any idea what plane and configuration it will be?

Just trying to figure the chances of rewards seats.

It's an LHR route so whichever aircraft they use it'll have far more UC capacity than the MCO flights.

So in theory better reward availability - although of course there may well be more DL FFs competing for them than we're used to on VS as ATL's one of DL's key hubs.

I guess this is the biggest indicator yet of the joint venture in action.

Any idea what plane and configuration it will be?

A330.

Virgin will be taking over 1 of the 3 Delta LHR-ATL flights, whilst DL will be taking over one of the VS LHR-LAX flights in return.

Oh. Not so good.

Do we know which? Sod's law says it'll be my favourite, the VS23.

Virgin will be taking over 1 of the 3 Delta LHR-ATL flights, whilst DL will be taking over one of the VS LHR-LAX flights in return.

Well that must reduce the chances of finally getting a Clubhouse.

Does anybody know when in October this is happening we are flying on the 2nd returning on the 12th, vs23 out vs8 back. No aircraft configuration is coming up on manage my booking.

Looking forward to trying somewhere new, and also does anybody know what clubhouse or facility they are using at LAX now that Air New Zealand has moved, we went into the Air FRance last time and it was just about ok.

I imagine Oct 25th, as that's when the winter timetable starts.

The VS8 still uses the NZ Koru Lounge I think, but VS24 uses the Virgin America Loft in Terminal 3. That may well have changed by the time you fly though.

There were rumours that VS were in talks to take over the Koru lounge once NZ move to the TBIT, but nothing concrete so far. Losing one of the daily flights doesn't necessarily mean it won't happen though - the majority of Clubhouses are in locations served by only one VS flight a day (SFO, BOS, IAD, JNB, NRT and now HKG).

Big to the new Atlanta route.

Big to Delta taking over an LAX frequency.

What does this switch do? I'am failing to grab the economics for route swaps as it's not a new route in either camps just a change of metal and provider? What am I missing.

Thanks Gumshoe.

At the moment DL depart LHR for ATL at the below times:
9.30am (arrives 2.06pm)
12.50pm (arrives 5.32pm)
3.05pm (arrives 7.39pm)

I'm hoping its the first or second rotation that VS are taking so that it leaves same-day connections available.

@FlyingFox I may be wrong but I suspect VS can save some money here.

If they can speed up the ATL timings by 10 minutes or so it would sneak in at just under 9.5 hours, which means the crew would only get one night away instead of two.

And of course it's closer than LAX so uses less fuel and is easily within the range of the much more economical A333. With one of the EWR flights switching from an A346 to an A333 recently, and assuming it's the VS23 that goes over to DL, it suggests the process of phasing out the A346 fleet is underway even before the Dreamliners arrive.

But of course flying to ATL gives VS access to DL's key hub which could be a useful little earner for them as no doubt their marketing department will focus on the benefits of the connection opportunities it offers - just last month VS announced a load of new codeshares with DL on flights to Mexico

Ah yes of course Gumshoe indeed a key DL hub with multiple sky lounges and connections.

Thanks

Big to the new Atlanta route.

Big to Delta taking over an LAX frequency.

I couldn't agree more, but I am puzzled. I flew back on the 23 last week and it had 270+ on board, hardly empty for post-Easter, May time, which is generally quiet, and you couldn't get a UC seat on the VS7 that day either. LAX is a popular VS route, so why is VS so intent on p***ing people off? It's already near impossible to get reward seats to the west coast and this will make that worse too. Yes the DL product is better than it was, but it isn't VS frankly and that's why we're here on V-Flyer and not Delta-flyer.

If it is purely to keep a flight with a lower operating cost then I suppose I can just understand the reasoning, but it reduces options to get to the west coast on VS and unfortunately as a sign of more to come, it may be time to look elsewhere and start to build up the Avios again for a BA A380 trip. I see this as a sop to Delta to offer their fliers more of the VS experience and its main hub, while reducing chances to enjoy the VS experience itself to places where VS has excelled over the years (as said by gumshoe above).

[preiffer]

Simple answer (and probably the same one to come from now on...) :

"Because DL told them to do it".

Simple answer (and probably the same one to come from now on...) :

"Because DL told them to do it".

Yep. This screams of Delta barking out orders to me. I guess what this means is that now both DL and VS both fly LHR-LAX and LHR-ATL so it just makes the two airlines more integrated I guess. As mentioned above VS cope perfectly well on LHR-LAX so that makes me think DL is the one to benefit more from this. Also they benefit from VS now flying direct to their massive ATL hub which was inevitable. And I guess for a route swap they would need to us a VS destination with at least double daily flights = LAX or JFK/Newark. Since they already fly LHR-JFK then LAX is more appealing.

Also is there any evidence of this actually happening? Can't find anything on the web

Also is there any evidence of this actually happening? Can't find anything on the web

The original poster has a good track record of accurately revealing these things on here before they are announced to the public.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to question they reliability, I just wanted to find out more and couldn't see anything elsewhere.

[Nottingham Nick]

Also is there any evidence of this actually happening? Can't find anything on the web

If the news comes from VB747, you can take it to the bank that it's going to be right.

He is a completely reliable source.


Nick

Sorry, I wasn't trying to question they reliability, I just wanted to find out more and couldn't see anything elsewhere.

It's good to keep a healthy skepticism on Internet forums!

Does anybody know when in October this is happening we are flying on the 2nd returning on the 12th, vs23 out vs8 back. No aircraft configuration is coming up on manage my booking.

We are also on these flights but flying out on 8th Oct returning on 15th. Manage my booking still shows same VS flights (a340-600)...my question is if we do get switched what cabin would they put us in? Our flights are booked on G's with a M fare so could they put us in economy as that's what we've actually paid cash for?

At the moment DL depart LHR for ATL at the below times:
9.30am (arrives 2.06pm)
12.50pm (arrives 5.32pm)
3.05pm (arrives 7.39pm)

I'm hoping its the first or second rotation that VS are taking so that it leaves same-day connections available.

I believe it is going to be the first rotation going to VS.

Oh. Not so good.

Do we know which? Sod's law says it'll be my favourite, the VS23.

It will be interesting to see which one goes, I'm on the 23 in January so I guess come June 25th when I can select my seat, if it is on DL metal I hope it's one of their 777's but I guess that means no Clubhouse for me if the 23 goes