Virgin Network Changes

Looks like the Delta acquisition is starting to really have an impact on Virgin. According to the web, they are retreating from Tokyo, Cape Town and Mumbai and adding a lot more routes to the US.

Given I fly to the US most of the time, I should see this as a good thing but it's a shame to see Virgin become less and less of a credible alternative to BA.

If they're dropping Tokyo thats the end of the relationship for me. And that is a massive crying shame as I've ridden that route a LOT.

Oh well, looks like BA or ANA from next Summer. Better spend my remaining miles!

Bad show VS. Hope you reconsider.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a63c00f0-334a ... abdc0.html

Increased frequencies to lax, sfo, mia & JFK. New route to DTW.

Metal swaps: DL take 1 x EWR-LHR and VS takeover MAN-ATL

Ceased routes: seasonal YVR & CPT and NRT/BOM

I figured they would increase frequency on Lhr routes once 747's left the fleet
- but sad to see the others go.

I guess it also pushes VS closer to Skyteam to funnel eastward pax thru
AMS/CDG

Disaster. I have just booked UC flights to YVR for our honeymoon next year and there is absolutely naff all award availability on BA...

If we were in any doubt about the DL relationship being very one-sided, those have just been erased. VS is DL's bitch.

[Neil]

So they gave up an LAX when they got ATL, and now they are adding another!
The extra SFO is good news too.

ATL will also get another 5 flights a week in the summer from VS.

LHR now becomes a lot busier with Delta pax.

Standing room only in the Clubhouse?

L

I have got the fat hump about this - was planning on using the miles I would end up having once next months GND trip is complete to bag to UC rewards to NRT in mid-2015

Obviously understand their reasons for doing it, but doesn't sate my ire in any way

I have been a big VA fan for a long time and flying to Miami in a weeks time with them but this is essentially the end of Virgin as we have known them!

While they obviously will operate some routes East that they can make a lot of money on everything else will go west. I realise they must make money but they are no longer a worldwide airline who can offer to compete with BA when flying from the UK unless you wish to fly west!

I wonder how many other routes will go over time and if it would be easier just to rebrand as Delta now and get it oevr with!

BA have won, Virgin have lost! This is not a case of VA regrouping to fight again it is Virgin being merged into Delta and the use of the valueable Heathrow slots will all head west to help Delta!

This is a pretty good, concise summary of the changes:

http://www.ttgdigital.com/news/air-trav ... 94.article

That's a shame about CPT. Every time I have flown to/from CPT the aircraft has been rammed!

This is a pretty good, concise summary of the changes:

http://www.ttgdigital.com/news/air-trav ... 94.article

Have a look at the comment at the bottom about Detroit being bankrupt and why would Virgin be flying there.

Looks like the EWR-LHR that DL will take over from VS will be a night and not a day flight

** This service will be retimed to operate as an overnight flight from Newark.

Looks like the EWR-LHR that DL will take over from VS will be a night and not a day flight

** This service will be retimed to operate as an overnight flight from Newark.

Ugh, no more EWR overnight returns then - yet one example of this set of unpopular moves. Yes it's great to have options to US cities, but with these changes VS becomes more and more Delta with red engines from LHR. While I can understand the logic (spreadsheets win here) I can't help but feel VS is basically no more and it's becoming Delta. I also worry that with so many eggs in the north Atlantic market VS exposes itself to huge risk should any event decimate traffic as it has in the past.

I also note that since reward availability is drying up for long time VS customers, even extra flights probably won't add any options since they'll get allocated to DL fliers in preference.

It all leaves me a tad saddened and not excited.

This is a pretty good, concise summary of the changes:

http://www.ttgdigital.com/news/air-trav ... 94.article

Have a look at the comment at the bottom about Detroit being bankrupt and why would Virgin be flying there.

Bankrupt or not, it's a Delta hub. VS is chasing the yield boost that comes from offering Delta passengers routes to London. Simple as. That appears to be the only strategy (again, one I can completely understand even if it's not what I'd like to see).

How long before we lose DXB and thus me? Seems like they are taking the 'Atlantic' name seriously.

Disaster. I have just booked UC flights to YVR for our honeymoon next year and there is absolutely naff all award availability on BA...

Now that would p*ss me off. Hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction.

Thankful I didn't take my reward flights to NYC at Easter to / from EWR or I'd be nervous myself.

I am concerned about HKG. Since SYD was stopped this route is flying with empty seats in UC which I never saw prior to that.
BA and CX seem to fill several planes a day so I would have expected VS to manage one - unless they are not putting any marketing effort in (with a view to dropping it).

I have to admit I feel the worth of my Flying Club miles diminish by the minute. Nice to have achieved permanent Gold status last year, but finding that Virgin is increasingly not flying anywhere I would want to use them (except NYC of course)

[preiffer]

Just got this "official email" in from FlyingCo:

We have some news that we want to share with you regarding changes to our worldwide flying programme.

We are pleased to announce that Virgin Atlantic is proposing to expand its transatlantic services whilst continuing to fly to major destinations in the rest of the world. These will be on sale soon and include:

• A fifth daily service from London Heathrow to New York JFK
• A new daily service from London Heathrow to Detroit offering new connections across North and Central USA such as Cincinnati, New Orleans, Memphis and Indianapolis*
• An additional daily service from London Heathrow to Los Angeles
• A second daily service during the summer season from London Heathrow to Atlanta
• An additional summer seasonal service from London Heathrow to San Francisco flying five times a week
• A second daily service during the winter season from London Heathrow to Miami
• A daily service from Manchester to Atlanta.+

And with our partner, Delta Air Lines, you can enjoy further new services, providing you with greater choice:

• Delta will operate one of our existing London Heathrow to Newark services**
• Delta will launch a new daily service from Manchester to New York JFK in summer 2015.

Here are a few words from our Chief Executive Craig Kreeger:

“Our ambition is to be profitable for the long term, earn competitive returns, and invest those into providing the very best experience for our customers on the routes they most want to fly.

Transatlantic flying has always been at the heart of our network and our most financially successful region. Today’s announcement allows us to play to our strengths and focus our network on routes between the UK and US, as well as other critical global destinations that are most important to our customers.

We are confident that with this strengthened network, our new aircraft and our welcoming people delivering unrivalled service, we have all the right ingredients to achieve long-term success.”

In order to take advantage of these opportunities, further proposed changes to our network will include:

• A withdrawal of operations to Tokyo Narita with the final flight from London to Narita on 31 January 2015 and the final flight from Narita to London on 1 February 2015.
• A withdrawal of operations to Mumbai with the final flight from London to Mumbai on 31 January 2015 and the final flight from Mumbai to London on 1 February 2015.
• The summer seasonal service from London Heathrow to Vancouver will not return after this season’s flying programme is completed on 11 October 2014.
• The winter seasonal service to Cape Town will operate as planned in winter 2014/15 but will not be renewed the following winter. The final flight from London to Cape Town will be on 26 April 2015 and the final flight from Cape Town to London on 27 April 2015.

We remain deeply committed to our rest of world destinations and our network will include a continued presence in South Africa through our daily non-stop Johannesburg service, a continued presence in India through our daily non-stop Delhi service, as well as flights to other key destinations in Asia, Africa, Caribbean and the Middle East.

As a valued Flying Co customer we wanted to let you know our news as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please visit our website. If you or your company travellers are travelling with us to any of the proposed affected destinations and booked via a travel agent, please contact them for more information. If you've booked directly with us, please feel free to get in touch with our Reservations Team on 0344 209 2774 (UK) who will be happy to help.

Best wishes

And yes, NY-LON, I'm in the same boat as you...

I have to admit I feel the worth of my Flying Club miles diminish by the minute. Nice to have achieved permanent Gold status last year, but finding that Virgin is increasingly not flying anywhere I would want to use them (except NYC of course)

Luckily, BA have just given me a gold card with them for the next 2 years, so we'll see if that's a better option for now...

Oh dear this saddens me too but is reflective of the DL tie up which is ( seemingly) benefitting DL members at the continued expense of FC members.
I know there a few people here who are booked to travel on pulled routes next year ( gfonk and Bretty spring to mind)- I hope you are all cared for by VS appropriately (given they've sold you down the river )

DL

Farewell Virgin ..... That will be me done then !

Sydney was bad ..... Cape Town a disaster !

Am flying to Cape Town in November and then Miami & Chicago Next Spring .....

That will be my end with Virgin !

So sad but decision made now ... Avios over Virgin Rewards

Sad day but you have to know when to call it quits in any relationship !

One reason I "switched to the darkside" a couple of years back was because of the limited route network and limited rward flight availability.

It now looks to me that decision was precient.

Once upon a time, I planned to use the SYD and CPT routes with VS - kind of sad to see all these routes discontinutd.

I too can see the business sense of this, but it kind of feels like the end of VS as we knew it...

Still feels like a mixed strategy to me - holiday destinations plus a few key business routes etc - any significant event on economic issue is going to hit this hard.

[preiffer]

The other problem is, if VS are being steered towards SkyTeam-friendly networking (so, leave Asia alone, and just feed to DL), that will route customers onto the Chinese carriers for a lot of Asian routes: China Eastern, China Southern, etc etc.

...and they have some of the worst in-flight experiences known to Man. Appalling business class offerings, economy cabins which stink (literally) and a food "offer" which is lower than what I believe most prison food would deliver.

If VS want to be associated with that level of commercial air travel, then pulling the Eastbound routes and aligning with SkyTeam/DL for this part of the "network" (I know, a laughable term now) is a fine way of heading towards that goal...

Have just got the email from the Flying Club. I'm very surprised that the focus is shifting even more to the transatlantic services, when just a few months ago I read SRB talking about wanting to use the 787s to expand to the far east destinations (amongst others).

This move further restricts the (already more limited, compared to BA) options that VS offers, and will probably see me also slowly making the shift to BA.

I, too, worry about the viability of the DXB route (as I make that journey at least twice a year for work) in the months to come.

They're chasing the money, basically.

They've never dropped "Atlantic" from their name and I guess being one little airline in India or Japan doesn't work these days.

I have also noted that majority of people tend to book when VS have a sale and/or match BA, so you need to go to where the people are. And for VS it's not east.