Little Red - Closing down

Just heard that an internal email at VS has announced that Little Red is to be shut down (all routes). Looks like the naysayers were right!

Manchester ends in March 2015

Edinburgh and Aberdeen end in September 2015

If true that will be a great shame

Sadly it's true.

Confirmed on the website: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/tr ... e-red.html

Manchester ends March 28th, Edinburgh & Aberdeen end September 26th.

They're blaming it on the "meagre" allocation of slots resulting from the BMI remedy deal.

Great shame.

They're going out with a bang though - extra miles for all LR sectors plus reward seats only 2,500 miles for Au and 5,000 miles for Ag.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/fl ... e-red.html

Well I'm sort of sad because I have been using them this year to fly to Edinburgh and then drive on up to Dundee to visit mum. ( one point short of keeping my silver status )
I have always had good service, especially so on my last flight. (see below)
However circumstances have changed now and the last flight was to bring mum down south so I guess I probably wouldn't be using them much in the future. They may have heard this and decided if DD is not flying anymore, why bother.

Dick D

So long LR, it was nice knowing you while you were around.

They're blaming it on the "meagre" allocation of slots resulting from the BMI remedy deal.

Bit rich when VS didn't take all the routes / slots on offer at the time!

Im caught out by this as I booked a trip MAN-LHR-LAX and JFK-LHR-MAN for May next year.

Just called the number in the email and the CS who answered was not aware that Little Red was closing down.

On hold now to speak to someone about it...

Hah, just as I was about to book a return LR flight from MAN > LHR to connect us for a DL flight to SEA. And when they cancelled the NRT route it was just after I decided we'd start going annually with VS. I feel like some sort of bad luck charm I am a bit sad as the LR routes were looking very useful for us getting our last few TP to reach Au next year. I guess we'll forever be Ag!

Hardly a big surprise at all. With the increasing involvement of Atlanta this was really the only outcome.

IIRC the MAN flights are not BD remedy slots but EDI and ABZ are. So VS can use the MAN slots as they wish or return them to whoever owns them (which could be DL or AF-KLM)

The remaining BD remedy slots (so EDI and ABZ) now go back to BA who can add extra frequency to their EDI/ABZ routes if needs be. If the slots are not used by BA within a certain time frame (I think its around a year) they go back into the general pool at LHR for allocation to any airlines wanting extra slots.

This is a real shame - dropped friends off at EDI this morning connecting with the VS005 via LHR, and strangely had a look on expertflyer at their flight - there was only 17 empty seats on board.

Must try and get a DXB booked to try out the connection at LHR before it disappears.

Not good for travelers outside the London area

David

[mitchja]

Just phoned VS here as I'm effected by this. They can either offer a full refund or re-book you on BA free of charge. They currently do not have access to any alternative BA flights yet though.

All sorted with minimal fuss. Moved us over to BA flights. The only downside I can see is that we wont now have access to a lounge in MAN for the outbound (we are flying to LAX in UC on a reward booking).

Guess its not such a problem at LHR as we can use revivals

It's potentially bad news for BA passengers as well as I'd have thought it unlikely that anyone else will want the BD remedy slots given how restricted they are in terms of the routes they can be used for.

So BA will be able to pretty much charge what they want to MAN, EDI and ABZ with no other competition at LHR. Watch those fares rise, particularly EDI where LR's often full so there's clearly demand at peak times.

[Bazz]

Content of email:

Cessation of the Little Red domestic flying operation from 2015.

Virgin Atlantic has today announced that it will cease the Little Red domestic flying operation next year.
Its three daily services between London Heathrow and Manchester will continue to the end of March 2015, while flights between London Heathrow and Aberdeen and Edinburgh will continue throughout summer 2015 with the final flights in September
Final flights for the domestic routes are as follows:
Manchester – 28 March 2015
Aberdeen – 26 September 2015
Edinburgh – 26 September 2015
We are absolutely committed to all of our services until these dates and customers can book with us with confidence until then. We will be offering our Flying Club members some special offers on mileage redemption on these routes until they close.

Options for affected passengers
We are in discussions with airlines to provide alternative options for ticketed passengers affected by the cessation of Little Red. Details of these options will be sent you as soon as possible.

The wider implication of all these route changes and upheaval must be that surely customer confidence in booking VS flights must've taken a hit?

Real shame , well could be a v-flyer reunion for the last flight

Hi All

It's a shame that LR is closing down, as I was trying to arrange a holiday for next year October time, From ABZ, as we have just recently moved to North East Scotland. Now I will have no choice other than BA excessive fare.

Was this the best time to announce this bearing in mind that Virgin are taking delivery of new aircraft over the next few months, and people will wonder if they will keep going especially with the recent cancellation of routes.

Lightbodyae

Great shame, but no surprise with recent rumours. The reasons of the gap between bmi finishing and LR starting plus the less services offered than BA makes some sense, but I also wonder if they really knew what they wanted it to be. Surely it needed to be both direct and transfers and with the slots they had was it really going to work from a direct point of view. BA have lots of flights, which work well with day trips. Always thought it was poorly marketed although on board they got it absolutely right.

As an aside received an email from Virgin today regarding my forthcoming flight to Sydney - took me by surprise as firstly I don't have a flight booked at present and I suspect they don't have one planned either!

[mitchja]

VS have now switched me to a BA flight for next July.

It does seem that VS have not informed call centre staff about this as the second agent I spoke was completely unaware of this closure, but did find the instructions to either cancel and refund or re-book me on BA.

Very sad about all this. I'm starting to question whether to continue with VS or switch back to BA. Does anyone think or believe VS/DL may start direct transatlantic service from EDI; similar to what MAN received?

Real shame , well could be a v-flyer reunion for the last flight

I have just booked to be on the VS3044 on March 28th.
I was on the first so will also be on the last.

Such a shame they seem to be offering a good service and goos conpetition to BA. I think it is however a casualty of the market. I feel as though LR never really took off...with not many peoplr aware of th new domestic flights at the time. (Poor marketing and PR). Though even with better advertisibg/marketing it would have been tough to compete against BA with 1) their number of frequencies domestically from LHR 2) The number of flights they would feed onto.


It is sad and definitely the termination of LR alongside Tokyo, Mumbai and Cape Town not only makes VS look very restricted but may put people off booking.

I guess Virgin Atlantic is sticking to its name more and more.

Very sad about all this. I'm starting to question whether to continue with VS or switch back to BA. Does anyone think or believe VS/DL may start direct transatlantic service from EDI; similar to what MAN received?

Just emailed my contact at EDI about that, so will post any replies I get back.

David

I think they shot themselves in the foot by starting with Manchester. It's just too close to be worthwhile.

Sure, flying from Heathrow, it makes a difference, but its 2 hours and 15 minutes by train from Manchester to Euston. 10 minutes in a taxi. 15 minutes on the HEX. Probably the cost of the last two is the same as the flight though, but it means that its timescale equivalent (when you consider check in time, getting to airport from centre of Manchester).

Very sad about all this. I'm starting to question whether to continue with VS or switch back to BA. Does anyone think or believe VS/DL may start direct transatlantic service from EDI; similar to what MAN received?

Just emailed my contact at EDI about that, so will post any replies I get back.

David

Awesome. I do think they should consider it seeing the growth at EDI in recent years.

Real shame , well could be a v-flyer reunion for the last flight

Now there's an idea, but perhaps the very last LR flight so that will be from either Aberdeen or Edinburgh on 26 September ... who's up for that?