330 Refit Finally Going Ahead?

1G on the A330 is the bassinet seat so is always blocked out in case it's needed for an infant.

Anyone booked in UC on an A330 whose seat map shows all the D seats blocked out would be well advised to check their seats regularly. At some point presumably VS will load the new maps with the new cabin configuration and while you'd hope existing seat allocations would be honoured, there's a chance they won't and you'll be moved.

Good piece of info re the bassinet
Might move us a couple of rows back

[Darren Wheeler]

Apparently some seat in Upper will be blocked out on certain flights to allow for mandatory crew rest.

Having chosen A340 operated flights to JFK, both my outbound (VS9 2nd Nov) and inbound (VS46 6th Nov) have been switched to A330's...

The Virgin IT hamster is also having a complete meltdown and I can't access the seat map via MMB so I've had to call in to reserve seats!

I've just bagged 3 G's for Dubai Feb 2017 - all seats were available to select (1-2-1).

I am currently faced with a seat map entitled "I33" with
1-10 A/G/K
11 G only.
This is for VS400 in Sept 2017.

Assume this is the new 330 config. Anyone know what side the "wall" will be on?

Thx

You want an A seat if you want to face the wall.

My family and I are booked in UC for Manchester to Las Vegas departing late July and returning early August. The seat map for those flights is now showing as 1-1-1. We're booked in 5G, 5K, 6G and 6K. There is no bar shown on the plan and 1A to 5A aren't showing at all. I've extracted the UC and PE parts of the plan - see below. Does this mean there is no bar on the refitted planes? Its also showing only 26 seats ( 31 seats if 1A to 5A are included).

[mitchja]

Welcome gwamgwam

The bar area is now showing right at the front of the cabin behind the flight deck. No one is exactly sure yet though if that is correct or not though?

My MAN>JFK A333 flight in May shows the same config.

The bar will continue to be at the back of the cabin AFAIK.

1A-5A are designated crew rest seats as there is no separate crew rest area on the A330.

Yep 1a to 5a are curtained off for the pilots and crew to have required rest. I thought the bar was going where the current large wardrobe is in the middle aft of L/R 2?

Such a shame to see how it's turned out. VS could have used it to show they aren't involved in BA's race to the bottom.

When it came to BA's race to the bottom, VS started that race a good two years earlier, and in effect lapped BA in the meantime...

Has anyone any idea when 1st refurb will be complete?

Not until early 2017 now

I am not surprised the refit is put off pity the website wasn't too

Yep 1a to 5a are curtained off for the pilots and crew to have required rest. I thought the bar was going where the current large wardrobe is in the middle aft of L/R 2?

We are booked booked into 1A - 5A LHR - ATL next April is it likely we will get shifted?

[mitchja]

Looks like the shorter East Coast US flights don't have seats 1A-5A blocked as my return JFK>MAN flights show all seats as selectable in Upper (with the exception of 1G which is the bassinet seat).

On the outbound MAN>JFK flight, 1A is still selectable so I presume 2A-5A have just been selected by other pax.

1A to 5a will just be blocked out on LAS and SFO

Just checked through the Aircraft Database on this site. I could be wrong but all the 330s still seem to be in service. I wonder when the refit will actually begin. Anyone know where it is being done?

[mitchja]

Just checked through the Aircraft Database on this site. I could be wrong but all the 330s still seem to be in service. I wonder when the refit will actually begin. Anyone know where it is being done?

It's mentioned a little further up this thread that the first A333 is now scheduled for being refitted in 'early 2017'.

I suspect VS don't currently have any spare capacity to allow another aircraft to be away for the refits at this time as the LGW/MAN 744's appear to be going to China for heavy maintenance for a month at a time over the last few months.

VS get the next B789 in March 2017 (I think there are another 3 or 4 are due for delivery in 2017) so that should add a little bit of capacity (unless any more A346 are leaving the fleet).

Just one 787 in 2017 then two in 2018

Hi all,

Hubby and I are flying UC to St Lucia mid Sept. Seat plan is showing the new configuration of 3 seats across. Outbound we have opted for 6A and 7A, inbound 1A and 2A. My question is are rows 1-5 on the LGW-St Lucia route kept back for the pilots and cabin crew ... I'm assuming they aren't as we have been able to book 1A and 2A inbound?

Many thanks.

IIRC they only use 1A-5A for crew rest if the flight's scheduled to take over 9.5 hours. St Lucia is just under that so you should be fine.

Thank you gumshoe. Would they still show rows 1A-5A as being available to book if the flights were over 9.5hrs?

No, I believe they're blocked on the seat map. If you can choose them, they're available.