Economy Light / Classic / Delight

[Pete]

Hey All,

I’m in central London for a Virgin Atlantic announcement. It starts in about 15 mins, so will update you when I find out what it is, but in the meantime feel free to shoot your guesses.

Maybe they’re joining Sky Team... who knows?

Pete

Edit: Changed title to reflect announcement

How intriguing. I'll be staying tuned. Thanks for the heads up Pete.

New Routes? Tokyo ?? Please let that be so

New Routes? Tokyo ?? Please let that be so

Tokyo is not technically a new route - they flew there for years before they decided to focus primarily on TATL routes.

My money is on Sky Team / joining an alliance. Time will tell.

[mitchja]

Not sure if it's related, but I've just received this from VS Trade:

Three new ways to fly

We need to let you know about our plans to launch three new Economy services as part of a multi-million pound investment in our Economy cabin.

The three new ways to fly will allow customers to choose the product that suits their budget and travel style without compromising on inclusive food and drink, unrivalled service, and inflight entertainment.

Economy Delight offers the leading economy product of any UK airline - customers will enjoy a seat with 34 inch legroom, priority check in and boarding as well as advanced seat assignment.

Economy Classic will now offer free seat assignment – providing extra reassurance for families and groups that they can sit together.

Economy Light ticket will always offer Virgin Atlantic’s lowest fare - making long haul travel affordable and accessible for millennials, and customers jetting off on city breaks.

Interesting - so unbundling Y fares just days after BA announced the same. Norwegian really has got BA & VS running scared.

It’ll be interesting to see how much of a premium VS will charge for ‘Delight’ fares. Presumably quite a bit more than extra legroom seats cost at the moment, with priority check-in and boarding thrown in as a sweetener.

Incidentally there’s also a recent tweet from @a380fanclub suggesting VS has - finally - officially cancelled its A380 order.

[Pete]

James got it. Three new sections to Econmoy - Light, Classic and Delight. PE rebranded to Premium.

Taking out about 8 seats per aircraft to enable Delight. Classic is the same as it is now with pre-booking seats. Light is no frills, no luggage, Norwegian competitor. Pre-booking meal choices comes for Classic and Delight next year.

Perhaps this would explain the increase of ELR (or soon-to-be Delight) seats on the 787s.

An inevitable move really given BA/AA's foray into the world of Basic Economy. It's the way the industry is going I suppose.

I wonder perhaps if prices will be aligned to match DL's Basic/Standard/Comfort+ offerings?

[Pete]

Interesting - so unbundling Y fares just days after BA announced the same.

And I bet the difference between the ‘Classic’ and ‘Delight’ fares will be more than the current price for an extra legroom seat ...

Incidentally there’s also a recent tweet from @a380fanclub suggesting VS has - finally - officially cancelled its A380 order.

Apparently VS revealed this info to their travel partners a few weeks ago and BA rushes out with their own announcement

Full press release on VS website : https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/me ... onomy.html
Also confirms 12 Airbus 350-1000 from Spring 2019.

[mitchja]

The free seat assignment with standard economy is a good move and puts VS up above the rest.

The free seat assignment with standard economy is a good move and puts VS up above the rest.

Although it’s not actually free as you’ll be paying a premium compared to the basic fare (albeit with luggage included as well).

And I bet the new basic fares won’t be any cheaper than today’s lowest fares.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/busin ... age-fares/

I did predict this at the start of the year when AF KLM announced it!

[Pete]

At the announcement event

Notice that it says in the VS press releasethat both the Classic and Delight fares are upgradeable with miles and doesn't mention a fare class required - hopefully this will actually be the case and presumably make it more affordable

Might be wishful thinking that however!

[Pete]

Notice that it says in the VS press releasethat both the Classic and Delight fares are upgradeable with miles and doesn't mention a fare class required - hopefully this will actually be the case and presumably make it more affordable

Might be wishful thinking that however!

I double checked this with one of the revenue team at the event and they confirmed Classic and Delight fares will be upgradable with miles. Light are the complete opposite. I think this is a good move. No more wondering whether the fare you’re seeing is in the right bucket class.

the problem with these sorts of differentiated fares is properly identifying which it is you are buying - especially via on line agencies.

BA for example split their different economy fares out on their website (and still people get confused about if a checked bag is included or not) but head over the an OTA and it's not clear at all.

And what is the size of the hand baggage only bag - same as now or something larger. Again this could cause confusion and problems at the gate.

Oh and I hate the word 'millennials'. Other people want cheap air fares too!

Oh and I hate the word 'millennials'. Other people want cheap air fares too!

I am reminded of Maude Flanders from the Simpsons...

"Won't someone PLEASE think of the Millennials?!"

I wonder then if this will mean another change in miles needed for upgrades since Classic and Delight are now going to be slightly different in both hard and soft product.

For example currently it’s 17400 to upgrade economy to PE on a flight to NYC. Will there now be another tier added so that, for example, economy classic to the now Premium class will be 17400 to upgrade, and delight to premium is say 12500? And then 2 more tiers to handle upgrades from classic and delight to UC? Currently on a NYC flight its 56200 to upgrade.

What if they go the other way and widen the gap? So, for example:
Classic to Premium 20,000 (or more)
Delight to Premium 17400
Classic to UC 60,000 (or more)
Delight to UC 56200

That’s going to be interesting.

What happens to Exit row seats, are these still an upcharge or part of delight?

In theory, this sounds good, just wonder what the pricing will work out like.

I wonder if with the fare changes whether Gold Card holders will still get automatic ability to choose Delight Seats even if booked on a Light fare

[Pete]

A useful grid of the various changes based on your Flying Club level:

Economy Matrix.pdf

(601.94 KiB) Downloaded 1347 times

A useful grid of the various changes based on your Flying Club level:

Economy Matrix.pdf

Interesting, looks like for Golds the age of free Extra Legroom seats is over. Disappointing for me personally at 6'4" where the regular seat pitch is not enough.

I am curious to know if VS intend to adopt a Delta-style upgrade list whereby Golds can be comped up to ELR/Delight seats within X hours of departure.

Which economy section will a reward booking go into? Or will there now be a choice using a different number of miles for each offering? How would that affect the economy to premium reward upgrade vouchers?

Lots of things for them to clarify over the coming weeks and months.

What happens now if you already have an economy ticket booked?
We have a booking for 9 pax in December.