Ex air berlin A330 200 upper class cabin

Hi there, we have a pre-refit trip coming up and are interested to see any cabin photos. To date, I've only seen one! The image on the virgin website does not show very much!!
Thanks

[mitchja]

Welcome to V-Flyer

There's a trip report here showing a couple of pics of the current A332 J cabin.

We are going to SFO in the love seats on Tuesday. I will take photos and try to work out how to post them here!

If you go on YouTube and search Airberlin business class A330, there are a couple of great videos of the cabin.

Trust me they haven’t changed

Thank you, that’d be great! Have a lovely trip

We are going to SFO in the love seats on Tuesday. I will take photos and try to work out how to post them here!

Welcome to V-Flyer

There's a trip report here showing a couple of pics of the current A332 J cabin.

Thank you Mitcha. I have seen these but they differ from the image on virgin’s website so wondered if there were anymore pics out there. I’ve hunted high and low and can’t seem to find any...

If you go on YouTube and search Airberlin business class A330, there are a couple of great videos of the cabin.

Trust me they haven’t changed

Had a look at a couple of videos...wouldn’t quite call them “great” and some show the cabins being tattier than the other!
Thank you for pointing me in the direction...

Hi

We had a flight in upper class (LGW-BGI) on 'Daydream Believer' a couple of weeks ago. While I found the seats comfy, the cabin ambiance is certainly not Virgin, and the cabin felt tatty. There is obviously no bar, and the snacks were just put on a tray on the back of a seat near the loo!

I was sat next to my other half in a 'Love Suite' and I wouldn't want to have been so close to anyone else. It looked like there's a partition that can be raised between those seats but we didn't faff with it. I'm 6'3" slim build and would have been able to sleep ok in the seat. VERA was very responsive with the usual content but it's not touchscreen - the handset has a small laptop style thumb pad thing to move the pointer about. There's storage under the footrest/ottoman. I think the Air Berlin logos are gone and the seats are all 'leather' - I only remembered to check just as we were getting off and I'd had a few drinks by then! If you take your own headphones you'll need an adapter to make it a 2-pin jack.

We could hear the cabin crew's comments when we got on, and they were certainly unimpressed 'this is bloody awful' were the words the FSM used to her colleague. The aisles feel very narrow in the cabin - too small to pass someone on the way to the loo. Also, if you're tall mind your head on the central overhead storage!

There's a good shot of the cabin here: https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/virgin-experience/our-a330-200-aircraft.html but be aware it's been heavily photoshopped and it's certainly not as 'shiny' as the photo suggests, but it's a reasonable representation of the layout.

Service from the CC and food etc was good.

Lady in the clubhouse suggested the refit starts at the end of the summer and was apologetic that they'd just had 'a quick paint job' and nothing more.

Incidentally, there seems to be an equipment change to a -300 about once a week on the BGI route. We got upgraded from 'Economy Delight' to Premium Economy on the return trip - quite amusing after getting a 75% refund for a forced downgrade a few months ago!

If there's anything specific you want to know just ask...

oh...and the engines seem to be noisier :(

Hi

We had a flight in upper class (LGW-BGI) on 'Daydream Believer' a couple of weeks ago. While I found the seats comfy, the cabin ambiance is certainly not Virgin, and the cabin felt tatty. There is obviously no bar, and the snacks were just put on a tray on the back of a seat near the loo!

I was sat next to my other half in a 'Love Suite' and I wouldn't want to have been so close to anyone else. It looked like there's a partition that can be raised between those seats but we didn't faff with it. I'm 6'3" slim build and would have been able to sleep ok in the seat. VERA was very responsive with the usual content but it's not touchscreen - the handset has a small laptop style thumb pad thing to move the pointer about. There's storage under the footrest/ottoman. I think the Air Berlin logos are gone and the seats are all 'leather' - I only remembered to check just as we were getting off and I'd had a few drinks by then! If you take your own headphones you'll need an adapter to make it a 2-pin jack.

We could hear the cabin crew's comments when we got on, and they were certainly unimpressed 'this is bloody awful' were the words the FSM used to her colleague. The aisles feel very narrow in the cabin - too small to pass someone on the way to the loo. Also, if you're tall mind your head on the central overhead storage!

There's a good shot of the cabin here: https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/virgin-experience/our-a330-200-aircraft.html but be aware it's been heavily photoshopped and it's certainly not as 'shiny' as the photo suggests, but it's a reasonable representation of the layout.

Service from the CC and food etc was good.

Lady in the clubhouse suggested the refit starts at the end of the summer and was apologetic that they'd just had 'a quick paint job' and nothing more.

Incidentally, there seems to be an equipment change to a -300 about once a week on the BGI route. We got upgraded from 'Economy Delight' to Premium Economy on the return trip - quite amusing after getting a 75% refund for a forced downgrade a few months ago!

If there's anything specific you want to know just ask...

Thank you so much for the detailed response. I actually wondered about the image on Virgin’s website as they did appear different to the others available on the internet. But as you say they’ve been cleverly enhanced! We are travelling upper and are quite disappointed to note that the aircraft will be an old cast off!! Last time we travelled the 8 hrs 45 or so went so quickly with regular trips to the bar. I think this time round it may well feel like an 18 hour flight! Snacks served on the back of a seat near the loo seems a tad primitive!!! I suppose Virgin know what they’re doing with the refurbs in time for the winter high season
I hadn’t realised there was a weekly change to a 300 on the BGI route. Here’s hoping we get that both ways!

Thanks again,

The weekly change isn't a scheduled one - I checked the app the day before returning home and it had been updated to a -300, but the seating plan was bodged row numbers and showed the PE cabin as economy, but the herringbone layout in Upper. The PE cabin was PE service. I'd also noticed that every week before we flew out, a -300 was used on Thursdays. The only week it wasn't was our Upper Class flight outbound

Fingers crossed for a last minute aircraft change for you!

I have some photos of the upper class cabin taken yesterday if anyone can explain how to upload them?
The flight was better than expected, due to a great crew.
We sat in the love seats and even the FSM said that she hoped we were travelling together, because it would be cosy otherwise!!! The entrance to the seats was very narrow and the seats felt narrow. My husband felt mildly claustrophobic. I liked the recline, because you could get the seat not quite horizontal and I actually managed to get a couple of hours sleep.
The food and drink were excellent and service could not be faulted - the FSM was evident for much of the time. An ice cream was served mid flight and a snack bowl was available too. About 2 hours before landing we were asked what we would like to eat, and I chose chicken kebabs and scone.
Vera was great - a large responsive screen at the end of the seat - perfect when I need reading glasses and definitely better for me than the usual UC monitors.
It appeared that the crew wanted everyone to use the toilet at the back of UC. There were also toilets at the front behind the curtain - there were no complaints when these were used at busy times. All the toilet compartments were small!
If you have any questions, just ask - I was dreading the flight and it was definitely better than expected!

[mitchja]

I have some photos of the upper class cabin taken yesterday if anyone can explain how to upload them?

1) Whilst composing a new post, below the text box, click the 'Upload attachment' link.
2) Click the 'Select file' button and browse for the picture filename.
3) Click the 'Add the file' button and wait for it to upload.
4) Click in the post text box where you would like to insert the picture and then click the 'Place inline' button.
5) Repeat steps 1 - 4 for each photo and then hit submit as normal.

I have some photos of the upper class cabin taken yesterday if anyone can explain how to upload them?

1) Whilst composing a new post, below the text box, click the 'Upload attachment' link.
2) Click the 'Select file' button and browse for the picture filename.
3) Click the 'Add the file' button and wait for it to upload.
4) Click in the post text box where you would like to insert the picture and then click the 'Place inline' button.
5) Repeat steps 1 - 4 for each photo and then hit submit as normal.

Thank you very much for the excellent information. My photo file size is too big - is there an easy way to sort this on my Iphone? I do not have my laptop on holiday!

I'm too lazy to do a proper TR but I flew UC to ATL from MAN in one of the "solo" seats on the A330-200 last month. Positives were that it is very private and I like the extra recline, plus the IFE screen was great. Negatives were I'm a pretty small/average person and I think that seats would feel quite cramped for someone bigger and taller. The suite was also quite tired looking and a bit rough around the edges. I think the love suites will be great for couples or people travelling with kids, but not so much for any solo travellers seated next to a stranger. Food and service were excellent on both the outbound and inbound.

Hi Janeclar, I don’t know how to sort out the technical photo file upload issues.....but I’m very interested to see the pics!!
Spacedog’s comments have given me some hope regarding the comfort of this upcoming flight! Thanks both

I can’t wait to see the pictures either, hopefully the technical fault can be fixed soon.

Thank you very much for the excellent information. My photo file size is too big - is there an easy way to sort this on my Iphone? I do not have my laptop on holiday!

I use image size. Search for it in the App Store.

You upload you pic - it tells you the size - change the size (try halfing it first) then it converts to and puts it back into your picture file.

There’s an odd advert to watch / ignore but other than that it’s free. Play about with the sizes until you find one that uploads.

David.

Hiya newbie here but been stalking and enjoying the information provided for a while. Thought it was high time I joined in with this topic! I travelled out to Grenada on 4th June 2018 with trepidation but absolutely loved the privacy of the solo traveller! I was in 3K. I thought the seat was so much more comfortable! yes massage facility on seat was a total gimmick! loved IFE once I realised the tiny square box on the handheld was like a tiny mouse....much easier than normal touch screen. Return journey was 3A, was worried about the bed but again so much better than having to sleep banana style.

yes its not the normal virgin UC but I loved it!

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Thanks for everyone’s help with this - I will now post photos when relevant! If you click on the photos above, you get a larger version!

If you are on instagram
Raffles from hfp put up some pics here
https://instagram.com/p/BkOqd8FgQwJ/

Thanks for posting some positive comments. We are flying to SFO in the love seats next month and were worried that the flight would be a complete disappointment but feeling a bit more positive now.