A350-1000 Inaugural V-Flyers

They have but the crew announcements haven’t been updated to feature it, unless my crew were doing the announcements away from their iPad and forgot. Crew had to come through and remind everyone.

On another point. They need to be clear with pax on what needs stored for landing. No wording anywhere. The privacy divider should be put back but does the arm rest also need lowered as it does on BA. Also the IFE is apparently ok to stay out, but that was never specifically mentioned on my flight.

Quick observations:
- New seat great and very private but the table issue needs resolved it’s uncomfortable for everyone.
- seat storage isn’t great.
- Cabin looks great
- IFE is a huge step up
- Loft is a great idea and was well used on my sector
- new PJs - arms too short but bottoms better
- new meal service mat is far far too slippy; my glassware and plate kept sliding. Design is nice though (it’s shaped like the 350 window)
- new Amenity Kit - what is inside is good. It looks very cheap though
- the champagne still being Served in flutes - stop this, even BA have gone back to more of a champagne glass. This cheapens the experience.

I understand the new meal service mat is being revised, as we speak, to resolve this

Any more TR’s from our inaugural fliers ! Apart from woralla’s excellent video, it all seems to have dried up.

https://www.turningleftforless.com/back ... xperience/ Doesn’t seem to have been a great experience....

David

Oh dear. This is the killer line: “This is a business class product for leisure travellers. If you rarely fly in premium cabins, you will be thrilled!”

Now that might be exactly what VS wants, in which case they’ve nailed it. But filling UC to JFK and LAX with leisure travellers flying on Z fares or using their Clubcard vouchers to earn Gs does not a profitable airline make.

To compete effectively against BA/AA, VS needs to attract business travellers flying on fully flexible J fares. And business travellers, by and large, don’t want lots of pink and purple but do want privacy to work and sleep. Which is why, I’ll say again, VS’s feeble attempt at a half door just doesn’t cut it against BA’s new Club Suite which is more private and looks - well, businesslike.

The new A350 UC product will be fantastic on the Orlando & Caribbean routes. But for the premium TATL routes I really fear VS has misjudged the market here. A full door, slightly more conservative colour scheme and - here’s a radical idea - free, reliable wifi might just succeed in poaching some of BA’s business travellers without losing the innovative service and edginess VS has always been renowned for.

I think TurningLeftForLess’ review is harsh, and I say this second hand from three friends who have flown this product now, and I am to try it in about 10 days.

The door on the CS, is a gimmick and if you’re sat up fully doesn’t give you any enhanced privacy.

The higher walls of the new UC Suite give you much more overall privacy than the door does anyway.

I think TurningLeftForLess’ review is harsh, and I say this second hand from three friends who have flown this product now, and I am to try it in about 10 days.

I totally agree that he’s being very harsh. I’ve now flown Upper on the A350 twice and found the seat very good, the bed excellent, and the privacy screen good to shield your head from aisle traffic when in bed mode.

Not that I want to be critical of his review, but there are some implied factual inaccuracies. For example “Some people debated that, it was because of the media onboard. Frankly, we had less than 44 seats on the plane (Upper Class), and I have had better experiences on Cathay, Qatar and even BA with many many more passengers.”. On this outbound charter flight, all 44 Upper Class seats were taken, as were all 56 Premium seats (I was in one) as was about half of Economy. Everyone on board was given free WiFi, which meant the system took a bigger hit than it normally might have with everyone trying to send picture to friends on the ground.

I’ll post a trip report for the inaugural as there were a few things I didn’t get to cover off in my video. I’ll also post a trip report from Premium on the press flight, but you can see a video of that here.

[mitchja]

As with everything though, I prefer to make up my own mind about new products anyway and I am not in the slightest bit influenced by what anyone else says about it.

I'm flying on the A351 to/from JFK over the new year so I'll make my own mind up about it.

This whole 'internet influence' thing is really starting to get out of control now IMHO.

Suite damage - yes, this is visible - scratches on the Suite walls and some chips on the white paint around the seat controls.

Table - yes, needs fixed as commented before. It’s really quite bad actually and you can feel VERY cramped with it down.

Service - on my LHR-JFK this was very slow, return was much better.

IFE/WiFi - was broken on my flight too and took them over an hour to resolve. VS giving it away free until the start of October on the 350 isn’t helping. BUT when it did work, same speed as the 787 in my opinion. IFE screens have also been redesigned and it takes a while to get used to navigation but its okay.

Lighting - they appear to have issues with the in Suite mood lighting - it isn’t working in all suites.

Should point out on my return from JFK a LOT of unhappy AUs over the Seat. One vocally unhappy saying he wouldn’t be flying the aircraft again. Others saying it was too cramped.

Suite damage - yes, this is visible - scratches on the Suite walls and some chips on the white paint around the seat controls.

Wow, after a couple of dozen customer flights. That does not bode well ! I think if they were my planes, I'd be making some serious phone calls to the manufacturers.

David

Cathay had similar quality problems with their Safran (Zodiac) seats.

Having just flown in BA in club on the A350 I can say the door is a gimmick, everyone walking past can see over the top quite clearly, when seated the door is the same as eye level.

Unless you do what Emirates have done in First on some of their 777 then it will never be totally private.

Virgin and BA are equal in the value the door/ privacy panel.brings.

The seat is the same as Cathay with a few modifications to make it Virgin.

People hate change and the product is certainly up their with the best business class products out there.

People hate change and the product is certainly up their with the best business class products out there.

I think this is the key thing. As much as I am happy with the current UC generation it is just not good enough anymore on the world stage. I have only sat in it during the promo event back in April but there's no question it is far better than it's predecessor. People will just need to get used to it.

It may not be the seat that sets the world alight. But it's core will be transatlantic business class flying and it will be up there. People still chose to fly BA CW despite AA having a far superior seat, and VS having a far superior ground experience. People are just creatures of habit.

People hate change and the product is certainly up their with the best business class products out there.

I think this is the key thing. As much as I am happy with the current UC generation it is just not good enough anymore on the world stage. I have only sat in it during the promo event back in April but there's no question it is far better than it's predecessor. People will just need to get used to it.

It may not be the seat that sets the world alight. But it's core will be transatlantic business class flying and it will be up there. People still chose to fly BA CW despite AA having a far superior seat, and VS having a far superior ground experience. People are just creatures of habit.

If you're happy with the existing seat which you also say is not good enough anymore then you're not perhaps the best person to judge the seat.

You don't have to get used to it, you can just fly a different airline with seats you like more.

Typically business flyers care little for the ground experience beyond speed through the airport. They don't map out 5 hour trips to the Club House, they want to arrive at the airport as late as possible. Longues are for connections, and Virgin have less of that traffic as they have a very limited network.

I see nothing about this seat that will win business from BA/AA.