VS85 / VS86 Gone?!

[mitchja]

It doesn’t help with the current state of MAN T2 either. I actively avoid MAN now at all costs due to the shambles that is T2 (security is painful) and the current rubbish VS lounge offering.

Hopefully the new terminal will improve that. I’ll be willing to try MAN again when it does open (and once the A332’s retire).

It doesn’t help with the current state of MAN T2 either. I actively avoid MAN now at all costs due to the shambles that is T2 (security is painful) and the current rubbish VS lounge offering.

Hopefully the new terminal will improve that. I’ll be willing to try MAN again when it does open (and once the A332’s retire).

Me too - although strangely I find myself back there in January (on a A333 to MCO, I got an upgrade price of £395 from PE to UC outbound which I snapped up, unfortunately £795 on the return, which I haven’t )) and again in April (on a A332 to MCO, booked through VH). Only reason is that it’s easier to get there coming from Paphos, especially with the LGW situation and no flights from GLA (in January).
Just praying for a better airport experience when the time comes.

It doesn’t help with the current state of MAN T2 either. I actively avoid MAN now at all costs due to the shambles that is T2 (security is painful) and the current rubbish VS lounge offering.

Hopefully the new terminal will improve that. I’ll be willing to try MAN again when it does open (and once the A332’s retire).

Agreed - and you’ll not find me defending the existing facilities that’s for sure.

I’d hope now that MAN has unquestionably become VS’s second most important location, the situation should improve. The new facilities are not going to win any architectural prizes - they look fine for what they do - but the key test will be whether they deliver the step change in security and immigration processing efficiency, transfer product, and lounge facilities. On the face of it it should achieve this, but the proof of the pudding is always in the eating so we will see in good time what the position is actually like.

I’d hope that by 2022 we’ll see A333 and A339neo at MAN which should offer a consistently high on-board hard product.

If the above improvements to the airport and airline facilities deliver what they should, perhaps there will be more reason to expand at MAN from 2022 and we’ll see VS serving Vegas, San Fran, Delhi and Mumbai from MAN before too long.

It doesn’t help with the current state of MAN T2 either. I actively avoid MAN now at all costs due to the shambles that is T2 (security is painful) and the current rubbish VS lounge offering.

Hopefully the new terminal will improve that. I’ll be willing to try MAN again when it does open (and once the A332’s retire).

Providing I still fly in September and providing the next phase of the T2 redevelopment opens this summer, I'll see what the new terminal is like and report back.

It will be interesting to get people's feedback on the Clubhouse as well.

Extract from a huge VS Trade policy update published yesterday.

Route Suspended (E.G. MANLAS)
Re-route onto VS/VS* connection where available. For example, MAN-LAS could be rebooked MAN-JFK-LAS where available.
Re-route from different origin – where MAN departure has been cancelled re-route to LON free of charge, though VS would not be liable for taxi/train costs of getting to airport
New Origin & Destination: rebook an alternative VS destination with change fees waived. Fare difference applies
Open ticket: We’ll hold until you’ve decided which option you’d like to take on the above. Must be completed by 30 Sep 2022, fare difference will apply when outside of 21 days of original travel
RE-route with codeshare/interline partners where available – subject to rules of the fare. Re-issue required. Fare difference will apply, but change fees will be waived

Route moves from LGW to LHR
If alternative LGW departures are available to same destination (e.g. LGWMCO during peak), rebook onto other departure FOCSwitch to LHR departure, FOC
Switch to/from MAN direct VS service FOC - where LGW departure has been amended to LHR, re-route to MAN direct VS service free of charge, though VS would not be liable for taxi/train costs of getting to airport.
New Origin & Destination: rebook an alternative VS destination with change fees waived.
Fare difference appliesOpen ticket: We’ll hold until you’ve decided which option you’d like to take on the above. Must be completed by Sep 2022

This route was dropped a week after I booked a package for next summer. I’ve 3 friends going next year different dates and they were all auto switched onto lhr -las direct flights. Not a hardship. I’ll pay the £100 for hotel and parking plus the 3.5hr drive each way but what’s frustrating is that none of us had an email saying the route is dropped or offering a choice, just simply been moved and you find out when booking your seats. Imagine if you didn’t notice and turned up to Manchester because you’ve had no notification from the airline at all?

Extract from a huge VS Trade policy update published yesterday.

Route Suspended (E.G. MANLAS)
Re-route onto VS/VS* connection where available. For example, MAN-LAS could be rebooked MAN-JFK-LAS where available.
Re-route from different origin – where MAN departure has been cancelled re-route to LON free of charge, though VS would not be liable for taxi/train costs of getting to airport
New Origin & Destination: rebook an alternative VS destination with change fees waived. Fare difference applies
Open ticket: We’ll hold until you’ve decided which option you’d like to take on the above. Must be completed by 30 Sep 2022, fare difference will apply when outside of 21 days of original travel
RE-route with codeshare/interline partners where available – subject to rules of the fare. Re-issue required. Fare difference will apply, but change fees will be waived

Route moves from LGW to LHR
If alternative LGW departures are available to same destination (e.g. LGWMCO during peak), rebook onto other departure FOCSwitch to LHR departure, FOC
Switch to/from MAN direct VS service FOC - where LGW departure has been amended to LHR, re-route to MAN direct VS service free of charge, though VS would not be liable for taxi/train costs of getting to airport.
New Origin & Destination: rebook an alternative VS destination with change fees waived.
Fare difference appliesOpen ticket: We’ll hold until you’ve decided which option you’d like to take on the above. Must be completed by Sep 2022

Does this mean Trade and travel agents now have access to open ticket option?

Does this mean Trade and travel agents now have access to open ticket option?

No from my understanding agents can only do a limited number of actions, only VS customer services can make tangible changes to a booking.

[mitchja]

TA's have always had the ability to amend bookings via the GDS platform so I cannot see any reason why they also cannot leave a booking open.

I've made changes to airline bookings (upgraded etc) in the past via a travel agent without any issues.

It's the other way around as well in that VS actually have very limited change capacity when it comes to GDS (travel agent) bookings. This is why if you book via a travel agent and try to contact the airline directly to make a change, they won't be able to do anything and will tell you to contact the travel agent.

Any flight schedule changes will get updated from airline but that's all.

All airlines use 2 platforms when it comes to booking airline tickets. There's the GDS (global distribution system) platform. See WiKi for more details. This is the platform travel agents use to use to book tickets (this includes all online flight resellers).

There's then also a direct booking platform which is the system the airline uses for their own online and call centre made bookings.

Whilst a booking made via the GDS system 'mirrors' on the airlines main reservation system (hence why you see TA flight bookings in exactly the same way on airline website view bookings), those bookings are locked to the travel agent who originally booked it and so an airline reservation agent won't be able to do anything other than view it.

Well, looks like it was never meant to be.
After the MAN-LAS route was cancelled we were moved to LHR-LAS.
Eventually we were happy with UC out and Business return with KLM.
Just received an email from Virgin. VS155 LHR-LAS is now cancelled. So any hopes of actually going are now well and truly gone.

I fear any hopes of ANY travel to the US this summer are pretty much gone, except for those exempt from the Presidential proclamation. Which is clearly very grave for VS.

As if this morning I can log into the app or website to view my October 15th flights from Manchester to Orlando. This doesn’t feel good . Anyone else having issues with flights that are outside the current restrictions on routes?

*cant log in.

The plot thickens. Just been on Twitter and saw someone asking about the man-las route next year. This was their reply:
We are awaiting news about the recommencement of our Manchester - Vegas flights. Everything will be updated on our website and on our social media channels as soon as we can confirm any updates. ^DBJ

Do they even know what they are saying anymore or is it possibly coming back?