baldwin471 From UK - England, joined Mar 2012, 211 posts, RR: 0 Posted (8 months 2 weeks 2 days ago) and read 6154 times:
Do we know how many of VA's 744's are still to be fitted with the new cabins and IFE systems? I'm hoping to fly LGW-MCO in December and would like to have my first ever 744 flight ahead of the 330 which i've been on a fair few times already. Cheers.
sevenheavy From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 1126 posts, RR: 10 Reply 1, posted (8 months 2 weeks 2 days ago) and read 6158 times:
Of the 8 aircraft, 4 have been refitted and are back in service. A 5th has just gone in (this time to XMN, the others all went to HKG....)
By December, only G-VTOP will be left in the old configuration because it's being retired. It will probably be used infrequently by then anyway as G-VINE will be undertaking as much additional flying as possible throughout the winter until it gets it's LHR 3 class configuration in the spring.
deltaflyertoo From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 1589 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (8 months 2 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 6158 times:
Seatguru has 4 configurations, do you know what the new configuration or which one of the 4 is on the 747s that go SFO and LAX to London ?
1stfl94 From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 1455 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (8 months 2 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 6158 times:
The 747s that go to LAX and SFO are Heathrow configured and are not being upgraded, they already have V:Port IFE and the newest premium economy seats. You can spot the seatplan as they have 44 Upper Class versus 14 on the Gatwick fleet.
flyingcello From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2010, 104 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (8 months 2 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 6160 times:
Quoting deltaflyertoo (Reply 2): Seatguru has 4 configurations, do you know what the new configuration or which one of the 4 is on the 747s that go SFO and LAX to London ?
Not sure that Seat Guru has the new configuration on at all...
AFAIK, the new layout has First up front (to the left of door one), PE next (right of door one), then Economy next. The bubble has both PE (at the front) and Economy...
slinky09 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2009, 593 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (8 months 2 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 4578 times:
Quoting deltaflyertoo (Reply 11): Slinky09: You mean PE upstairs or just straight up normal economy w/ UC upstairs on the SFO (and presumably LAX) route. Thanks
All LHR based 747s have a mix of economy and Upper Class upstairs, so any that fly LHR-LAX-LHR or LHR-SFO-LHR will have this combination and currently that's the VS7/8 and VS19/20.
Note however that the VS23/24 to LAX and VS41/42 to SFO are operated by A346s and sometimes int he case of the latter a A343.
legacyins From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 1841 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (8 months 2 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 4515 times:
I do not think I would like to be an Upper class passenger upstairs with Y in the back of me. Nothing against the passengers but disembarking, I would have to wait for 20+ passengers to disembark . One of the reasons I fly J or even Y+ is to get off the aircraft in an expedited manner to get to Immigration.
virgincrew From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 411 posts, RR: 2 Reply 18, posted (8 months 1 week 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 3789 times:
Quoting BA777 (Reply 17): My flights to MCO in November are still showing as config #1 and not #4 as per the reconfigured fleet. Should I expect the map to be updated soon??
Boeing 747-400 (Seating configuration 4) is for the current LHR 744's
the LGW / MAN flights are normally operated on:
Boeing 747-400 (Seating configuration 1)
Boeing 747-400 (Seating configuration 2)
Boeing 747-400 (Seating configuration LGW-1) *** Seat map for the re-fitted fleet of 744's ***
Airbus A330-300 (2 cabin)
The seat maps are correct at the moment - eventually they will updated so that they show as:
Boeing 747-400 (Seating configuration LHR)
Boeing 747-400 (Seating configuration LGW)
Airbus A340-300
Airbus A340-600
Airbus A330-300 (2 cabin) ** will dis-appear next Spring, when moved to LHR **
Airbus A330-300 (3 cabin)
virgincrew From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 411 posts, RR: 2 Reply 21, posted (8 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 2874 times:
Quoting CX747 (Reply 20): Now that the seating configuration has been cleared up, can someone shed light on what the future holds for the 747-400 fleet itself?
I can't speak for the LHR fleet of 744's, but the re-fitted LGW fleet will be around for at least 7 years - as the leases have been extended for this time.
G-VTOP should be leaving the Virgin fleet by the end of this year along with 3 x A340-600's.
I would imagine the decision on the VS 744 fleet will be in if VS take delivery of the A380 or if they consider the 748 ?
Anstar or Sevenheavy may be able to help, if they are reading this post/thread.....
sevenheavy From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 1126 posts, RR: 10 Reply 22, posted (8 months 1 week 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 2603 times:
The rest of the B744 fleet (G-VROC,G-VFAB,G-VHOT,G-VBIG,G-VWOW) are due to stay until they are replaced by the A380's. I'm not offering an opinion on whether that will happen or not, but as it stands the timeline does fit - the leases on these 5 B744 expire at pretty much exactly the same time the A380's are due to be delivered.
Alternatively they can be swapped for A346's as B787's arrive, or they could be kept on. In a lot of ways the B744's make more sense than the A346's. The routes that these B744 are flown on (SFO, LAX, JFK, MIA, EWR) can easily support an aircraft of this size, and by then the leases will be cheap.
sevenheavy From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 1126 posts, RR: 10 Reply 24, posted (8 months 1 week 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2198 times:
Quoting CX747 (Reply 23): 1) Why is G-VTOP leaving the fleet when it is not the oldest 747-400 that Virgin operates?
Two reasons.
1. The lease on this particular aircraft just happens to be expiring at the right time
2. It is the oldest/highest time B744 in the leisure configuration. I believe that G-VFAB (the oldest B744) and possibly G-VHOT are now owned by VS
Quoting CX747 (Reply 23): 2) Why is Virgin retiring just 1 747-400?
Because only one is surplus to requirements. This isnt a precursor to retiring the fleet, its just streamlining.
Quoting CX747 (Reply 23): 3) Is there a timeframe over which the fleet will all be painted in the new livery?
Air livery in MAN do the repaints. Any of the LGW B744 in the older scheme are being repainted before they go in for their refresh. The LHR B744 (G-VHOT, G-VBIG, maybe G-VFAB) will go in after that. Then some of the newer A346 will get paint. Air livery are VERY busy so it will be a couple of years yet but all the A333 are also in new colours so even now there are 18 aircraft already in new colours
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