Virgin’s first A350 arrives – and the 3rd and 4th aircraft are now showing for New York JFK

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• Stuart says:

  15 Aug15 August 06:39

  Apart from going to scrap heap, what are they doing with their 787s?

  • Tom says:

    15 Aug15 August 07:09

    The 787s are no more than 4 years old. As -9’s, they have substantially less capacity than the Airbus, which is a -1000.
    The 787s are going nowhere any time soon.

    • Stuart says:

      15 Aug15 August 07:29

      It was more a sarcastic comment about the engine issues!

      • The Original David says:

        15 Aug15 August 07:40

        “Fix the engines” would probably be a good answer then

• Oh! Matron! says:

  15 Aug15 August 08:14

  ” I’m not sure why Virgin Atlantic has let British Airways make the running in the PR stakes over A350 arrival events”

  Because BA need all the help they can get, PR wise. It’s been a annus horribilis for them.

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    15 Aug15 August 08:45

    BA certainly have been making a arse of it recently

  • Doug M says:

    15 Aug15 August 10:30

    Also because people that fly Virgin are like disciples of the brand, so VS don’t need much in the way of publicity, it’s customer generated. Look at V-Flyer for example and it’s like a huge love-in for Virgin, little in the way of criticism. When I flew UC I was quite surprised at how poor the seat was after all I’d read about Virgin’s wonderfulness. The lounge at LHR was fabulous, no doubt, but the Delta one in Miami was rubbish. Onboard service was fine, but overall the stupid seat meant I just couldn’t see the additional cost over BA as being worthwhile, especially as the FC miles are much less use to me than Avios.

    • Kieran says:

      15 Aug15 August 10:50

      How can you say the Virgin UC seat is worse than the current BA Club Seat? Climbing over a total stranger to go to the toilet, facing a total stranger… both of which don’t happen on VAA. Surely that’s in the same vein as the Virgin fans at V-Flyer thinking Virgin can do no wrong?

      • Andrew says:

        15 Aug15 August 11:42

        With the BA seat you don’t have to climb over anyone if you’re in an aisle seat. With the hiring configuration, every seat is an aisle seat with pretty much no view of the window, and direct looks at every other passengers. Both are substandard for 2019, but herringbone is just a worst version of another type of seat.

      • Doug M says:

        15 Aug15 August 11:43

        Except I didn’t say it was worse than the BA CW seat, perhaps you imagined that in your desire to say nice things about Virgin 🙂

      • Doug M says:

        15 Aug15 August 11:52

        As it happens I do prefer the BA seat. It reclines to a bed without having to get out of it. People don’t walk into my feet as they go by, I can see out of the window without needing the neck of an owl, and as BAEC Gold I get upper deck 747 seats that have a window and direct aisle access, these seats also have decent storage too. Not all CW seats are equal, and it doesn’t suit everyone, but I find in general the CW seat is good for sleep, and comfortable for me. I’m not entirely thrilled at the new CW seat as based on the very similar AA seat the foot box is somewhat restrictive when getting a decent sleep position.
        The whole thing with a seat is entirely a personal and subjective thing.

        • ChrisC says:

          15 Aug15 August 12:21

          Rob reported that the new BA seat is 6ft 6 long excluding the foot box so for the majority of people the box won’t be an issue

          And there are very few window CW seats on BA which have direct aisle access without stepping over anyone. Great for those that can get one (and I did get 64K once) But the biggest issue with current CW (which will be current for a good few years) is either you having to step over someone or someone steps over you and I’m not a fan of either of those.

        • Doug M says:

          15 Aug15 August 13:43

          Rob has also previously reported that he uses dimensions as stated by the airline. I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve tried it. Personally I find it hard to believe you’ll have 6′ 6″ before your feet are in the box.

  • Lady London says:

    15 Aug15 August 11:13

    Plus it’s just possible there is a smart person in British Airways who did an elaborate launch of their single currently operation-ready A350 as a ‘spoiler’ especially if they had info that Virgin are going to saturate their New York route with A350’s a lot sooner.

    • ChrisC says:

      15 Aug15 August 12:23

      Biggest laugh of the day!

      a smart person working in the BA PR department – priceless

      • ankomonkey says:

        15 Aug15 August 18:31

        BA send all the smart people to their IT department 😉

        • Lady London says:

          15 Aug15 August 19:49

          I would *love* to be a fly on the wall in the conversations British Airways has been having this year with their, presumably now outsourced, IT service provider(s).

  • Callum says:

    16 Aug16 August 03:00

    I think the more obvious answer is more along the lines of people simply don’t care.

    No one I know has ever expressed the slightest level of interest about an airline receiving a new plane variation. Even major steps like the introduction of the first 787 and A380s barely got a mention – and that was just because of the huge design changes, not because they cared about the seat being marginally better etc!

    • Rob says:

      16 Aug16 August 09:50

      That is true and I am fully aware that HFP readers are not aviation ‘enthusiasts’ unless there is a new seat involved.

• Nick_C says:

  15 Aug15 August 10:13

  Never flown Virgin UC. Don’t like the design of the old cabins. But the improved cabins on the A350 and the availability on the JFK route makes me want to try them instead of BA next time I go to NYC.

  • Doug M says:

    15 Aug15 August 12:01

    Me too, it’ll be interesting to see how (hopefully) improved it is over the current seat layout. Definitely enjoy the LHR lounge too, although wouldn’t choose an airline just for the lounge. The stumbling block for me usually with VS is the additional cost over BA, and the loss of the valuable to me TP as I barely hit the 1500 required for gold. Losing the 360 to 500ish I’d get out of NYC flight with the ex-EU start could easily make the difference to me sticking with BA. But do want to try the new VS seat on the A350, which is also a great aircraft for noise and the higher cabin pressure. I think the A350 is ahead of the B787, although both are streets ahead of the older models in how you feel. Despite this I’ll really miss the 747 when it’s gone.

  • Spaghetti Town says:

    15 Aug15 August 15:00

    Probably why they’re doing it. BA will have it’s older product on JFK for a while.

    • Rob says:

      15 Aug15 August 15:47

      Refurbed 777-200 with Club Suite shows from October ….

      • Doug M says:

        15 Aug15 August 19:13

        Which I assume gives them F and the new Club Suite so they get both the things they need on the JFK route.

      • Spaghetti Town says:

        17 Aug17 August 15:48

        Yes but they’ll still be older 747’s with Old Club World doing half the flying.

• Lady London says:

  15 Aug15 August 11:20

  I need to see Shoestring’s comment on this. After he’s reviewed it extensively, of course 🙂

  • Shoestring says:

    15 Aug15 August 19:10

    No problem with Amy Hart finding more money doing other things, good luck to her.

    I *do* have a problem with Love Island, it messed up my evenings for about 30 consecutive days (or that’s what it felt like) until i managed to get away on my hols.

    My wife is a furriner and like all good furriners, she likes to listen to the TV in English at about 100 decibels, ie the same as a 747 taking off.

    I’d have no particular problem with her watching Have I got News For You at 100 decibels, but that Love Island sh$t really is unbearable to hear in the background. Moronic stuff, followed by more moronic stuff.

    • Shoestring says:

      15 Aug15 August 19:28

      though she was a lot more attractive in younger days when she didn’t mess up her face with all that make up

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