Virgin Atlantic closing two more routes

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• Jim Utd says:

  1 Aug1 August 05:48

  Not good. I see the Manchester to Vegas route has suffered a week of cancellations as well to “protect the summer schedule”. Is demand starting to dry up for these routes and in general with the slow down in the economy? As a regular VS flyer I have noticed how empty economy seems to be on most flights now even if premium and business aren’t.

• tillyedwards1 says:

  1 Aug1 August 05:58

  The last 3 flights to the US I’ve taken on VS have also been pretty empty in all cabins …. I might be wrong but i think some people are now put off going to the US due to rubbish exchange rates , many hotels adding resort fees , many shops have closed down especially in SFO , used to travel there a lot on vs prior to covid , flights always full and it was such a lovely place to visit , now , no way would I go there

  • sturgeon says:

    1 Aug1 August 06:23

    And of course the US is expensive as hell compared to 5 years ago. New York is out of control now, I last visited in 2023 and prices had got stupid. Are US flights really that empty?

    • David says:

      1 Aug1 August 08:39

      Get a grip is it.

      • Rob says:

        1 Aug1 August 08:46

        If you’re reading HfP you are likely to be getting a free hotel room. Flight prices to the US are well down. Who cares if a coffee is now £5? I’m over in NY for 3 days in October and I doubt I will spend more than £100.

        • CJD says:

          1 Aug1 August 08:56

          People who want a proper coffee and who aren’t happy with whatever shite is served in a chain hotel’s “executive” lounge will care if a coffee is £5.

        • Rob says:

          1 Aug1 August 09:05

          No they won’t, not if they got $1k of hotel for free and paid peanuts for a flight. Not sure if you’ve noticed buy you pay over £4 in independent London coffee places these days.

        • sturgeon says:

          1 Aug1 August 09:05

          Sorry Rob but if you’re covering three days of lunch, dinner, drinks etc for £33 a day in New York comfortably please tell us where you’re dining. I presume the breakfast is included.

          It will cost close to £20 alone to get a takeout bagel and a coffee anywhere decent.

        • Rob says:

          1 Aug1 August 09:14

          I’m on my own – dinner will be a sandwich eaten whilst working in the hotel and I don’t drink when on my own (except on a flight) because that’s a bit sad ….

          You should see my HfP expense claims – well under £50 per day usually. I usually treat a trip as a way of cutting down on food and getting back into shape a bit (no big family meals, lot more walking).

        • sturgeon says:

          1 Aug1 August 09:08

          Also, flights are not peanuts, most of us here strive for J and above and we all know taxes are £800-£1000 per person. And the points earned weren’t free either! Are people really that awash with hotel points that they’re funding all their hotel stays? There are only a small selection of cards with poor earning rates to even earn hotel points.

        • PH says:

          2 Aug2 August 20:23

          So does Rob take the Air Train and subway from JFK to Manhattan too, or are taxis excluded from this analysis?

        • Rob says:

          2 Aug2 August 23:30

          Yes. Drops me two blocks from the Park Hyatt. Does anyone take a taxi from JFK? I have honestly, in 35 years of flying to New York, never done it. From Newark, yes, but not JFK.

    • Mhughes says:

      1 Aug1 August 10:06

      There is wide knowledge these days that USA IS expensive. A little less so very lately due to weaker £, but I agree for leisure destinations, I think people are being dissuaded going to the USA. I assume Virgin has a higher % of leisure travellers (even in business) that some other airlines and so will feel that effect sooner

  • Lumma says:

    1 Aug1 August 06:35

    Flew into cincinnati and out of vegas in early July and both flights were packed, I even got upgraded from WTP to Club on the outbound as WTP was full

    • Paul says:

      1 Aug1 August 07:56

      That demonstrates that there is little business demand and so the fill up the rear and upgrade

    • LD27 says:

      1 Aug1 August 08:18

      Flew BA to Vegas last week and the plane was packed.

• Can2 says:

  1 Aug1 August 06:10

  That makes me angry. I just topped up my Virgin balance to have enough to take the family to TCI next year.

  • Nick says:

    1 Aug1 August 10:43

    TCI is Tenerife, so you’ll have a hard time flying Virgin there!

    • NorthernLass says:

      1 Aug1 August 14:33

      Especially to Los Rodeos in the north!

    • Can2 says:

      2 Aug2 August 01:27

      TCI = Turks and Caicos Islands, I meant.

• Glenn says:

  1 Aug1 August 06:17

  What if you are using an upgrade voucher, are they obliged to offer you a rebooking on another airline?

  • memesweeper says:

    1 Aug1 August 06:21

    Yes. Doesn’t matter how you paid.

  • Rob says:

    1 Aug1 August 08:03

    Yes

• James C says:

  1 Aug1 August 06:21

  And a reminder BA fly to Nassau daily direct from LHR with 2 of these services continuing to Providenciales. That’s the routing I’d be asking for rebooking on.

• BJ says:

  1 Aug1 August 06:29

  Is there any more precise information regarding the launch of Seoul than just “next year? Presuming it becomes bookable what are the risks it will never get off the ground (didn’t this happen twice with Brazil)? Presumably though rerouting would be on Korean but we might need to be very flexible with dates for premium cabin. Do loadings look good on Cape Town or is there reason to suspect it is at risk? Looking for something to do with Virgin miles and voucher but it looks like only realistic option is India.

  • Rob says:

    1 Aug1 August 07:23

    US still needs to authorise the merger. Once that is done I suspect we will get a date.

  • JDB says:

    1 Aug1 August 07:39

    It’s interesting re Seoul as Virgin was offered and took the remedy slots to start this service but that was an agreement made in rather better times for the airline. It was also conditional on the re-opening of Russian airspace by this summer and VS has to commit to operating the route for six IATA seasons. Can they make money on this route? Hmm.

    • Rob says:

      1 Aug1 August 08:02

      Will the losses over 3 years be lower than the cost of buying a Heathrow slot? Probably!

      • JDB says:

        1 Aug1 August 08:14

        Virgin can’t use the slots for any other route. If they elect no longer to be the remedy taker, the slots will be offered to another airline (that meets the CMA conditions) on a similarly restricted basis.

        VS is no longer quite so keen and the economics of the route questionable, so it’s a rational commercial decision vs a dog in a manger management decision.

        • BJ says:

          1 Aug1 August 08:39

          Seems to me they’ll opt out on basis of Russian airspace. I don’t see it reopening unless a new US administration in January changes the playing field

        • Rhys says:

          1 Aug1 August 08:47

          Shai was keen when I spoke to him in June.

        • Rob says:

          1 Aug1 August 08:49

          The BMI deal, which was similar, had a lot more flexibility in what could happen after 6 seasons. It wasn’t total flexibility – I think the BMI slots had to be used for flights in Europe – but that was it after 3 years.

        • JDB says:

          1 Aug1 August 09:15

          @Rob – this is the full deal. Sorry, it’s difficult to summarise.

          https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6402074e8fa8f527f110a3a2/Final_Acceptance_of_UILs.pdf

          @Rhys – what Shai says to someone day isn’t necessarily what he says to another the next day…

        • Rhys says:

          1 Aug1 August 09:19

          No, but Shai also doesn’t outright lie. If there is something he doesn’t want to say then he will skirt the issue or give a vague answer.

          Of course, a lot could change commercially by the time the decision needs to be taken.

        • jjoohhnn says:

          1 Aug1 August 09:55

          Neither Korean or Asiana have particularly attractive slots at LHR though! They have late afternoon / early evening arrivals/departures.

        • dannyc says:

          1 Aug1 August 15:21

          Late afternoon / early evening are good timings for Far East flights.

        • John says:

          1 Aug1 August 23:34

          No they aren’t they are the worst possible timings

    • PH says:

      2 Aug2 August 20:27

      If Russian air space reopens, Seoul might allow them to issue one ticket trips to AU/NZ with the second leg on KE? Market the hell out of a brief Seoul stopover (Kpop, Kdrama, Kbeauty etc)

• Glenn says:

  1 Aug1 August 06:35

  The one area I liked about VA is that they flew to many Carribbean destinations, such a shame these are to be removed, I personally thought it was a great USP for VA. I am glad I had the chance to go to both Bahamas and TCI in the past few years, both are wonderful places. BA have destinations to the Carribbean, and don’t underestimate the ease of getting island hopping with a small aircraft too, I have done that many times. Overall, with the USA now VAs main destinations I can’t see the value in chasing their miles when others have stronger alliances.

  • roberto says:

    1 Aug1 August 06:54

    Hardly a USP if other airlines did the same. Just saying.

• Dace says:

  1 Aug1 August 07:12

  Slow down in the economy and the general ridiculousness of the inflation in the travel industry is beginning to bit imo.

  • JDB says:

    1 Aug1 August 07:21

    The economy obviously is an issue, but much of this is particular to Virgin that’s struggling to be relevant.

    • BJ says:

      1 Aug1 August 07:46

      I tend to agree with this but struggle to see how to make them more relevant without growing them more substantially. The lack of a domestic network and being stuck in the worst alliance doesn’t help.

      • JDB says:

        1 Aug1 August 08:05

        Yes, that’s the point, VS is stagnating at best and seems to have lost its mojo. The brand we know in the UK isn’t as strong elsewhere. They need a fairly radical rethink and growth plan; that’s only going to happen with new management.

        Delta must be very disappointed with its investment.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.