First off - let me preface by saying that I'm fully aware that VA can change aircraft type at any time.
For my significant milestone birthday this year, I'm flying with my wife and 2.5yo from MEL-PER, flying out on Dec 13th. A large part of the reason of choosing PER was the chance to experience 'The Business' seat on VA's A330s (not withstanding the can of worms of having a toddler on J - at least it's not an overnight flight!).
We are paying out of our own pocket for the experience. Originally we were booked on VA679 in an A330 ('The Business' seats), as the times were most suitable for us. About a month after booking I received a somewhat blasé email stating that the flight time for VA679 had changed by 5 minutes but there was nothing I'd need to do. Curious, I looked into it myself and saw that the plane had changed to a B737 (regular J seats) - shortly after I was emailed a revised itinerary with the new flight time and B737 info. We decided to change flights to the next flight, VA685, so we could get back onto an A330.
Now some odd things are happening. When I check our booking, we are still allocated the same seats as though it's an A330 layout. But when I go to the change seats page it shows the 8-seat layout of the B737. Our seat allocation there is scattered throughout the J cabin - none of us are sitting next to each other. My wife especially will invent some choice new words if at least one of us is not able to sit next to our toddler on a 4+ hour flight, and I suspect a complete stranger probably doesn't want that honour.
Further - the flight timetable on the VA site still shows VA685 on Dec 13th as an A330. But when doing a dummy booking it comes up as a B737.
What is the most likely scenario here - that VA have changed VA685 to a 737 but not updated the timetable section of their website yet? To date I have not received a revised itinerary of aircraft or flight time changes. If we end up on the 737, what is the chance that will all be able to sit on the same row if we end up on a 737? The J cabin as it stands is now fully booked.
As I said, I'm fully across that VA can change aircraft - however I find it so frustrating that they've now changed consecutive aircraft on the same day from a 330 to a 737. We paid the premium to experience The Business - and the fact that J for this route on a 330 is routinely $50 more than a 737 indicates that VA believe there is a premium to be had as well.
In a pinch it might be possible for us to change our flights to a day earlier, but that would involve taking a further day's leave, and booking an extra night's accommodation - an even then there are obviously no guarantee's that the A330 flight we end up booking will stay that way. Is anyone aware if there are certain days/times that are most likely to be serviced by the A330?
For my significant milestone birthday this year, I'm flying with my wife and 2.5yo from MEL-PER, flying out on Dec 13th. A large part of the reason of choosing PER was the chance to experience 'The Business' seat on VA's A330s (not withstanding the can of worms of having a toddler on J - at least it's not an overnight flight!).
We are paying out of our own pocket for the experience. Originally we were booked on VA679 in an A330 ('The Business' seats), as the times were most suitable for us. About a month after booking I received a somewhat blasé email stating that the flight time for VA679 had changed by 5 minutes but there was nothing I'd need to do. Curious, I looked into it myself and saw that the plane had changed to a B737 (regular J seats) - shortly after I was emailed a revised itinerary with the new flight time and B737 info. We decided to change flights to the next flight, VA685, so we could get back onto an A330.
Now some odd things are happening. When I check our booking, we are still allocated the same seats as though it's an A330 layout. But when I go to the change seats page it shows the 8-seat layout of the B737. Our seat allocation there is scattered throughout the J cabin - none of us are sitting next to each other. My wife especially will invent some choice new words if at least one of us is not able to sit next to our toddler on a 4+ hour flight, and I suspect a complete stranger probably doesn't want that honour.
Further - the flight timetable on the VA site still shows VA685 on Dec 13th as an A330. But when doing a dummy booking it comes up as a B737.
What is the most likely scenario here - that VA have changed VA685 to a 737 but not updated the timetable section of their website yet? To date I have not received a revised itinerary of aircraft or flight time changes. If we end up on the 737, what is the chance that will all be able to sit on the same row if we end up on a 737? The J cabin as it stands is now fully booked.
As I said, I'm fully across that VA can change aircraft - however I find it so frustrating that they've now changed consecutive aircraft on the same day from a 330 to a 737. We paid the premium to experience The Business - and the fact that J for this route on a 330 is routinely $50 more than a 737 indicates that VA believe there is a premium to be had as well.
In a pinch it might be possible for us to change our flights to a day earlier, but that would involve taking a further day's leave, and booking an extra night's accommodation - an even then there are obviously no guarantee's that the A330 flight we end up booking will stay that way. Is anyone aware if there are certain days/times that are most likely to be serviced by the A330?
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