Virgin Australia to Reconfigure Fleet - Spend $110M

[jase05]

Over in QF land, both new a220s have wifi humps and I bet all money in the world they have dividers between business and economy.

No good having dividers if staff don’t police the movement of Y pax.
Personally I’m happy to forego the dividers as long as the VA staff continue to guard the aisle

 

[ThatMrBlake]

No good having dividers if staff don’t police the movement of Y pax.
Personally I’m happy to forego the dividers as long as the VA staff continue to guard the aisle

In my recent trips that’s been less of a sure thing sadly.

 

[jase05]

In my recent trips that’s been less of a sure thing sadly.

I’m batting at about .750 as of late which is a noticeable drop but still good.

 

[bullerdude]

Flew on VUO today with the extra row and new seats. The new seats themselves are ok. Flew MEL-BNE Which would have been tolerable except for sitting on the tarmac for near two hours because a rain storm was forecast and the ground crew didnt want / werent allowed out. ( legit the tarmac was dry and we sat). That wasn't VA fault but seriously the spacing in row 11 is terrible. I felt so cramped and claustrophobic id rate as possibly the worst configuration 737 ive flown on. Also the lack of differentiation between the business and economy cabin by way of a divider is really quite sad. It needs something there for the fares charged. The business seats themselves actually looked pretty decent Also just FYI row 10 now has no window and 11 half a window forward of you

That’s really disappointing the hear! Brand new seats that are cramped and not that comfortable is not great

I’ve only been on a flight with the new seats once but in business and they were quite comfy at least.

 

[MarkD]

That’s really disappointing the hear! Brand new seats that are cramped and not that comfortable is not great

I’ve only been on a flight with the new seats once but in business and they were quite comfy at least.

Yeah business class looked pretty good. The y seats themselves were ok but the space just not good enough. Cannot imagine crammed in there for 6-7 hrs to bali or tokyo. Would be horrendous. Believe the max has less rows at this stage though that will likely change i guess

 

[stm1sydney]

No good having dividers if staff don’t police the movement of Y pax.
Personally I’m happy to forego the dividers as long as the VA staff continue to guard the aisle

But it is the dividers that make policing possible, with the rope that can be placed across.

On the Y seats, has anyone measured the actual leg room of the new vs old. Presumably the pitch is less but the seat itself is thinner.

 

[AIRwin]

Looks like there is a last minute swap to an aircraft with 31 rows for my upcoming flight so I'll be trying out the new configuration for the first time

 

[PERLHR]

Looks like there is a last minute swap to an aircraft with 31 rows for my upcoming flight so I'll be trying out the new configuration for the first time

Ewwww.......do report back.

Post automatically merged: Feb 25, 2024

That’s really disappointing the hear! Brand new seats that are cramped and not that comfortable is not great

I’ve only been on a flight with the new seats once but in business and they were quite comfy at least.

T be honest it was the same on the brand new BA Airbus 320 neos. New seats, smart looking.... uncomfortable. "Biz" was not much better.

 

[AIRwin]

do report back

Just checked the seat map and there has been yet another aircraft swap to the previous configuration

 

[AIRwin]

Just checked the seat map and there has been yet another aircraft swap to the previous configuration

Final aircraft swap to MAX 8

 

[rodkoguma]

I flew VH-VUE last night on VA693 to Perth, thinking 19 year old bird, no J seats.

Lucky someone flew ahead, and got the upgrade from 3D to 2A

But can confirm, VH-VUE has been done, and is 31 rows now!

 

[stm1sydney]

Still no divider...

 

[twinaisle]

Still no divider...

Apparently not until 2025.

Technically speaking - they can't sell 182 seats for the reconfigured birds until all aircraft have the same seating config unless fly ahead onto a bird with 6 extra seats

 

[Saab34]

I do find it very odd that this is something that can’t be installed during build. Couldn’t they just copy the Alaska one or something?

 

[twinaisle]

I do find it very odd that this is something that can’t be installed during build. Couldn’t they just copy the Alaska one or something?

Boeing are trying to pump out the maxes so to avoid any further delay the config will come as is.

VU/VO planes will get reconfigured in the shortest amount of time to not impact flights and fleet removal.

 

[Saab34]

Boeing are trying to pump out the maxes so to avoid any further delay the config will come as is.

VU/VO planes will get reconfigured in the shortest amount of time to not impact flights and fleet removal.

Is the divider less J cabin a nightmare for crew? Or do most do the right thing and go to the rear?

 

[twinaisle]

Is the divider less J cabin a nightmare for crew? Or do most do the right thing and go to the rear?

I'm quite firm with my p.a and where the toilets are for each cabin.

Its one of those things where people will either respect it or not ( looking at you eco X golds and plats) doesn't always happen , but it's when you walk down to check up on your crew in economy is when people will sneak up.

Japan route and pax are very disciplined and won't come up.... Dps and domestic different story with the entitlement.

 

[Blue Danube 46]

Just flew on the updated version. Seat colours made it look old and similar to jetstar. Seating was all thinner , including the arm rests. Only a small netted pouch was available for small belongings. Contraption to hold phone makes it too far away to see so of no use other than storage
Cabin looks clean and bright other than seats. More storage in overhead but less space for sitting. Toilets are terrible with reduced space. An additional toilet was seriously needed given that the front toilet is exclusive to a maximum of four people in business class. Who designs a plane like that?
No entertainment was available on our four hour flight and neither were coffee stirrers.
Overall, very disappointed and refurbishment was all about more seats rather than domestic flyers comfort.

 

[bullerdude]

I flew on of the new midlife 737-700 last week which had the new seats. Was initially excited but that wore off during the flight as I came to realise the seats are less comfortable than the existing seats.

They are more functional in terms of tray table, tablet mount and headrest, but the thinner seats are noticeably less comfortable after about an hour!

From what I could tell they appear to have about half as much padding as the old seats and this really impacts comfort as the seats are leather rather than cloth like Qantas.

If these are the seats being rolled out to the entire fleet then it’s disappointing to see them being less comfortable, especially for longer flights.

 

[Saab34]

I don’t think the -700s have the new seats, are they not just a ‘interim’ seat that will just be reupholstered and modified?