Virgin Blue A330 J class, ATR and new uniform details

[Justchecking]

4 x A330's is a slow start.......

An order for 10-15 B787's would get me excited

It wouldn't excite me much. New to production aircraft are notoriously riddled with teething problems. Lots of downtime, possibly cancelled flights and unexpected delays would be what that announcement would mean to me. No thanks. Give me a proven aircraft where the kinks have already been ironed out.

 

[AaronBradford]

It wouldn't excite me much. New to production aircraft are notoriously riddled with teething problems. Lots of downtime, possibly cancelled flights and unexpected delays would be what that announcement would mean to me. No thanks. Give me a proven aircraft where the kinks have already been ironed out.

If they order now, they probably won't get the aircraft until 2015ish, when the ironing will have been complete.

 

[spaceboi]

The A330s will be close to retirement by the time the 787 could be delivered anyway, I suspect thanks to the ongoing delays with the new designs, short notice widebody deliveries are hard to get.

787 dreamliner, phffft ..... Virgin's Galactic division will probably be a fully viable form of commercial air travel by the time they've sorted out the overhead locker issue

Thunderbirds are go!!!

 

[Justchecking]

If they order now, they probably won't get the aircraft until 2015ish, when the ironing will have been complete.

At Boeings current rate of progress 2015 will probably only see the first fully functional one off the production line...My money is one 2018 before anyone actually has this aircraft in an operationally reliable form. Just look how great the 787 orders have been for QF...:shock:

 

[Jurahn]

Crazydave, any idea which SYD-PER-SYD flights will be using the A330s? The reason I ask is that we're booked to fly the red-eye PER-SYD towards the end of the year and are booked in PE (then continuing on in PE to LAX with VA), and the same on the return journey, with the SYD-PER flight at 1400. It appears that PE will not exist on the new A330s, only business and economy, so what will happen to those customers who are booked in PE for flights where the 737 is replaced by the A330? We've paid well above the cost of an economy seat for the PER-SYD-PER legs so would NOT be happy to be bumped back into economy!

Would appreciate any advice/info.

Thanks!

 

[Jurahn]

Have moved above post to the "Your Questions" as I realised that would probably be the more appropriate forum for it! Apologies from a newbie.

 

[Mogul]

The new uniforms are definately a lot better looking than the old ones.

 

[JohnK]

I forget now but was it only flight crew who were to have the new uniforms?

I have noticed that ground staff are still wearing the old uniforms.

 

[pshepvic]

I forget now but was it only flight crew who were to have the new uniforms?

I have noticed that ground staff are still wearing the old uniforms.

Yeah, apparently ground staff are the last to receive the uniforms - they didn't know when it would be last time I spoke to one of them (although that was a couple of weeks ago now)

 

[Virgin Australia]

Crazydave, any idea which SYD-PER-SYD flights will be using the A330s? The reason I ask is that we're booked to fly the red-eye PER-SYD towards the end of the year and are booked in PE (then continuing on in PE to LAX with VA), and the same on the return journey, with the SYD-PER flight at 1400. It appears that PE will not exist on the new A330s, only business and economy, so what will happen to those customers who are booked in PE for flights where the 737 is replaced by the A330? We've paid well above the cost of an economy seat for the PER-SYD-PER legs so would NOT be happy to be bumped back into economy!

Would appreciate any advice/info.

Thanks!

Hi Jurahn
A330 scheduling isn't far off from being released, so stay tuned, but as for your question regarding an existing PE booking, this is still to be determined (would think that you would get pushed to the pointy end, but like I say that is still to be worked out).

Yeah, apparently ground staff are the last to receive the uniforms - they didn't know when it would be last time I spoke to one of them (although that was a couple of weeks ago now)

Juli Grbac is working on our Ground Crew's uniform as we speak. Those changes will be rolled out later this year.

Also, for those wondering about how your J class IFE experience is affected by a seat in front of you that is fully reclined, - due to the top part of the screen being hinged you are able to watch the screen no matter what.

Cheers

 

[kamchatsky]

It wouldn't excite me much. New to production aircraft are notoriously riddled with teething problems. Lots of downtime, possibly cancelled flights and unexpected delays would be what that announcement would mean to me. No thanks. Give me a proven aircraft where the kinks have already been ironed out.

Maybe DJ can get themselves some A380s (almost all ironed out, just not the RR engines!) instead of B787. Now that would surprise me!

 

[Jurahn]

Hi Virgin Blue

Many thanks for your reply. I'll be interested to see the outcome re existing PE bookings, so will just have to watch and wait to see what happens!

Cheers

 

[Oneworldplus2]

My 'guess' is that those booked in PE will be upped to J; once PE is dropped and J introduced. Might be a good strategy to buy some PE (for those that can afford it or work to book) now????

 

[oz_mark]

My 'guess' is that those booked in PE will be upped to J; once PE is dropped and J introduced. Might be a good strategy to buy some PE (for those that can afford it or work to book) now????

Good idea (I'd like to think that DJ would work that way), although you'd be taking a punt on where it fits into the schedule (and indeed if they are new flights to the schedule, rather than replacing existing flights).


So, there are four flights a day now SYD-PER, which ones are likely candiates for the change? Hmm....

 

[Justchecking]

My guess would be either 4 flights to be replaced by 3, since the a330 have a higher number of seats. Or failing that, the ones most in demand by j class pax. Early morning and late evening?

 

[pauly7]

My 'guess' is that those booked in PE will be upped to J; once PE is dropped and J introduced. Might be a good strategy to buy some PE (for those that can afford it or work to book) now????

PE are 100% refundable right so you could book a spread all flights then cancel the non A330 ones (or all if DJ downgrade you to Y)

 

[anat0l]

PE are 100% refundable right so you could book a spread all flights then cancel the non A330 ones (or all if DJ downgrade you to Y)

Assuming that the policy for such tickets is as such and you have enough money right now to be tied away in order to accommodate such a plan.

 

[Jurahn]

Either/or really as far as I'm concerned - if we get a 737, then it should (should!) be fitted with PE - and if we get an A330, fingers (and toes!) crossed that we are bumped up to J. My only concern was paying for PE and then ending up in economy, which would be extremely unfair, so let's hope DJ comes to the party on this as I had no idea of the proposed aircraft change for the Perth-Sydney flights when we booked.

 

[pauly7]

I was hoping MEL-DPO:shock:

I'd fly F to DPO with a QF 744 anyday!

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Either/or really as far as I'm concerned - if we get a 737, then it should (should!) be fitted with PE - and if we get an A330, fingers (and toes!) crossed that we are bumped up to J. My only concern was paying for PE and then ending up in economy, which would be extremely unfair, so let's hope DJ comes to the party on this as I had no idea of the proposed aircraft change for the Perth-Sydney flights when we booked.

I'm hoping so as well. I honestly don't think that DJ would move pax who had purchased PE back to Y (once J is rolled out).
As stated before in many DJ threads, DJ will be looking for J pax and will also be in direct competition with QF on transcon routes. Brushing people off wouldn't make sense to me (but hey, l could be wrong on this). Yes, it is a risk (if you had the choice of a confirmed QF J or gamble on DJ PE/J), but l think that this is one risk where the cards are in your favor.