DJ 737 Business Class

[drewbles]

As long as I can swipe my Platinum card to unlock, I don't have a problem with that!

May I refer you to.... People coming past the curtain to use the dunny, especially row-4 platinums.


You'll have to be careful about WP's on VA being able to do it

 

[StevePER]

It does but.. Virgin are actively creating a new special sub fleet for transcon flights with no IFE. They are withdrawing planes from those routes that have seat back IFE entertainment installed (it was on my last flight and i used it going to Perth and back!) and replacing them with ones that will have no IFE entertainment at all in the economy cabin - no map, no movie on a drop down TV or an ageing projector, no audio (at least last time i looked this may have changed)... no nothing.

This is completely stupid. I'm sure the 8 or so people up the front will enjoy the flight but the rest are going to be mightily annoyed. You can hear the whinging every time you board a flight with no IFE - now it's going to be every flight.

 

[LiamR]

May I refer you to.... People coming past the curtain to use the dunny, especially row-4 platinums.


You'll have to be careful about WP's on VA being able to do it

Oh good, you got the joke. I was trying to poke some of the QF WPs

 

[777]

This is completely stupid. I'm sure the 8 or so people up the front will enjoy the flight but the rest are going to be mightily annoyed. You can hear the whinging every time you board a flight with no IFE - now it's going to be every flight.

Particularly if you've bought a flexi fare and it's not included.

Can our friend Virgin Australia come back and let us know what the IFE arrangements for Flexis (and economy) on these legs will be? I may just be getting ahead of myself assuming the worst here.

 

[lazybones1987]

Particularly if you've bought a flexi fare and it's not included.

Can our friend Virgin Australia come back and let us know what the IFE arrangements for Flexis (and economy) on these legs will be? I may just be getting ahead of myself assuming the worst here.

I think you are the jumping the gun here. If you have a look at the list of inclusions of a flexi fare, it states:

Live2air (on applicable aircraft)

Live2air in-flight entertainment included. Live2air is available on selected Boeing 737 aircraft. It is not available on the A330, E170 or E190 aircraft types or Pacific Blue flights. The pay-per-view movie component of live2air will only be available on selected routes"

There is no mention of digi players being handed out to flexi customers on flights where there is no live 2 air.

 

[777]

I think you are the jumping the gun here. If you have a look at the list of inclusions of a flexi fare, it states:

Live2air (on applicable aircraft)

Live2air in-flight entertainment included. Live2air is available on selected Boeing 737 aircraft. It is not available on the A330, E170 or E190 aircraft types or Pacific Blue flights. The pay-per-view movie component of live2air will only be available on selected routes"

There is no mention of digi players being handed out to flexi customers on flights where there is no live 2 air.

That wasn't the bit i was jumping the gun about - i've conceded further up in the thread that that may be the case. Although the specific wording on the booking page is:

In-Flight Entertainment
Included (if available)

And having digiplayers on a flight means available IFE by my definition but i can see why they don't do it.

However the question above is about whether they are eliminating all Y cabin IFE on the BNE-PER and MEL-PER routes for the foreseeable future including for those on a flexi fare. That's what i'd like to have clarified. For example on Trans Tasman routes at least a digi player is included on a flexi fare - the transcon routes are actually further in many cases.

 

[cityloop]

With the advent of Android/iOS devices, especially the Tablets/iPad market, is it just me or am I being unreasonable in thinking that IFE for anything intra/interstate is really becoming a moot point?

Personally, whilst the IFE on QF's A380 is truly excellent, I find no need for using the IFE on board most airlines. I prefer to use my own headsets (and yes, I know you can get adaptors and indeed to have several), with better quality audio (I have good headphones and my digital encoding's audio quality is vastly superior to that of the on-board ones) and my own choice (can catch up on what I have not seen rather than being forced to watch re-runs of Two and a half men/Top Gear/Mythbusters/Mr Bean).

You can't please all the people all of the time, and even when they have a system on the A330's (yes, it's old) people are still whinging that it's "not good enough"

Changing things on this scale takes time people. We can all agree that DJ are doing good things for us, and it's only going to get better, so sit back with a cup of tea, or have a bex and a good lie down. It'll all happen in due course. Good things come to those who wait, apparently

Totally agree, even when IFE is included, cheap or free, I still much prefer to whip my iPad out and use it with my noise cancelling headphones.
It has everything I want on it and will last the whole trip.

 

[drewbles]

Totally agree, even when IFE is included, cheap or free, I still much prefer to whip my iPad out and use it with my noise cancelling headphones.
It has everything I want on it and will last the whole trip.

Exactly. And with modern day laptops, battery life is a non-event. You'll easily get 4 hours out of most modern (less-than-12-month) good laptops (not the cheap coughpy $400/500 ones) and iPad/iPhone/Android device will also happily get 8-9 hours of video playback (phones less than tablets).

Power is nice on any flight over 5 hours (I say 5 as I pretty much wipe out 2 hours for take-off/landing and being fed and watered on-board).

 

[777]

Exactly. And with modern day laptops, battery life is a non-event. You'll easily get 4 hours out of most modern (less-than-12-month) good laptops (not the cheap coughpy $400/500 ones) and iPad/iPhone/Android device will also happily get 8-9 hours of video playback (phones less than tablets).

Power is nice on any flight over 5 hours (I say 5 as I pretty much wipe out 2 hours for take-off/landing and being fed and watered on-board).

Not counting connections.

 

[drewbles]

Not counting connections.

Well yes, but fortunately we don't do much of the 'hub' system here that's so big in the USA.

If you're in one place long enough for a connection to drain your battery, you will have access to power somewhere (lounge or find one in the airport; they're good at that at LAX!), otherwise, if you're not in transit long enough to use your device, and you're in Australia connecting to another flight, chances are your battery will still make it just fine (There wouldn't be many examples of connections on the east-coast that I could think of that would require power, of course PER-SYDxLAX/SFO/AKL etc would all want that (I knew there was a reason I moved out of PER years ago )

 

[Mogul]

After having sampled both the A330 and 737 business class between Syd and Perth it really is chalk and cheese between the two different aircraft. A330 has a LOT more room in the cabin and around your seat compared to the 737. A330 seats overall are more comfortable (foot rest too). For some reason I almost felt cramped in 2A on the 737 compared with the space in row 3, especially when the person in front of me had fully reclined their seat.

I would assume that the meals will be same across both aircraft.

To charge the same fare for both aircraft isn't right. I would definately feel ripped off in a 737 after an A330.

Maybe they should buy more A330's and just run them as the coast to coast service.

 

[777]

Maybe they should buy more A330's and just run them as the coast to coast service.

There are more on the way. 2 more next year (both new) from memory. I believe they will do (or allow them to do) the MEL-PER runs. Can't see them doing BNE-PER any time soon though.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Well, I must admit to being with 777 on the ife front. I've flown BNE-PER with kids in zoo class with no ife (U/S). It's a long flight with no ife and let's face it, ife it pretty much an expected part of flying. The ongoing lack of it with DJ seems to suggest a real planning issue to me. I've been bemused by new planes showing up with no ife, but I assumed that would be resolved when the upgrades are done. Seems upgrades have now started and still no signs of a credible ife.

I also think it rather ignorant to suggest that everyone should carry a laptop to amuse themselves inflight......not just any old laptop, but an expensive model with a decent battery. All the laptops I have (3) are flat out getting 45 minutes out of the battery. My iPhone, (not that I would want to watch that size screen) is not good on battery life either. Playing video would not last the distance (IMHO).

I'm just glad my common flights are short hops and I'm not big into ife, but it does seem like an absolute stuff up. Hopefully our next big announcement will be ife (or was the business class announcement today our next programmed biggie)?

BTW A330s are currently scheduled on BNE-PER for $1698. I guess the saving to fly zoo over J would buy you an iPad or two! :shock:

 

[Noob]

After having sampled both the A330 and 737 business class between Syd and Perth it really is chalk and cheese between the two different aircraft. A330 has a LOT more room in the cabin and around your seat compared to the 737. A330 seats overall are more comfortable (foot rest too). For some reason I almost felt cramped in 2A on the 737 compared with the space in row 3, especially when the person in front of me had fully reclined their seat.

I would assume that the meals will be same across both aircraft.

To charge the same fare for both aircraft isn't right. I would definately feel ripped off in a 737 after an A330.

Maybe they should buy more A330's and just run them as the coast to coast service.

They are buying more brand new A330s - at the current time they will have six (6) by 2013.

Also remember that Qantas runs mainly 767s and A330s on the route which both have a 38'' pitch equivalent to that of Virgin's 737 38'' pitch.

 

[Mogul]

No A330 orders showing on Airbus's website.

 

[Noob]

No A330 orders showing on Airbus's website.

See A330 deliveries:

(from the 'fleet update thread' posted by Markis10)

 

[Mogul]

Maybey more hand me downs ?

 

[Noob]

Maybey more hand me downs ?

No, brand new - forget where It was published, may have been on AUSBT and people have backed it up on here and on other forums as well as VA.

 

[oz_mark]

No A330 orders showing on Airbus's website.

Virgin are leasing them from CIT, so they may be listed under orders for CIT. They are due for delivery in April and October 2012.

 

[777]

No A330 orders showing on Airbus's website.

I assume they are via a leasing company. It's been pretty widely reported.