Economy X [Domestic free for Platinum] - May 2017

[ap_spd]

My observation across SD - BNE sector has been hit and miss. Most of the time I have seen the middle seat being full in YX and row 6 onward having middle seat empty.

 

[clipped_wings]

"Mr Thomas said Virgin was tracking well for the last quarter of the year, with some demand returning to the domestic market and customers responding well to Virgin's new Economy X.The extra large seats, which Virgin finished rolling out to its entire fleet last month, paid for themselves within two and a half weeks, Mr Thomas said.

That's an interesting reference Bagpuss. It seems Mr Thomas needs to proof his own press. Extra large seats?

I wish.

 

[Marty_]

"Mr Thomas said Virgin was tracking well for the last quarter of the year, with some demand returning to the domestic market and customers responding well to Virgin's new Economy X.The extra large seats, which Virgin finished rolling out to its entire fleet last month, paid for themselves within two and a half weeks, Mr Thomas said."

Taken from Virgin Australia bets on Hong Kong with Beijing, Shanghai slots hard to secure

I guess they were very cheap to install!

 

[Jack_OC]

That said, I think it will appeal to the corporate market who are happy to give employees the extra leg room.

You think? My experience is quite the opposite. I've done a fair bit of flying as an employee of 4 different companies over the years, and even though all of them were happy to pay for Business Class (subject to certain criteria, of course), none of them have been willing to pay for extra legroom seats in Y.

The policy at all of these companies has been something along the lines of "if you can select a better seat based on your FF status, or by paying extra out of your own pocket, go right ahead. Otherwise, if the policy says Y, you will be booked on the cheapest Y fare available, and you will take what you get".

 

[grubbidok]

You think? My experience is quite the opposite. I've done a fair bit of flying as an employee of 4 different companies over the years, and even though all of them were happy to pay for Business Class (subject to certain criteria, of course), none of them have been willing to pay for extra legroom seats in Y.

The policy at all of these companies has been something along the lines of "if you can select a better seat based on your FF status, or by paying extra out of your own pocket, go right ahead. Otherwise, if the policy says Y, you will be booked on the cheapest Y fare available, and you will take what you get".

I work in academia and that is our policy. Cheapest fare, no extras allowed, travel in Y only. But generously suggest you can pay for upgrades at own expense, and helpfully suggest you use points with a 'friendly' reminder that you really should be using them on work travel anyway if that is how you got them in the first place. I have done two Oz-Europe and two Trans-Pas in last two months in the cheap seats. I had a colleague who had to fly to London *for a one day meeting* (to sign a funding agreement for the uni to boot) and they *still* made him travel in Y.

But we do have ultimate freedom in picking our flights, as long as they meet these criteria and we have a budget to pay for them.

VA creating all these add-on costs suggests that they either don't know how corporate travel policies work for 95% of employees, or have lost interest in chasing the corporate 'bread and butter' market in lieu of the 5% of higher corporate only.

 

[Marty_]

I think it's worth noting that VA's primary market is still infrequent travellers. QANTAS has the corporate market by the throat. Not to say VA's is not growing significantly, but it's not there yet.... So I expect the seats are not targeted at corporate travellers.

Reading the struggles of other people makes me very grateful for my generous corporate travel policies. Essentially I get a pot of $ to spend every month on travel (and it's plenty) and can do with it as I see fit. If I don't spend it all, it rolls over to the next month.

 

[ff-jr]

Flew YX for SYD-LAX return trip. Outgoing flight I had paid for when I made the booking and decided if it was worth it, that I would upgrade for the return flight. I was denied priority boarding on the outgoing flight despite the P.A. announcement clearly including "Economy X" in their list. All was good once I got on though - I'm 6'6", and had a few inches of space between my knees and the seat in front of me (!!!). The headsets did the job (good enough to block out most noise), and it was nice to have first selection of food (although their ranges of options is getting worse).

Happy enough with the legroom, I tried to upgrade for the return flight online but was prompted to call. So I called, and I was told they couldn't process it either and that I would have to request at the gate. Thankfully it wasn't a full flight and the check-in agent kindly gate me the seat I wanted at no cost.

As a side note, I've gotta mentioned that while I like the aesthetics of the new VA IFE, the functionality is a mess (not sure how "new" it is, but I haven't flown international with VA for 2 years). When I pressed the either left or right arrow, it would randomly select media that wasn't even on the page I was on. Occasionally when I pressed the home button, it would also jump to some random page. This was consistent on both flights (different seats).

 

[Justchecking]

"Mr Thomas said Virgin was tracking well for the last quarter of the year, with some demand returning to the domestic market and customers responding well to Virgin's new Economy X.The extra large seats, which Virgin finished rolling out to its entire fleet last month, paid for themselves within two and a half weeks, Mr Thomas said."

Well how costly could it have been to slide a few rows around and whack some stickers in overhead bins while an aircraft is parked up for the night? Judging by anecdotal evidence the cost of installation was probably $269.

 

[sausagefingers]

flew EcoX BNE-LAX and was lucky enough to have a spare seat next to me.
nice to have the extra leg room and for me it was worth the additional spend.

I must say with the first 26 rows+Silver, Gold, Platinum members getting priority boarding it looked almost 50-50 while boarding LAX-BNE

 

[Pleb Status]

Another very nice YX shadow arrangement tonight on a reasonably full flight (>90% load factor). 3E was travelling with 3F and 4E was travelling with 4F. Happy campers upfront I would think.


The fitout of 73H is certainly not great for transcon services however. I would hate to have an aisle seat south of row 25!

 

[pauly7]

I wonder if people are paying for this... will be interesting to see. Suspect a majority of business would not let this be expensed so then it's the self owned and leisure flyer left to drive it.

Last four flights I've flown as gold I've been able to select the seats twice at T24 for free which is not what they intended I'm sure - perhaps busy flights they open it up for everyone??

 

[llamaesque]

Now that I'm Plat this whole Economy X business has been great up front. Nearly always a middle seat free in rows 3-5 on my usual CBR-BNE route.

 

[andyhui01]

Didn't get a shadow for the first time yesterday. But it was one of those flights with about 4 couples in YX which meant there were 4 rows with 3 seats occupied and the rest with middle seat empty.

I've been trying to observe what type of person is paying for it. Sometimes hard to seperate from WP flyers but it seems to mainly be older people/couples flying for leisure.

Am I the only one who prefers row 4/5 than 3 in YX? No difference in leg room plus I get to use my home made iPhone holder to watch my movies without hurting my neck

 

[JohnK]

I went to use OLCI Thursday and noted that 3F, 4BE and 5BE were available for a fee. Didn't realise that rows 4-5 were anything special that would warrant the same fee as row 3.

Anyway happy in my uncomfortable 7D.

 

[Lemon_Party]

You

Didn't get a shadow for the first time yesterday. But it was one of those flights with about 4 couples in YX which meant there were 4 rows with 3 seats occupied and the rest with middle seat empty.

I've been trying to observe what type of person is paying for it. Sometimes hard to seperate from WP flyers but it seems to mainly be older people/couples flying for leisure.

Am I the only one who prefers row 4/5 than 3 in YX? No difference in leg room plus I get to use my home made iPhone holder to watch my movies without hurting my neck

If you have a shadow row 4/5 now better than row 3 IMO. The seat width and tray are irritating in 3, but offset by generous legroom.

My first YX experience last week BNE-MEL in row 4 was positive. Only middle seats front rows clearly had couples travelling together.

It's a good idea they've implemented to keep higher status pax happy. I complain a lot when they upset me, so credit where credit is due - I like what I see so far.

 

[serfty]

I went to use OLCI Thursday and noted that 3F, 4BE and 5BE were available for a fee. Didn't realise that rows 4-5 were anything special that would warrant the same fee as row 3...

Rows 4 and 5 (generally) now have 10cm more pitch than all non-exit rows further back. I have seen comment that Row 3 has somewhat less pitch than it used to.

 

[Lord_Lenny]

You

If you have a shadow row 4/5 now better than row 3 IMO. The seat width and tray are irritating in 3, but offset by generous legroom.

My first YX experience last week BNE-MEL in row 4 was positive. Only middle seats front rows clearly had couples travelling together.

It's a good idea they've implemented to keep higher status pax happy. I complain a lot when they upset me, so credit where credit is due - I like what I see so far.

I agree, I've done 2 YX trips since it was introduced SYD-BNE for work had a shadow in Row 4, SYD-MEL with Lady Lenny in Row 4 with a full 3 seater - but we were a couple so we booked the window & middle to sit together. My other, rather large seatmate spurned the chance to take 4C for some reason and decided to enjoy the fine experience of sitting in a full row next to me (who is not narrow in the shoulder) for the hour and a half.

So apart from that odd decision, which isn't VA's fault (who willingly sits in 4D when 4C is available right there, with no-one in the middle seat??) I'm quite happy with YX, as long as the $$ remains reasonable once I drop down from Platinum (a sad inevitability this year) I'd probably consider paying for it

 

[ozstamps]

So row #3 has LESS space now than before?

Only flown economy one in recent month and that was this week where #3 was totally gone but Exit #13 was OK.

4 seats empty on entire 737 plane and middle seats in both row 13 were empty.

When I booked, selected 13A/13C and prayed the centre would stay vacant and luckily they did.

Have Row 3 tomorrow and do hope that has not diminished.

 

[Lemon_Party]

I took row 3 PER-BNE last week and it felt same as usual to me.

 

[kevrosmith]

I took row 3 PER-BNE last week and it felt same as usual to me.

I agree. Refer to my photos posted earlier here: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....estic-free-platinum-82025-13.html#post1637359

The top photos are from 18 May, and the second photo of Row 3 is from 3 Apr. On all the flights I've been on in the last 3 months, I really don't think Row 3 has lost anything, so I'm not sure where they stole the room for row 4 and 5, but knowing the Exit rows are fixed, my reckoning is that it is from rows 6-12.

Every Monday morning flight, I close all three windows next to me in Row 3 as soon as the seatbelt sign goes off, and they haven't changed location, afaict, in the last 6 months on any of my flights.