New VA A330 J to launch 17 August on SYD-PER

[CamDownUnder]

AusBT reports that VA will launch its new A330 business class on 17 August with a Sydney-Perth flight.

Virgin Australia new business class seats Airbus A330 Boeing 777 - Australian Business Traveller

 

[Grimace1]

I wonder what the flight # will be for that day.

 

[beast_man]

I have checked the seating charts and still isn't updated with the new aircraft. And the twitter account isn't responding to my tweets either :-0

 

[jneufeld]

Just looked at loads for the 17th and my money is on VA 559. It is however the flight with the most seats selected on the seat map and this is pure speculation on my behalf nonetheless.

 

[jneufeld]

To add further fuel to my speculation VA559 usually turns around to become VA694 PER-MEL. So far this month VA694 has always been serviced by an A332, however on the 17th it is scheduled as a 737. That week it is the only VA694 flight that is operated by a 737 with the exception of the 15th where all PER-MEL flights are 737s. So it looks like the VA559 aircraft will not be making the short turnaround to head to MEL on the 17th.

 

[Pleb Status]

Looks like the winners are those travelling on VA559.

 

[jneufeld]

Looks like the winners are those travelling on VA559.

That must have gone up in the last day, wasn't there when I looked!

 

[Fiches Mouser]

Are any AFFers booked on tomorrow's inaugural? Would love to hear first thoughts.

 

[Denali]

I know from the photographer that he was taking cabin photos yesterday.

 

[Liroquai]

Gallery is up on Ausbt. Very impressed. Can't wait to try it out. Also includes news of custom designed and fitted Nespresso machines.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Gallery is up on Ausbt. Very impressed. Can't wait to try it out. Also includes news of custom designed and fitted Nespresso machines.

Looks super impressive and quite a big step up, love the name "The Business".

 

[Denali]

The flat bed looks nice, cant wait until >LAX J is upgraded. I would happily volunteer to set fire to the current J long haul seats.

 

[Pleb Status]

The biggest downfall of the new QF J 330 seat for me is the foot space (row 1 does appear better however and I will try this on Sunday if available). For a day flight, I actually prefer the old Skybed I over the new QF J seat.

Hopefully this new VA J seat does not have the same foot space issue. If not (CX is fine with reverse herringbone), this will the pick of the aircraft to/from PER. The VA J meal service etc is already superior to QF.

 

[beast_man]

Does anyone know the allocation of this aircraft for the rest of the week? The seat maps havent been updated, so no real indication of what route(s) it will be flying.

I haven't flown transcon for about 18 months now - does anyone know if they are still serving Lanson as champagne for this route? Fingers crossed my flight gets the new seat!

 

[Pleb Status]

Looks like VA564 PER-SYD tomorrow (18AUG) is the next to receive the new J seats.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Does anyone know the allocation of this aircraft for the rest of the week? The seat maps havent been updated, so no real indication of what route(s) it will be flying.

I haven't flown transcon for about 18 months now - does anyone know if they are still serving Lanson as champagne for this route? Fingers crossed my flight gets the new seat!

No it's Ayala NV

 

[Demon_fan]

Looks like VA564 PER-SYD tomorrow (18AUG) is the next to receive the new J seats.

Any way of working out what flights it will be serving over the next few weeks? As I'm flying return to Perth from Melbourne in just under 2 weeks. Would certainly use a points upgrade if I knew I'd end up with the new business configuration.

 

[beast_man]

So far I can see:
18/08 1600/2210 VA564 PER/SYD
19/08 0715/1025 VA551 SYD/PER

And then I can't workout where it is going ...

 

[Pleb Status]

Any way of working out what flights it will be serving over the next few weeks? As I'm flying return to Perth from Melbourne in just under 2 weeks. Would certainly use a points upgrade if I knew I'd end up with the new business configuration.

Looks like it will do SYD-PER-MEL-PER-SYD.

Next flights I can find are -

18AUG VA564 PER-SYD
19AUG VA551 SYD-PER
19AUG VA684 PER-MEL
19AUG VA693 MEL-PER

 

[Demon_fan]

Looks like it will do SYD-PER-MEL-PER-SYD.

Next flights I can find are -

18AUG VA564 PER-SYD
19AUG VA551 SYD-PER
19AUG VA684 PER-MEL
19AUG VA693 MEL-PER

Ok cool, thanks for that!

I am doing the following
27AUG VA697 MEL-PER
31AUG VA690 PER-MEL

I'll continue to keep an eye out.

Would love it to be on the VA697 and points upgrades still to be available. My girlfriend has never flown business and I've been away a bit recently so it would be nice little surprise for her.