VA A330s - New Business Class Rollout

[serfty]

Thanks!

I would be interested if your little birdie had heard anything about the 777 fleet? After all they fly them the furthest...???? I would have thought VA would have prioritized them actually but I guess their international business is lower priority and shrinking.

There’s an FT post in the Virgin Australia forum where a member (HT to mattp1987) has analyzed the VA 77W schedules over the coming months and has concluded that two of the five are planned to be reconfigured this year.

“Oct 27 -Dec 16 they’ll do 2 aircraft serving the LAX routes.”

The other three next year:

“resume … Feb 2 … completed … April 7″.

Based on the schedule, they would be able to operate all their LAX flights with the new configuration from mid March.

Virgin Australia's new A330, B777 business class - Page 4 - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Demon_fan]

a birdie has told me the remaining a/c will be back with new seats on these approx dates -


VH-XFH Monday, 17 August 2015

VH-XFG Tuesday, 25 August 2015

VH-??? Tuesday, 01 September 2015

VH-??? Monday, 19 October 2015

VH-??? Monday, 26 October 2015

VH-??? Saturday, 31 October 2015

Any idea on the schedule for XFH & XFG? I have flights on Aug 27 & 31.

But I have no idea on how some people seem to work out the schedule?!?

 

[smit0847]

Any idea on the schedule for XFH & XFG? I have flights on Aug 27 & 31.

But I have no idea on how some people seem to work out the schedule?!?

Google the rego

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Vh-xfh according to flightaware.com and flightradar24 has ferried per-asp-syd today as va9904. Something must be wrong with it!

 

[Demon_fan]

Vh-xfh according to flightaware.com and flightradar24 has ferried per-asp-syd today as va9904. Something must be wrong with it!

I think you might be right! Especially as it landed in Perth at 1230pm yesterday afternoon and didn't fly again until this morning. I had a friend who was suppose to fly PER-MEL last night and her flight was cancelled. So their were certainly a few issues out of Perth last night.

 

[matted]

I think you might be right! Especially as it landed in Perth at 1230pm yesterday afternoon and didn't fly again until this morning. I had a friend who was suppose to fly PER-MEL last night and her flight was cancelled. So their were certainly a few issues out of Perth last night.

I flew out on the 1730 departure PER-MEL on Thursday evening you are referring to and at that point the 14:00 flight hadn't left and was scheduled to be downgraded to a B737. VA-XFH was sitting on the opposite side of the tarmac out of action. I had ungraded to business and was at the time disappointed to not get to try the new product, but in hindsight I'm glad I was on an a332 at all.

I flew back to PER today and was on VA-XFG (in economy unfortunately) and the new business looks impressive. Looking forward to trying it in November.

cheers
matt

 

[pauly7]

There’s an FT post in the Virgin Australia forum where a member (HT to mattp1987) has analyzed the VA 77W schedules over the coming months and has concluded that two of the five are planned to be reconfigured this year.

“Oct 27 -Dec 16 they’ll do 2 aircraft serving the LAX routes.”

The other three next year:

“resume … Feb 2 … completed … April 7″.

Based on the schedule, they would be able to operate all their LAX flights with the new configuration from mid March.

Virgin Australia's new A330, B777 business class - Page 4 - FlyerTalk Forums[/QUOT

 

[Wunala Dreaming]

VH-XFJ is the next aircraft in line to have the new Business Class installed in Melbourne. The aircraft will be taken out of service this evening.

 

[pointwilliams]

Flying VA567 tomorrow afternoon - SYD-PER - bugger it's a 737 according to Virgin and Seat Guru...maybe a miracle will happen???

 

[Grimace1]

Flying VA567 tomorrow afternoon - SYD-PER - bugger it's a 737 according to Virgin and Seat Guru...maybe a miracle will happen???

It appears that VA567 has been mostly B737 for a while now, with just one A332 which is on tonight's flight!


History ✈ Virgin Australia #567 ✈ FlightAware

 

[Ben6]

Just used my last 2 complimentary upgrades on a MEL-PER trip in late Oct. Seat map showing as 1-2-1 on both legs so fingers firmly crossed this holds up and it's the new seats. Very excited to try them for a short run before giving them a bash for an LAX trip next year!!!

 

[Pele]

Gday

Is there any way i can see in advance what plane is scheduled to be operating my flight? I am on VA555 on Thursday 3rd September and will bid for an upgrade if it is the new business class.

Pele.

 

[jneufeld]

Gday
Is there any way i can see in advance what plane is scheduled to be operating my flight? I am on VA555 on Thursday 3rd September and will bid for an upgrade if it is the new business class.
Pele.

Looks like the old config

 

[shbap]

I just booked SYD-PER-SYD (economy) and then decided to come for a gander here...and now I want to bid for an upgrade!!

I don't get how you guys can be so accurate with your guesses?? I am on VA 567 on 2-Oct and VA 570 on 7-Oct. How can I tell if the flight will have the new business class just by checking the history on FlightAware?

 

[Demon_fan]

I just booked SYD-PER-SYD (economy) and then decided to come for a gander here...and now I want to bid for an upgrade!!

I don't get how you guys can be so accurate with your guesses?? I am on VA 567 on 2-Oct and VA 570 on 7-Oct. How can I tell if the flight will have the new business class just by checking the history on FlightAware?

Not sure it's the most accurate way of checking. But leading up to my flight, I just did a dummy booking for business class and looked at the seat selection. As it wasn't the new config, I elected against using a points upgrade. Sure enough, both legs were the old config.

Good luck.

 

[rmh]

I just booked SYD-PER-SYD (economy) and then decided to come for a gander here...and now I want to bid for an upgrade!!

I don't get how you guys can be so accurate with your guesses?? I am on VA 567 on 2-Oct and VA 570 on 7-Oct. How can I tell if the flight will have the new business class just by checking the history on FlightAware?

Yeah, I'm in the same boat trying to find some sort of logic to the scheduling of planes for a Mel-Per flight I have in early Oct. I'm also not convinced the seating plans are 100% accurate and I suspect they only show the 1-2-1 plans for flights that will definitely be serviced by a refitted plane. For the weekend I am looking at, none of the planes have the 1-2-1, yet at least 3 of the 7 planes will be fitted and of these 3 they all do Mel-Per runs, in fact it seems all of the A330's do Mel-Per runs, or at least they all did in the last few weeks.

Do they even plan exactly which plane will be doing each flight a few weeks before the flight or is it scheduled closer to the time? The answer to that question might help us.

 

[serfty]

I gess they may be doing like when they had the XFA and XFB in the 2x3x2 configuration at the same time as XFC, XFD et al having 2x2x2; all seat maps were shown as 2x2x2 until OLCI opened - only then did a regular PAX know what type of seat was scheduled.

 

[rmh]

But the problem is now is that they may be overselling seats if they sell out J in an existing seating plan if in fact they do get on a 1-2-1.

 

[notzac]

Has VA actually managed to sell out a J cabin (with revenue pax) on the 330 yet?

 

[rmh]

Has VA actually managed to sell out a J cabin (with revenue pax) on the 330 yet?

with the recent Amex point hauls and people wanting to try it out I think that may be happening a lot for busy flights in the next 6 months.