Virgin Australia A330 pulled from MEL-SYD daily?

[Carlous Moochous]

Just noticed my seat allocation for SYD-MEL on Friday was cleared and now notice I'm on a 737 instead of the A330 that does a daily weekday morning MEL-SYD-MEL shuttle. Looked at future weeks and seems that the A330 will not longer be on this route..bit of a shame and downgraded J product now. I presume this is ramp up the Mel-Per services.. Any word if it is temporary or permenant? Really wanted to try the J product this week

 

[toowongman]

Permanent - aircraft needed elsewhere. Pity - it made a nice start to the day heading up to Sydney.

 

[Carlous Moochous]

Permanent - aircraft needed elsewhere. Pity - it made a nice start to the day heading up to Sydney.

Oh well, might just fly direct instead..

 

[Tuddy]

On a similar note, anyone know why they've cut down the number of SYD-PER flights? Seat numbers are similar, but flight times have changed and overall choice reduced. The 6am SYD-PER used to be great to get a full day's business done in PER before getting the 16:00 back to SYD.

 

[k3nnis]

So now the A330 new J only used on PER routes?

 

[Carlous Moochous]

So now the A330 new J only used on PER routes?

it would appear so

 

[k3nnis]

oh well. Sorry slightly OT, with the SYD-MEL flights or really any flight, is the 737-800 winglets and non winglets better than the 767ER? assuming Y and J.

 

[pat25d]

oh well. Sorry slightly OT, with the SYD-MEL flights or really any flight, is the 737-800 winglets and non winglets better than the 767ER? assuming Y and J.

Pretty sure VA only use winglets and no 767s... wrong forum perhaps?

 

[k3nnis]

Oops sorry should have said QF 767

 

[mannej]

oh well. Sorry slightly OT, with the SYD-MEL flights or really any flight, is the 737-800 winglets and non winglets better than the 767ER? assuming Y and J.

Aesthetically maybe but a perception of space no

 

[k3nnis]

ok thanks for that

 

[bullerdude]

oh well. Sorry slightly OT, with the SYD-MEL flights or really any flight, is the 737-800 winglets and non winglets better than the 767ER? assuming Y and J.

Personally -

In Y: I prefer the 767 over the 737 as overall its a bigger Aircraft that feels roomier, and I always get off it feeling more relaxed.

In J: I prefer the 737 (virgin) as the seats are far superior to the old 767 seats.

 

[gwilli1]

Very peeved off ( i'm holding back what i really think ) this has happened , as I specifically booked the A330 this Sat for a A330 "taster" trip. Just contemplating whether to go at all now.

 

[Virgin Bart]

Very peeved off ( i'm holding back what i really think ) this has happened , as I specifically booked the A330 this Sat for a A330 "taster" trip. Just contemplating whether to go at all now.

Exact same thing happened to me last Sat (25th). Still took the flight because I needed to though.

BTW, speaking to Velocity about it was a complete waste of time.. They simply did not understand what I meant at all, so I changed flights and gave up.

 

[lovestotravel]

I would push the fact that you booked the trip based on the flight being advertised as an A330 flight on the website.

This is NOT a last minute change of aircraft, it is planned.

Of course the first phone monkeys will say bad luck, and it will take time/effort to get a refund, so likely not worth it....

 

[pat25d]

I would push the fact that you booked the trip based on the flight being advertised as an A330 flight on the website.

This is NOT a last minute change of aircraft, it is planned.

Of course the first phone monkeys will say bad luck, and it will take time/effort to get a refund, so likely not worth it....

The problem is that they aren't advertising 'Come and experience an A330' they advertise a flight to Perth and back, which they are still delivering.

 

[gwilli1]

i will probably go anyway . I picked up these fares when they had $59 Happy hour fares , so its hardly worth the $60 cancellation fee or the effort . In the true spirit of AFF , will make a day off it as planned & drown/compensate the disappoint in the Melb Lounge ( which i haven't been too ) .

 

[lovestotravel]

The problem is that they aren't advertising 'Come and experience an A330' they advertise a flight to Perth and back, which they are still delivering.

1. This is talking about MEL-SYD
2. Yes they were advertising an A330 on the MEL-SYD flights, as indicated by the little red plane next to the flight number, which indicates A330 service

As I said not worth the effort to push !

 

[pat25d]

1. This is talking about MEL-SYD
2. Yes they were advertising an A330 on the MEL-SYD flights, as indicated by the little red plane next to the flight number, which indicates A330 service

As I said not worth the effort to push !

Advertise != indicate.

I have no doubt you should be able to get a refund if you push hard enough to the right people, but I don't think it's that surprising that the call centre staff couldn't understand why someone would be annoyed and want a refund over a plane substitution.

I would think that for 99.9% flyers, even if they were annoyed at a plane change they still have to get from A to B so will suck it up (like me when SQ subbed their A380 route for a 777 :evil

 

[lovestotravel]

If they did it on a Perth flight, I would be asking for a refund/flight change!

On a 1 hourish flight big deal, apart from just wanting to be on the nice A330