Virgin Australia B737 Max 8

I flew on my second Virgin Max 8 the other day. Route was SYD to PER having flown in from.HND on ANA earlier. Secured in 1F and 1D what a wonderful on board experience we had under the cabin leadership of Caroline. A credit to the airline as was indeed all.of the staff operating this 5 hours and ten minute flight. Always immediately felt looked after (unlike ANA but that is a different story). The Max was full. I had time to look around and really how that business experience would stand out with dividers in place and not the relative flow of pax to the front toilet on this long sector . As the Cabin Manager pointed out when we were discussing things Max and more, what can they do...they have a full load of pax on a flight nearly as long as a long haul from Europe! The Q for the toilet at the rear was long occasionally.

Overall though great flight, great crew and I liked the seat
 
AIRwin said:
My friend's flight this week ended up being swapped to a 737-800 but my booking on a B737-8 in November is still showing 30 rows
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My friend's parents are booked on a B737-8 on Wednesday this week and it's now showing 31 rows while mine in November is still showing 30 rows in November
 
AIRwin said:
My friend's parents are booked on a B737-8 on Wednesday this week and it's now showing 31 rows while mine in November is still showing 30 rows in November
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Seat maps on the app update to the configuration of the operating aircraft 2 days before departure.
 
As mentioned last month they've been leaving the 737-8 as 30 rows which is annoying so watch out for row 5 no longer economy X and Row 13/15 exit rows changing (only Row 14 is an exit on both).

I've seen they do switch those seated in rows 13/15 when they make the aircraft change but this isn't guaranteed. Then a few days before when they know it'll 100% be the 737-8 or a 737-800 with the new config the seat map gets updated and row 31 ABC opens. On most VA services the final row DEF remains blocked until needed.
 
I finally got to fly on a Max today (8IA) and experience the new cabin. I have mixed feelings. Firstly the reduction of engine noise into the cabin was noticeable. Big tick

The Y seats look a lot better and initially didn't feel uncomfortable as some have mentioned. I did find about an hour or so into the flight that I was stretching and moving around in my seat more than usual. They could do with a touch more softer padding.

The cabin while looking like the same Boeing sky interior in the VH-Y.. registered birds did feel a touch bigger. The lack of dividers probably helps that but their absence also saw plenty of people in Y heading to the front lavatory with varying degrees of success. The lack of the traditional dividers also meant that I didn't have a chance to store my suit behind the J seats which many crews have allowed me to do when flying in Y. I get why the dividers have gone but I think it's come at loss to product differentiation.

One thing that I wasn't sure of was the aisle width in J. Has it shrunk with the new seats? I swear it felt tighter than the older seat configuration walking on and off the plane.
 
Getting rid of the divider plus removing 1 row of economy X (Row 6 becomes a regular legroom) allows them to add an extra row 31 of normal seats at the back. It's 6 more seats that can be sold and for any bean counter thats a big plus!
 
PaulllM said:
I finally got to fly on a Max today (8IA) and experience the new cabin. I have mixed feelings. Firstly the reduction of engine noise into the cabin was noticeable. Big tick

The Y seats look a lot better and initially didn't feel uncomfortable as some have mentioned. I did find about an hour or so into the flight that I was stretching and moving around in my seat more than usual. They could do with a touch more softer padding.

The cabin while looking like the same Boeing sky interior in the VH-Y.. registered birds did feel a touch bigger. The lack of dividers probably helps that but their absence also saw plenty of people in Y heading to the front lavatory with varying degrees of success. The lack of the traditional dividers also meant that I didn't have a chance to store my suit behind the J seats which many crews have allowed me to do when flying in Y. I get why the dividers have gone but I think it's come at loss to product differentiation.

One thing that I wasn't sure of was the aisle width in J. Has it shrunk with the new seats? I swear it felt tighter than the older seat configuration walking on and off the plane.
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J seats are closer to the bulkhead and aircraft curve so the width is tighter.

Aisle space in Y is surprisingly wider.
 
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AIRwin said:
My friend's parents are booked on a B737-8 on Wednesday this week and it's now showing 31 rows while mine in November is still showing 30 rows in November
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Aircraft has been swapped a week out so it'll no longer be a B737-8
 
AIRwin said:
Aircraft has been swapped a week out so it'll no longer be a B737-8
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I think this is why they are keeping a 30 row layout in the system. They've got rather good at switching the exit row so that those in the exit row keep the exit row but it sucks for those in row 5 which is just a regular seat. When the switch occurs and row 5 isn't YX anymore those who've paid get a refund whilst Plats get nothing.
 
p--and--t said:
International. A bit different proposition to short domestic turnaround and sectors I would think.
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Dunno about that....are you a regular on Sydney to Perth or Cairns or Melbourne to Perth? Heck can almost go across the Atlantic in the same flying timetime from UK or Ireland on a wide body . My last SYD to PER was 5 hours 25 mins flying time!
 
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p--and--t said:
International. A bit different proposition to short domestic turnaround and sectors I would think.
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The dividers shouldn't make a difference really. The existing VA cabin dividers took space out that it may not have needed to, whereas the FJ divider could well only be to top of seat height. What they bring to short-haul is that differentiation between J and Y that would cost them very little.
 
Not sure if this was true, but didn't CASA say something about line of sight issues with full dividers with curtains on domestic/Short Haul runs or thereabouts some decades ago? This I'd assume doesn't apply to widebodies flying on international runs nor international carriers flying into Australia

Thus why QF/VA hadn't had full dividers with curtains due assumedly to CASA.
 

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