Virgin Blue Unveils Red Leather ‘premium Economy’ A Seat With A Difference

[Sequel]

Perhaps, (and it looks as though it may be the case), the armrests have adjustable positions.

Yes, as it says in the PR, the seats are convertable, the same as QF 734 J seats, hence my comment. Generally QF only converts 3 out of the 5 convertable rows. So the DJ seat will be similar to the QF 734, but not like the 738's (which are a proper J product). It leaves the airline the freedom to have more or less J/Y+ product to sell depending on demand.

 

[Yada Yada]

If that is actually the case, the middle seat becomes unusable. And if THAT is the case, why have it there at all?

All of this was explained in the previous thread. Alas...

 

[Yada Yada]

Now you just have to deal with the advertising that comes through in the newsletter carefully worded and crafted to look like a recommendation from the publisher.

I unsubscribed from that months ago.

 

[serfty]

The armrests appear to be linked to the fold down centre table by a Mechanism that moves the armrests in as the table comes down.

The seat is designed to be used as normal economy 3x3 config on non premium routes.

 

[Keith009]

Looks as good as LH Euro business class to me.

Will there be complimentary catering? Or is it still food/drinks for purchase?

 

[oz_mark]

Looks as good as LH Euro business class to me.

Will there be complimentary catering? Or is it still food/drinks for purchase?

Didn't see anything in the release, so I would assume you still have to buy.

 

[crazydave98]

Yes, still have to buy food, drink. But included are live2air, The Lounge entry (so you can get a beer and snack in before you fly), priority check-in, refundability/flexibility.

As noted earlier and shown in the photos the arm rests move inwards when the tray table comes down so the seats become wider than standard (and wider than the Qantas "J" seats on the B734 unless you can put the arm rests of these up all the way - long time since I set foot in an aircraft that old )

cheers

CrazyDave98

 

[dajop]

Not relevant for me as have no status, but are there any plans to allow ODU's from the Lounge using Velocity points?

 

[serfty]

...(and wider than the Qantas "J" seats on the B734 unless you can put the arm rests of these up all the way - long time since I set foot in an aircraft that old ...

The Qantas 734 converta-seat armrests do not raise.

However, when the seat is "cranked" to convert them to J config, the centre armrests do move towards the middle of the three seats - leaving about 10 cm between them when finished. It gives an effective 10 cm or so additional lateral width for each passenger. The Pitch in these Qantas B734 converta seat rows is 35".

 

[Petch]

Great Pics, Great Seat, Great Idea… Go DJ!

Now that I have had to join AFF to see the pics, I may as well continue this post -

As an AFF reader (/lurker), I do like getting the inside scoop… maybe DJ employees just need to pass the requisite marketing blurb to an “AFF Virgin Lover” (there are a few posters on here, who I think fit that bill) and let them start a thread. I’ve noticed that it seems to be one of the ways threads start about QF enhancements! (Not that crazydave98 should shut up; his ”no bull****, we’re all 1 community; airline flyers, workers & management” approach to posting, has actually convinced me to break my Virginity next week, well him and a Happy Hour fare to HBA.)

So, I am left wondering what JQ may do now? We already know they are selling Qantas “Millennium” Seats (marketed as Star Class) on their A330 services BNE-SYD & MEL-SYD for $239. Their A320 economy seats are the widest in the domestic sky (measured by the space between armrests), so maybe a bit more leg room in rows 2,3,4… coupled with arm-rest fold-out tray-tables, that can be quickly deployed across B & E seats?

I wonder if, with the introduction of Platinum/Emerald (i.e. First Class) domestic lounges on the ground next Year, QF might also surprise us with a new ultra premium in the sky – maybe “Dreamtime Seats” (marketed as domestic/Tasman First Class)?

Finally, to reiterate - JQ has already set the price benchmark, for mid-premium domestic travel at $239 for a 1.5hr scheduled service. And if DJ comes in at a lower price point, I’m onboard!

 

[crazydave98]

So, I am left wondering what JQ may do now? We already know they are selling Qantas “Millennium” Seats (marketed as Star Class) on their A330 services BNE-SYD & MEL-SYD for $239. Their A320 economy seats are the widest in the domestic sky (measured by the space between armrests), so maybe a bit more leg room in rows 2,3,4… coupled with arm-rest fold-out tray-tables, that can be quickly deployed across B & E seats?

I wonder if, with the introduction of Platinum/Emerald (i.e. First Class) domestic lounges on the ground next Year, QF might also surprise us with a new ultra premium in the sky – maybe “Dreamtime Seats” (marketed as domestic/Tasman First Class)?

Thanks for giving us a go Petch - make sure you join Velocity (it's free and points don't expire) in case you decide to do it again.

I wouldn't expect to see JQ do anything domestically with regard to premium seats for a bunch of reasons.

Firstly just for positioning - it would erode the difference from Qantas to have a premium product (even premium economy) but more significantly it would make it very difficult for them to defend the bottom end of the market against Tiger. We took a very conscious decision to improve our product and compete on value (particularly against Qantas) and not just on straight price - Jetstar is fighting Tiger just on price and their product is almost identical. It would just confuse the punters.

Second, we had rows at 33" & 32" pitch at the front of our aircraft already, so pretty easy to give the premium seats 34" - an inch off 2 other rows that would remain at 32" or minimum 31". Jetstar have a max 30" pitch and they would have to take a bunch down to 29" or possibly 28" to give more legroom to rows 2 & 3. See this thread for comments on JQ's present pitch before considering reducing it further....
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/open-discussion/monarch-charter-11302.html

Third, with above said, there is nothing to stop them putting in the same seat as ours (but without live2air). However I would doubt that they would want the expense of having to pay individual Qantas Club entry to match our product, and have to introduce refundable fares, and of course they don't have any priority queues which we put in with Velocity tiering. So I think it would be more difficult for them to build a compelling value proposition.

It would not make any sense for Qantas to introduce a premium economy domestically (except maybe for PER) because they wouldn't be able to get the price premium over Y to make it worthwhile and there would be downtrading from J. But I equally doubt they will invest more in their domestic J class other than the business class lounges which is really just a clever way of dressing up the extra space they needed to put in due to crowding of the QantasClubs (and hats off to them for spinning it as something done from the goodness of their hearts). Our premium economy is not really a threat to their J class revenues because typically people who fly J have a company policy entitlement and wouldn't want to be "downgraded" to a premium Y. The only place I would expect to see them invest in their J product is where they have J competition - so maybe the Tasman.

cheers

CrazyDave98

 

[wallacej]

Those that know my posts would know that I am a convert to the DJ way of life.... having flown with QF since 86, I made the change earlier this year to switch my business over to DJ.

Having completed 60 domestic flights this year, I am now convinced that DJ offer a far better product... the main areas are:
- Lounge, no fight for food/seat and first with free internet (which was actually one of the main reasons I "tried them out". Big screen, friendly staff and many other reasons associate with this one.
- Friendly staff
- Front and rear loading was actually a plus, love getting on and off quickly
- Bags - well, not happy with this area, no priority tags, and retrieval is on par with my experiences with QF
- More recently the tiered priority line.... WOW.... very happy with this, rarely any more than 1 in line ahead of me
- Friendly ground and air crew

I am now weighted in full favour of DJ, and only hope that the crowds DO NOT switch from QF as I enjoy the relaxed easy going pace and don't want the fight.

It took a little for me to give up all those years on QF to come over, but seriously, flying Y on domestic flights in Australia is nothing... International, well that is a whole different ball game, and can't fault QF on their OZ-US runs.

Anyway, watching all this going on surprised me as I did not even know about the new seats until I saw this thread (didn't see the old one).... I am on the new DJ website often (which I am not a great fan of actually, should have a link on the home page to OL checkin I would have thought.. CRAZYDAVE, thats a hint lol)

I think I have ranted enough for now..... Good move on the new seats DJ, keep the improvements coming..
-

 

[Mal]

I am on the new DJ website often (which I am not a great fan of actually, should have a link on the home page to OL checkin I would have thought.. CRAZYDAVE, thats a hint lol)

I agree very strongly!

I had to OLCI for my BNE-CNS-BNE E170 flight, and it took me 2 mins to actually find the link to OLCI as I hadn't OLCI'd on the new website before. It's not even under a logical submenu unless you spend time finding it.

 

[wallacej]

I agree very strongly!

I had to OLCI for my BNE-CNS-BNE E170 flight, and it took me 2 mins to actually find the link to OLCI as I hadn't OLCI'd on the new website before. It's not even under a logical submenu unless you spend time finding it.

My old link works from my favourites:

Virgin Blue > Check-in Options

That takes you to checkin options.

 

[ANstar]

The only place I would expect to see them invest in their J product is where they have J competition - so maybe the Tasman.

And if we believe what a reliable p (NZ1) on a.net (can I use thowse words in the same sentence lol) it appears NZ may be getting rid of J on the A320/767 and replaicng with Y+

 

[littl_flier]

And if we believe what a reliable p (NZ1) on a.net (can I use thowse words in the same sentence lol) it appears NZ may be getting rid of J on the A320/767 and replaicng with Y+

We're going off thread now but I could have sworn that when I came home from ZQN last year, the AKL-BNE flight was marketed as Y+ on the Air NZ website, rather than in the Business tab. Was there a temporary change to J class? Might be becoming senile though.

 

[stuartfaz]

My old link works from my favourites:

Virgin Blue > Check-in Options

That takes you to checkin options.

There's a link on the homepage. Look near the booking area, "Check-in" is a tab along with "Flights" and "Holidays". You enter your PNR/Velocity number and departure city as per usual.

I think it's been there since the redesign. Could be wrong.

 

[Mal]

There's a link on the homepage. Look near the booking area, "Check-in" is a tab along with "Flights" and "Holidays".

Yep it's there. Did I miss it before? Probably! Now that I see it, I'll use it next time

 

[wallacej]

Yep it's there. Did I miss it before? Probably! Now that I see it, I'll use it next time

Kind of like when your partner points out something that was always there... I missed it too... we must share a grey shade form of colour blindness

CRAZYDAVE - please ignore that previous hint... obviously glasses for myself (and Mal) maybe in order!

 

[littl_flier]

I also think the new Y+ will be great for those of us with an inflexible "economy" only policy. So long as the fares are lower than the QF Y fare, it should be great for DJ. So long as I get lounge access and priority check-in (priority boarding would be nice), I'm happy to pay for my drinks and food.

The only downside here is that many of the big companies have substantial private fare discounts on 'Y' inventory with Qantas. I rang our Travel Centre today to enquire about flying DJ but was told they had blocked our access to DJ inventory except for "exceptional circumstances" and that the QF private fares are cheaper than DJ full flex economy fare.

(although as Yada Yada pointed out, this isn't probably the people DJ are trying to attract)