News on Virgin flights from Manchester

[yorkshiregirl]

Update on last post. Husband spoke to virgin at length and we have transferred to a flight from Gatwick on the same day etc. He had to go higher and higher but made his point and they suggested this alternative. We were spending our second week in the Keys and driving back to Orlando for our last night so now we can fly into Orlando and out of Miami which is actually better for us.

Thank you very much for the advance warning Kassie(hope thats correct) and good luck to others if they feel as we did that the North of England is being fobbed off with inferior services.

 

[Floridanut]

Hi Guys,

All these problems with Virgin has me asking the question, have you tried booking flights and accomodation separately?
It seems to work out cheaper at the moment.
For example four return flights to Tampa, mid July from Manchester via Philadelphia £1600 incl taxes. This beats the ATA fare and I've just got it through ebookers.com.
The airline is US Air and they use brand new A330 aircraft with seat back TV's and 34" legroom.
In fact the aircraft are specced higher then the ones operating on the London route.
Just a thought that maybe if we all shopped around Virgin, ATA and other companies would sharpen up their act when it comes to serving the regional airports.

Regards

Kieran

 

[The Murfs]

As promised here is the reply e-mail received today from virgin.

Quote
Many thanks for your email.

Whilst I can fully appreciate your comments I would also like to offer you
some assurance of the following.

Virgin Atlantic will wet-lease a Boeing 747-200 aircraft from Air Atlanta
from 01 May 2002 until 10 November 2002. This aircraft will be used on the
Manchester to Orlando route. The aircraft will be staffed by Virgin
trained crew and with full Virgin livery and in-flight entertainment.
( Wet leasing is where one airline has leased an aircraft to another only
to lease it back again from them. )

Passengers should not be affected by this change. The aircraft we are
using in Manchester was part of our own fleet until a very short time ago.
Therefore, it retains its full Virgin style. We leased the aircraft to Air
Atlanta in order to reduce the types of aircraft we owned and subsequently
needed to provide our own engineering support for. The aircraft type
compliments Air Atlanta's extensive fleet and engineering facilities.

The aircraft will maintain the following:

· Full Virgin Atlantic livery
· Full Virgin Atlantic products, catering and amenities on board
· Seatback IFE Matsu****a 2000E "Odyssey" IFE system.
· Virgin trained and uniformed crew

The only noticeable difference will be the Icelandic registration of the
aircraft.

I hope I have been able to address your concerns and may I take this
opportunity to wish you a pleasant flight. We look forward to welcoming
you onboard.

Kind regards


Kerry
Customer Services

This has put our minds at rest, hope this helps clear up some of those niggling doubts.

Happy again with148 days to go

 

[kazzie]

I know how you all feel.In 2000 I booked to go to Portugal with Virgin Sun.It cost more than comparable holidays with other other tour operators but the Virgin name did it for me.Also the flight provided more than the usual charter flight.

When we arrived at Gatwick the 'yellow 'plane' my DS was so looking forward to flying on was a dirty,smelly old aircraft.On out return from Faro there was the lovely new aircraft on the runway but ironically it was the Manchester flight!The Gatwick flight was the same old aircraft.

There is nothing thta can be done once you've turned up at the airport,wheich is how they plan it I guess.

............Karen...........

 

[kazzie]

I know how you all feel.In 2000 I booked to go to Portugal with Virgin Sun.It cost more than comparable holidays with other other tour operators but the Virgin name did it for me.Also the flight provided more than the usual charter flight.

When we arrived at Gatwick the 'yellow 'plane' my DS was so looking forward to flying on was a dirty,smelly old aircraft.On out return from Faro there was the lovely new aircraft on the runway but ironically it was the Manchester flight!The Gatwick flight was the same old aircraft.

There is nothing that can be done once you've turned up at the airport,wheich is how they plan it I guess.

............Karen...........

 

[Bekki]

Am I right in believing that we shouldn’t notice any difference to the outside and inside of the planes?

Like most of you are saying we have paid to fly Virgin then I want to fly Virgin, if this is not the case I am going to transfer and go from Gatwick.

 

[Baldrick]

I telephoned Virgin Atlantic this morning and spoke to Lynette, who assured me that the planes had seat back TV's, Full Virigin Livery, Virgin Trained Staff, Virgin food, etc. She did say that he crew were Icelandic, so even in Virigin uniform they will obviously sound different.

I have e mailed Virgin registering my objections, but I suppose other than cancelling and losing money, they have us by the proverbial.

DW is already a nervous flyer after Sept 11th, so an Icelandic flight crew will just about put the top hat on it.

Reg