Virgin Atlantic pulling out of London Gatwick, looking to cut 3000 jobs

Looks like Virgin Atlantic are keeping their options open with regard to Gatwick.
This is from an email this morning from their CEO, Shai Weiss-

"We look forward to welcoming our leisure passengers to London Heathrow & have retained our slot portfolio at Gatwick to enable us to return, as customer demand recovers. If you have already booked a flight which is due to depart from Gatwick, our Customer Care team will be in contact with you directly and it will be our pleasure to rearrange your departure from Heathrow."

ford family
 
Looks like Virgin Atlantic are keeping their options open with regard to Gatwick.
This is from an email this morning from their CEO, Shai Weiss-

"We look forward to welcoming our leisure passengers to London Heathrow & have retained our slot portfolio at Gatwick to enable us to return, as customer demand recovers. If you have already booked a flight which is due to depart from Gatwick, our Customer Care team will be in contact with you directly and it will be our pleasure to rearrange your departure from Heathrow."

ford family
There are not a queue of other airlines waiting to take their slots, otherwise I’m sure Gatwick might have forced a different result. That’s unless they are still paying for all the slots and it’s just not have staff and stuff that saves them money
 
After receiving an initial email from Virgin on 5 May about changes to Gatwick, I received notification today that my Orlando flights (for the end of November) have officially been changed to Heathrow.
 


After receiving an initial email from Virgin on 5 May about changes to Gatwick, I received notification today that my Orlando flights (for the end of November) have officially been changed to Heathrow.
Are they still direct flights? Plenty have been questioning this from looking into next year. I suspect maybe might not be a daily service all year round, but we will see.
 
Are they still direct flights? Plenty have been questioning this from looking into next year. I suspect maybe might not be a daily service all year round, but we will see.

My original flights were LGW-MCO, and now they're LHR-MCO (direct). Same time outbound, and the return flight is just an hour later than the original booking. To be honest though, last year my flights (on the same days) had sooooo many timing shifts in the lead up, that I'm totally expecting these to change again. It says my reserved seats are the same (I'm travelling solo), but when I go into the seat map, the outbound flight is completely booked out seat-wise but doesn't show me on the map, while the seat map for my return flight does show my seat. The seat configuration (in economy) is 2-4-2.

I live on the Piccadilly line so Heathrow is my preferred airport, so this change works in my favour.
 
I live on the Piccadilly line so Heathrow is my preferred airport, so this change works in my favour.
Where I live, I usually have to change in Reading to get the direct Gatwick train, but as there's no Western Link yet, I have to either get a slow Railair coach direct from Reading or change at Hayes and Harlington to get there, so if I were to go back on Virgin, it wouldn't really work in my favour, unless I drive there myself, but then there's also the pain of parking, so it's the opposite for me.
 


Are they still direct flights? Plenty have been questioning this from looking into next year. I suspect maybe might not be a daily service all year round, but we will see.
I messaged VA on Twitter as I have been looking at flight prices ( LHR - MCO ) online and it is still showing in-direct, their reply said to call them to book as they haven't updated the system but they are flying direct from Heathrow 😊
 
Got an email from VA because I have a flight booked for Sept 15th. It's apparently only a temporary move until things get back to normal.
Quick question. I have opted for an open ticket and I may just go across in September, only a 10% chance at the moment, if I opt for doing one of their flights with transfers how does it work. I'm looking at doing a 2 hour stopover in JFK outbound and a ATL one coming back. How does it work for immigration and would I have to do security again? I understand they do the bags for you and I won't need to go to the check in desk.
Disney are not keen on me cancelling the trip, I've already talked to them about it and they have been acting funny, I called and was told I had to email them and when I emailed them they told me to phone to cancel. I'm thinking of waiting until the balance is due before cancelling to see if any offers come up because from the length of time the queues on the phone were I think a lot of UK guests, especially those with kids are cancelling and it's the guests who come from farther afield that spend the money in the parks rather than local AP holders, so they need to persuade those guests to visit.
 
It looks to me like I'm able to see my upcoming flight by going to straight to "My Booking" and entering the booking reference etc,
but I'm unable to log into the VA site itself to see my Flying Club info etc.
Apparently it's technical issues. I couldn't log in either.
 
My BA flight on 30 June is still showing as leaving Gatwick, but we will see whether it transfers to Heathrow, or indeed, whether it leaves at all. I have delayed pre booking parking just in case, but I have an airport hotel booked.
From South Wales it doesn’t really make that much difference, whether we fly from Heathrow or Gatwick. At the moment a lot of BA aeroplanes are parked up at Cardiff airport... now that would be convenient.
Have you seen the updates on the park opening
My BA flight on 30 June is still showing as leaving Gatwick, but we will see whether it transfers to Heathrow, or indeed, whether it leaves at all. I have delayed pre booking parking just in case, but I have an airport hotel booked.
From South Wales it doesn’t really make that much difference, whether we fly from Heathrow or Gatwick. At the moment a lot of BA aeroplanes are parked up at Cardiff airport... now that would be convenient.
Are you still going to go with the parks not being open until July 11th and greatly reduced hours? I just went on the WDW site to check after reading a blog about this and I'm not spending the money I am to get a lesser experience. No parades, no fireworks, no character meetings and MK closing at 7pm every night even in September. Disney would have to offer me an upgrade to AKL 😂😂😂 or free dining with my stay at Pop for me to continue now.
 
Have you seen the updates on the park opening

Are you still going to go with the parks not being open until July 11th and greatly reduced hours? I just went on the WDW site to check after reading a blog about this and I'm not spending the money I am to get a lesser experience. No parades, no fireworks, no character meetings and MK closing at 7pm every night even in September. Disney would have to offer me an upgrade to AKL 😂😂😂 or free dining with my stay at Pop for me to continue now.
That’s a yes and a yes! At 3am I booked UOR Portofino from 1 to 12 July. Luckily (?) my split stay change over is on 12 July. I am staying optimistic.... well someone has to!😂
 
Got an email from VA because I have a flight booked for Sept 15th. It's apparently only a temporary move until things get back to normal.
Quick question. I have opted for an open ticket and I may just go across in September, only a 10% chance at the moment, if I opt for doing one of their flights with transfers how does it work. I'm looking at doing a 2 hour stopover in JFK outbound and a ATL one coming back. How does it work for immigration and would I have to do security again? I understand they do the bags for you and I won't need to go to the check in desk.
Disney are not keen on me cancelling the trip, I've already talked to them about it and they have been acting funny, I called and was told I had to email them and when I emailed them they told me to phone to cancel. I'm thinking of waiting until the balance is due before cancelling to see if any offers come up because from the length of time the queues on the phone were I think a lot of UK guests, especially those with kids are cancelling and it's the guests who come from farther afield that spend the money in the parks rather than local AP holders, so they need to persuade those guests to visit.

From the UK to MCO. You will have to clear immigration/customs at JFK and pick up your luggage. You don't, however, have to go up to the check-in counters, there will be a place to drop your luggage after exiting customs. Assuming, of course, that you've been checked through to MCO. You will likely also have to go through security (I'd say that you will have to go through security, but there may be some situations where you don't have to do so).

From MCO to UK. You don't clear immigration/customs until you arrive back in the UK. Unlike the UK/EU, doesn't have any exit passport control. You will not have to pick up your luggage and you shouldn't need to go through security again (at least, I don't think I ever have, but I don't go through ATL very often).
 
That’s a yes and a yes! At 3am I booked UOR Portofino from 1 to 12 July. Luckily (?) my split stay change over is on 12 July. I am staying optimistic.... well someone has to!😂
Good timing.
From the UK to MCO. You will have to clear immigration/customs at JFK and pick up your luggage. You don't, however, have to go up to the check-in counters, there will be a place to drop your luggage after exiting customs. Assuming, of course, that you've been checked through to MCO. You will likely also have to go through security (I'd say that you will have to go through security, but there may be some situations where you don't have to do so).

From MCO to UK. You don't clear immigration/customs until you arrive back in the UK. Unlike the UK/EU, doesn't have any exit passport control. You will not have to pick up your luggage and you shouldn't need to go through security again (at least, I don't think I ever have, but I don't go through ATL very often).

Sir Duff, thanks. Do you think two hours is enough or should I do the four hour stopover in JFK? Different flights to JFK same flight from JFK to MCO. I'm okay spending 4 hours in departure if it means guaranteeing not missing my connection.
 
Good timing.


Sir Duff, thanks. Do you think two hours is enough or should I do the four hour stopover in JFK? Different flights to JFK same flight from JFK to MCO. I'm okay spending 4 hours in departure if it means guaranteeing not missing my connection.

Having written my long email, I now realise that I transfer in EWR not JFK (though the rules in terms of clearing customs and immigration are the same at both airports). For EWR, two hours in about the minimum that I'd risk, but I've done it. Do you have Global Entry (I assume not, but maybe)? How many flights are there from JKF to MCO? How big is your travelling party? All of that would play into my decision.

Personally, if I didn't have Global Entry and/or there wasn't another JFK to MCO flight that I could be put on, I'd be tempted by the longer connection (but, I'm fairly risk-averse and have enough status that I have lounge access of pretty much every airline that I fly).
 
The flights will all be booked through VA though two of the flights are with Delta, as you know they are all the same company. I think I have Global Entry as I've gone through the kiosks many times in Orlando, but, I can't remember if I have in Los Angeles, but, immigration isn't as busy as Orlando can be. I'm travelling alone, so I don't have to worry about that. And there are other options with this flight through VA, I could have gone via Detroit or Miami as well, but, time wise JFK was the best going out. I'm cautious when it comes to times, so I'd be happier having a 4 hour change rather than a two hour one. Anyway, thanks for all the help, it's really appreciated, now we have to hope Trump lifts the ban by September.
 
I’m still waiting to hear from VA about flights. We booked bubble seats from LGW for September but haven’t heard anything from VA yet since the email saying that they were moving flights to LHR.
I thought they were supposed to be doing them in date order and yet people with November flights have been notified 🤷🏻‍♀️
 

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