Archive for the 'Virgin Atlantic' Category

Virgin Atlantic’s First A330 Enters Service

Published
by
Dan Webb
on April 2, 2011
in Virgin Atlantic
. 3 Comments

Virgin Atlantic is placing its first A330-300 into service today on its Manchester-Orlando route. The aircraft, named “Beauty Queen,” comes equipped with 59 Premium Economy and 255 Economy seats. This configuration, optimized for leisure routes, will also be found on the airline’s second A330, while the remaining eight deliveries will be configured with a three-class cabin. The aircraft, originally ordered in 2009, will be delivered over the next two years. Virgin says the A330-300 will allow it “to take more passengers to key markets including US East Coast, East and West Africa, the Middle East and India.”

Photo Credit: Virgin Atlantic.

The A330s feature Panasonic’s eX2 entertainment system, which has a USB drive that enables passengers to connect their own devices to the system (see picture below).The carrier adds that “later this year Virgin Atlantic travellers flying on the A330 will be able to send and receive emails and texts on their Blackberries, handheld PDAs and other mobile devices.”

Anyway…more thoughts on this next week…possibly. :)

Guest Post: What to Do With Virgin Atlantic?

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 2, 2011
in Virgin Atlantic
. 2 Comments

My friend Gavin Werbeloff is back with another guest post, this time on the future of Virgin Atlantic, which is a bit up in the air right now. He has some very interesting thoughts:

The Virgin brand has always been synonymous with style and independence. Virgin Atlantic, the first of the Virgin airlines, was founded in 1984 by the mercurial Richard Branson as a young and edgy airline designed to counteract of the staid and stodgy British Airways. The airline started out by serving Newark Liberty airport from London Gatwick with a single 747-200, and later expanded its list of destinations as it received more aircraft. Virgin has always had an adversarial relationship with British Airways. Virgin has never had the scale to truly compete with its Heathrow stable mate, but has constantly played the buzzing mosquito, engaging in legal action, reporting BA to the authorities as a whistle blower, as well as publicly opposing any co-operation between BA and it’s Oneworld partner American Airlines.

Photo Credit: Devesh Agarwal, BangaloreAviation.com.

In truth Virgin has always been a niche player at Heathrow, whose unique experience is a draw for those who desire something different. To a certain extent, this has been by design. Virgin Atlantic has made the conscious decision to remain smaller, as scaling up its unique premium product offerings would be exceedingly difficult. That being said, its Terminal 3 premium check-in and car service is miles ahead of its competitors, and the Virgin Clubhouse at Terminal 3 is consistently voted one of the best airline lounges in the world. The other side of this coin is that its operations are less able to withstand irregular operations. On one occasion, I was notified three days in advance that my flight from London would be delayed by 12 hours, because the aircraft had maintenance issues in Sydney.

Virgin Atlantic was arguably the single greatest beneficiary of the bankruptcy of both TWA and Pan Am, as the resulting 1991 re-shuffle of the Bermuda II treaty granted it access to London Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport. Under Bermuda II, Virgin Atlantic became one of 4 airlines with regulatory permission to fly between the United States and Heathrow. The other three airlines were BA, American and United Airlines. Virgin Atlantic grew quickly in the 1990’s, utilizing its prized Heathrow location to open up routes to the United States. In 2000, Singapore Airlines bought a 49% stake in the airline form Virgin Group, and the two have a deep code-sharing relationship. Virgin currently serves seven U.S. cities from Heathrow and an additional two from Gatwick. Virgin also benefitted from government scrutiny of American and BA. Despite their membership in the same global alliance, anti-trust concerns on both sides of the Atlantic prevented cooperation between the two on transatlantic routes between the US and UK. Regulatory barriers to entry in its most lucrative markets protected Virgin from the brunt of competition, but Heathrow’s slot restriction also prevented more robust growth. Virgin is the number-three slot holder at Heathrow behind BA and BMI. Continue reading ‘Guest Post: What to Do With Virgin Atlantic?’

First Look: Virgin Atlantic’s New iPhone App

Published
by
Dan Webb
on May 13, 2010
in Virgin Atlantic
. 3 Comments

Yesterday, Virgin Atlantic released two new iPhone apps into the wild – one to combat jet lag and another to track flights. Since I’ve been an iPhone user for a whopping six days, I decided to take a look. The former costs $1.99, so I haven’t downloaded it. :D But I did take a look at the free flight tracker.

The app from the get go looks pretty slick – there’s a nice 3D globe you get to spin around, allowing you to see all of the Virgin Atlantic flights in the air. That’s cool.From using other flight tracking tools (including Virgin’s own V-Flyer), the positions of the aircraft are off but you still get the same information. And as a dork it’s nice to get the registration number.

But the globe is also, well – annoying. It appears that all of the flight tracking data is based off of it. This is a problem, especially when you want to find information for your flight – the app needs to load the data for every airborne Virgin Atlantic flight before it will let you search for a specific route.

This, in my view, is the apps biggest problem, just because of the amount of data that needs to be downloaded. This morning I’m blogging from my home in a rural area with 3G coverage, and everything downloads in under a minute. (Of course, my home Wi-Fi connection is a bit faster.) But yesterday I was in an urban area (Providence, RI), and downloading all the flight data took nearly five minutes at times. And since the iPhone doesn’t support multitasking, all one can do is sit and watch the aircraft data load…slowly.

According to the app’s page on the  iTunes store, there has already been an update to address this, and I’ll play around with this more when I’m back in Providence tomorrow.

Also note how I said airborne flights earlier.  If I wanted to check at what time the Boston-London flight arrived in London this morning, this app won’t help me, as I can only find the status of the LHR-BOS return.

You can also subscribe to flights to send you push notifications (pictured below), except the times are given in UTC, it appears. So if you’re here on this side of the pond, that arrival time might give you a bit of a scare!

And here’s a quick rundown of some other features – there are a couple of simple games, where you need to find Richard Branson on the globe, or fly a hot air balloon around the globe while avoiding bad weather. They’re simple, and fun. The app also features the ability for Flying Club members to check up on their accounts. Finally, the app uses Virgin’s V-Flyer to provide some useful features. You’ll find seat maps and also learn what IFE system is on your flight, etc.

Overall, this iPhone app is a good start from Virgin Atlantic. But it really needs some help in the performance area. And there are some big features missing that other airlines have, like mobile check-in, though Virgin says they “will probably” add this and other booking features in the future. For now, I suggest bookmarking V-Flyer.com, which has a great iPhone version already, and can provide the same features as this app (minus the cool globe), and much faster.

Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Blue Add Perks for Each Others’ Elites

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 3, 2010
in Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Blue
. 0 Comments

On Monday, Virgin Atlantic announced additional cooperation with fellow Virgin airlines Virgin Blue and V Australia, Virgin Blue’s long-haul airline. Since July, Virgin Atlantic passengers have been able to earn Flying Club miles on Virgin Blue flights, and Virgin Blue travelers could earn Velocity points on Virgin Atlantic. But now elites of both programs are getting some extra perks as well.

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Virgin Atlantic says that Silver and Gold members of its Flying Club program will get perks like priority check-in and luggage, and Gold members will receive free lounge access. And while it’s not mentioned in the Virgin Atlantic press release, Gold members of Virgin Blue’s Velocity program receive free lounge access to some Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses, priority check-in, priority boarding, and others when flying with Virgin Atlantic.

“Through this arrangement we are able to further reward those who prefer to fly with and remain loyal to Virgin branded airlines,” said Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic CEO. While I do not what to read too much into that soundbite, it sounds to me like Virgin is working on getting some kind of alliance going. Granted, there’s only so much they can do with a few carriers, but it’s still very interesting, and I wonder where Virgin America fits into this picture. It was announced last year that the carrier would get closer to Virgin Blue and allow passengers to earn miles in either loyalty program (the two carriers already have an interline agreement).

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moody75/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Virgin Atlantic’s Response to the BA Strike

Published
by
Dan Webb
on December 16, 2009
in Virgin Atlantic
. 0 Comments

Yesterday, I mentioned that I was surprised that Virgin Atlantic hadn’t responded to the looming British Airways strike (there are some talks going on today), but a few hours after I wrote that the airline announced that during the strike period, some flights that are usually operated with A340-300s will be operated with A340-600s instead, providing an additional 68 seats. A full list of cities getting the extra capacity wasn’t provided in the press release, but Newark, Boston, Washington, and Delhi will be four of them.

Virgin said that the additional seats “will go on sale over the next 24 hours.” That was sent out late in the afternoon yesterday, so everything should be loaded in a few hours from now.

Virgin Atlantic’s New Gatwick Clubhouse

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 27, 2009
in Virgin Atlantic
. 1 Comment

I wasn’t planning to provide much commentary at the end of this week, as I’m taking it a bit easy after the holiday

Fortunately, Virgin Atlantic sent over some pictures of its Clubhouse at Gatwick to drool over – the 130-seat lounge has just re-opened after a renovation. The lounge has some interesting features, including a Cowshed Spa (like the one at Heathrow), an Entertainment Lounge and Business Area (complete with a Wii!) , and an area dedicated to families, which I’m sure will be appreciated by both families and those who don’t want to deal with loud families. :D

I’d love to explore the lounge in person – too bad my college student budget doesn’t allow for Upper Class tickets!

You can explore the lounge here. Take a look at some pictures after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Virgin Atlantic’s New Gatwick Clubhouse’

The War of Words Continues

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 13, 2009
in American and Virgin Atlantic
. 1 Comment

American and Virgin haven’t always gotten along, especially now with oneworld trying to obtain anti-trust immunity. So, when American CEO Gerard Arpey was talking about a potential Delta-JAL hookup and said that “if JAL were to change horses [from oneworld], we would certainly argue that they might not be allowed to even code-share, let alone have immunity with the dominant carrier in Narita,” Virgin was all over it. They sent out a press release, where Virgin Atlantic CEO Steve Ridgway was quoted as saying:

“Virgin Atlantic absolutely agrees with American Airlines that a high level of market concentration should be an insurmountable hurdle to obtain antitrust immunity for a possible alliance such as BA/AA. Mr. Arpey has clearly highlighted why dominant groups like AA and BA shouldn’t be given regulatory clearance. We have asked the DoT to further investigate his views as American cannot have it both ways.”

So, in response, American issued its own press release:

Once again, Virgin’s comments are long on accusations and rhetoric and short on the facts. American is opposed to a Delta-Japan Airlines (JAL) tie-up for the same reason we are confident our transatlantic immunity application will be approved: to preserve and enhance competition.

What’s funny is the different statistics the airlines use to try to prove their point. For example, Virgin says:

The Delta-JAL joint venture would result in a total capacity share on US-Narita routes of 54%, significantly smaller than the 64% share that BA/AA would hold on US-Heathrow routes.

And American says:

SkyTeam with a Delta-JAL combination would account for nearly 60 percent of U.S.-Tokyo passengers, as opposed to oneworld’s approximate 44 percent share of U.S.-London passengers.

In Virgin’s case, its more beneficial to refer to specific airports to make the numbers look better for their case.

Anyway – at least this is fun to watch! But really, I think that Arpey could have been a bit more careful when talking at the event to avoid giving Virgin some great material. :D

Virgin Atlantic Tacks on Second Bag Fee for Economy

Published
by
Dan Webb
on September 16, 2009
in Virgin Atlantic
. 1 Comment

Last week, Virgin Atlantic updated its baggage policy, and will be adding a second bag fee for economy passengers starting November 25th. This move is in-line with moves that American carriers have made on their transatlantic flights.

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Virgin Atlantic has offered two free checked bags for those in economy, but that allowance will be cut to one. If the fee for the second bag is paid online, fliers are charged $48, but passengers who check their bags at their airport will have to pay $60.

Premium Economy passengers will still have two free bags, three for Upper Class, and Flying Club Gold members will receive one bag additional to their allowance. Virgin still allows for one free bag of sports equipment.

There are a few exceptions – those in economy traveling from Heathrow to either Nairobi or Lagos can have an extra bag, as can economy passengers flying from the United States to India.

While I’m never a fan of new fees, this move does simplify things a bit. Virgin’s current system has a system by piece on some routes, and by weight on others. Now, everything will be done by piece.

Details can be found here.

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eisenbahner/ / CC BY 2.0

NBTA: Airline Booths Show Why the “Soft” Product Matters

Published
by
Dan Webb
on September 9, 2009
in American, Continental, Delta, United, V Australia and Virgin Atlantic
. 3 Comments

I’ve recently learned the terms “hard” and “soft” product from a certain Mr. Schalppig, as a result, I will now use them in a post. :D

The “hard” product, at least in the case of an airline, refers to things like your seat – what features it has, how comfortable it is, etc. The “soft” product, on the other hand, deals with things like the onboard service and food. I’d argue that that the latter is often more important, and can make-or-break an airline experience. Sure, a great seat is nice, but a grumpy or unprofessional flight attendant can ruin things quickly, I think.

So how did I experience these at NBTA? Well, obviously, I sat in the seats. But the airlines also had people there to explain their respective offerings, and that made all the difference, I think. For example, let’s look at the American carriers. After I had sat in a few seats, I would probably rank the carriers in this order:

  1. American
  2. Delta
  3. Continental
  4. United

But, after I thought about them a bit more, the ranking is more like this:

  1. United
  2. Delta
  3. Continental
  4. American

Wait, how did American and United switch places? Well, United has a much better business class seat than American, but American had two fantastic flight attendants manning their booth, and one of them gave me a solid ten minutes of her time explaining the airline’s offerings. United, on the other hand, just had a sales representative. Delta, too, had a fantastic demonstration with some great flight attendants:

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Getting tucked in by Delta.

So, why does having professional flight attendants who know their product at a trade show matter so much? Because convention attendees will think that’s exactly what they’ll receive on their next flight. As such, I think it’s very important that airlines have enthusiastic employees at events like NBTA.

I think the Virgin airlines were the best in this area at the show, and that was especially apparent when comparing V Australia (great flight attendants) to Qantas (no flight attendants).

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Trying out V Australia’s premium economy seat.

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A Virgin Atlantic flight attendant explains the features of Upper Class.

I promise I’ll be done with NBTA posts this week, by the way. :D

Branson and Oneworld

Published
by
Dan Webb
on August 15, 2008
in American, British Airways, Oneworld and Virgin Atlantic
. 2 Comments

This is one of my more opinionated posts…

In a move that wasn’t too surprising, American, British Airways, and Iberia (along with Finnair and Royal Jordanian) applied for anti-trust immunity. They even set up a website to get support for the move (hat tip to Lucky for the link). Right now I think I like the deal. American and British have always been close and I think cooperating a bit further in terms of operations and other areas (like frequent flier programs) can help them run more efficiently.

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, isn’t too pleased at all. I’m not surprised – Virgin and BA have been bickering since before I was born! Yesterday an article of his appeared in the Wall Street Journal. He claims if the application is approved, it would be bad for air travelers. Continue reading ‘Branson and Oneworld’