Big air travel shake-up for UK visitors flying to Orlando

mkt

Disney's Favorite Scumbag™
Premium Member
Airlines like Norwegian will be lucky to survive. And after the Flybe collapse, people are more likely to book with a “safer” company. Regardless that both VIrgin Atlantic and BA are in trouble, they’re still in a better position to survive.

Oh, Norwegian is f____d. I mean, that with the pricing - their flight loads were full, but they weren't making much money on LGW-MCO routes; and BA/Virgin had to react in kind to keep that business.
 

esskay

Well-Known Member
Is it profitable for them though? It's a leisure route, where people are buying the cheapest tickets they can get (see Norwegian) - I wouldn't be surprised if for Virgin, their MCO flights barely break even - or are even loss leaders - and they end up making their money off of package tours.

From memory Virgin hasn't actually turned a profit for a few years now, altho the losses arent 'huge' in the grand scale of things (around £50 million IIRC).

I initially thought Norweigan were a certain to go bust but they just got a $1bn investment to prop them up - they were profitable on their long haul routes so I guess they'll be ok for now.

Virgins issue was that they needed to raise £500 million to survive. Given the 747s were being retitred anyway, bringing that forward so they can sell them might be where they've gone with this. No idea what a second hand 747 goes for but would assume it will be enough to cover their losses - they'll still have a long lease of life as cargo planes so probably arent just going to be scrapped.

Out of all their international routes though I'd have said MCO has to be one of the safest. They sell an awful lot of package holidays to Florida, and have direct partnerships with Disney and Uni. It'll be scaled back no doubt.

One thing that was telling is that whilst they cut 3500 jobs, they employ 10,000 people. So this isn't a move to wind the operations up, and I bet most of that 3500 were sales people. They've got about 70 travel agents across the UK, and a couple of call centres.
 

Trekkie101

Well-Known Member
There is no cabin crew based at GLA, it was always operated by MAN based crew. As to the A350 ops it was pilot training only for the LHR fleet.

Only the upper crew come with the flight, since MCO has been 3/4 weekly out of GLA, they have GLA based crew, one of my friends is cabin crew for them at GLA - we both live in Fife.

Before lockdown, she got summoned for cross training on the A350. It's worth remembering the positioning flights come from Gatwick for the most part, not Manchester.

You can see the training and positioning flights on the VS source site to verify.

 

biggy H

Well-Known Member
Only the upper crew come with the flight, since MCO has been 3/4 weekly out of GLA, they have GLA based crew, one of my friends is cabin crew for them at GLA - we both live in Fife.

Before lockdown, she got summoned for cross training on the A350. It's worth remembering the positioning flights come from Gatwick for the most part, not Manchester.

You can see the training and positioning flights on the VS source site to verify.


Nope, no crew base at GLA and they only flew 2x weekly (Fridays and Saturdays) for a short time during the summer otherwise it was 1x weekly with a break during winter. I work at GLA and know the ground ops people who all work for other companies, some also work for the same company as myself. All the crew positioned up, either from Manchester (most times) or Gatwick, no crew based at Glasgow at all. Considering the A350's where originally going to replace the 747s then crew would be cross trained but it does not alter the fact that Virgin have no base at Glasgow, crew or otherwise. Oh and I was working when the A350's where flying in and out of GLA.
 

england1

Member
Looks like the UK Government are going to enforce a 2 week isolation period for everyone when entering the uk so this will kill the holiday trade, we are due to Florida in July but not going to take a month off work for a two week holiday so plan on cancelling holiday
 

nickys

Premium Member
Looks like the UK Government are going to enforce a 2 week isolation period for everyone when entering the uk so this will kill the holiday trade, we are due to Florida in July but not going to take a month off work for a two week holiday so plan on cancelling holiday

This is too little, too late anyway. Sorry about your holiday but hopefully you’ll be able to reschedule. 🤞

But to be honest the US haven’t lifted travel restrictions yet either, and even when they do there could a be quarantine period.
 

Trekkie101

Well-Known Member
Nope, no crew base at GLA and they only flew 2x weekly (Fridays and Saturdays) for a short time during the summer otherwise it was 1x weekly with a break during winter. I work at GLA and know the ground ops people who all work for other companies, some also work for the same company as myself. All the crew positioned up, either from Manchester (most times) or Gatwick, no crew based at Glasgow at all. Considering the A350's where originally going to replace the 747s then crew would be cross trained but it does not alter the fact that Virgin have no base at Glasgow, crew or otherwise. Oh and I was working when the A350's where flying in and out of GLA.

I'm not sure why you're so adamant about this, when the facts are literally public. This isn't insider information.

Swissport do the Virgin Atlantic ground handling but VS have their cabin crew deployed for the aircraft. Ground handling is not the same as air crew.

The flight positions as VS71P, you can check the history of them on the VS source: http://thevssource.com/?s=VS71P

There are Glasgow based Virgin Atlantic cabin crew. You can see one commented on this article where they announce their staff are working at the Nightingale in London, with them asking if they can help in Glasgow since they work/live there. I'll happily ping a mod with proof of my friends working and being cabin crew at GLA too.


Virgin for the last few seasons start the 4 a week service on the 747, running Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday in May and end in November. Last year they deployed the A332 to bring ops constant until February this year. Pull up a public schedule and take a look.

Likewise you can get Irn Bru only on an outbound GLA flight in the UK, but usually not on return as they switch aircraft in MCO. It's loaded specifically in Scotland as part of their local service.
 

biggy H

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure why you're so adamant about this, when the facts are literally public. This isn't insider information.

Swissport do the Virgin Atlantic ground handling but VS have their cabin crew deployed for the aircraft. Ground handling is not the same as air crew.

The flight positions as VS71P, you can check the history of them on the VS source: http://thevssource.com/?s=VS71P

There are Glasgow based Virgin Atlantic cabin crew. You can see one commented on this article where they announce their staff are working at the Nightingale in London, with them asking if they can help in Glasgow since they work/live there. I'll happily ping a mod with proof of my friends working and being cabin crew at GLA too.


Virgin for the last few seasons start the 4 a week service on the 747, running Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday in May and end in November. Last year they deployed the A332 to bring ops constant until February this year. Pull up a public schedule and take a look.

Likewise you can get Irn Bru only on an outbound GLA flight in the UK, but usually not on return as they switch aircraft in MCO. It's loaded specifically in Scotland as part of their local service.

There are crew who live in Glasgow, I used to see then quite often positioning down to and from Gatwick on the BA flights but Virgin does not have a base at Glasgow, the crew all position up to operate the flights and are either Gatwick or Manchester based. I know as I used to talk to them frequently at work.
 

mkt

Disney's Favorite Scumbag™
Premium Member
Looks like the UK Government are going to enforce a 2 week isolation period for everyone when entering the uk so this will kill the holiday trade, we are due to Florida in July but not going to take a month off work for a two week holiday so plan on cancelling holiday

Any word on the dates? We're scheduled to fly to the UK in July, but not if it's 2 weeks quarantined.
 

england1

Member
Any word on the dates? We're scheduled to fly to the UK in July, but not if it's 2 weeks quarantined.

UK Government just announced anyone coming into the UK will have to self isolate for 14 days starting 8th June, and this will be reviewed every 3 weeks going forward
 

nickys

Premium Member
Any word on the dates? We're scheduled to fly to the UK in July, but not if it's 2 weeks quarantined.

UK Government just announced anyone coming into the UK will have to self isolate for 14 days starting 8th June, and this will be reviewed every 3 weeks going forward

 

Kyledychchi

Member
Not yet. Apparently I'm still flying from LGW to MCO in September (though I'm almost certainly going to reschedule the whole trip anyway)
You and me both ! I’m in the same boat, flying in Sept but going to reschedule. I won’t find out next years annual leave entitlement until December though which makes it a bit harder to find out dates but I’ve got a plan or two in my head.
 

england1

Member
My flight beginning of July is still going ahead according to Virgin Holidays from Gatwick, l am just waiting for it all to be cancelled
No sure when Mr Trump will let us fly to the USA but l cant see it being any time soon.
 

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