Virgin America goes A321neo
Jan 19, 2016, 9:03 pm
#31
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: BOS
Programs: B6/Mosaic/AF/VX/AS Gold Hertz PC HH Dia. AMEX Plat SPG/Marr Gold Nat. EE FPC Plat
Posts: 833
Surprised nobody is either speculating or giving insider info on the likely seating configs on these 321s. Three rows of F? Additional rows of MCS at mid-cabin exits? Most airlines keep their 319s and 320s very simple and similar, but the 321s are usually different with mid-cabin lavs or whatever.
Good point though.That said, my honest guess these are the likely scenarios:
First, these planes get put on longer routes where they have the highest load factors. Boston flights are always packed for me.
Second, my guess is they keep F at 8 pax and add extra MCS. Why ? If for reasons of an equipment change, who do you kick out of F when switching to a smaller plane ? If I am a paid F and some routes have pax in F who all paid, getting down graded for an equipment change is not going make paid F pax happy, including me. Even with a refund, losing F on a transcon is not pleasant.
One of the things I truly appreciate with VX is the fairly consistent experience in the hardware.
One other thing to keep in mind with the 321 is the need for additional on board crew. Instead of 3 FA's, you need 4 or 5.
My guess is the routing is going to be carefully done, so there is another 321 and crew available at one end or the other to help avoid the above in any case.
Jan 20, 2016, 3:04 pm
#32
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: Amtrak Guest Rewards (SE), Virgin America Elevate, Hyatt Gold Passport (Platinum), VIA Preference
Posts: 3,134
Insider know how ? Nothing here. Good point though.
That said, my honest guess these are the likely scenarios:
First, these planes get put on longer routes where they have the highest load factors. Boston flights are always packed for me.
Second, my guess is they keep F at 8 pax and add extra MCS. Why ? If for reasons of an equipment change, who do you kick out of F when switching to a smaller plane ? If I am a paid F and some routes have pax in F who all paid, getting down graded for an equipment change is not going make paid F pax happy, including me. Even with a refund, losing F on a transcon is not pleasant.
One of the things I truly appreciate with VX is the fairly consistent experience in the hardware.
One other thing to keep in mind with the 321 is the need for additional on board crew. Instead of 3 FA's, you need 4 or 5.
My guess is the routing is going to be carefully done, so there is another 321 and crew available at one end or the other to help avoid the above in any case.
Good point though.That said, my honest guess these are the likely scenarios:
First, these planes get put on longer routes where they have the highest load factors. Boston flights are always packed for me.
Second, my guess is they keep F at 8 pax and add extra MCS. Why ? If for reasons of an equipment change, who do you kick out of F when switching to a smaller plane ? If I am a paid F and some routes have pax in F who all paid, getting down graded for an equipment change is not going make paid F pax happy, including me. Even with a refund, losing F on a transcon is not pleasant.
One of the things I truly appreciate with VX is the fairly consistent experience in the hardware.
One other thing to keep in mind with the 321 is the need for additional on board crew. Instead of 3 FA's, you need 4 or 5.
My guess is the routing is going to be carefully done, so there is another 321 and crew available at one end or the other to help avoid the above in any case.
I still think that something like lie-flat seats in F might be in the cards so as to fight against the other airlines' F offerings. The question is whether that would be worth sacrificing roughly a net row of MCS (I don't know the answer to that question) in exchange for a premium on the fare. That being said, I don't know what the load factors are looking like on the transcons, and the possibility of an "MCS+" product of some sort comes to mind there as well.
Feb 10, 2016, 10:14 pm
#33
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: BOS
Programs: B6/Mosaic/AF/VX/AS Gold Hertz PC HH Dia. AMEX Plat SPG/Marr Gold Nat. EE FPC Plat
Posts: 833
Addtional data points
Additional data points I learned from some VX folks:
1. F will remain at 8 seats. "We want to keep it exclusive."
2. Not completely decided, but additional MCS rows are on the drawing board. How many ? Not decided.
3. No extensive changes planned in MC.
4. Extra lavs are part of the layout.
Keep the darts and dartboard out. More routes are on the drafting board
1. F will remain at 8 seats. "We want to keep it exclusive."
2. Not completely decided, but additional MCS rows are on the drawing board. How many ? Not decided.
3. No extensive changes planned in MC.
4. Extra lavs are part of the layout.
Keep the darts and dartboard out. More routes are on the drafting board
Feb 19, 2016, 10:26 pm
#34
Join Date: Apr 2010
Programs: AA PP, UA 1K/MM, WoH Globalist, HH Gold
Posts: 1,191
From the February 18th earnings call, Peter Hunt CFO of Virgin American was asked about the configuration of the A321:
and when asked about the "mid cabin":
Hi, Mike, good morning. Our expected configuration is 185 seats. We're going to have the same sized first-class cabin, eight seats, so the additional seats will all be in the main cabin. We actually think that having that smaller, intimate, eight-seat first-class cabin is the right size for us in most of our markets, so we're retaining that. It gives us consistency throughout the fleet as well.
Actually, we will add a row in main cabin select, so we will have more seats available for upgrades there, paid upgrades as well as upgrades for our most loyal premium traffic.
May 5, 2016, 4:34 pm
#35
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: SEA, NW/DL 1.6Million Miler
Programs: DL 1MM Annual Silver,AS 100K 22-24, AS 75K 15-21
Posts: 4,277
Am hoping VX/AS merger might change the direction for the incoming A321 to include competitive Business Class product to compete for Premium passengers, providing Lie Flat seats on Transcon flights...
Jiburi
Jiburi
