dcpatti

Anyone heard anything about the status/project of putting the Envoy Suites on the A333's?

I'm flying to LGW next week and the seat map has bounced back and forth between old envoy and new envoy about 4 times (which REALLY annoys me because we keep losing the Envoy Sleeper seats we booked back in March every time the seatmap goes back to the old layout). I used to be hopeful that I'd see the Suites but am probably not going to get that wish...

But I have two flights for 2012 that I'm going to book soon, one of which I can book into LGW and use my CP certs immediately, or book into LHR and sentence myself to repeated phone calls trying to get the upgrades. If the rollout is halfway done or more by May, I'd be more likely to roll the dice on LGW even if it is a more painful trek into the city.

gottigotti

I am not sure of the roll out, but I did notice today on their website that under the "Status Section" of the new Envoy that the timing changed from "Completed in Winter 2011/2012" to "First Aircraft w/ Envoy Suite: Fall 2011"

PHL

I suspect conversions have begun already, which is why the constant switching of seat maps and web site was updated.

pontevecchio

Our seats were changed a few weeks after booking our tickets in July from Old Envoy to the new suites.. PHL to FRA.. We travel on November,23 and will be sure to provide input at that time.

geo1005

My wife and I have the same issue for an upcoming FCO-PHL flight on the 330-300. To compensate, we reserved 1F and 1H even though they are not next to each other. Regardless, those two seats exist on both the old and the new variants. On the Suite variation, we end up with a single window seat and one in the middle and on the older Sleeper style we end up with a window and one on the aisle in the center (figuring a swap pre-take off for an aisle for an aisle is easy to do)... YMMV of course.

FlyIgglesFly

My flight CLT-LGW in Envoy on 2/16 and 2/21 keep flipping back and forth as well. I was able to get 1H on the way to LGW, but only 2A on the way back. It initially showed the old...then the new...now the old...

BoeingBoy

I expect most to all of the 300's will have the suites by May - isn't that about when the summer season starts?

BoeingBoy

That, plus for flights a month or more away aircraft routing can change pretty often. Until they're all completed, what is sitting at the gate will be luck of the draw.

Jim

Fanjet

I'm wondering if there might be a delay in the conversions. Since the WH plans to bring approx 50,000 troops out of Iraq by Christmas, they're going to need all of the airlift possible. And the 330s hold close to 300 passengers. If US is compeled as a U.S. flag carrier to assist in the project, I figure that they would use the 330s.

BoeingBoy

Not compelled because of being a flag carrier, but because US voluntarily enters the CRAF program. Carriers that belong to the CRAF program get access to revenue not available to non-CRAF carriers. In return, the carriers agree to make the aircraft belonging to the program available "in time of national need."

From the Air Mobility Command website:

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program is a voluntary contractual program where US civil air carriers agree to augment organic military airlift during a crisis in exchange for access to peacetime defense business.

If you're interested in becoming a CRAF carrier, there are several requirements which must be met. The carrier must:

- Be certificated in the United States and possess an FAA FAR Part 121 certificate.
- Demonstrate 12 months of continuous service substantially equivalent to the service sought by the DOD.
- Meet minimum participation levels (15% of CRAF capable fleet offered to government for cargo operations or 30% of fleet for passenger operations).
- Not exceed 40% of total block hours from government sources (as of FY11).
- Own or lease the aircraft offered for CRAF use. The carrier must be in control of the aircraft as of the date of offer. Freight forwarders/brokers cannot be approved as CRAF carriers.
- Be a DOD-approved air carrier or, if not approved, prepare a DOD Statement of Intent, AMC Form 207, and submit it to the contracting office.

All that said, during peacetime the DOD normally charters aircraft as necessary instead of activating the CRAF. For example, during the buildup for both Iraqi wars certain CRAF aircraft were activated. But so far it has not been activated for swapping out troops.
Jim

ORDGUY747

I note that the US Airways website still does not show that any of the 9 A330-300s have been reconfigured.

Do we have any insight as to whether the first aircraft has gone to the shop for interior reconfiguration? Flying the LGW-CLT-LGW later this month and hoping that at least one aircraft will be complete by that time...

phlwookie

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/trave...nvoyclass.html says one of nine has been completed, but I've yet to see reports of it in service. Perhaps it's in a certification phase.

I would go in with the expectation that you'll get one of the old Envoy configs and aim for a seat in row 1.

dcpatti

I used some upgrade certs for the May trip-- booked into LGW as that was available whereas LHR was not--- the seat map is the new Envoy config so I am crossing my fingers. Had planned to book 1A-C, stealing a tip from another FT'er, as those seats exist on both config's, but the agent would not unblock 1A so I will just need to watch the seat maps I suppose.

Using Expert Flyer I can set alerts on certain seats as long as the seats exist when the alert is configured; so I can get an email when 1A opens for example. Since I know that's 24 hours before the flight, that's not of great use to me. Anyone know of a tool I can use to monitor for an equipment change or set an alert on a seat that does not exist? Also is there any rhyme or reason to where you will be shifted when there is an equipment swap? Recently had 1G-H on the 333; seat map changed to the new config and we were not assigned any seats, so we picked 1 F-H; seat map changed back to the old config and we were assigned into 5 C-F or something like that. Honestly I think every seat in the suites config is a good seat, and don't much care where we sit (although I prefer the first 2-3 rows as it really irritates me to not get a choice of meals twice on the same flight) but on the old config, Row 1 is really the only "good" row. I'd like to increase my chances of keeping a row 1 seat assignment if they do swap the seat maps back and forth again.

flight62

From today's US Daily:

The First A330-300 Welcomes Aboard the New Envoy Suite
Tomorrow, the first A333 retrofitted with the new Envoy Suite will take to the skies. This is the first of nine in our fleet that will include the new Envoy Suite. All A333s will be complete by summer 2012. Learn about the new reconfigured A333 in this week’s AboutUS!

phlwookie

Excellent, thanks for the update. It will be interesting to see what they target as a completion date for the other eight aircraft - hopefully by the end of the first quarter.