dcstudent

Anyone have insight as to when Virgin is restarting flights from US gateways that were suspended now that England will be reopening? For example, IAD-LHR? Can't find on the website what the restart plan is. Wondering whether it will be a full restart since the US is not reciprocating.

garykung

You know that U.S. is still shut down for the U.K., right?

dcstudent

Yep, hence the "Wondering whether it will be a full restart since the US is not reciprocating." But VA is, as of this morning, advertising the reopening of England to Vaccinated US folks, but I can't find when flights restart from those cities that have been suspended during COVID - especially (for me) DC - but figured this thread would be more useful if I asked the question more generally.

RAPC

They've only just announced it, so VS (and others) will need some operational planning time to work out which routes and frequencies may be viable under the circumstances. There was a VS trade update this morning, which didn't include any details in response to this.

I suspect that the leisure routes (LAS and MCO in particular) won't start. Frequencies where they have been cut on already operating routes may return. IAD is likely to be borderline at best to return prior to UK travellers being able to visit the US. I wouldn't be surprised if VS concentrate on NYC and Atlanta as their main markets on the East Coast for now.

sfozrhfco

VS is also still in survival mode right now so they are not going to be adding lots of flights at the last minute which add high costs while flying mostly empty. That would not help them at all. The summer is nearly lost already and the low season for transatlantic flights is coming up fast. They will only add what will shore up their finances. They are going to need another infusion of cash very soon given that May/June/July were already well below what was hoped due to impediments in getting into the US for non-Americans and traveling to the UK for Americans.

TomMM

Well the US is shut down to many countries in Europe who have opened to vaccinated US citizens and yet airlines have restarted flights to those locations. Having said that, the UK will still require COVID tests from the vaccinated people so I wonder how many will take a holiday visit to the UK.

bennos

It seems like the initial boost will be to dual nationals who were vaccinated in the US (or EU), and to a lesser degree Americans who just want to go somewhere without exorbitant rental car rates and who are maybe not so tied to the school year that restarts in about a month. So justifying an incremental boost to service, not a full return to the old schedule.

I agree with the poster upthread who suggests VS' strategy is to align with DL hubs. To the extent travel rebounds, it won't initially be the UK leisure market to MCO, and it probably won't be much of the corporate market (though maybe there will be an uptick), so letting DL funnel connecting traffic to its hubs (JFK and ATL, but also DTW and MSP via the JV) seems to make sense.

TomMM

I was in ATL a couple of weeks ago and saw this:

bmiStar

My American relatives are off to Greece on United.
Day 2 test in the UK was a big killer for them.

Porterhouse100

Looks like Aug 30 for sfo-lhr. Econ seat availability so high, for the first time in years, going to fly Econ as your almost guaranteed 3 seats to yourself for 15k miles. Seatspy is a decent way to find out what’s happening, at least for now. No guarantee they won’t get cancelled, but it looks like USA is going to reciprocate with opening restrictions.

RAPC

Was on the phone to Flying Club today and for the first time in a long time, I got an agent in Crawley rather than in Wales. Was having a good chat with them and they mentioned that US bookings have been going really well since the announcement. Obviously working from a very low base, but good news for the airline to at least get some decent revenue in on top of the cargo.

Cap'n Benj

It’s within 2 days. You can take it on arrival at the airport.

still a pain but not as bad as it seems

urifin

it’s impossible to get a Day 2 Test appointment at Heathrow for my late September arrival. I see no openings at all between now and then, unless I’m missing something.

TomMM

Try this


https://www.expresstest.co.uk/book-a-test/

urifin

I get this result for any LHR testing site. Are they really all booked or are they not showing so far in advance? I have a 5-hour layover and I’d rather do the test in LHR then at the destination (INV in Scotland on a BA flight)