Little Red -anything innovative? (merged)
Tried to book a lastminute MAN - LHR morning flight with VS a couple of days ago - £285 one way was the fare for both of the am departures. Later flight was £82...
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Tried to book a lastminute MAN - LHR morning flight with VS a couple of days ago - £285 one way
Last edited by TSR2; 11th Apr 2013 at 16:51.
So why shouldn't MAN work?
No reasons except for BA and their frequency.
LHR-MAN Flight last night was less than half full!
and in answer to the question:
Little Red -anything innovative?
As far as I could see. NO!! sadly!!
No reasons except for BA and their frequency.
LHR-MAN Flight last night was less than half full!
and in answer to the question:
Little Red -anything innovative?
As far as I could see. NO!! sadly!!
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I've flown 'Little Red' and was very impressed. Decent aircraft interiors, plenty of leg room and a good service from the crew. For a 40min flight it can only be 'so good' but it did the job well 
At the moment from MAN, 80% of pax are connecting onwards with decent F/J loads
At the moment from MAN, 80% of pax are connecting onwards with decent F/J loads
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Why can't I see MAN working? Because even with a reasonable amount of connecting traffic, short haul routes do not normally work without a good, core point to point market and the train service between London and Manchester is just too good. While VS will undoubtedly benefit from some feed traffic on to its own services I can't believe that this plus a small amount of point to point, plus feed to other carriers at lousy pro-rates will generate enough revenue to come anywhere close to covering the costs of running the route.
That would be a 'fully flexible fare. A typically cheapest fare is around £110 return on all flights.
On the booking page I was presented with two sets of fares - standard and the fully flexible. It was the same price for both - the later flight had the differential with standard at £82 and fully flexible at £285.
Having just found we wont be able to use our BA staff tickets on this service I'm reviewing my commuting plans..........
Last edited by ETOPS; 12th Apr 2013 at 16:42.
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ww - VIR's LHR-MAN route was never set up to compete with the train. It was set up to feed long-haul connecting flights as explained earlier, and the airline fully comprehends the economics involved. If point-to-point business shows up in any volume VIR will welcome it, but it is purely icing on the cake. This service is all about long-haul connectivity. In terms of the costs of running the route, what will interest Virgin is the revenues protected onto long-haul connections which would otherwise be lost to rival carriers. A loss-leader to LHR is fine if the customer then pays for onward sectors to LAX, SYD, HKG etc. MAN has a long history of providing substantial feed onto LHR long-hauls. Operator Virgin Little Red may be new but the route itself is not.
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As I said in a previous post, as it stands from MAN, 80%+ are connecting pax with a decent number of high yielding pax (F/J class). I believe the base fare on a MAN-LHR is about £7
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I don't think that's quite right. BA need a good percentage of connecting AND P2P to balance the books on the Shuttle. If every flight went out rammed to the gunnels with connections, the operation would lose money surely.
I cannot think of any short haul route that does this, a balance must be struck between recieving a fraction of the long haul revenue and full fare business yield heading down to London.
I cannot think of any short haul route that does this, a balance must be struck between recieving a fraction of the long haul revenue and full fare business yield heading down to London.
Last edited by Skipness One Echo; 12th Apr 2013 at 23:42.
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I was on the first Little Red flight from Manchester and great fun it was too. [/geek]
Learnt that VS and other non-oneworld airlines were really hurt by the loss of bmi feeder traffic - so Little Red was needed, fast. The first flight was a codeshare with NZ and SQ.
For all intents and purposes you are on a Virgin plane, with staff in Virgin uniforms. Aer Lingus is shown on the safety card and on a decal by the door.
I think the innovation is that connecting passengers are bussed from the aircraft steps* to Terminal 3. And BA does need competition, despite what they say, LHR domestic fares shot up after the demise of bmi.
Have four more Little Red flights booked before 11th May! Can't wait.
Double airmiles (3,000 per round trip until end of June) is decent too.
* well, from the jetway
Learnt that VS and other non-oneworld airlines were really hurt by the loss of bmi feeder traffic - so Little Red was needed, fast. The first flight was a codeshare with NZ and SQ.
For all intents and purposes you are on a Virgin plane, with staff in Virgin uniforms. Aer Lingus is shown on the safety card and on a decal by the door.
I think the innovation is that connecting passengers are bussed from the aircraft steps* to Terminal 3. And BA does need competition, despite what they say, LHR domestic fares shot up after the demise of bmi.
Have four more Little Red flights booked before 11th May! Can't wait.
Double airmiles (3,000 per round trip until end of June) is decent too.
* well, from the jetway
Last edited by SealinkBF; 21st Apr 2013 at 09:18.
Had a panicky moment in T5 this morning when it looked likely I wouldn't get the jumpseat heading to MAN. Fired up the iPad and tried a booking with VS - prices were £153.30 one way (lowest) and £303.30 one way (flexible).
Held my nerve and scraped on my BA flight (thanks Ian & Iain
) but think "little Red" might need to reduce their "on the day fares" as I found out how many were actually boarded......
Held my nerve and scraped on my BA flight (thanks Ian & Iain
) but think "little Red" might need to reduce their "on the day fares" as I found out how many were actually boarded......
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.....from MAN surely you would connect via Dubai, Abu Dhabi or even Doha. ?
Given that every flight Ex MAN on these flights is full there AND levels of service are better has there not been a shift to long haul connect rather than short haul connect ?
Given that every flight Ex MAN on these flights is full there AND levels of service are better has there not been a shift to long haul connect rather than short haul connect ?
Service
