Virgin Trip Lengths
 

Calling any Virgin flight/cabin crew out there.

I'm a Heatrow ATCO who's fortunate enough to have a Virgin fam flight coming up in the next couple of months.

Can any of you out there be kind enough to give me a rough idea of how long each trip is, so that I'm better able to choose my destination to fit in either my leave or 4 days off in each cycle.

I'd be flying out and returning with the same crew, and having a few cheeky beers with you guys downroute:ok:

Many Thanks
Yellow Snow

Hi,

If you go to the east coast of the US (Miami, New York, Boston and Washington), India and Lagos you only stay 1 night so they are generally 3 day trips, west coast and far east (Los Angeles, Shanghai, Narita, San Fran) you stay 2 nights so its a 4 day trip, you also have Jo'Burg and Cape Town, which are varying in lengths for the winter season.

I cant really speak for the Jumbo trips as they have such variation in patterns when flying to the Carribean.

My bet would be to go to Jo'Burg or Shanghai...

Good luck.

springbok449 thanks for that.

What are the factors affecting the length of Joburg and Cape Town? Can I work out the trip lengths myself from the timetables on Virgin's website?

Regarding the recommendation, are those the two you'd best recommend for social purposes:) or other?

Cheers again

Hi there, sorry I havent replied before cant blame it on being too busy though...

I am not exactly sure what the lenghts of trips are for South Africa in the winter as it depends on flights, fleet etc, I think Jo'Burg is still 2 nights/3 days. I guss the best thing is to speak to the person who is organising your trip regarding the Cape Town.

All trips are based on social life...HKG is another good one saddly it is now tagged onto a SYD so it makes it difficult for crew to take someone along...

Hope this helps.

Rgds, Bokkie449

Jo'burg will be probably be the best one to come along on. As an Atco the RT procedures on that route would be more interesting at least.
Most importantly though it's a great social trip as we generally all go out for a meal and drinks plus golf/shooting/go karting during the day. Also the timings mean we can do this both nights as the check out is not until the next evening unlike Shanghai for instance.
It does actually cover 5 days though if you take into account leaving late at night on day 1 and landing back early on day 5. A Shanghai or Narita gets you back in the afternoon/evening of day 4.

Having said all that a Hong Kong is definately the most fun trip to come on socially. Unfortunately, as has been pointed out the crew would be carrying on to Sydney. If you could return with a different crew this wouldn't be a problem of course.

See you down route maybe!

Cheers all for your coments.

Due to getting time off from the good lady, I've applied for a couple of US east coast destinations and Dubai as a fall back.

Look forward to haing a beer with one you downroute:ok:

Hmm. Go to New York and you could end up with as little as 17 hours on the ground - less if you get any delays. Knock off 3 hours for transport and pre-flight prep and you're down to 14 hours or less in which to do your own thing - and drinking will not be on the pilots' agenda! Dubai is also an odd one as the return departure is very early in the morning. You can get out and about in the afternoon of your day of arrival (if the traffic jams aren't too bad, which is rare!), but beer is again an unlikely prospect.

Boston, Washington and Newark are better for getting a bit of social life, but you probably won't see much of the cabin crew. They tend to use one-night trips as money savers (Virgin's junior CC pay is pretty minimal).

Cheers Scroggs,

I appreciate beer time is tight on the east coast routes, just don't have the time to for a 4/5 day trip.

Miami is first choice which seems to be a 747 on the winter schedule, so I'll be chuffed to get that! And if there's time for a couple of cheeky shandies then great:)