Nobody has mentioned that 30 years ago VIRGIN was a glamorous, trendy, innovative airline. Their seats were nice, the food was fantastic, the crews were friendly, and their onboard entertainment was one of the most modern in the industry. Also, their UPPER CLASS was a very attractive product, kind of a Business Class but less serious. What happened to that airline is a mystery. They have not introduced anything new in ages. Nowadays they are just an average airline and their UPS is not clear or obvious at all.

clrd4t8koff wrote:

MAH4546 wrote:

clrd4t8koff wrote:

Reading comprehension apparently isn’t your thing. What about me saying “I misspoke and I own that” is so hard for you to understand I’m admitting my mistake?

And in that post you just referenced I started I posted links to two sources. What additional evidence do you need. Or do you just enjoy being a troll?

You have yet to post single source to backup your ridiculous claims. Air France discontinued Orlando. Maybe I should post about how Orlando-Europe is failing. You are clearly trolling and not even doing a good job hiding it.

You dodge a question with another false post. Why can’t you provide a source for your claim WW is only suspending MIA seasonally?

I linked 2 sources to support my ask if MIA was struggling with EU carriers. Why is it so hard for you?

You linked zero sources. You still don’t understand that, do you?

You know exactly my source for the seasonal suspension. You posted it!

clrd4t8koff wrote:

It’s interesting that this is the second post this week speculating poor performance on a UK-MIA route. The other being the recently launched EI DUB-MIA not doing well.

How can anybody take you seriously if you don’t understand basic geography on an aviation forum. I live in Dublin which is in Ireland - it is NOT the UK.

Skyblue39 wrote:

clrd4t8koff wrote:

It’s interesting that this is the second post this week speculating poor performance on a UK-MIA route. The other being the recently launched EI DUB-MIA not doing well.

How can anybody take you seriously if you don’t understand basic geography on an aviation forum. I live in Dublin which is in Ireland - it is NOT the UK.

I'm with you there absolutely, has anyone actually taken anything this guy has written seriously, he's a joke!

Skyblue39 wrote:

clrd4t8koff wrote:

It’s interesting that this is the second post this week speculating poor performance on a UK-MIA route. The other being the recently launched EI DUB-MIA not doing well.

How can anybody take you seriously if you don’t understand basic geography on an aviation forum. I live in Dublin which is in Ireland - it is NOT the UK.

If some of those Brexiters who are nostalgic for Empire and things past have their way, it would be again!

jmmadrid wrote:

Nobody has mentioned that 30 years ago VIRGIN was a glamorous, trendy, innovative airline. Their seats were nice, the food was fantastic, the crews were friendly, and their onboard entertainment was one of the most modern in the industry. Also, their UPPER CLASS was a very attractive product, kind of a Business Class but less serious. What happened to that airline is a mystery. They have not introduced anything new in ages. Nowadays they are just an average airline and their UPS is not clear or obvious at all.

I couldn't agree more. Even 20 years ago VS was considered trendy/edgy/stylish and cool in the UK. It is none of that today. VS has become a me too carrier at a time when there is now even more competition. Virgin's problems are much larger that just the LHR-MIA market. They have completely lost an identity and reason for being.

MAH4546 wrote:

clrd4t8koff wrote:

MAH4546 wrote:

You have yet to post single source to backup your ridiculous claims. Air France discontinued Orlando. Maybe I should post about how Orlando-Europe is failing. You are clearly trolling and not even doing a good job hiding it.

You dodge a question with another false post. Why can’t you provide a source for your claim WW is only suspending MIA seasonally?

I linked 2 sources to support my ask if MIA was struggling with EU carriers. Why is it so hard for you?

You linked zero sources. You still don’t understand that, do you?

You know exactly my source for the seasonal suspension. You posted it!

How desperate can you be? In the same post that you claim I linked zero sources, you then tell me the source you’re claiming IS THE ONE I POSTED?! Are you living in an alternate reality or just not comprehending the nonsense you post?

And on top of that the source I posted said WW might possibly go seasonal in the future, nothing definitive. Again - how are you not comprehending the difference?

jmmadrid wrote:

Nobody has mentioned that 30 years ago VIRGIN was a glamorous, trendy, innovative airline. Their seats were nice, the food was fantastic, the crews were friendly, and their onboard entertainment was one of the most modern in the industry. Also, their UPPER CLASS was a very attractive product, kind of a Business Class but less serious. What happened to that airline is a mystery. They have not introduced anything new in ages. Nowadays they are just an average airline and their UPS is not clear or obvious at all.

Most of that is very true, however what happened to them isn't really a mystery when you dig below the surface.

Bermuda II disappeared, so the built in competitive advantage they had from their LHR slots disappeared overnight.

The person running the airline for a good part of it's history Steve Ridgway came from a sales background in no way related to airlines, he did spend some time running "Freeway" which was successful, but if you look at the history of airline frequent flyer clubs, it's hard not to be successful, however, IMHO he proved to be a horrible CEO at a time when the company needed someone who knew the airline business, not someone who was in his spot thanks to his friendship with the owner, something Branson has a nasty habit of doing btw.

Next you have to throw in the fact that it's fleet was set up for Bermuda II, big four engine planes and this worked perfectly while Bermuda II was alive, but as soon as it died VS should have been switching to smaller more economical aircraft, it didn't.

Then you have the product itself, now let me say this, there was a time when I was taking 20 + Upper Class flights a year, the product was great, the food and entertainment were great and the crews were great, but over time, I want to say 2005-08, the food went to hell, the crews were very much hit and miss, I will say, when you had a good crew VS were very hard to beat, and the perks disappeared, gone were the inflight massages etc, sounds silly, but when picking flights the wife would ALWAYS demand VS simply because she could sit and chat with the young lady while getting her nails done, sounds silly right, but it caused me to spend close to $100k a year with VS just for that reason.

Then you have, at least for me and the company I work for, the last straw, while reviewing some paperwork one of our bean counters came across something strange, it turned out that even on a corporate contract, we were being charged around 15% more (even factoring in exchange rates) for the fuel surcharge than if we had been buying the tickets in the UK, now, that was an issue, however that was not the bad part, the bad part was the attitude of VS when we inquired about this we got a pretty simple "if you don't like, don't fly with us", I happened to be in Europe at the time and got a very nice phone call at 3am asking me to get my butt to LGW and to please explain to VS that in the words of my boss "they can go f**k themselves", in one move VS lost a $20m a year contract.

I relate this story not to gloat, not to twist a knife, but to draw a point to the thing that I think really went wrong with them, as jmmadrid pointed out, 30 years ago they were different and something special, even 20 years ago they were a class above the lines of BA, but VS made a mistake IMHO that many companies make, the powers that be started to believe their own marketing, the actually thought they were better than everyone else, that's great when you are, but you have to keep working to stay there and VS didn't.

Now, I will say, in the last couple of years there have been signs of brain life over in Crawley, I hope they figure it out.

Edit: Now that I am reading this to double check for typos, something dawned on me, VS slowly evolved into a newer version of BA, the same issues, the same corporate shift in thinking.

Is KLM’s MIA service seasonal? If so, what months do they operate the route.