Virgin's A340-600

faceman

Going to be flying on an A346 for the first time next month, in Y class. Never flown on an A346 before nor with Virgin. I hear rumours that the A346 has a quieter cabin than the trusty B777? Anyone any experience flying the A346?

Bonus point if you have any experience flying Virgin long haul in Y!

donvito99

I imagine it's bloody quiet up the front of an A346.

veetwin

Have travelled LHR-LOS on A346 in y class before. Virgin upper class is a bit weird compared to legacy carriers. The seating is arranged in a kind of herring bone configuration which means that talking to your travelling partner involves either talking over you shoulder or leaning forward. Cabin is quiet - noticeably so than other long haul aircraft imho.

Seats are lie flat but from what I remember you have to get out of your seat to make it fully flat. There is a bar on board which is nice and the service is informal and even a bit flirty compared to the likes of BA and LH. Food and drink was excellent.

Highlight though is the lounge at LHR which is really nice. Full restaurant and loads of other services. I remember I changed my flight from DUB so I could spend several hours there!

phonypony

It's a pretty comfortable, reasonably quiet ride. Their cabin service was good westbound from memory, not so much eastbound (from EWR though, short overnight flight). Wherever you end up sitting, stroll down to the very back and marvel at the sheer length of the fuselage!

faceman

veetwin wrote: »

Have travelled LHR-LOS on A346 in y class before. Virgin upper class is a bit weird compared to legacy carriers. The seating is arranged in a kind of herring bone configuration which means that talking to your travelling partner involves either talking over you shoulder or leaning forward. Cabin is quiet - noticeably so than other long haul aircraft imho.

Seats are lie flat but from what I remember you have to get out of your seat to make it fully flat. There is a bar on board which is nice and the service is informal and even a bit flirty compared to the likes of BA and LH. Food and drink was excellent.

Highlight though is the lounge at LHR which is really nice. Full restaurant and loads of other services. I remember I changed my flight from DUB so I could spend several hours there!

Sorry I meant Y class as in economy. No such luxuries as Upper Class for me!

veetwin

faceman wrote: »

Sorry I meant Y class as in economy. No such luxuries as Upper Class for me!

Sorry, my mistake:o

Shure you might get an upgrade:cool:

omega man

On a side note I believe they're getting rid of their 340's. not particularly fuel efficient machines.

Tenger

omega man wrote: »

On a side note I believe they're getting rid of their 340's. not particularly fuel efficient machines.

The A340 was a nice design concept. It was supposed to be the long range companion to the A330. But as a niche product it has been overtaken by higher fuel costs, more efficient and longer range twin engine aircraft.

MuffinsDa

faceman wrote: »

Going to be flying on an A346 for the first time next month, in Y class. Never flown on an A346 before nor with Virgin. I hear rumours that the A346 has a quieter cabin than the trusty B777? Anyone any experience flying the A346?

Bonus point if you have any experience flying Virgin long haul in Y!

I'm flying the same (Virgin A346 Y class) in a couple of months - 12 hours flight ! From what I've read Virgin service has gone down alot in quality!

Flew A346 with Lufthansa a couple of years ago (ORD/MUC) wasn't terribly impressed but it was probably due to a very full flight and stress of having missed flight a couple of hours earlier!

Zonda999

Don't mean to go off topic but the ending of the A340 is a shame. Airbus probably wouldn;t have made money on the A340/A330 programme based on the A340 alone. The A330 has done much better by comparison. The A340 is a funny one, be it in terms of aesthetics and economics. In reality, most operators must be kicking themselves that they didn't order the B777 instead.

In terms of aesthetics, the A342 and A343 are kinds of odd looking things, the engines looking far too small. These aircraft are powered by the same CFM56's you see on B737's and A320s, although they are the most powerful application of the CFM56 in fairness. The A345 and A346 are much better looking aircraft. The A345 is probably the best looking in terms of correct proportionality. the A346 is quite a machine but it is very long indeed.

In terms of economics, they are totally beaten by the 777. Nearly all operators are phasing out their A343's and the 346's probably only have a few years left as well. A340 production ended in 2010 with he last couple of A346 deliveries to Iberia. That airline with all its woes really must be kicking themselves.

Remember too, the A340 was the real "4 engines 4 longhaul" aircraft for Virgin. Wasn't too long later they had to eat their words on that and order the A330. Where are you flying with Virgin to OP. If its to the states, I would definitely prefer Virgin than the legacy US carriers..

faceman

Zonda999 wrote: »

Where are you flying with Virgin to OP. If its to the states, I would definitely prefer Virgin than the legacy US carriers..

Flying to China.

pclancy

Have been on Swiss and Cathay Pacific A340s and they were both excellent regarding noise and comfort. The 2x4x2 seat config was nice for flying with partners, most 777s now are at least 3x4x3 if not worse!

castie

Fly Virgin to Sydney from London via HK and a few times between Sydney and HK on their A346.

Thought it was an enjoyable enough flight.
Alot better than the KLM/Emirates 777 experience anyway.

murphym7

I flew on the A340 for the first time last summer to SFO. It was with Virgin in PE. Nothing really stood out for me to be fair, service is fine, not like the good old days with Virgin, standards have dropped a bit. A big plus with long haul on the A340 & A330 is definitely the 2-4-2 config.

Almaviva

pclancy wrote: »

most 777s now are at least 3x4x3 if not worse!

???

Stinicker

I flew on Etihad's A340-600 in economy class from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow in 2011, excellent plane and very quite too, great avod also. Lufthansa installed downstairs toilets in the cargo bay of their A340's also.

I made these videos of the plane back then,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dabfrJ75uFI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq5Zru6QJHk

islanderre

I too flew the A340=600 on lufthansa to / from Cape Town....... the 2 side seats were great for travelling with a friend. As mentioned above, Lufthansa had a toilet module located on the lower deck accessible by a stairs which was handy for stretching your legs. Their was no seatback AVOD at the time but flight was very comfortable and quiet too even down the back in economy.

I personally much prefer the airbus 330 / 340 in against the B777 due to the cabin quietness and the 2 side seats together.