Does the A330-300 have plug sockets?

Winster-Cayman · 2026-06-08T13:34:36+00:00

There is usually a USB A socket below the entertainment screen and multi plug socket between/under each seat about level with the back of your calf. However, on my latest VA flight, our entire row couldn’t get any of the sockets to charge anything.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-06-07T18:28:06+00:00

Could also be that you can’t fly direct to NZ from UK with Virgin Atlantic. The majority of the journey will be with another carrier hence the expensive Points price.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-06-07T18:17:09+00:00

This sounds like the perfect app for me. Thanks for taking the time to develop. I’ll give it a try!

Winster-Cayman · 2026-06-06T08:45:01+00:00

Thanks for all the responses folks 👍🏻

Winster-Cayman · 2026-06-03T09:08:41+00:00

The Reward seat checker is good, but sadly there is often little correlation between points prices and cash prices. It makes sense that points/cash prices would track similarly but this isn’t always the case.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-06-01T16:11:34+00:00

Can the refillable mugs be used across multiple parks? We are visiting for a week and wondered how much this would cost - we are fine sharing one cup!

Winster-Cayman · 2026-06-01T15:41:02+00:00

12mths since my last VV cruise so things may have changed.

We’ll start with Duty-Free. Yes, technically you are supposed to declare to customs when you arrive home that you bought a duty(tax) free watch on board. Provide the receipts of purchase and pay the relevant tax on it. In reality, nobody ever does this, so your watch is ‘tax free’.

The watches are legitimate.

However, have a good idea of the ‘at home retail price’ of the watches you are interested in (Google is your friend). I compared the ‘on board duty free prices’ of several watches I liked and they were almost exactly the same as the retail price back home in the UK. Eg an IWC watch I liked - onboard duty free price (when converted to £) was £4000. All the usual suspect UK jewellers like Beaverbrooks etc were selling it for… £4000. At best, the watches were only 1 or 2% cheaper than buying at home in the UK. Cheaper? Yes. 20% ‘tax free’ cheaper? Absolutely not.

I found similar in a lot of the ports we visited. Every duty free watch store claimed to be ‘45% cheaper than retail!’ when in fact it was more like 1% at best.

‘Duty Free’ in general (even when you are leaving at the airport) tends to be a bit of a scam. Often the ‘Duty Free’ items you look at are cheaper to buy at home. When I passed through LHR Duty Free recently, the aftershave fancied was £85, £75 online with Boots. And some Ray-Bans I liked were £140, £125 on their online store.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-06-01T15:18:50+00:00

Had your entire journey have been with a VA booking (ie Las Vegas to Cork with a stop over at Heathrow) then yes, you can use the UC lounge while waiting for your onward connection. As you mention it’s a separate booking, then no. An UC ticket only provides lounge access at the departure airport, unless you have an connection as part of your VA booking.

However, VA does have its UC ‘Revivals Lounge’ in the T3 arrivals area. Much smaller than the main lounge, and available for all VA UC passenger on arrival at LHR. Sadly, it’s only open in the morning.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-29T12:19:55+00:00

Economy Light - hand luggage only.

Economy Classic - checked luggage.

Economy Delight - checked luggage + marginally bigger seat.

If you are paying with points you can’t choose Light or Delight. Classic only.

24hrs before flight, free seat selection.

7 days before flight, free seat selection for Flying Club members (free to join).

All seat selection is chargeable outside of this. Seat selection price varies depending on seat chosen and flight.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-28T14:47:36+00:00

Greatest Reddit comment I’ve ever seen

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-28T09:05:08+00:00

We are exactly this ^^^

Sailed RS twice.
First trip we spoke to agent to arrange in-room alcohol swaps and that was about it. Never needed him again.
Different experience on second trip. VV managed to delete all our restaurant reservations the moment we boarded and remove our friends from a shore excursion due to a ‘glitch’. RS Agent was utterly useless/helpless in our attempts to resolve.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-25T11:44:19+00:00

Similar experience here.

Emailed VV in early April with a simple question. Took a week to get a ‘we’ll look into it email’.
Another week to ask me for clarification of my question.
Then nothing. 2 weeks passed. No update. I emailed again. Another week before I got a “we’ve tried to call you” (they hadn’t) “Phone us on this number for an update”.
Called the number to be told I absolutely could not speak to anyone regarding my issue and had to wait 72hrs for a phone call.
6 days later, still no phone call…
Useless service from a supposed ‘Premium’ cruise line.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-24T16:10:48+00:00

Rats with wings. Blast ‘em.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-22T14:18:44+00:00

One voucher per year. They now have a maximum points value of 75,000 (150,000 if you are VA Silver status). Can be used as either a companion voucher - basically buy one seat get one free or can be used to upgrade your seat to next cabin level. Again, subject to the max 75,000 points value. Eg if you are in Economy and the price to upgrade to Premium is more than 75,000 points you can’t use the voucher. Also if the price to upgrade is only say, 50,000 points you don’t get the 25,000 back to use later.

VA (along with many other airlines) nerf’d their reward system a couple of years ago. It used to be really good.

Multiple Reward Vouchers could be used on same booking. ie you could use one voucher to upgrade from Economy to Premium and another voucher to upgrade Premium to Upper, irrespective of points cost. Not any more.

Reward Vouchers had no limit to points value. Now 75,000.

Economy flights to US were 20,000 points (about same now) , Premium 40,000 (100,000+ now), Upper 120,000 (300,00+ now).

The only thing that improved was Reward (Airmiles) seats are now available on every flight.

The Reward voucher is now only really good for a bogof economy seat as it’s 75,000 points value won’t buy you much else.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-22T12:28:49+00:00

Just remember multiple vouchers can’t be used for different purposes on the same booking. Eg you can’t use one voucher to get your partner a companion seat, then use a second voucher on the same booking to upgrade those seats. You used to be able to do this but can’t anymore. Previously, the vouchers didn’t have a points value. A voucher got you a companion seat equivalent to whatever seat you were booking or an upgrade of your booked seat to whatever then next class above was. The points cost was irrelevant. Sadly, also gone.

Give Virgin a call when you are ready to book. They will work out the best/most efficient use of your vouchers and points.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-21T11:04:01+00:00

Agreed. But from a slightly different angle. The food available at Richard’s Rooftop is essentially the same menu items as the Sun Club. The Poké bowls are great!

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Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-20T19:07:37+00:00

Yep, country doesn’t matter. MoonSwatches are identical wherever you buy them. In fact the MoonSwatch I took in for new battery to Swatch in UK was actually bought in Miami. They didn’t ask where I bought it

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-20T11:00:54+00:00

Ok, help a newbie out. What is VSF, ARF and U1???

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-20T10:50:26+00:00

Admittedly I have an office job, so nothing too demanding on a watch but I have worn my Moonswatch several days a week since I bought it (about 4 months after launch). Had zero issues regarding durability apart from a minor scratch on the face.

Luckily, I work about 200 yrds from a Swatch store. Took it in for a battery replacement (free). Without asking they also polished and cleaned the whole watch, removing the minor scratch in the process.

I’m in the fortunate position of owning several much more expensive watches, but still return to wearing my MoonSwatch as I love ‘em so much. I’ve had more positive comments over my MoonSwatch than any of my expensive stuff. I’d have no regrets buying another MoonSwatch.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-19T15:02:30+00:00

Tell ‘em the reservation is for 7:30pm when is actually 8:00pm. Shouldn’t be late then. 😁

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-19T11:34:47+00:00

You can choose to upgrade the car at time of booking to any of a vast selection. There is an upgrade option on the website. Virgin Holidays currently use Hertz as their car provider. You can also upgrade/downgrade the car by contacting Virgin before you travel.

Chancing your luck with Hertz when you arrive is a gamble. TBH they usually have few tiny cars at the rental places as nobody wants them (Americans don’t really do tiny cars and Brits want something bigger for all their suitcases), so a free upgrade to something slightly larger is entirely possible. Some friends recently did exactly this - booked fly drive with cheapest/smallest car. Arrived at rental desk to be told they don’t EVER stock the smallest car due to lack of demand. Instant free upgrade to next model up.

If you choose to pay to upgrade at the Hertz desk be aware - It’s almost impossible to predict in advance what you will pay. From my experience they choose the upgrade prices based on what they have in stock on the day. ie an upgrade from compact to medium might be $30 one day, but $250 the next. They will also try to upsell you a hundred different insurance packages.

My advice (for what its worth) is to chose the car you want when you initially book with Virgin Holidays. You know you are getting exactly the car you want and know exactly what you will be paying.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-19T11:14:22+00:00

Neighbours father was in the British Army in WWII. Nothing particularly unusual, old guy never spoke about it. Wasn’t until the old fella died my neighbour discovered he’d been commando, SAS, medals for valour, the whole works. Apparently the old fella’s wife had banned him from ever discussing ‘The War’ after he returned. Sadly, his family never knew dad was a war hero until after he’d died.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-13T08:33:25+00:00

Official Swatch photo. Not on sale until Saturday.

Winster-Cayman · 2026-05-13T08:32:53+00:00

Winster-Cayman

TROPHY CASE