Was this abad virgin experience, do I send feedback?

[medhead]

I had a strange virgin experience yesterday morning. I was very happy to get on the aircraft and find I have an empty seat next to me, on a 6am flight from ADL. Boarding proceeded as usual, until the last person got on the flight. He was actually part of a large family group who I'd seen in the lounge purchasing tickets at the last minute. He had his Qantas Q tag on his carry on and he approached the CS about using his free platinum upgrades on board. His boarding pass read 30E and I assume his wife had 30D, the rest of the family where spread around rows 8 to 14.

Any the guy gets on last and after trying to upgrade spots seats 3A/B are empty and asks to sit there. The CS allowed him to move. Needless to say, I was rather annoyed especially as the guy was an armrest hog and clearly was a DYKWIA. I can understand that the CS was being helpful, that is something I really like about VA crew. I appreciate that the family had a bad morning as Qantas had cancelled their flight and they were going to a wedding or something.

But it annoyed me especially as the guy clearly doesn't fly virgin that much. The problem is, on balance (considering both sides), I'm not sure if I should send feedback or not. It was an exceptational event for the guy but I also would have appreciated being asked. Or even the guy not having attitude about taking that spare seat. Thoughts anyone? Am I being too precious?

 

[dfcatch]

IMHO - not Virgin's fault.

Just a d...head who in inconsiderate to other pax.

My guess is he'd be the same on a QF flight.

Not everyone has manners unfortunately.

 

[maninblack]

I do not think the CSM who was afterall being helpful to someone (who appeared to have had a rough morning) could possibly know that the guy would be an annoying neighbour. You also don't have any right to be consulted about the use of the spare seat, this is entirely up to the crew and is essentially none of your business, so I am not sure about the grounds for your proposed feedback (complaint)

So no, I think you just have to wear it as an annoying experience.

 

[Noob]

If you think Virgin crew could have handled the situation you described better send feedback. However, it sounds a bit like they were just trying to be accommodating as you said and in such a situation they would not have wanted any issues with the pax which may cause a delay.

BTW I really hate armrest hogs!

 

[Justchecking]

Yeah, just a tad sensitive about it. You don't own the spare seat next to you and aside from you witnessing the events leading up to that seat being occupied it's really no different to the flight being full and you having to sit next to someone anyway. As a status flyer you got the seat allocation you asked for so Virgin has held up their end of the bargain as far as you are concerned. Its never guaranteed that a spare seat will remain so unless you pay for it. Do Virgin really have to ask you to utilise a seat that belongs to them? That seems a little strange to me. Even if you did send feedback about it, I think it would find the circular file very quickly, there's not really anything here to complain about.

 

[MarkD]

Sounds like the general consensus is precious Personally if he demanded row 3 onboard he sounds like a wanker and I would have been pissed off as well, i guess you are lucky they didnt want the pilots seats. it's really annoying when you are sitting there watching everyone come in, in your head you are going " shut the door, that's enough" then they get in next to you, you smile through gritted teeth and say g'day but both of you know how insincere the greeting was

 

[medhead]

I understand that the CS was being helpful. The problem as I see it is that virgin did decide to give me, a statused passenger, an empty seat. The guy was allocated 30E not 3B, for whatever reason virgin did not decide to allocate that guy 3B. Now I have no problem if the computer decided to give him 3B, but it didn't. Maybe I was granted an empty seat by the computer in recognition of my status and flying. Instead a decision was made, on board, to be helpful to one passenger without considering the convenience of other passengers.

There is no right or wrong in this decision and hence I'm not considering making a complaint (unfair to assume so). I am considering feedback, which might even include a compliment for the crew for helping the guy, on the basis that the passenger dragged over the worst of what happens on qantas and I don't think that Virgin Australia should be trying to copy that on board experience.

Maybe I'm especially annoyed because the guys attitude towards me was poor, why, because I didn't have a Platinum Q tag? Thanks for the thoughts, it certainly helps decide what I'll do to talk through the various points of the situation.

Oh and one big difference to a full flight is the flight wasn't full.

 

[pauly7]

VA still has a LCC hangover with pax thinking it is free for all.... whenever the seat belt sign has come off on my flights, more often than not people jump up and try and move around - even into PY/J!!

Thankfully the staff are getting a bit better about kicking them out of PY/J rows but I've also had people pop up from like row 10 into the first couple of rows in Y.

I know VA are trying to please all and the staff have clearly not been trained to do anything about it (so I dont blame them) but I'm not very comfortable with it either...mmmm

 

[medhead]

, you smile through gritted teeth and say g'day but both of you know how insincere the greeting was

Well when he asked me how I was, I wasn't insincere in my reply that I wasn't good. I then got the story about qantas cancelling his flight. I decided to leave the conversation at that.

 

[drron]

On today's VA flight MCY-MEL I had chosen 3C again.However we got the rogue 738 so not a great seat but close to the front.There was no one seated in PE as the door started to close.
As the door was closing a FA brought a woman and her son up and seated them in 2A,C.The CSM came across and apologised for their seats having bubblegum stuck to them.Fair enough.After take off the young women in 3D,E moved themselves to 1F and 2F.They were actually welcomed to their seats by the CSM.I moved to 3D as all o0f us in row3 on the right were of larger size.The fellow in 3F did seem a little miffed-he did have a QF WP tag on his carryon.
So sometimes the staff can be too nice.That might not be helping them retain the status matched plats though.

 

[richie9x]

I am having a hard time understanding why you would give feedback. Did you buy a spare seat and some one was moved into it? Or did you ask to have the seat next to you blocked and someone was moved into it?

Certainly it can be nice if there is a spare seat next to you, but as far as I know Virgin don't guarantee it for status passengers.

 

[docjames]

Time to chalk it up to "they joys of travel".

 

[Justinf]

Was it a bad experience? Yes.
Do you send feedback? Nah.

If the man's QF flight was cancelled though, why didn't QF rebook him? So what if he needed to be at a wedding? He should have allowed himself plenty of time.

 

[medhead]

I am having a hard time understanding why you would give feedback. Did you buy a spare seat and some one was moved into it? Or did you ask to have the seat next to you blocked and someone was moved into it?

Certainly it can be nice if there is a spare seat next to you, but as far as I know Virgin don't guarantee it for status passengers.

Because:

1. I thought passengers had to remain in their assigned seats for take off
2. To mention that looking after your most frequently flyers involves a balance. Help one platinum and in this case it annoys another platinum. This is a continuous improvement idea, they should at least consider this type of situation and decide how they deal with it, if at all.
3. The new non-LCC model might need such feedback as they make the change.
4. Balanced against those reasons I don't want get the crew in trouble they were really very good.


On the empty seat question neither qantas nor Virgin guarantee an empty seat. However, in this case they did give me an empty seat. There was also plenty of room in the aircraft. With at least 3 pairs of empty double seats, including 30DE and 29BC for example. So the guy could have just as easily been accommodated in those 2 rows, if he wanted to split up from his wife.

Anyway, clearly this is a vexed situation hence why I asked for opinions. Thanks everyone.


Sent from the Throne (80% chance) using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[Justchecking]

I'm still not really convinced that seats in row 3 need to protected. They are still economy seats and if a pax has an economy ticket and that seat is empty they can sit there. Sure, you are miffed because your nice seat with a spare beside you was no longer so. But that would be the same for anyone he chose to sit next to. Why not you? The status pax benefit is that you get to select seats up front before anyone else, not that other people are prevented from sitting there. Sure send feedback if you want, but I personally think it would be a nightmare for the FAs to have to police row three lest a non-status pax seat themselves next to the annointed.....

 

[MarkD]

I think the main issue here is that the guy just picked and chose what seat he wanted. If he was allocated row 30 and had the boarding pass, he should have bloody well sat there. I don't have a row 3 fetish but seriously, don't they issue boarding passes for a reason. Next time I get shoved in row 29 or whatever I am just going to demand row 3 and they will oblige !!!! Seriously doubt it, I would get an AFP escort off the aircraft.
Worthy of a complaint- no I don't think so, but wrong? Bloody oath it's wrong

 

[medhead]

I'm still not really convinced that seats in row 3 need to protected. They are still economy seats and if a pax has an economy ticket and that seat is empty they can sit there. Sure, you are miffed because your nice seat with a spare beside you was no longer so. But that would be the same for anyone he chose to sit next to. Why not you? The status pax benefit is that you get to select seats up front before anyone else, not that other people are prevented from sitting there. Sure send feedback if you want, but I personally think it would be a nightmare for the FAs to have to police row three lest a non-status pax seat themselves next to the annointed.....

You've completely missed the point. The guy had a boarding pass that said a completely different seat. I am not advocating anything like what you've written here. Certainly not protecting seats in row 3. More like sit in the seat you've been allocated, hopefully that isn't too hard for the cabin crew to police.

 

[dfcatch]

Medhead - back when I was in school, there were certain rules.

Rule 1 - No !&@!
Rule 2 - No !&@!
Rule 3 - Refer Rule 1.

Now I'm sure you are familiar with those rules (I'm talking about the version of the rules that doesn't refer to "FNQ Locals").

This guy was clearly a !&@!

Just be grateful you only had one JQ flight yesterday

 

[munitalP]

I think you should stop being so up yourself
"OMG someone is sitting next to me"

bloody punce

LOL

I was going to say that to med - but then again, I know him and he would have taken it in the context meant.




I think I had that guy next to me on Thursday FWIW in J SYD/AKL. He was:

1. An arm rest hog (in j!)
2. A singer along and random drum player to whatever he was listening to in his iPod
3. .....

I think that you should actually write a letter to VA stating the points that I see are valid, the non-allocated seating and the loyalty bit. You are presumptuous that he didn't fly VA much so I would be leaving that out, but as you know, I am an advocator of 3(4 on QF) B-E through to row 6 or 7 being blocked until absolutely necessary to allocate them seats - FWIW, QF does do this to a certain degree...

I also have a problem with FA's reallocating PAX at will. I have been reallocated at will by CSM's over the years to other classes due to whinging people who thought they had <insert myriad of excuses here like "I though I had booked a window seat...">, but on boarding and without a transparent reason, poor form for all the reasons you mentioned in the last few posts. Yes - write a letter.

Was this thread meant as [Fanboi bait]?

 

[r.dunn]

Firstly, let me start with my opinion; I understand the concerns and completely agree with the arguments raised in this thread, but I don't think that you need to pass on feedback. It's not that the feedback wouldn't be valid -- it would -- but it's more to do with the fact you have started a discussion and an airline representative is likely to read it. So, in that sense, formal feedback is mostly redundant at this point.

With regard to whether the FA should have seated the man in Row 3, probably not. There is the chance they saw the mans Platinum Q Tag as you did, and saw this as an opportunity to possibly win over a frequent flyer. But if there were other spare seats onboard, than row three, IMO, should be for Velocity members!