777
Established Member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2009
- Posts
- 2,781
Given that the Virgin forum often hosts posts by Qantas flyers posting about flying virgin for the first time in years and their reaction to it i thought it might be of some interest to post the reverse over here. I've been a Virgin Gold now Platinum for about 3 or 4 years. In that time i've only flown Qantas once or twice domestically and a few more times internationally. Due to not being in control of my arrangements (my hosts booked them) i ended up flying SYD-MEL 7pm last night and i thought some might be interested in my impressions - it was my first QF flight in 2 or so years.
THE GOOD:
* A widebody! - I've become very used to 737s over recent years i'd forgotten the general sense of spaciousness that you get in the old 767
* My seat - i ended up in 24D (or was it C?) in the second row of economy, aisle seat, in what is essentially a mini cabin between the back of business and the main economy section and with the spare middle seat next to me. This seemed like a particularly good seat for a bronze nobody with bugger all status credits for the year ( i selected it myself online a few days ago)
* The terminal - The QF terminal in Sydney is a clear improvement over the VA one (although i spend most of my time in the lounge in the VA one)
* Selection of beers on board - i went the Squire.
* On time: Flight departed more or less on time and got into melbourne only a few minutes late. By contrast my VA flight on the way up was an hour and a half late - although this was unusual and apparently due WX/ ATC in Sydney and not the airline.
THE DIFFERENT:
* The IFE - Virgin have really let themselves down in this department with the changeover. I was actually a big fan of Virgin's LTA but it is on so few flights these days it doesn't really count and most flights currently have none. By contrast it may seem like a small thing but the ABC radio option was great to listen to the cricket, catch up on the news of the day, etc but FFS surely they can get it to tune into the station better than it does? (particularly when on the ground or in the SYD, MEL area). I could take or leave The Big Bang Theory and the rest of it though.
* No lounge access (Not Qantas' fault but given the number of VA reviews that complain about the fact they don't have the Qantas club it is worth a mention)
* Cabin Crew - no sign of the "i hate my job" surliness that i've seen on occasions with Qantas staff in the past but they seemed less engaged and enthusiastic than the VA staff. Part of this may clearly be due to having no status so i won't score it down, i'll just observe it.
THE BAD:
* The meal - I really felt like i was in a time warp with the beef (or was it lamb?), beans, potato thing. It feels like no effort has been made to update it since the 80s and it tasted rubbery. By contrast VA flexi/ BOB (though not hot on short hops) tastes fresh - YMMV though.
* The plane felt old - there was some freying on the seats, the interior felt tired and a bit beaten up
* Announcements - this one was weird to notice but possibly indicative of how much VA have lifted their game on this front recently. Compared to the VA staff the QF announcements seemed a bit unprofessional - maybe a product of the Kath and Kim accent the woman doing the PA had more than anything but sounded quite patronising and annoying (Again, YMMV and i may not have noticed it if i wasn't really looking out for it given the number of times the Virgin PA announcements used to come up in the old days).
All in all it was a perfectly acceptable experience as i managed to snag the things that matter to me most: an aisle, a seat near the front, and a quick exit.
THE GOOD:
* A widebody! - I've become very used to 737s over recent years i'd forgotten the general sense of spaciousness that you get in the old 767
* My seat - i ended up in 24D (or was it C?) in the second row of economy, aisle seat, in what is essentially a mini cabin between the back of business and the main economy section and with the spare middle seat next to me. This seemed like a particularly good seat for a bronze nobody with bugger all status credits for the year ( i selected it myself online a few days ago)
* The terminal - The QF terminal in Sydney is a clear improvement over the VA one (although i spend most of my time in the lounge in the VA one)
* Selection of beers on board - i went the Squire.
* On time: Flight departed more or less on time and got into melbourne only a few minutes late. By contrast my VA flight on the way up was an hour and a half late - although this was unusual and apparently due WX/ ATC in Sydney and not the airline.
THE DIFFERENT:
* The IFE - Virgin have really let themselves down in this department with the changeover. I was actually a big fan of Virgin's LTA but it is on so few flights these days it doesn't really count and most flights currently have none. By contrast it may seem like a small thing but the ABC radio option was great to listen to the cricket, catch up on the news of the day, etc but FFS surely they can get it to tune into the station better than it does? (particularly when on the ground or in the SYD, MEL area). I could take or leave The Big Bang Theory and the rest of it though.
* No lounge access (Not Qantas' fault but given the number of VA reviews that complain about the fact they don't have the Qantas club it is worth a mention)
* Cabin Crew - no sign of the "i hate my job" surliness that i've seen on occasions with Qantas staff in the past but they seemed less engaged and enthusiastic than the VA staff. Part of this may clearly be due to having no status so i won't score it down, i'll just observe it.
THE BAD:
* The meal - I really felt like i was in a time warp with the beef (or was it lamb?), beans, potato thing. It feels like no effort has been made to update it since the 80s and it tasted rubbery. By contrast VA flexi/ BOB (though not hot on short hops) tastes fresh - YMMV though.
* The plane felt old - there was some freying on the seats, the interior felt tired and a bit beaten up
* Announcements - this one was weird to notice but possibly indicative of how much VA have lifted their game on this front recently. Compared to the VA staff the QF announcements seemed a bit unprofessional - maybe a product of the Kath and Kim accent the woman doing the PA had more than anything but sounded quite patronising and annoying (Again, YMMV and i may not have noticed it if i wasn't really looking out for it given the number of times the Virgin PA announcements used to come up in the old days).
All in all it was a perfectly acceptable experience as i managed to snag the things that matter to me most: an aisle, a seat near the front, and a quick exit.
