TonyHancock
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2010
- Posts
- 5,655
- Qantas
- LT Gold
- Oneworld
- Emerald
As Antonia felt the hot breath of......errrr wrong forum. Yes where was I....ah.....the two faces of Virgin Australia.
I needed to make a quick trip to Sydney to see a customer, it was a relatively late decision and booked less than a week in advance. An 8:00 AM departure from MEL with a 3:30 PM return. I continued my, to date, successful strategy of using point to upgrade and took advantage of the half price points upgrade.
The day was a story of the sublime and the sub standard. I feared the worst when I saw a red Virgin Blue plane awaiting me for my flight to SYD. Priority boarding worked exactly as it should, I sauntered to the gate 20 mins before departure and walked straight on to the plane via the PB lane. The Cabin Supervisor greeted me warmly at the door and told me he would be with me shortly. I opted for a water, took a copy of The Australian and had my jacket hung. The CS came and talked me through the hot breakfast option....which I politely declined. (I'm not a huge fan of breakfast on the MEL-SYD hop - QF or DJ/VA)
A latecomer, destined for the Y cabin, attempted to open an overhead in J to store his carry on, but was quickly and politely told the space was needed for passengers in the J cabin. "Yes" I thought to myself, "this is exactly how it should be." That said it did feel a little odd since I was the only passenger in the J cabin.
A refreshing cup of English Breakfast tea was promptly served after take off and I settled into an episode of Top Gear on my iPad. (I declined the digiplayer thingy) The little magnetic rope prevented Y passengers from entering the J cabin and all was well in TonyHancock world. To be honest I don't really care if pax from Y used the forward loo, and nor did I really care if the CS had used the plentiful overhead locker space in J for Y pax. What I did like was the attitude, and the firm but polite manner in which the J cabin space was defended. When the J cabin is full this approach will be a necessity.
We landed a few minutes early and I was soon seated in a Skoda Superb Wagon. :shock: (A pretty good car I have to say.)
The return journey lacked some of the qualities I had experienced earlier in the day. It all started to go wrong at about 12:15 when I missed a call from an unknown number. The message requested I call VA/DJ about my SYD-MEL flight later that afternoon. Oh dear, circumstances had transpired to switch out the aircraft to a 737-700 with no business class. :shock: That's OK I said when I returned the call, "I'm early anyway so switching to an earlier flight will suit me, I'll sort it at the airport."
Having dumped the rental and utilised the lounge premium entry I handed my home printed boarding pass to the nice chap at the lounge entry and explained my predicament. He did a quick check and found that the two flights earlier than mine had also been changed out and seating was going to be a problem. He was very apologetic and explained I would get the points back. At this stage I just assumed that the flight had premium economy seats like I had seen before - the middle blocked and the arm rests moved over a little. This I can live with.
An email from tripit pro told me my flight was going to be 17 mins late so I had another go at the service counter to see if I could change. It was a very confusing conversation. I was told that if I took an earlier flight I'd be sat with "everyone" as it was all economy and there would be no J food either. I didn't really care but both members of staff were quite convincing in their suggestion to stay on my existing flight.
The call came out that my flight was now delayed by 30 mins so I again went to the desk to see if I could get away earlier but with only middle seats at the back available I decided to stick it out.
In the end departure was scheduled to be 45 mins late. I was at the gate in time for the priority boarding announcement and lo and behold it just worked. It was clearly going to be a full flight but there was no sign of the QF scrum. The pax were very orderly and waited for the priority line to be boarded first. Very civilised.
Oh dear! It was an old 737. The seating was economy with a bit more leg room in rows 1 and 2. I didn't mind though because the middle seats wouldn't be used......or would they. Apparently they would. Someone sat in 1B and then another over in 2E. I quickly moved my backpack under the seat in front of me. I breathed a sigh of relief as I realised the seat next to me would be free. The Cabin Supervisor approached me up the completion of boarding and advised me that there would be no J service. (I had deduced this by this stage.) I was the only one she spoke to so assumed I was the only one on a J fare. (Albeit a points upgrade J fare.)
At least I had a free seat next to me and it was a short flight. The food trolley was hauled to the front and food was passed to what I assumed were flexi passengers. When the FA came to me I opted for the New Yorker sandwich and a glass of water. "$10" please she said. I whipped the boarding pass out and pointed to the "Business/Premium" line on it. She said OK and moved to the next person.
So this was what I had heard about. The 737-700 debacle. I had finally experienced it.
My take was that the crew were just not prepared for the situation. It really wasn't a huge drama for me, but the crew should have handled it better. At the very least I would have though the FA should have been aware I was not traveling on a saver fare and asked for payment for the sandwich.
Something will always go wrong if you travel enough and my measure of an airline is how they deal with this. Today VA/DJ at least left the seat next to me empty, but could have done a little better on board, and I think the lounge staff could have done a better job explaining the situation to me.
Has this changed my view of VA/DJ? It certainly surprised me but overall I'm still content to give my domestic travel to them. The real shock for me was the huge difference between the two flights. I really didn't expect the gap to be quite so large.
I needed to make a quick trip to Sydney to see a customer, it was a relatively late decision and booked less than a week in advance. An 8:00 AM departure from MEL with a 3:30 PM return. I continued my, to date, successful strategy of using point to upgrade and took advantage of the half price points upgrade.
The day was a story of the sublime and the sub standard. I feared the worst when I saw a red Virgin Blue plane awaiting me for my flight to SYD. Priority boarding worked exactly as it should, I sauntered to the gate 20 mins before departure and walked straight on to the plane via the PB lane. The Cabin Supervisor greeted me warmly at the door and told me he would be with me shortly. I opted for a water, took a copy of The Australian and had my jacket hung. The CS came and talked me through the hot breakfast option....which I politely declined. (I'm not a huge fan of breakfast on the MEL-SYD hop - QF or DJ/VA)
A latecomer, destined for the Y cabin, attempted to open an overhead in J to store his carry on, but was quickly and politely told the space was needed for passengers in the J cabin. "Yes" I thought to myself, "this is exactly how it should be." That said it did feel a little odd since I was the only passenger in the J cabin.
A refreshing cup of English Breakfast tea was promptly served after take off and I settled into an episode of Top Gear on my iPad. (I declined the digiplayer thingy) The little magnetic rope prevented Y passengers from entering the J cabin and all was well in TonyHancock world. To be honest I don't really care if pax from Y used the forward loo, and nor did I really care if the CS had used the plentiful overhead locker space in J for Y pax. What I did like was the attitude, and the firm but polite manner in which the J cabin space was defended. When the J cabin is full this approach will be a necessity.
We landed a few minutes early and I was soon seated in a Skoda Superb Wagon. :shock: (A pretty good car I have to say.)
The return journey lacked some of the qualities I had experienced earlier in the day. It all started to go wrong at about 12:15 when I missed a call from an unknown number. The message requested I call VA/DJ about my SYD-MEL flight later that afternoon. Oh dear, circumstances had transpired to switch out the aircraft to a 737-700 with no business class. :shock: That's OK I said when I returned the call, "I'm early anyway so switching to an earlier flight will suit me, I'll sort it at the airport."
Having dumped the rental and utilised the lounge premium entry I handed my home printed boarding pass to the nice chap at the lounge entry and explained my predicament. He did a quick check and found that the two flights earlier than mine had also been changed out and seating was going to be a problem. He was very apologetic and explained I would get the points back. At this stage I just assumed that the flight had premium economy seats like I had seen before - the middle blocked and the arm rests moved over a little. This I can live with.
An email from tripit pro told me my flight was going to be 17 mins late so I had another go at the service counter to see if I could change. It was a very confusing conversation. I was told that if I took an earlier flight I'd be sat with "everyone" as it was all economy and there would be no J food either. I didn't really care but both members of staff were quite convincing in their suggestion to stay on my existing flight.
The call came out that my flight was now delayed by 30 mins so I again went to the desk to see if I could get away earlier but with only middle seats at the back available I decided to stick it out.
In the end departure was scheduled to be 45 mins late. I was at the gate in time for the priority boarding announcement and lo and behold it just worked. It was clearly going to be a full flight but there was no sign of the QF scrum. The pax were very orderly and waited for the priority line to be boarded first. Very civilised.
Oh dear! It was an old 737. The seating was economy with a bit more leg room in rows 1 and 2. I didn't mind though because the middle seats wouldn't be used......or would they. Apparently they would. Someone sat in 1B and then another over in 2E. I quickly moved my backpack under the seat in front of me. I breathed a sigh of relief as I realised the seat next to me would be free. The Cabin Supervisor approached me up the completion of boarding and advised me that there would be no J service. (I had deduced this by this stage.) I was the only one she spoke to so assumed I was the only one on a J fare. (Albeit a points upgrade J fare.)
At least I had a free seat next to me and it was a short flight. The food trolley was hauled to the front and food was passed to what I assumed were flexi passengers. When the FA came to me I opted for the New Yorker sandwich and a glass of water. "$10" please she said. I whipped the boarding pass out and pointed to the "Business/Premium" line on it. She said OK and moved to the next person.
So this was what I had heard about. The 737-700 debacle. I had finally experienced it.
My take was that the crew were just not prepared for the situation. It really wasn't a huge drama for me, but the crew should have handled it better. At the very least I would have though the FA should have been aware I was not traveling on a saver fare and asked for payment for the sandwich.
Something will always go wrong if you travel enough and my measure of an airline is how they deal with this. Today VA/DJ at least left the seat next to me empty, but could have done a little better on board, and I think the lounge staff could have done a better job explaining the situation to me.
Has this changed my view of VA/DJ? It certainly surprised me but overall I'm still content to give my domestic travel to them. The real shock for me was the huge difference between the two flights. I really didn't expect the gap to be quite so large.
I assume this must be part of their remit!!!!)
