A330 - XFA/B - Refit?

[bass_ke]

Hmmm, for my VA566 on Friday Seat Selection is no longer available on Virgins website but Expert flyer still show's a 2-2-2 layout

Is this usual?

 

[serfty]

This close to the flight, I would be starting to get confident.

Note that even though they give you N/C headphones, the sockets are not powered so there is no N/C function.

 

[Bofter]

Hmmm, for my VA566 on Friday Seat Selection is no longer available on Virgins website but Expert flyer still show's a 2-2-2 layout

Is this usual?

If you are referring to booking system seat selection as opposed to check in system seat selection, then on these A332 flights I have never been able to make use of that within 48-54 hours of departure even in those cases where it does show the seat map.

 

[bass_ke]

Great news everybody, T-27 and still showing this

 

[hummel]

View attachment 25891

Great news everybody, T-27 and still showing this

I only realised the change from A330 to 737 when I got to the gate once. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement.

However I did contact VA and they said they'd upgrade me from any fare to business on a one-time basis as compensation.

 

[bass_ke]

A nice sight when walking down the aero bridge.

Morning flights seemed in luck as XFE was parked up beside us. Amazing crew today, although they hated XFA/XFB as much as most of the. AFF community!

 

[Must...Fly!]

XFE was parked up but remained parked up, VA686 was downgraded to a 737 for some reason, presumably it went u/s.

 

[webslave]

I had the distinct 'pleasure' of travelling on XFA last Friday. Sitting in the lounge with a colleague in MEL due to PER on VA685 I watched XFA pull into our gate with dismay and explained to him that it's one of the worst planes in the fleet and was guaranteed to be at least an hour late (it was 20 mins late arriving). Sure enough, a couple of minutes later an announcement was made that we would be departing 40 minutes late. Could have been worse, I suppose.

With no updates in the interim we were called for boarding approximately 100 minutes late. We entered the cabin to find the temperature around 40 degrees, which the captain later explained was because the APU was inoperative. He also said that the delay was due to changing a blown tyre (I assume they did, although I never saw them do it - instead I just saw a bunch of techs inside the plane working). We left the gate more than two hours late and then sat on a taxiway for another thirty minutes awaiting our turn to depart.

The takeoff roll provided enough bleed air for the AC packs to do their job and the plane cooled down a little as by this stage it was starting to smell pretty bad in there, and was awfully uncomfortable (and not just because of the horrid seats). As usual the thing shook and rattled and some of the seats performed an uncommanded recline, but that's fairly par for the course on this aircraft. Reaching cruise height we were told that the IFE was inoperative, which was not entirely warmly received as many of the pax contemplated spending the next four hours playing eye-spy. I was particularly a fan of the way the useless IFE enclosure occupies 50% of the foot space under the seat in front. Cue more grumbles from the passengers when we were told that a number of items on the menu were 'unavailable' on this flight.

I really should have known better by the time we touched down in Perth, but perhaps my relief at arriving had caused me to forget my VH-XFA/B landing checklist which entails holding your hands above your head. If I'd remembered to do so it is entirely possible that I would not have been hit in the head by a bag that fell out of the overhead bin when the door opened by itself. I can only be thankful that the owner of that bag had packed cosmetics and not bowling balls.

I just can't understand why VA persists in flying these horrid aircraft on long-haul domestic. The staff know they are rubbish, and the passengers know they are rubbish. I would imagine that the argument is that the average passenger doesn't notice a difference in the hard product, but in my observation that is entirely false. The amount of complaints I heard from people who travelled rarely were numerous, and to my amusement when the captain made his "...we have enjoyed having you on-board today, we look forward to flying you next time" speech the reaction from the cabin was like he had just told a mildly funny joke, which I suppose it was. There were many responses of "No chance of that".

Is the cost differential between these aircraft and a new aircraft (or perhaps an overhaul) that large that they can afford to piss off a full cabin of passengers every time it travels? XFA and XFB I don't feel are reflective of the usual VA experience, and as such do them a terrible injustice.

Of course, our delay put us in Perth right on rush hour and meant we ended up missing our meeting. The trip had been pointless.

 

[Must...Fly!]

XFA has been very badly behaved recently. So much so that flightaware reports it has not operated since Saturday afternoon. It was meant to operate yesterday but was removed. I wonder when we will see it next!

 

[docjames]

I had the distinct 'pleasure' of travelling on XFA last Friday. Sitting in the lounge with a colleague in MEL due to PER on VA685 I watched XFA pull into our gate with dismay and explained to him that it's one of the worst planes in the fleet and was guaranteed to be at least an hour late (it was 20 mins late arriving). Sure enough, a couple of minutes later an announcement was made that we would be departing 40 minutes late. Could have been worse, I suppose.

With no updates in the interim we were called for boarding approximately 100 minutes late. We entered the cabin to find the temperature around 40 degrees, which the captain later explained was because the APU was inoperative. He also said that the delay was due to changing a blown tyre (I assume they did, although I never saw them do it - instead I just saw a bunch of techs inside the plane working). We left the gate more than two hours late and then sat on a taxiway for another thirty minutes awaiting our turn to depart.

The takeoff roll provided enough bleed air for the AC packs to do their job and the plane cooled down a little as by this stage it was starting to smell pretty bad in there, and was awfully uncomfortable (and not just because of the horrid seats). As usual the thing shook and rattled and some of the seats performed an uncommanded recline, but that's fairly par for the course on this aircraft. Reaching cruise height we were told that the IFE was inoperative, which was not entirely warmly received as many of the pax contemplated spending the next four hours playing eye-spy. I was particularly a fan of the way the useless IFE enclosure occupies 50% of the foot space under the seat in front. Cue more grumbles from the passengers when we were told that a number of items on the menu were 'unavailable' on this flight.

I really should have known better by the time we touched down in Perth, but perhaps my relief at arriving had caused me to forget my VH-XFA/B landing checklist which entails holding your hands above your head. If I'd remembered to do so it is entirely possible that I would not have been hit in the head by a bag that fell out of the overhead bin when the door opened by itself. I can only be thankful that the owner of that bag had packed cosmetics and not bowling balls.

I just can't understand why VA persists in flying these horrid aircraft on long-haul domestic. The staff know they are rubbish, and the passengers know they are rubbish. I would imagine that the argument is that the average passenger doesn't notice a difference in the hard product, but in my observation that is entirely false. The amount of complaints I heard from people who travelled rarely were numerous, and to my amusement when the captain made his "...we have enjoyed having you on-board today, we look forward to flying you next time" speech the reaction from the cabin was like he had just told a mildly funny joke, which I suppose it was. There were many responses of "No chance of that".

Is the cost differential between these aircraft and a new aircraft (or perhaps an overhaul) that large that they can afford to piss off a full cabin of passengers every time it travels? XFA and XFB I don't feel are reflective of the usual VA experience, and as such do them a terrible injustice.

Of course, our delay put us in Perth right on rush hour and meant we ended up missing our meeting. The trip had been pointless.

So have you provided feedback to VA?

 

[lovestotravel]

There is little point providing feedback unless you feel like a standard form based, insert name here, response.

 

[webslave]

So have you provided feedback to VA?

Yes, it was the first thing I did when I arrived at the office this morning. I also provided feedback (politely) to staff, and via Twitter.

There is little point providing feedback unless you feel like a standard form based, insert name here, response.

Sadly true. I'll be sure to keep a look out for that in my inbox three weeks from now.

 

[docjames]

There is little point providing feedback unless you feel like a standard form based, insert name here, response.

That may be your experience. Certainly I've had better outcomes than this.

 

[hummel]

That may be your experience. Certainly I've had better outcomes than this.

Likewise here.

 

[webslave]

I can only hope that I'm so lucky.

As a side note, I'm not sure if it's the norm but prior to push-back at MEL the cabin crew (who it has to be said were pretty much the saving grace on the flight) handed out newspapers to passengers. It's a nice gesture, but at a purely practical level who would have thought handing out copies of The Australian to economy airline passengers would be a great idea?

 

[lovestotravel]

Do let us know if they actually offer you anything besides we will look into it, re-train our staff etc etc rubbish which generally means nothing!

As for newspapers, on my last VA flight SYD-MEL the FA did hand out leftover newspapers to Economy.

Just because someone is in Economy doesn't mean they won't like The Australian, well except maybe on Tiger......

 

[webslave]

Just because someone is in Economy doesn't mean they won't like The Australian, well except maybe on Tiger......

These were a lot of newspapers (more than just leftovers), but demographics was not the reason I was referring to insofar as why it wasn't the wisest move. Instead, consider that The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper with a width of ~80cm...

 

[Birdblack]

The canned responses may be frustrating but the more complaints they have on file about these two terrible aircraft the more chance they might either refurb them or give them the boot for some brand new ones.

I wonder how much these two planes cost the company in travel bank credits they hand out to annoyed passengers. I know I've got a free flight or two to PER thanks to it!

 

[maninblack]

I had the distinct 'pleasure' of travelling on XFA last Friday. Sitting in the lounge with a colleague in MEL due to PER on VA685 I watched XFA pull into our gate with dismay and explained to him that it's one of the worst planes in the fleet and was guaranteed to be at least an hour late (it was 20 mins late arriving). Sure enough, a couple of minutes later an announcement was made that we would be departing 40 minutes late. Could have been worse, I suppose.

With no updates in the interim we were called for boarding approximately 100 minutes late. We entered the cabin to find the temperature around 40 degrees, which the captain later explained was because the APU was inoperative. He also said that the delay was due to changing a blown tyre (I assume they did, although I never saw them do it - instead I just saw a bunch of techs inside the plane working). We left the gate more than two hours late and then sat on a taxiway for another thirty minutes awaiting our turn to depart.

The takeoff roll provided enough bleed air for the AC packs to do their job and the plane cooled down a little as by this stage it was starting to smell pretty bad in there, and was awfully uncomfortable (and not just because of the horrid seats). As usual the thing shook and rattled and some of the seats performed an uncommanded recline, but that's fairly par for the course on this aircraft. Reaching cruise height we were told that the IFE was inoperative, which was not entirely warmly received as many of the pax contemplated spending the next four hours playing eye-spy. I was particularly a fan of the way the useless IFE enclosure occupies 50% of the foot space under the seat in front. Cue more grumbles from the passengers when we were told that a number of items on the menu were 'unavailable' on this flight.

I really should have known better by the time we touched down in Perth, but perhaps my relief at arriving had caused me to forget my VH-XFA/B landing checklist which entails holding your hands above your head. If I'd remembered to do so it is entirely possible that I would not have been hit in the head by a bag that fell out of the overhead bin when the door opened by itself. I can only be thankful that the owner of that bag had packed cosmetics and not bowling balls.

I just can't understand why VA persists in flying these horrid aircraft on long-haul domestic. The staff know they are rubbish, and the passengers know they are rubbish. I would imagine that the argument is that the average passenger doesn't notice a difference in the hard product, but in my observation that is entirely false. The amount of complaints I heard from people who travelled rarely were numerous, and to my amusement when the captain made his "...we have enjoyed having you on-board today, we look forward to flying you next time" speech the reaction from the cabin was like he had just told a mildly funny joke, which I suppose it was. There were many responses of "No chance of that".

Is the cost differential between these aircraft and a new aircraft (or perhaps an overhaul) that large that they can afford to piss off a full cabin of passengers every time it travels? XFA and XFB I don't feel are reflective of the usual VA experience, and as such do them a terrible injustice.

Of course, our delay put us in Perth right on rush hour and meant we ended up missing our meeting. The trip had been pointless.

You should send this post in it's entirety to VA and direct to JB himself as a hard copy.

 

[Jurahn]

The canned responses may be frustrating but the more complaints they have on file about these two terrible aircraft the more chance they might either refurb them or give them the boot for some brand new ones.

We can always hope - after our recent flight back from MEL on either A or B (don't know which one it was), I received a "tell us about your flight experience" survey - so I did, and it wasn't particularly complimentary. I was disappointed that we'd effectively "wasted" points upgrading to J and ending up on A/B. This seems to be becoming more and more common between PER and MEL - I need to book return flights to MEL for May, but am feeling like I don't want to waste money (Flexis) and 2 of my complimentary upgrades if I'm going to be landed with one of these coughpy aircraft!