Awful Service from VA for Platinum Members

[straitman]

Interested to hear you felt the NZ A320 was inferior to the unrefurbished DJ 737. Why? I like the IFE on the NZ service (unless they gave you a domestic plane), the A320 interiors seem a bit more spacious than the 737 and generally less tatty than the Pacific Blue planes.

The NZ food is usually OK, despite appearances.

I found the TT DJ experience very reminiscent of "Freedom Air", NZ's LCC that no longer exists.

As for the OP venting based on one bad experience, I think DJ leave themselves open to this when their short haul international product is a step down from their domestic product - without going into the rights or wrongs of the Ferrero Rocher upgrade.

Who knows, maybe the OP got the worst of the DJ a/c and we got the worst of the NZ product.

The NZ a/c was 'well worn' and also a full flight which is rarely fun in 'Y.' I had a set of knees in my back the whole way and the guy in front bounced in his seat the whole way which made watching anything pretty hard. My wife's IFE did not work properly even after being reset.

The DJ short haul will ultimately be upgraded to the domestic standard (so I'm told) but is the last to be done due market type. At least their 737s have Premium as the NZ A320s are all economy.

Re the food, the people next to me gave it as OK but not good. i.e. 5/10. (The Koru Club food was excellent)

I would use the NZ product again if the price and time were right as after all we are only talking about 3.5 hrs.

 

[greenfish]

Hi Bill

Sorry to hear about the dodgy IFE - but at least there was IFE. I've got a bit of a soft spot for the NZ IFE - when they launched it on the A320 I won a free NZ return by reaching $1m on the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" game that is part of the IFE

. I usually fly with my kids to New Zealand, and the IFE makes a massive difference to how peaceful the trip is for me.

One thing to keep in mind with NZ is they do run some widebodies to NZ, in particular the 777 - which isn't a bad experience, particularly if you have status on DJ/NZ and end up in the better seats.

 

[straitman]

Hi Bill

Sorry to hear about the dodgy IFE - but at least there was IFE. I've got a bit of a soft spot for the NZ IFE - when they launched it on the A320 I won a free NZ return by reaching $1m on the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" game that is part of the IFE

. I usually fly with my kids to New Zealand, and the IFE makes a massive difference to how peaceful the trip is for me.

One thing to keep in mind with NZ is they do run some widebodies to NZ, in particular the 777 - which isn't a bad experience, particularly if you have status on DJ/NZ and end up in the better seats.

No great worries as I mostly watch my own movies on my iPad normally so the IFE is largely irrelevant to me. We have tried to book the 777 a couple of times but tend to get beaten by time of day constraints.

I never expect too much from economy no matter who the operator happens to be. -- A little OT side note that the best 'Y' flight I've done in a long time was on an A330 with Jet Airways.

 

[ChrisCunard]

To be honest I dunno if Qantas would want the OP back... They might fly Jetconnect!

Joking aside, IMO the reason to stick with QF was the inflight experience far outweighs DJ - but that's just based on my flights taken with both carriers. I realise others will disagree. But I certainly wouldn't leave one airline because some lucky person got an op up into PE.

 

[NotinMyworld]

When I fly JQ I expect a different level of service from QF as they brand and market themeselves differently! Virgin Australia do not, the aircarft on the return leg was very clearly painted in Virgin Australia livery. No where do they make it clear that you will not be receiving their new onboard business class product on this route! They certainly charge for the service much in line what you can fly this leg with on outstanding airlines such as LAN Chile and Emirates in business class. This can be seen by doing a search on Kayak.com (who I use for most of my travel bookings). On Lan Chile (and who I am flying with there on 18/05, return J Class fare) of $749 and Emirate $1758 vs Virgin $1700 odd. I will earn status credits and miles on my QFF flying Lan Chile, and who I must admit I use mostly for hopping aross the Pond 6 to 8 times a year, but decided this time as I had Velocity Platinum and they had a new Business product I would be loyal to them, even at a cost to myself. Not again!

 

[NotinMyworld]

I agree, QF service outweighs VA in terms of food, beverage and IFE quality. Not sure I necessarily agree with it in regards to cabin crew service, always find VA cabin crew great, especially on the long haul flights. Also Qantas lounges far superior to the VA offering.

 

[oz_mark]

No where do they make it clear that you will not be receiving their new onboard business class product on this route!

[snip]

This can be seen by doing a search on Kayak.com (who I use for most of my travel bookings).

To be honest, I think your issue is with Kayak, not with Virgin. The Virgin website describes it as premium. I have tried on Zuji, and it doesn't give any results for Virgin when selecting business. If Kayak are describing it as business, the perhaps you need to take it up with them.

 

[NotinMyworld]

You are missing the point Mate! What I am saying is you can buy a proper Business seat and service on other airlines for much cheaper and get a superior service to VA! I purchased this ticket in. Question off the VA website!

 

[777]

You are missing the point Mate! What I am saying is you can buy a proper Business seat and service on other airlines for much cheaper and get a superior service to VA! I purchased this ticket in. Question off the VA website!

I'm sympathetic to the confusion and to the pretty poor state of the Trans Tasman offering but the Virgin web site doesn't call the ticket you bought Business Class.

 

[Bolthead]

I was looking forward to my flight next Wednesday but after reading tis thread I am now a bit reluctant. However the SYD - AUK leg is just the beginning of our trip to PEK. We are flying on a NZ flight number (in Y+) and on their metal so I guess in 3 days we will find out.


Sent from my iPad 2 using AustFreqFly app

 

[markis10]

You are missing the point Mate! What I am saying is you can buy a proper Business seat and service on other airlines for much cheaper and get a superior service to VA! I purchased this ticket in. Question off the VA website!

You got what was advertised on the website as the service applicable, which is not J, the airline cannot be held liable for assumptions without research. There are plenty of other offerings that are cheaper, that's irrelevant, on any given day prices will vary dramatically while in any given year, some airlines will cease to operate, the individual needs to make a choice based on their on preferences by doing research before the trip.

 

[TonyHancock]

You are missing the point Mate! What I am saying is you can buy a proper Business seat and service on other airlines for much cheaper and get a superior service to VA! I purchased this ticket in. Question off the VA website!

As others have said, Virgin makes it pretty clear that the service they offer is Y+ on their Trans Tasman route.

 

[munitalP]

It's good to see so many VA reps on this thread. No wonder the OP fled, he probably thought he had mistakenly fallen into a pit of vipers who's VA fire and brimstone sermons would drown any argument put forward. I'm astounded...

 

[serfty]

Irrespective of any other issue, the OP really does have a valid complaint in relation to the following - as I have pointed out:

Actually, the OP does have one valid issue IMHO - that being the loss of cabin exclusivity due to FAupgrades.

That would annoy me.

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...

 

[greenfish]

As others have said, Virgin makes it pretty clear that the service they offer is Y+ on their Trans Tasman route.

Agreed, but it does have the dubious distinction of being the worst Y+ product available trans-Tasman.

The OP as a DJ Plat customer would most likely have had a better experience booking on the NZ widebody service in economy - I believe he would have automatically been allocated a PE seat if space were available. Even on the 320 he'd have had a space+ seat, subject to availability.

The OP was also making the point that the price that DJ are marketing these seats at implies something quite good. I had a quick look at some random dates in late May:

The price in May is $883 from MEL to AKL for a "Premium" seat on Virgin. I'd imagine anyone paying this might feel just a little ripped off when compared to the $216 saver or $478 flexi fare, let alone compared to a real business service such as Emirates - $873 on the same day and incomparably better.

 

[oz_mark]

You are missing the point Mate! What I am saying is you can buy a proper Business seat and service on other airlines for much cheaper and get a superior service to VA! I purchased this ticket in. Question off the VA website!

While I agree the value for money is not there for what the product is, compared to other offers in the Trans Tasman, you were arguing that the website did not make it clear that you were not buying business. While I actually do agree that the product is substandard, the argument that the website does not make it clear it is not business is simply not true. It describes the product as Premium, not Business.

 

[maninblack]

While I agree the value for money is not there for what the product is, compared to other offers in the Trans Tasman, you were arguing that the website did not make it clear that you were not buying business. While I actually do agree that the product is substandard, the argument that the website does not make it clear it is not business is simply not true. It describes the product as Premium, not Business.

Quite right but as has been pointed out by others the secondary problem is that as an interntional PE it is looking pretty darn lousy. VA are not only doing their customers a disservice but themselves also.

 

[pat25d]

Quite right but as has been pointed out by others the secondary problem is that as an interntional PE it is looking pretty darn lousy. VA are not only doing their customers a disservice but themselves also.

I think it is incorrect to call the trans-tasman routes 'International'. Most people/airlines class International standard as long-medium haul (e.g. 8+ hours).

The trans-tasman service should be compared to intra-europe or intra-asia services. Virgin's PE still is poor in comparison to those though, yet I would prefer DJ PE to BA or Iberia J intra-europe.

 

[JohnK]

I do not understand the need to jump down someone's throat. What may seem trivial to you may well be very important to other people. e.g I could not care about priority boarding but I do care about on time departures and arrivals.

Actually, the OP does have one valid issue IMHO - that being the loss of cabin exclusivity due to FAupgrades.

That would annoy me.

I think the OP has a number of valid complaints.

- If their carry-on was indeed weighed then why did others get away with heavier carry-on?
- They had paid a premium to fly in that cabin and then witness people on cheap tickets getting on-board op-ups and receive better treatment from the cabin crew
- Deception by airlines in product offering when having multiple entities and using same flight numbers (Yes I am on AFF but I have no idea the difference between Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia NZ)

 

[markis10]

- Deception by airlines in product offering when having multiple entities and using same flight numbers (Yes I am on AFF but I have no idea the difference between Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia NZ)

No matter who you are travelling, any reasonable person would understand a flight booked as Business is different to one booked as Premium and would not be comparable! Given the thread title talks about poor service as a Platinum, IMHO the way others are treated is not relevant given the whole story could not be possibly be known to the OP, in effect the situation is being looked at from the third person which is always open to misinterpretation/misrepresentation.

We often read about inflight upgrades with a "well done" comment following the report here and elsewhere, dont think anyone has said "what about the other passengers in the cabin" in all the threads?