AirlineGuy,
Thank you for your comments and sorry to hear that your first experience with us was not up to expectations. Please give us another go in a few months when we have some of the kinks ironed out. JB is particularly attentive to details such as aircraft cleanliness, addressing by title and professionalism of PAs and they will get sorted.
cheers
CrazyDave98
Hi Dave and Mr Borghetti
I'm a big DJ fan and, putting my money where my mouth was, I became a (small) Virgin Blue shareholder.
I'm excited about the growth prospects of the airline, but there is always room for improvement. These are the things I've noticed.
As I think you've pointed out, it'll be important to boost corporate business. I work in the Commonwealth Public Service, so I have a bit of an idea about people's travel habits in a well-traveled department. The problem is that people are locked into their Qantas Club membership and their status. I have found though that once people discover how great the Lounge is compared to the Qantas Club, they will always prefer it. The food selection, the always-there Barrista with great coffee, the space, they're are all great positives. Another problem is the travel agent our department uses doesn't always offer a Virgin Blue quote, and people have no idea that V Australia is a full-service airline. Plenty don't know that it exists.
I don't have a particular problem with being called by my first name, so won't comment on that. I have found that professionalism and the inflight experience on ex-Canberra flights are great.
Cleanliness is indeed important. Most noticeable are dirty marks around the air vents and crumbs in the seats.
The self check in kiosks can be a little slow at times.
It is disappointing to see premium economy so empty. I think it would be great to upgrade the highest status Velocity members on flights where possible to allow them to try the Lounge experience. I imagine you have some plans to improve Premium Economy, but won't go into it.
You need to sell the benefits of flying Virgin Blue over Qantas. For example, everything seems easy with Virgin - it's hard to put a finger on why, but it just seems easy. The food is so much better - yes you have to pay, but I would much rather pay for a a great Muesli and Snowy Mountain cookie than the Qantas option of a thawed out muffin full of preservatives for free.
More looking guests in the eyes and engaging with guests rather than just chatting with the fellow flight attendant while serving food would make a big difference.
I'm keen to fly V Australia. But I think you need to be careful that people get the Rockstar treatment you promise. A friend of mine who flew to Nadi in January sent me this review:
So thought i would send you a quick review of V Australia. Well on the plus side the funky lights inside the cabin were pretty cool and turned colour when we were landing. They also had a cartoon safety demonstration which was more entertaining than the cabin crew version. The seats and cabin was roomy and there was a bar at the front but for business and first class. On the downside the food was terrible, service (the worst service i have encountered)...they skipped my row for coffee and tea on both legs of the trip. The service was painfully slow and while the entertainment was great the staff kept making annoying announcements all the time which was frustrating. All in all...would I fly them again? Depends if it was cheap enough. I wouldn't pay extra for it than a normal virgin blue flight considering the short distance to many of the destinations.
Of course this was when the route had just started, so I'm sure things have improved. And I've heard some great reviews, although another friend did this route last month and reckons she got food poisoning. She posted on her Facebook "just returned from Fiji...with food poisoning- thanks V Australia". That's not good publicity. Maybe it wasn't the airline food at all, but you need to make the food so good and so fresh that she would rule it out.
A shareholder discount would be much appreciated!
Hope this is helpful in some way.
