DJ op up given but taken away

[Justchecking]

Personally they need to get away from the 737 model for the MEL-SYD-BNE triangle... A330s, yes maybe... But I'd still say a 20 or so order of 787's would be a great way to fight the game even better!

Yes they need to dump the 737 for this route but I think $$ would be the issue in going for the alternative. Its a damn shame Boeing dumped the domestic variant [of the 787] for the JPN market, as it would have been ideal for AUS also. Shorter wingspan, fits on a standard bay.

I still think the A330 setup is too much for domestic, angled lie-flat for MEL-SYD is an overkill and almost too much for the SYD-PER run as well....
?

I was surprised by their angled flat solution. As you say its overkill for domestic, but falls behind the J standard for international, which is now fully lie flat pods. Angled flat isn't a sleeping configuration, its a stretch-out one. Anyone on a 7hr+ overnight flight is going to want a sleeping pod. I would find it easier to snooze in the EK chairs than the tilt pods. But I guess theres more to it that what I can see.

 

[greg-777]

As a virgin and qantas gold earned the hard way, I can't say im very impressed with virgin lately. The reason that they provided for the op down, was that I was upgraded too Early, 1 hour prior to checkin close. Between the time I was upgraded and when checkin closed the J passenger must have checked in hence taking the seat pushing me back into Y.

I want to clarify that the lounge didnt upgrade me, only provided the upgraded boarding pass, which she double checked to make sure it was right and advised Y was full...and the upgrade was provided by the operations centre .....

In addition to my disappointment with virgin is that points and status credits take over a week and a half to post and they are wrong anyway. I was credit 2600 odd points for a Mel to syd on a y saver fare yet on the same fare syd to Mel was awarded 908 points..and no points have posted on my syd to bne yet the return fare has posted, they re completely inconsistent, with 14 flights this month I don't have time to double check their work.

As bad as some people think qantas can be I've never had to chase points or status credits, nor ever been opdown.

Im a shot at platinum on either program and could get both, but think I will spend with qantas if thats how they treat status customers. If anyone from virgin reads this forum, take note tht whilst you claim that now your flying I'm not totally convinced. If you are happy to take the money off customers a teething period to get it right is not an acceptable reason to provide lower than standard service or less than what a customer would expect a full service airline to provide.

 

[LiamR]

My point was that I somehow got seated in J, be it a system glitch or what not. Now, I'm told that whenever the gate see a Y pax seated in J, they are told to downgrade them (Unless it is a real Op-up, Y is oversold or whatever else reasons there may be).

However the lounge, knowing that the gate would put me back in Y when I went to board the aircraft, moved me back to Y as soon as I entered the lounge. The seat selection at T-40mins compared to boarding time is significantly better. I even managed to get in row 3.

The point is, if I wasn't suppose to sit in J, I shouldn't have been put there, but the staff worked with it and managed to get me a reasonable Y seat. I was okay to get in row 3, I would not have been happy if all that was left was 28E

 

[pat25d]

As a virgin and qantas gold earned the hard way, I can't say im very impressed with virgin lately. The reason that they provided for the op down, was that I was upgraded too Early, 1 hour prior to checkin close. Between the time I was upgraded and when checkin closed the J passenger must have checked in hence taking the seat pushing me back into Y.

I want to clarify that the lounge didnt upgrade me, only provided the upgraded boarding pass, which she double checked to make sure it was right and advised Y was full...and the upgrade was provided by the operations centre .....

In addition to my disappointment with virgin is that points and status credits take over a week and a half to post and they are wrong anyway. I was credit 2600 odd points for a Mel to syd on a y saver fare yet on the same fare syd to Mel was awarded 908 points..and no points have posted on my syd to bne yet the return fare has posted, they re completely inconsistent, with 14 flights this month I don't have time to double check their work.

As bad as some people think qantas can be I've never had to chase points or status credits, nor ever been opdown.

Im a shot at platinum on either program and could get both, but think I will spend with qantas if thats how they treat status customers. If anyone from virgin reads this forum, take note tht whilst you claim that now your flying I'm not totally convinced. If you are happy to take the money off customers a teething period to get it right is not an acceptable reason to provide lower than standard service or less than what a customer would expect a full service airline to provide.

Were the fares a different cost?

 

[Ewing]

I would not have been happy if all that was left was 28E

If the above happened to me and I was given 28E I would have simply refused to board. If they couldn't resolve the situation, I'd go over to the sales counter at the other major domestic airline and buy a new ticket.

I'm not one to kick up a fuss, but it's shenanigans like this and the business class lottery that make me worried about flying DJ more.

 

[ricee007]

Booked economy, checked in at a service counter, got placed into premium economy on an earlier flight.... Walked to the gate, got called over the pa and had to move back to economy.

 

[nlagalle]

Booked economy, checked in at a service counter, got placed into premium economy on an earlier flight.... Walked to the gate, got called over the pa and had to move back to economy.

Very poor form.. This seems to be happening a bit.

 

[LiamR]

Sounds like there is a problem with procedures here....Any comment, Virgin Australia​?

 

[straitman]

Sounds like there is a problem with procedures here....Any comment, Virgin Australia​?

Last week I was advised by Virgin Australia that he is on leave for the next couple of weeks. I therefore would not expect a response in the short term.

 

[drewbles]

Does this Happen?? Given an op up then taken away secs before boarding ??

I am a gold and have flown with virgin in just the past 2 weeks, 12 times domestically alone..

Never had one taken away one qantas

I'm WP with DJ and had this happen. Upgraded to J at lounge (from row 3). Then, at boarding, BP beeps 'you should never have been upgraded sir' and was handed a BP for second last row IN A MIDDLE SEAT.

Upon enquiring if i could go back to row 3 I was met with 'your seat is already taken, do you want me to go on there and make a scene?'. I was treated like a baby. It was very disturbing. They managed to move me to an exit row, but I did take the time to drop a constructive feedback to their customer relations group just letting them know of a 'bad egg' in the system. The response was nothing short of amazing. They said the manager of said staff member was notified, and they refunded my fare (was only $80) and when I said 'wow thank you that really was not necessary but very appreciated' I was met with "yes, it was entirely necessary and this sort of behaviour should never of ocurred. It really was the least we could do'.

Virgin CR is brilliant at times!

 

[flyingfan]

I hate what happened to you, I love how Virgin handled your complaint.

 

[MichaelD]

This is a recurring theme with Virgin - promise the world and underdeliver, thus hugely ticking off their premium flyers.

Move from Row 3 to Row 2? OpUp! Sweeeeet! +100 karma points
Move from Row 2 to the back because of the "error"? -400 karma points
Refund the original fare? OK, a little less upset, but still less likely to pick Virgin in the future. +100 karma points.

You've just changed a happy frequent flyer in Row 3 into a disappointed, angry frequent flyer in the back of the plane.

 

[simongr]

You've just changed a happy frequent flyer in Row 3 into a disappointed, angry frequent flyer in the back of the plane.

who even if happy might post the experience on a forum and put off other pax.

The interesting thing for me with flight credits and/or refunds is that they are of no use to me generally. I wont have taken a personal flight since May 2010 and in that time frame I have taken 100+ flights all funded by my employer. Any refunds for disturbance on those flights would have been met with disdain and request for something useful... Cf to QF who after I complained bitterly about a J meal (my favourite phrase was my amazement that they had managed to make something taste bland and unpleasant at the same time) - I got a voucher for the Harbour Kitchen in Sydney ($150ish I think).

 

[straitman]

This is a recurring theme with Virgin - promise the world and underdeliver, thus hugely ticking off their premium flyers.

Move from Row 3 to Row 2? OpUp! Sweeeeet! +100 karma points
Move from Row 2 to the back because of the "error"? -400 karma points
Refund the original fare? OK, a little less upset, but still less likely to pick Virgin in the future. +100 karma points.

You've just changed a happy frequent flyer in Row 3 into a disappointed, angry frequent flyer in the back of the plane.

Speaking holistically and not just referencing this thread. Do you really think that DJ are any better or worse than Qantas at making people happy or unhappy :?:

 

[MichaelD]

Do you really think that DJ are any better or worse than Qantas at making people happy or unhappy :?:

In my experience Qantas makes me happy consistently. Virgin makes me deliriously happy some of the time and livid the rest.

Fortunately, my Virgin J experiences in the last month or so have been far more consistent than at launch.

 

[dfcatch]

I think the issue here is that DJ are the ones running a marketing campaign trying to relaunch themselves and actively win over QF FFers.

On this basis the unfortunate fact is that not only must DJ work twice as hard to do so - but that any stuff-up is far costlier for them than for QF.

 

[infoworks]

On DJ flight from BNE-SYD yesterday morning and 2 op ups to J from Y. This was a result of aircraft change from 737-800 to a -700 resulting in the need to reseat "unseated" pax. Crew knew exactly who was who and offered J pax first, but everyone got good service.