My first DJ flight ever

[QF WP]

Hate how on the mobile version, one can't go back to posts and insert photo's

 

[JohnK]

Overall, an excellent start to my VA experience and Virgin wins over QF - having said that, the sample size of 1 is a little misleading. Now to my return flight on Thursday AM

It is nice to see all this VA love posted on AFF. Would your experience have been different had you not had the personal touch added by a familiar face?

By the way I am not saying that QF is much better than VA but I just do not see, experience, all this love that is posted on the VA threads. Perhaps I fly too much and don't notice....

 

[QF WP]

JohnK, a very interesting point and I'm not sure...the seating still is a big plus and the more service oriented staff & FA's just give a win to VA.

Like many have expressed here and on other threads, a new perspective is here for travel with VA being a credible alternative now - I only came on board for the "VA trial" when I perceived the differences starting to narrow sufficiently that I thought it was worthwhile. I told Brett Godfrey and crazydave98 when we sat down with them 4 or 5 years ago I needed a program that delivered what QF gave in order to tempt me across.

Sometimes a change is good to see whether one is using a service out of sheer apathy, or misguided loyalty. With the union issue about to head into arbitration, I still see management and staff not pulling together, but rather like the Dr Suess "Push Me Pull You". It amazes me that it has had to go this far (I still think the unions are fanciful with their log of claims), but the uncertainty has certainly pushed me over the edge and willing to try VA to assess their "we are a credible alternative" claims.

So far, I don't think they are too far behind QF - they may not have JASA's, but VA's family pooling is a fair match in my view (given it suits my circumstances akin to JASA's). They may also not give SC's on a per sector basis, but there are ways to counteract that issue as well.

 

[JohnK]

Fair points Lindsay.

I still see an issue with VA for earn and burn of Velocity points. And no, I have no need to throw away hard earned points on any FF program to sit in a wider economy seat on a SYD-BNE flight.

And in my opinion it is awfully hard to match the value of QF Oneworld awards.

 

[Tooner]

It is nice to see all this VA love posted on AFF. Would your experience have been different had you not had the personal touch added by a familiar face?

By the way I am not saying that QF is much better than VA but I just do not see, experience, all this love that is posted on the VA threads. Perhaps I fly too much and don't notice....

JohnK, having just completed my first round of DJ flights post status match, I am not going to hand out "VA Love", but I would say there were a lot of positives to the experience, and some jarring notes but nothing big.

The things I liked from the start:

• The ramp in Sydney is great and makes it a very pleasant welcome
• While the Lounge in Sydney hasn't been renovated and was reasonably crowded it was mostly around the food and the Baristas (who made a reasonable coffee)
• The Lounge has Brookfarm muesli (BIG FROM ME)
• Row 3 seats on the 2 new aircraft I flew on are very comfortable despite the fixed handrests, and have acres of leg room. They are really directly comparable to Row 4 on a QF 737, albeit with no space for luggage. Fortunately both flights had approximately 1 person in PE each time so there was room for bags
• We left on time, arrived early into Melbourne and the taxi queue was very short
• Seat selection and check-in at the Lounge was very easy, and the agent in Melbourne offered me an earlier flight, sympathised with my loss of row 3, and promptly put me in row 3 of the earlier aircraft. I repeat, offered, I didn't have to ask!
• The Lounge in Melbourne may not have spirits, but it does have Cider (apple and pear)
• The meal on the return flight was OK (I was on a flexi), but not really worth it. I'd be happy eating in the Lounge to be honest.
• If The Lounge Sydney is to be upgraded like Melbourne, I'd be happy. I'd like to see Clubhouse style offers of food, but maybe I just missed that.
• The new interiors, uniforms etc are near identical to VS, which is no bad thing
• Getting off the plane in Sydney was easy, and there was no-one in the taxi queue in Sydney at 9pm last night, whereas the QF queue was the usual beast.

So, overall, happy to have had the experience, will be back again next week, and I'm contemplating ways to keep Platinum on VA as I expect I won't be able to keep WP on QF.

 

[elemist]

Save for starting a new thread i'll just post in here..

I popped both my Virgin Australia and Business Class cherry in one hit last week and i must say i had a ball!

Before i go any further take note of the following disclosures!:

- I'm far from a QF or DJ fan boy. I don't fly very regularly, and my last few flights have been with Air Asia on the cheapest possible tickets!
- I haven't flown QF business, but i have flown cattle class a few times
- I have many years ago (5+) flown Virgin Blue
- Anything below is my opinion only, no paid comments here!
- I flew a mix of points and pay

Overview:

OK so i had to fly ex PER to SYD for a 2 day training course for my business. I decided that since i enjoy Sydney and haven't had a break in a while to spend a few days after (IE the weekend) and come back to Perth on the Sunday night. Initially i was going solo, however i suggested to a friend of mine that he join me for the 5 nights.

Pre-Booking:

I had been monitoring the Virgin site daily for a few weeks before i booked, the flights were slowly filling up, but the flights i wanted were still available. I had a brief scare over a weekend when all rewards flights (business class) essentially disappeared off the site. However luckily they appeared on the Monday morning and i was able to continue my booking.

I would like to comment on the excellent customer service of the Virgin Rep on AFF here. I shot them a PM on the Saturday about the no flights available issue, and i had a response first thing Monday morning. Whilst it wasn't an answer it was a response that it would be looked into. Whilst i believe the problem had already been resolved before they replied it was still nice to get a response from them!

Booking experience:

Booking online with points and pay was very straight forward on the website. I was easily able to select the flights i wanted and move days as needed. I liked the option to insert your details easily by selecting the "i'm flying" button. It was a bit annoying having to input a second passengers details manually each time to check costs etc. It would probably be better to put in details after viewing costs.

A quick comment on the price. In short amazing! Return business class PER - SYD for $150 plus 13500 points. Given that i earned the 13k of points from the 20% bonus transfer offer it pretty much only cost me $150 which is way cheaper than even the cheapest economy tickets!

Post Booking:

After booking i quickly received my itinerary to my email address within a few minutes and it was correct. Win Win!

A couple of days later my friend who was travelling with me unfortunately had to change his flights due to a meeting he had to attend the day after we initially were leaving. I rang the customer care centre and was immediately put through to a staff member (IE NO, that's right 0 minutes of waiting time!) who was quickly able to assist me with splitting the bookings for each of us, and rebooking my friend on a flight the following day. No cost, no complications just a simple 5 minute phone call and i had a new copy of our itineraries sitting in my inbox!

Another couple of days later i became aware from a post on the AFF boards that the free limo transfers had been extended until December some time. I was very happy to hear this as i was missing out by a couple of days. I quickly jumped on the phone to the customer care line to see what i could do about getting these transfers. I was bit a bit unsure of the options so went with the other, other other option until i got to a customer care agent. Unfortunately this time i had a 10 minute wait on hold.

The agent was very unsure about what to do and how to go about doing anything, he put me on hold again for approx 10 mins to find out. Whilst this was annoying, he did later drop it that it was his first day so i'll cut him some slack. Also i found out later there is actually a specific number to call for booking the limo transfers, so this was partially my fault as well!

After some messing around and tooing and fro ing with his supervisor he finally worked out what to do and was able to put me in touch with the limo company. They confirmed my flight details and booked in my transfers, even allowing me to book one from my yet to be determined hotel back to the airport.

Departure day!

My limo driver arrived approx 10 minutes before schedule which was good to see. My ride for the day was 3-4 year old Holden Statesman. Whilst it wasn't brand new it was clean and it good condition. A note here, the driver remained in the car until i went outside, he never actually came to the door. I'm not decided if this was a good thing or a bad thing, in one way there was no pressure to rush out because he was waiting, however if i hadn't have been standing there waiting i might not have noticed him. I should mention however that i went out pretty much exactly on the dot at the time he was mean't to pick me up, so maybe he was waiting until that time before knocking?

Not knowing the etiquette for this i was a bit unsure whether i should sit front/back and the driver just suggested to sit wherever. I picked the front seat and off we went. Had a bit of small talk with the driver, then spent the rest of the ride to the airport making phone calls which was excellent.

I was dropped in the short term carpark at the entry way which was again a bit strange. Not sure why they don't go through the drop off section, but wasn't that important being its only a 5m walk anyway..

I walked into the virgin terminal and straight into the priority baggage line. I was quickly called over by a free normal check in agent who printed out my boarding pass and checked in my bag. Unfortunately he didn't priority tag it and i didn't notice either.

I quickly went through security - again using the priority line. There wasn't much of a queue so not much benefit to me, although in peak periods i could see this reducing the time going through security.

Entering the lounge i showed my boarding pass to the girl at the entry and she waved me straight in. I had a quick wander round noting the lounge was quite full and headed for a table with power points. Note here that out of the two tables i could see with power points only one was working. I helped myself to a nice serving of pancakes with jam and cream plus a muffin and a juice and sat down to do some work. Despite the number of people in the room it was fairly quiet and i was able to make a few more calls and get most of my work done.

Approx 20 minutes before departure it was announced that my flight was boarding and to make our way to the gate. At the gate i was again able to use the priority line this time allowing me to board a bit quicker, although as they did only have one gate agent working i got a couple of dirty looks when he stopped serving them to scan my boarding pass. Down the aerobridge and i hit a small snag with the priority boarding, given they were only boarding through the front main door i still ended up behind a heap of people in the queue!

At least the line moved fast and i was greeted in an extremely friendly and genuine way by the cabin attendants. They welcomed me onboard by my last name, (MR X) and thanked my for flying with them. They directed me to my seat and i quickly stowed my carry on and took my seat.

A few comments on the seats and cabin. The seats were very comfortable, adjustable head rests were great and there was just a borderline stupid amount of leg room. A small note here was that to reach the seat back in front of you required actually getting up and stepping across to it. Not a big thing, but when you want to put your menu in, or get out the headphones/magazine it was a bit annoying. Again i stress not a big thing at all!

After a few minutes i managed to snag a champagne from one of the attendants walking past and was offered a news paper to read. The CSM made a welcome aboard announcement thanking the velocity and business customers once again and wished us a pleasant flight. Another small note - she also made mention that we could keep our phones on until the final door was closed and we were ready to depart which was nice. Usually its straight with the turn off your devices immediately.

Shortly thought the boarding was finished, doors were closed and we were on our way. The captain also made a point of thanking the business/velocity members for flying with them again. This was something so easy, yet personally made me feel just oh so important lol. I hope they keep that up on all flights!

Shortly after take off my cabin attendant for the flight came around to introduce herself and pass me the menu. She also took my order for a drink - just had to try the australian coughtail! - which was quickly brought out. It was very tasty and if you can, give it a try on your next flight! A few minutes later she was back to get my entrée and mains order.

I selected the pumpkin soup and morrocan lamb, and also another coughtail - hey have to experience everything right!

Not long after she came and set my table for entrée, a simple yet effective white table cloth with a purple tray on top. The soup was poured out of a Thermos and then served to me. I'm not a big soup fan, however this pumkin soup was very tasty indeed. With my food i was offered a selection of wine/soft drink or water. I had a water and tried both the white wines available, however wasn't a fan so i settled for a pepsi.

Once i had finished entrée my plates were quickly collected and the mains came out. I wasn't a big fan of the morrocan lamb, however whether this was the food itself or the fact i'm not the biggest fan of morrocan lamb either i can't say. This time she quickly topped off my drinks and offered the selection again.

Again the plates were collected quickly and there was a short period before dessert came out. There was a selection of either a cheese platter or a moose with passionfruit sauce. I went with the moose and it was extremely tasty, if i wasn't so full i may have gone for mains!

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, the IFE is just rubbish. It's a looping system meaning you can't pause it to go to the toilet or during meal service, and there's not much on it. I watched a movie which finished about an hour or so out of Sydney. Flicking through most of the channels showed the "your entertainment will restart soon" message.

I should note that the cabin staff were very friendly and very efficient. I was address my surname every time i was spoken too. The wine bottle was presented to me and read to me with each glass i tried. I was even surprised when i came out of the toilet one of the other cabin staff was there and even she addressed me by surname. I have no idea how she knew/rememebered my name, nor how even if she memorized the names was able to match it too my face! Very friendly but and asked me how i was enjoying the flight and we had a bit of a chat. Interesting note and it wasn't until she told me but the toilets to the rear of business class only one is for business, the other is economy. Only difference i could tell was the soap and moisturising product.

Once we landed in Sydney i was met at the baggage carousel by my driver. We then had a long wait for my bag to come off (no priority tag). Once it was off he wheeled my suit case and escorted my out to a nice new Mercedes for the ride to the hotel. This driver was very friendly and talkative which was nice, although not to the point where it was overboard. I managed to have a good chat and return a few calls on the way to the hotel.

I'm sure most of you are asleep by now, so i won't go into detail about the return flight

* My friends flight PER to SYD was delayed by an hour due to late arrival of the inbound aircraft.
* Our return flight was delayed by 30 mins
* Sydney airport check in was fantastic. We checked in, dropped our bags and then headed for the priority entry. Straight through security and into the lounge in under 5 minutes. Brilliant!
* Sydney's lounge was nice, quite full and there were quite a few dirty tables full of plates/glasses. The food spread was average especially given the time of day (6pm). However the spread of cold meats and bread to make toasted sandwiches was tasty. Bar and barrister both there for drinks - however having gone overboard the night before i stuck to soft drink and then a hot chocolate.
*There was no announcement that i heard that our flight had been delayed, it was only when at about 5 minutes before departure we checked the board and found out.
* The first announcement that our flight was boarding was along the lines of come to the gate immediately and without delay. This mean't i skipped checking out the airport and collecting some krispy kremes to bring back . We then got to stand around at the gate for 10 minutes before they even began boarding. This was stupid and a waste of time, surely they could make an announcement to the lounge as they commence boarding to come down.
* Similar crew on the return flight, although i had a different cabin attendant. I didn't find him as friendly as the first one, nothing was explained or options given like on the way to SYD. Overall though still efficient enough.
* A small thing that bugged me on the way back was the different way of making announcements. On the flight over the business class announcements were more of a thanks for flying, and bits of information and that was about it. You could hear them making the general announcements to the economy passengers after. On the flight back there was no thank you's at all. Just the usual drivel about returning your seat to the upright position turn all electrical items off blah blah and it was broadcast to the whole flight at once.
* As our bags were priority tagged on the return flight

Whilst its only a small thing, i did find the amount of announcements which were broadcast to everyone was over the top. Especially considering the fact they could talk to the economy cabin only.

Overall:

I had a ball! I don't think i've ever been so spoilt and taken care of in my life, and i really don't know if i can go back to flying cattle class again. The benefits of priority access everywhere, lounge access and comfy seats/great food took the stress out of flying and mean't i could relax and enjoy it.

The airport transfers were fantastic again taking the stress out of trying to get a taxi or stuff around with public transport. I really hope they either keep it on for free or offer it at a highly discounted rate.

The onboard food and drink selection was ok, i'm a picky eater yet i still enjoyed the food.

The IFE really lets them down not only with selection and lack of on demand, but there was alot of fuzziness and lines running down the screen distorting the picture.

On time performance wasn't the best, out of the three flights two were delayed. Whilst they weren't long delays - 1 hour, and then 35 minutes respectively i hope they work in improving this.

That said, i can't wait to fly Virgin Australia again, and next time i hope its on a longer flight so i have more time to relax and enjoy the flight!

 

[QF WP]

elemist, thanks for putting the time into completing an excellent Trip Report and I certainly learnt some things about the Business Class product.

 

[jb01]

I was dropped in the short term carpark at the entry way which was again a bit strange. Not sure why they don't go through the drop off section, but wasn't that important being its only a 5m walk anyway..

At PER you'll quite often be dropped in the short term as the driver can enter the car park for 10mins at no charge. It's a lot quicker than waiting for the very slow moving drop off line.

Great report - enjoyed reading about your trip.

 

[drron]

Today I had my first post status match VA flight.MCY-MEL.
Now MCY has no lounge,does have a priority checkin line which is not essential as there is never more than 1 flight at a time and I always arrive early and know the staff.
For the first time in ages I was not selected for secondary screening.
No priority boarding at MCY-though JQ do have it here and it works well.No lounges to hide in!
Hard product-great.I was able to select 3C as a gold-but it was not a full flight and only 2 pax in premium cabin and 1 other pax in row 3-3F.The leg room is just fantastic-looks better than the business cabin.Leaves QFs row4 for dead.
But a problem-the staff had taken up the overheads in row 3 for their gear.
Food-well QF still wins here.On a BNE-MEL flight on QF leaving at 1215 I would get a complimentary hot lunch.And the wine is cheaper.No hot items flying out of MCY so the selection was a Luke Mangan gourmet sandwich or a chicken and sun dried tomato wrap.I had the sandwich.Quite OK but gourmet?
Service-well the jokes have gone.Younger staff than QF.But still have the LCC habit of retreating to the galley to talk once the food run was over.Despite their inconsistency I would have QF as equal in this area.
So if I were flying domestically on business frequently I almost certainly switch to VA-Row 3 really wins it.However our major travel is long haul in J.I am happy with what I get from One world.If VA joins an alliance maybe things will change.

 

[flyingfan]

I’d like to add my experiences as a matched platinum with Virgin Australia albeit not my first flight.

I’d tried to avoid DJ thus far due to my dislike of their look and feel, particularly their single-aisle jets with cheap, tacky-looking seats and interior. I’d only flown with them about five times, mostly because of BFOD, and didn’t even have a Velocity account. Then the status match came along and I jumped. I had my first flight a few weeks afterwards. On the outbound flight I took advantage of Fly Ahead and was quite impressed with The Lounge at MEL (needs more food options though I think). On the return flight priority boarding worked a treat: “Guests needing special assistance” – no one stepped forward. Then “Premium economy, platinum, gold guests” – another passenger and myself strolled through the wide-open gates. This is how it should be!

On board I was in 3A. After takeoff the FA noticed I was on my notebook computer and said, “Would you like to move to one of these front seats so you can have more room for typing?” That was a very generous offer, which I politely declined mostly because I didn’t want to get dagger eyes from 3B and 3C while getting them to make my way for my upgrade . Much appreciated though. Later on during the food service for premium economy and flexi fares, the FA came over again and said “As a platinum would you like to pick something complimentary from the menu?” Again, I was blown away by the service. I haven’t had a similar offer since but still, very nice to get the first time.

There are still a few things I don’t really like, such as the old aircraft, not having two-aisle aircraft and the crew introduction at the beginning which I feel is a bit kitschy. I think I also heard the old “There is a serious side to flying” once as well. But on the whole, full marks to Virgin Australia for their efforts which I can see are very broad and taking the fight to QF. And Virgin doesn’t have to ape QF in every way to shake off its LCC beginnings, so I don’t mind not having snacks and drinks included in Y when it means a lower airfare.

I doubt I’ll be able to retain status with Virgin so I’ll view it as a gift but had it not been for the match I wouldn’t have credited eight flights so far to them and sampled their increasingly competitive offering. And we need a strong alternative to move many of us from our QF exclusivity. That leaves us travellers the winners.

 

[serfty]

...
On board I was in 3A. After takeoff the FA noticed I was on my notebook computer and said, “Would you like to move to one of these front seats so you can have more room for typing?” That was a very generous offer, which I politely declined mostly because I didn’t want to get dagger eyes from 3B and 3C while getting them to make my way for my upgrade . ...

Actually, if I was in 3B I would have been disappointed that you did not move!

i.e. You go to (say) 2D, 3B occupant takes 3A and now original 3B PAX and 3C PAX have the space of a spare seat betwixt them.:idea:

 

[flyingfan]

Actually, if I was in 3B I would have been disappointed that you did not move!

i.e. You go to (say) 2D, 3B occupant takes 3A and now 3B and 3C have the space of a spare seat betwixt them.:idea:

Agreed, had it been a longer flight I would have taken the upgrade both for myself and for the sake of 3B/C. I note that no one else got the offer so looks like no one else of status there.

 

[dan.1337]

I used to fly almost exclusively QF, until the status match and need to rebook flights on DJ during the Qantas industrial action last year.

Now my business is almost 100% with DJ for three main reasons:

- Crew is much nicer. QF crew almost always had some sort of attitude
- DJ actually enforce the priority boarding by status at the boarding gate
- Partnership with SQ