Syd - Perth A330 Feedback - DJ553

[Mogul]

Booked mid late last week for Syd – Perth on A330 Monday morning. Saver fare with blue zone upgrade.
Received e-mail re flight reminder and opened it up and clicked online check in. Thought this wouldn’t work as I had blue zone seat. What a surprise I had been allocated 3A thinking this was wrong couldn’t print out boarding pass quick enough. Pass said 3A and had Premium economy on it.
Off to the airport Monday morning and into the priority check in lane (silver member as well) and the lovely lady behind the counter said I had been upgraded to Business and did I know where the Lounge was (as a Lounge member of course I did) and nicely replied yes. Was still pinching myself at this stage thinking that it would be seat only but no it was with the full trimmings.
The good:

1. Priority boarding lane.
2. Seats especially the headrest.
3. Service from cabin crew.
4. Being addressed as Mr… at all times.
5. Comp. Food, drinks, newspapers etc.
6. Offloading through second door (between economy and business) in Perth.
7. Business off load’s first.

Room for improvement:

1. Priority boarding lane in Syd ends up with economy after boarding pass scanned.
2. In Syd all passengers enter from front door which caused a log jam in business.
3. As a result of the log jam in business different crew kept asking if I would like a drink, etc. They also had some trouble moving around the economy passengers with drink trays.
4. IFE really isn’t up to standard, L2A was better.
5. Location of IFE remote in the side of the armrest, which encroached on space and kept changing, channels every time I moved.
6. Electronic safety video was really tatty and cheap.
7. The feeling I got from the crew’s actions was that the whole business class thing was obviously new to them. Yes I know this will improve over time, more of an observation than anything else.

Well done VA on a very satisfying experience overall especially as it was an upgrade. As the whole business class concept is rolled out fleet wide I’m sure things will be addressed and the bugs ironed out.


Ps. Looking forward to my PE seat on my return from Perth on Friday just so I can do a fair comparison with PE.:mrgreen:

 

[LiamR]

Interesting feedback RE: boarding.

I would assume that they would board via the L2 door (The door inbetween Business and Economy) like most other airlines do. That way you have less crowding, and the economy passengers never enter the forward cabin.

Did you notice if they boarded via the rear stairs like they do on a 737? I would assume not. Causing a much longer queue in the aerobridge.

Does anybody else know why they don't board via the L2 door in Sydney? Is it some sort of technical problem with the aerobridge and the aircraft fitting into SYD T2? I don't know enough about T2 to make a judgement.

 

[Justchecking]

My guess would be the aerobridge in T2, unlike other ports the aerobridge itself is fixed in position. Attaching the aerobridge to L2 may park the aircraft nose cone inside the gate lounge, or take out the newstand in the concourse....

 

[samiam]

Thanks for your informative feedback.

 

[Mogul]

Interesting feedback RE: boarding.

I would assume that they would board via the L2 door (The door inbetween Business and Economy) like most other airlines do. That way you have less crowding, and the economy passengers never enter the forward cabin.

Did you notice if they boarded via the rear stairs like they do on a 737? I would assume not. Causing a much longer queue in the aerobridge.

Does anybody else know why they don't board via the L2 door in Sydney? Is it some sort of technical problem with the aerobridge and the aircraft fitting into SYD T2? I don't know enough about T2 to make a judgement.

Only boarded through front door. Imagine a full flight with 250 or so passengers trudging through the business cabin, not a great way to start the flight.

Unfortunately no upgrade for return flight leaving in 1 hour from Perth.

 

[DSFlyer]

Looking forward to flying Syd to Perth on the A330 on the 28th