'The Lounge' ADL

[Justinf]

While the ADL Lounge is small, I too have found the attitude of the staff to be very pleasant. Ordering a coffee and not having to wait at the counter for it and being told 'It's fine sir, I'll make it and bring it over to your table' is a small gesture, but is always appreciated. The Lounge was pretty empty and for the staff member to recognise this and provide that service was great.
In fact Ihave found the service at all the Lounges (I have not been in PER or CBR) to be terrific.

 

[drewbles]

Once the staff offer to provide table service with my real expresso based coffee, made with steam and all, those minor details paled into insignificance.

Can't say i've ever had an expresso before. Is that like espresso?

On a side note, I made my first visit to a DJ lounge in SYD as a newly minted Velocity Gold (last time I was there it was the night before AN was killed for good, as a Golden Wing member, when they were actually re-stocking the bars and wheeling out the vending machines in anticipation of the re-launch).

Whilst large and spacious, it seems to be lacking a certain Je Nous Se Qua. Was clean/neat and friendly staff (I could have sworn reception were flirting with me!) but just felt strange. Perhaps it was the lack of people.

They also didn't announce boarding of our flight. Around 15 minutes after it was meant to start boarding, we wandered to the gate to find the gate had changed. Walked to next gate up to the door and heard someone on the radio say "yup last 2 just checking in now" and proceeded to close the doors to the airbridge behind us.

Would have been nice if they'd announced the flight or the gate change for that matter.

 

[Justinf]

Can't say i've ever had an expresso before. Is that like espresso?

On a side note, I made my first visit to a DJ lounge in SYD as a newly minted Velocity Gold (last time I was there it was the night before AN was killed for good, as a Golden Wing member, when they were actually re-stocking the bars and wheeling out the vending machines in anticipation of the re-launch).

Whilst large and spacious, it seems to be lacking a certain Je Nous Se Qua. Was clean/neat and friendly staff (I could have sworn reception were flirting with me!) but just felt strange. Perhaps it was the lack of people.

They also didn't announce boarding of our flight. Around 15 minutes after it was meant to start boarding, we wandered to the gate to find the gate had changed. Walked to next gate up to the door and heard someone on the radio say "yup last 2 just checking in now" and proceeded to close the doors to the airbridge behind us.

Would have been nice if they'd announced the flight or the gate change for that matter.

That's strange. I was at the Lounge in Syd last weekend and they announced all flights.
I always make a point of checking the monitor every time I get up to get something just to make sure of no gate changes.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

They also didn't announce boarding of our flight. Around 15 minutes after it was meant to start boarding, we wandered to the gate to find the gate had changed. Walked to next gate up to the door and heard someone on the radio say "yup last 2 just checking in now" and proceeded to close the doors to the airbridge behind us.

Would have been nice if they'd announced the flight or the gate change for that matter.

Hello Qantas. l'm back. That's pretty bad form from DJ.

 

[koonyaflyer]

I have to agree with JustinF. I am in Velocity Lounges in MEL and SYD at least 2 times every week, and I have not had a problem with a flight not being called.

I can only assume that there was a glitch with drewbies situation, and whilst I know that everyone would like to think differently sometimes human errors do happen! Overall my experience with Virgin and Velocity and is good!

A big step up from my Jetstar experience yesterday, but I will put that in a different post!

 

[Justinf]

I have to agree with JustinF. I am in Velocity Lounges in MEL and SYD at least 2 times every week, and I have not had a problem with a flight not being called.

I can only assume that there was a glitch with drewbies situation, and whilst I know that everyone would like to think differently sometimes human errors do happen! Overall my experience with Virgin and Velocity and is good!

A big step up from my Jetstar experience yesterday, but I will put that in a different post!

I have to agree. I frequent the Lounge quite a bit in MEL, SYD and BNE and have never experienced flights not being announced ready for boarding.
Must have been a glitch.

 

[yohy?!]

To round out my original post and the themes of the thread, I returned to the Virgin Lounge at ADL today - I had previously been assured by DJ customer service that my feedback and concerns had been addressed.

I was happy to see that food on offer was fresh - the selection has also been changed with several types of salads on offer and the sandwich ingredients appear to have been stepped up in quality. The wine and beer selection also appear to have been enhanced.

The refresh of the furniture is still required but that will come - general cleaniness was excellent.

The staff were professional and proactive, I tried to get an attachment to charge my HTC Legend on the Duracell Charging Mat but unfortunately it's not included in the kit it seems.

Good to see they are responsive to feedback, still a long way to go but I think if they are able to capture more business market share that will be a natural progression.

I returned to the QF J Lounge on the way down in SYD T3 and noticed they have also stepped up the catering efforts there so the game is certainly afoot.

 

[haggiscat]

i use the lounge in adel and sydney, and also the qantas business lounge in syd and the qantas club in adelaide.

actually, while the adelaide lounge is a bit dank, and the showers are particularly cough, i rather like it. it's rarely busy and the service is decent. last time i was there the bartender told me to just take a bottle of sparkling wine with me back to my table to avoid the need for constant trips back and forth. i would use it in preference to the adelaide qantas club, which is always packed to the gunwales.

the sydney lounge is also, in my view, a nicer place to relax than the qantas business lounge which is full of knobs talking loudly on mobiles drinking JB and coke and a few plates of cold pizza.

 

[haggiscat]

I have to agree with JustinF. I am in Velocity Lounges in MEL and SYD at least 2 times every week, and I have not had a problem with a flight not being called.

Was in Sydney Virgin lounge a while ago, watching the monitors for my flight. Half an hour after scheduled departure I went to the front desk and asked what was happening - flight had gone. Was told the monitors are not a reliable source of information and that they don't always call the flights, so better go to go to the gate fifteen minutes before scheduled departure time [!!]. But, they put me on the next flight out. Another guy sitting there was in the same situation and called the manager down, who apologised for the lack of info but said that they can't always be expected to get the announcements right.

Was happy that they put me on the next flight and wasn't in a hurry, but I now always make a point of asking at the front desk if they will be calling the flight or not. That way, if they don't and I miss it, I figure there aren't going to be any arguments.