V Australia Woeful Business Class

[Jacko4]

I have just flown Virgin Australia Business for the 4th time. First 2 were good, 3rd was average but I can definitely say now VA is the WORST business class I have ever experienced. After so much promise when I first flew Sydney-LAX in 2009 every trip has been downhill to the extent that my most recent confirmed for me I will never ever fly VA again. My readout is the only thing now they have going for them are cheap fares.
I can sort of put up with average lounges in Sydney and LAX however its the onboard stuff that is letting them down badly. After boarding, I was asked if I wanted a French bubbly. My attendant disappeared and was visible for the next 15 minutes while all around me were served until eventually I got my bubbly. Fast forward 2 hours when I wandered down to the bar at the earlier invitation of the head crew person only to find the same attendant reluctantly pour me a drink "with attitude" as she was "on her break".
Fast forward now to post landing. I waited and waited for my jacket and when it obviously wasn't forthcoming, my standing in the exit was the only way I could get someone again with attitude to break their assigned position to retrieve my jacket.

I never thought I would say this but I am so looking forward next time to flying Qantas or Singapore, if if they do charge a little more.

 

[straitman]

I have just flown Virgin Australia Business for the 4th time. First 2 were good, 3rd was average but I can definitely say now VA is the WORST business class I have ever experienced. After so much promise when I first flew Sydney-LAX in 2009 every trip has been downhill to the extent that my most recent confirmed for me I will never ever fly VA again. My readout is the only thing now they have going for them are cheap fares.
I can sort of put up with average lounges in Sydney and LAX however its the onboard stuff that is letting them down badly. After boarding, I was asked if I wanted a French bubbly. My attendant disappeared and was visible for the next 15 minutes while all around me were served until eventually I got my bubbly. Fast forward 2 hours when I wandered down to the bar at the earlier invitation of the head crew person only to find the same attendant reluctantly pour me a drink "with attitude" as she was "on her break".
Fast forward now to post landing. I waited and waited for my jacket and when it obviously wasn't forthcoming, my standing in the exit was the only way I could get someone again with attitude to break their assigned position to retrieve my jacket.

I never thought I would say this but I am so looking forward next time to flying Qantas or Singapore, if if they do charge a little more.

Hi Jacko4,

Welcome to AFF.

Have you folled this up with the airline?

I have moved your post to its own thread.

 

[LiamR]

I have just flown Virgin Australia Business for the 4th time. First 2 were good, 3rd was average but I can definitely say now VA is the WORST business class I have ever experienced. After so much promise when I first flew Sydney-LAX in 2009 every trip has been downhill to the extent that my most recent confirmed for me I will never ever fly VA again. My readout is the only thing now they have going for them are cheap fares.
I can sort of put up with average lounges in Sydney and LAX however its the onboard stuff that is letting them down badly. After boarding, I was asked if I wanted a French bubbly. My attendant disappeared and was visible for the next 15 minutes while all around me were served until eventually I got my bubbly. Fast forward 2 hours when I wandered down to the bar at the earlier invitation of the head crew person only to find the same attendant reluctantly pour me a drink "with attitude" as she was "on her break".
Fast forward now to post landing. I waited and waited for my jacket and when it obviously wasn't forthcoming, my standing in the exit was the only way I could get someone again with attitude to break their assigned position to retrieve my jacket.

I never thought I would say this but I am so looking forward next time to flying Qantas or Singapore, if if they do charge a little more.

I'm really suprised to hear that, I usually find the staff to be ah-maz-ing... Once onboard I have a great experience.

On the ground, its not as good, but still acceptable. They are a new airline still, so I understand....

Have you thought about emailing Virgin? I'm sure they would be willing to follow up or sort something out for you?

 

[777]

Only one experience in flight here in VA J but my experience was a lot more like your first two than your last one - staff were excellent on board. Nothing to complain about at all in flight -- but the MH and Alaska Lounges were nothing to write home about.

But I think "woeful" is a bit much for a bad experience one flight out of 4. Inconsistent seems the word you're looking for.

 

[Jacko4]

Through a senior travel industry contact I did in fact email John Borghetti, CEO of Virgin. The postscript to my tale is that in fact I was handed an identical looking jacket that turned out not to be mine. It wasn't until I received an email from Toll, VA's appointed ground handlers, that I realised I had been given (not taken) the wrong jacket. The icing on the proverbial cake was they suggested I make my way to Mascot to swap jackets and all this after I paid $8K+ for a so-called Business Class ticket! After 3 telephone calls, sanity prevailed and VA approved a courier to travel to the city to swap jackets.

Obviously while I was hoping for a response I wasn't surprised that after 5 days I hadn't received one. Eventually I did get a consultant leaving a message to give her a call.

 

[MelUser]

Funny how a Qantas ad appears (for me) at the very first post on this thread!!

 

[Virgin Australia]

Hi Jack,
Sorry to read your post, if you would like to private message some details I can look into it.
thanks

 

[UP4014]

My own Virgin experiences have been "average", I wouldn't call a drink being slow to turn up woeful but makes you appreciate QANTAS.

 

[markis10]

In the interests of accuracy I have modified the thread title to reflect the correct name of the airline.

 

[Homer]

While I consider myself a fussy traveller, I personally wouldn’t use the term “woeful” do describe the things that happened to you but then I might feel different if they happened to me.

In my experience with F & J cabins, the welcome champagne is delivered individually to pax and factors such as the time you board and the busyness of the cabin would come into play. I have waited 5-10 minutes, or possibly longer, for that first glass and it has never bothered me - particularly if it’s Dom...

I never like FA attitude but I find it is pretty rare. Usually I think it’s because of something I’ve done or said so I try to set it aside. On the jacket thing, that’s really annoying and even more so when they wanted you to go pick it up! Good on you for insisting they send it to you.

 

[Reggie]

My own Virgin experiences have been "average", I wouldn't call a drink being slow to turn up woeful but makes you appreciate QANTAS.

I have not received my drinks on QF. On two occasions (1 in J, 1 in Y) I was completely missed for my meal, and they continued walking past me, in the end I had to ask for it, and instead of appologetic, it was annoyance from the crew.

I always take a perspective pill with these type of problems, both from my experiences and others.

One point I do note, I have never (and feel free to correct) seen a QF rep on this board offer to take up a complaint on behalf of a long term member, let alone new members, on the other hand Virgin Blue, Crazy Dave .............

 

[lovestotravel]

Hi, and welcome....

Singapore is by far a better choice, IF you are flying the A380 or the 777-300ER but they are chopping and changing the 777 flights far too often.

Qantas crews are all over the place, so I wouldn't rate their crews better, but their overall product is more "refined". Again Singapore blow Qantas out of the water overall.

Okay:
Lounges - When did you fly as VA now use the Air NZ lounge in Sydney which is nice. But the LAX lounge is on-par with an United Airlines domestic lounge.

Seating/IFE - Singapore A380/777W is the best, followed by V Australia and then Qantas seat being my least favored.

Staff - As above, the total in-flight experience really depends on the crew. I have had 4 flights in J on VA and 2 of them were perfect from check-in to landing. But the other 2 flights had a very poor check-in experience at LAX. They had a trainee serving the business class line and it took me over 45 mins to check in...... The other time they wanted to charge me excess baggage while I was under the allowance and then the crew on-board were sloppy.

That being said I have always found various crew members happy to pour/make/mix a drink at the bar and then hang around for a chat

Perhaps send them an email but do give them another chance.

Singapore Airlines if you get the A380 is far superior though!

All my future USA flights will be on V Australia, as they still beat Qantas hands down, for me the seat is more important than a crew who doesn't care. As long as the IFE and seat works perfectly I am happy!

 

[lovestotravel]

Only one experience in flight here in VA J but my experience was a lot more like your first two than your last one - staff were excellent on board. Nothing to complain about at all in flight -- but the MH and Alaska Lounges were nothing to write home about.

But I think "woeful" is a bit much for a bad experience one flight out of 4. Inconsistent seems the word you're looking for.

Agreed, yes I agree with you :mrgreen:

 

[dk4]

I have never (and feel free to correct) seen a QF rep on this board offer to take up a complaint on behalf of a long term member...

By looking here View Profile: Red Roo - The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community (and click “find all posts” on the left) it is possible to see how Qantas has been officially dealing with specific individual's complaints/issues raised on AFF.

By looking here View Profile: Simon_Westaway - The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community (and click “find all posts” on the left) it is possible to see how Jetstar has been officially dealing with specific individual's complaints/issues raised on AFF.

Of course, some issues are taken up unofficially & anonymously, by other engaged employees from right across the Qantas Group, adding their unique perspective on AFF.

 

[yohy?!]

By looking here View Profile: Red Roo - The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community (and click “find all posts” on the left) it is possible to see how Qantas has been officially dealing with specific individual's complaints/issues raised on AFF.

By looking here View Profile: Simon_Westaway - The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community (and click “find all posts” on the left) it is possible to see how Jetstar has been officially dealing with specific individual's complaints/issues raised on AFF.

Of course, some issues are taken up unofficially & anonymously, by other engaged employees from right across the Qantas Group, adding their unique perspective on AFF.

Perhaps it is more accurate to say that the level of engagement that is visible on AFF is markedly slower/less evident from the QF/JQ Group Staffers compared to DJ.

 

[markis10]

Its probably timely to put in this reminder - AFF is not an official avenue for complaint lodgement about anything, and while vendor participation is most welcome and appreciated, its not mandatory nor is it a substitute for the normal correct channels.

An criticism about reps not acting on issues will more than likely be viewed by the mods as being an attempt to attack/insult another community member, and appropriate action will be taken. Both bad and good feedback make this community what it is today, lets keep adding value where we can please.

 

[UP4014]

I have not received my drinks on QF. On two occasions (1 in J, 1 in Y) I was completely missed for my meal, and they continued walking past me, in the end I had to ask for it, and instead of appologetic, it was annoyance from the crew.

I always take a perspective pill with these type of problems, both from my experiences and others.

One point I do note, I have never (and feel free to correct) seen a QF rep on this board offer to take up a complaint on behalf of a long term member, let alone new members, on the other hand Virgin Blue, Crazy Dave .............

Sure I've had average experiences on QF, but never woeful.

As for your last point about QF not taking up issues, I think your actually completely incorrect, there is a couple of people here who do, but perhaps not as "out front" about it.

Matt

 

[dk4]

Its probably timely to put in this reminder - AFF is not an official avenue for complaint lodgement about anything, and while vendor participation is most welcome and appreciated, its not mandatory nor is it a substitute for the normal correct channels.

An criticism about reps not acting on issues will more than likely be viewed by the mods as being an attempt to attack/insult another community member, and appropriate action will be taken. Both bad and good feedback make this community what it is today...

I would argue that AFF became (one of many) "official avenues" for communication on 11th January 2011.

On that day admin instigated the "Authenticated Company Rep" user category on this board. http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ted-company-representatives-on-aff-27525.html

After this milestone event, a number of businesses chose to "sign up" users to "officially" engage with this community, as ACRs.

I would argue that after this date, AFF became another "normal correct channel", just like face2face, email, telephone, corporate websites, facebook, twitter...

Of course I would totally agree that the nature of any discourse on AFF should try to be civil, but I also think that this discourse should reasonably include discussion about said commercial engagement (from commercial community members), and its nature. I would suggest that comparative analysis is a reasonable form for this discussion to take.

It is, of course, equally valid that each business choose its own level and style of engagement... but we (the people) should be equally free to critique it (as we would any other aspect of travel related businesses).

 

[markis10]

I would argue that AFF became (one of many) "official avenues" for communication on 11th January 2011.

On that day admin instigated the "Authenticated Company Rep" user category on this board. http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ted-company-representatives-on-aff-27525.html

After this milestone event, a number of businesses chose to "sign up" users to "officially" engage with this community, as ACRs.

I would argue that after this date, AFF became another "normal correct channel", just like face2face, email, telephone, corporate websites, facebook, twitter...

The purpose of the Rep tag is to identify someone who is authorised to comment as they see fit on the companies position for such matters so that our community members know they are who they say they are, nothing more. It was at the request of a mod that this change occurred, not any particular member.

Unlike the "normal correct channels" you mention, those companies have no control over the content of this site, and as previously stated by both mods and admin, there is no compulsion expressed or implied on the company reps to respond to anything on AFF.

 

[malmacdowall]

Sorry to hear of your bad VA experience.... It's fair to expect good service from any airline and particularly in J....

Personally I have flown V Australia once in y+ and three times in J... Arrived home 1 week ago from Abu Dhabi and must say that the service was FIRST class.... Better than I could have expected.... ( hope to post TR shortly)

It seems that as with any airline, consistency is the issue.... As a passenger with the ability to choose my airline, we should be able to expect the same excellent service every time ...