Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[Tassieoptom]

Thought I'd post my experience up to thank all those that helped answer my questions pre-flight!

I flew VA684 PER-MEL and there were only 5 of us in J, so service was very good, with drink refills plentiful! Pre-flight was offered champagne also asked for a glass of water and was offered still or sparkling. A basic ammenity kit was handed out. Took a while after take off before post-departure beverages were offered (despite seat-belt light turned off quite early). The prawns were huge and delicious. It is interesting to compare my trout, with the previous posters....the "broth" on my plate ruined the sweet potato unfortunately. The desert was probably the nicest GF dish I have ever had on and off an aircraft (not that I am GF and had many GF offerings), it was outstanding. I actually really enjoyed the Pinot Gris!

Was really impressed by the product!

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Same menu as i had MEL to PER, was also generous with French Champagne, but no amenity kit.

 

[danielt25]

VA786 CNS-BNE 22/9 16:45 departure

Choices chicken sate or plate of dips. Tasty chicken sate. Shame about presentation.

 

[Lemon_Party]

BNE-PER va476

Delighted to get a 332 on this flight. Sparkling to start, not bad but think I preferred the grant burge from last time.
Newish menu I think - first time for me. Smoked salmon gravalax and barramundi for me, followed by crumble. As usual food was excellently presented and pretty tasty. crumble could have been better but about time I didn't take the cheese course...

Good crew, good service, good food - and goose island session IPA in the BNE lounge on tap. Great times for VA, will all be forgotten next time I fly back in Y....

 

[OzEire]

Had the Thai green curry (very mild bordering on bland) again today CBR-BNE.

But what really caught my eye was the 'soy chocolate ganache' which the packaging claimed was free of eggs, dairy, gluten, lactose, nuts and vegan... all bases covered. They missed one, it was free of taste as well

 

[texanaust]

No pre departure bubbles unless a coast to coast service.

Maybe the less preconceptions you have the better?

Served bubbles pre-departure Syd-Lst two weeks ago. Maybe it covers all coasts?!!!

 

[serfty]

Served bubbles pre-departure Syd-Lst two weeks ago. Maybe it covers all coasts?!!!

Yes, that post was from August.

Catering was changed at the beginning of this month and bubbles are now being served.

 

[KCMil]

Bubbles are on all flights now. It's there on every flight, but apparently only offered pre-departure from lunch onwards. For breakfast I simply asked and was provided a mimosa before take off.
I can't get the photo from my phone to load up, but the sparkling is Bridgewater Mill sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay. I found it quite pleasant for a non vintage sparkling. (Remembering that any sparkling produced in Australia regardless of method can not be called champagne.)
I'm also a fan of the snack changes in Y, fresh veg sticks and dip is a welcome change to sweet biscuits, pretzels or the sandwiches which tended to be too cold and therefore chewy.

And there are meant to be more changes to come later in the year, at least the catering is getting interesting.

 

[ecole16]

BNE-PER va476

Delighted to get a 332 on this flight. Sparkling to start, not bad but think I preferred the grant burge from last time.
Newish menu I think - first time for me. Smoked salmon gravalax and barramundi for me, followed by crumble. As usual food was excellently presented and pretty tasty. crumble could have been better but about time I didn't take the cheese course...

Good crew, good service, good food - and goose island session IPA in the BNE lounge on tap. Great times for VA, will all be forgotten next time I fly back in Y....

If this is VA476 on Thursday I was on it too. Food and crew were both great!

 

[esquire]

Yes, that post was from August.

Catering was changed at the beginning of this month and bubbles are now being served.

Bubbles are on all flights now. It's there on every flight, but apparently only offered pre-departure from lunch onwards. For breakfast I simply asked and was provided a mimosa before take off.
I can't get the photo from my phone to load up, but the sparkling is Bridgewater Mill sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay. I found it quite pleasant for a non vintage sparkling. (Remembering that any sparkling produced in Australia regardless of method can not be called champagne.)
I'm also a fan of the snack changes in Y, fresh veg sticks and dip is a welcome change to sweet biscuits, pretzels or the sandwiches which tended to be too cold and therefore chewy.

And there are meant to be more changes to come later in the year, at least the catering is getting interesting.

Hopefully if more changes are coming they listen to feedback on the current changes as well - After the long delays on Monday in SYD - the Bridgewater Mill Sparkling ($14.19 at DMs) on SYD-PER was requested by many - and it was horrible - and noticed most people returned the glasses almost full.
Shame the crew kept on calling it champagne.... I provided constructive feedback to the CSM and was advised they would "pass my comments to management about the champagne!" The food ranged from nice (soup) to average (the pork dish was tough and fatty) - but every single choice I requested - entree, main and dessert - was "sold out"... not a great food and wine experience.

The Y choices however I would agree are much improved but they did come from a pretty low base to start.

 

[OzEire]

The Y choices however I would agree are much improved but they did come from a pretty low base to start.

+1 to that, the 'base' couldn't have been much lower!

 

[bean]

I'm really getting tired of the inconsistent levels of service from the J cabin crew. Take a recent flight for example-

The flight up was just perfection, within moments of sitting down the attendant (Giles you are a legend and should be running the whole training department) offered me a drink. Now I was going on holidays and maybe he realised as he offered me a beer instead of just the standard OJ or water. This was a nice touch.

He asked us if we would like the devices to watch movies which were promptly given to us not long after take off. Again a nice touch to be asked rather than having to ask.
Food was brought out promptly.
Consistently checked on us to see if we wanted any thing or more drinks.
Was just an absolute pleasure and made you feel like a king. He made us feel like there was nothing more he enjoyed doing than making our flight as enjoyable as possible.

In contrast to the return flight...

The attendant spent the majority of the time up the front chatting to her colleague
Not once asked if Id like a drink, so then every time I asked for one she made me feel like she was doing me a favour.
Never asked if we would like the entertainment devices. And again then when asked made us feel as if we were being difficult. Then after I waited patiently for almost an hour I had to again ask her for the device (bearing in mind it was for my son..). The response was again to make us feel like she was doing us a favour by getting the tablet.
Food came out 1.5 hours after take off, no bread rolls. I had finished my meal and wanted a roll to soak up the sauce-when asked she snapped back that its very difficult to serve the bread rolls at the same time as the meals and again made me feel liek she was doing me a favour to bring me something that is standard on every J meal I have ever received with Virgin.
And on and on..basically she spent the whole flight hidden up the front talking and the only time she graced us with her presence was when we had to call her. The whole experience was just terrible.

Bare in mind also the trip up had more pax than the return flight so its not as if she had a higher workload.

I don't know if is like this with Qantas but if my flight back was my first experience of business with Virgin it would be my last. I have also experienced similar experiences transcon with the cabin crew on the way back from Perth normally eager to please, and the crew to Perth again making you feel like they are doing you a favour.

I am double platinum and am going to start flying Qantas to see if there is any difference...

 

[serfty]

I'm really getting tired of the inconsistent levels of service from the J cabin crew. Take a recent flight for example-...

I suggest you comment to VA customer service; mentioning specific flights etc.

If Management don't know who is giving great service and who is giving shocking service then they cannot make adjustments.

BTW, you can find the same level of inconsistency with Qantas; although Jetconnect crew are generally very good.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I am double platinum and am going to start flying Qantas to see if there is any difference...

I'd say good move. If you can hold status with both, it does open up your choices. Doing the hard yards to gain both, was a good decision for me.

I personally found the VA domestic J plummeted a couple of years ago, but I must admit, I thought they all must have got a size 10 boot up the backside because the service and cabin cleanliness has improved dramatically (IMHO) over the past year, so it's really disappointing to hear of these shortcomings. That hiding behind the curtain, really irks me. I actually prefer VA J to QF J, but there is not a whole lot in it as far as I'm concerned. That preference would be reversed if QF protected the sanctity of the J cabin better, which they seem determined not to, but if crowds gathering and exercising right in your face (if you're in a row 1 aisle) whilst they wait for to use the J loo does not bother you, than QF J and the QF J lounges pip the VA product at the post IME. VA however, do pretty well at keeping the J cabin for J pax, which is a real positive (especially on disembarkation).

 

[slikstick]

Only flown VA J on afternoon flights, what can I expect for breaky in the morning on a 0630 DRW-PER service?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I forgot to mention another plus for VA over QF (from post 2253 above), which came in handy last night. VA are far better at moving a J flight without applying the fare bucket difference. I have had this a number of times with VA, where I've changed my flight and although the original has been on a sale price, they have been happy to change it without the (largish) fare difference. QF on the other hand, steadfastly charge the difference if the original bucket is not available. On a recent QF flight that bucket difference was roughly $200 (BNE-CNS) which is just ludicrous given their already expensive J fare (although I did get an extra 10SCs + the extra points ).

On another note, I changed tomorrows flight with VA from an am flight to a pm flight so I could try the new J sparkling wine on offer!! How ostentatious is that!

 

[JessicaTam]

On another note, I changed tomorrows flight with VA from an am flight to a pm flight so I could try the new J sparkling wine on offer!! How ostentatious is that!

Not at all - it's the AFF way!

 

[Yipchoi]

Have been meaning to post these for a while...... VA86 - HKG to MEL in July

 

[QF WP]

This mornings VA304 (BNE/MEL) J service. 4/8 seats occupied so Jeremy had an easy time.

Jana greeted on entry and quickly worked out her accent was German and responded accordingly - she was startled. Had a chat in my schlect Deutsche upon deplaning as she covered the J/Y space.

Breakfast was a bacon, egg and black bean fajita- nicely done, not too spicy

 

[Pleb Status]

VA470 BNE-PER tonight. Excellent effort once again except that no nuts or olives were loaded.



My next BNE-PER is on QF in J (first QF flight in ten months) so I may have to get ready to slum it and eat before I leave. Some of the stuff posted on the corresponding QF thread is embrassing...

 

[danielt25]

VA773 BNE - CNS 16/10 7am departure

Chorizo torilla or fruit salad