Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

Port Vila to Brisbane.

Pre-departure beverages offered. And top-up with warm nuts served as soon as we were airborne.
Unfortunately, delayed flight meant many onboard were going to miss their onward connections that night, so J-service was sacrificed as soon as the meals were delivered as the CS was busy trying to calm and placate some rather angry passengers.

Same meal as @jase05 and @Pleb Status had domestically (spiced lamb shepherd's pie), although personally I think slightly better presented (less watery).
I quite liked it.

Cold option was Thai beef salad, which nobody in the cabin (5 of 8) chose.
The festive cookie was a nice touch. Wasn't too much of a fan of the passion fruit mousse dessert texturally.

VA J meal.jpg
 
Anyone with an opinion? Just flew a domestic J sector and cabin manager advised catering is “a mix of this and that”, apologised and advised he would be reporting it and we should think about seeking compo. I ended up with a lovely beetroot fetta pumpkin salad with balance of items appearing as they should. I can’t see any issue at all nor need for compo, but ...he again made mention of reporting it at disembarkation. So, a request to the Platinum line for 5K points?
 
Breakfast on VA204 ADL-MEL this morning was the “Breakfast Plate”.
Pork and Fennel sausages, grilled haloumi, Sweet potato mash, kale, mushrooms and quinoa. Very good dish IMO and the sausages especially were very good and packed with flavour. Accompanied with granola with milk and a choice of a croissant or warm roll with honey or vegemite.
Pretty well put together meal IMO and was offered the same on VA733 MEL-OOL a few hours later

A94A1309-A45C-4B57-8662-B9FBD7ECF8DB.jpeg
 
Anyone with an opinion? Just flew a domestic J sector and cabin manager advised catering is “a mix of this and that”, apologised and advised he would be reporting it and we should think about seeking compo. I ended up with a lovely beetroot fetta pumpkin salad with balance of items appearing as they should. I can’t see any issue at all nor need for compo, but ...he again made mention of reporting it at disembarkation. So, a request to the Platinum line for 5K points?
Absolutely. Did you get a choice of meal or just provided the salad?
 
Absolutely. Did you get a choice of meal or just provided the salad?

I got a full meal and look I can’t complain, I think it was good. This is purely a try-on prompted by the CSA advising all pax in J to feel free to complain about ‘lack of choice’. I’m actually not choosy, I’ll eat anything. Maybe I’ll just ask for 5K points but look really I won’t upset if they ignore me.
 
I got a full meal and look I can’t complain, I think it was good. This is purely a try-on prompted by the CSA advising all pax in J to feel free to complain about ‘lack of choice’. I’m actually not choosy, I’ll eat anything. Maybe I’ll just ask for 5K points but look really I won’t upset if they ignore me.

Understood it was a full serve / meal -- just wasn't sure the issue was lack of choice. Seems that it was. I still say put in and see.
 
This was the J meal on a CHC-MEL flight earlier this month:

IMG_3497.JPG

Ling on a pumpkin puree with vegetables. Tasty but small serve. Other choice was a chickpea salad which could have chicken added.

Very disappointed overall. No starter or salad, dessert was the little cake in the cellophane wrapper and there was one piece of cheese on the plate with crackers at the back. Bread roll was nice.

No menu provided. Minimal explanation of the wines on offer.

PDB was a bottle of water - pathetic. Pre-lunch drink was provided but no offer of nuts or olives (someone did ask for them and was provided with much eye-rolling from the CSM). Nobody else was offered.

Underwhelming.
 
This was the J meal on a CHC-MEL flight earlier this month:

View attachment 150857

Ling on a pumpkin puree with vegetables. Tasty but small serve. Other choice was a chickpea salad which could have chicken added.

Very disappointed overall. No starter or salad, dessert was the little cake in the cellophane wrapper and there was one piece of cheese on the plate with crackers at the back. Bread roll was nice.

No menu provided. Minimal explanation of the wines on offer.

PDB was a bottle of water - pathetic. Pre-lunch drink was provided but no offer of nuts or olives (someone did ask for them and was provided with much eye-rolling from the CSM). Nobody else was offered.

Underwhelming.
Wonder if its the same FA we had CHC-MEL; she spent a lot of time in the jump seat with her eyes closed.
 
Australia's highest-earning Velocity Frequent Flyer credit card: Offer expires: 21 Jan 2025
- Earn 60,000 bonus Velocity Points
- Get unlimited Virgin Australia Lounge access
- Enjoy a complimentary return Virgin Australia domestic flight each year

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

No, our CSM was a bloke. He wasn't lazy. But seemed to do the minimum and wanted to be efficient. He did loosen up a bit later, with a couple of wine refill offers then more drinks or coffees, without fuss. But I thought it was poor not to offer snacks to everyone - both pre-lunch and say an hour before landing.

He and the other FA (who attended to us after Y) didn't sit down for more than maybe 10 minutes each through the flight -- just enough time to eat really. Kept the curtain open too so were always eye-catch-able.
 
And the food:

IMG_3607.JPG

PDB offered, including sparkling wine. Drink plus snacks order taken pre-departure (no trouble asking for olives and nuts). Meal and wine order taken too.

I thought the wine list was impressive. Turned out it was an error - this was an international menu by mistake. Actually only two reds and two whites onboard. I had asked for one of the absent reds. Within a minute Chris (my terrific FA) realised the error and came back to apologise and seek an alternative.
 
Barramundi was tasty but not the best piece of fish. And could have done with more spinach and some grain/pulse/pasta.

IMG_3511.JPG

Cheese excellent.

IMG_3513.JPG

Service was superb. Very enjoyable flight. Seat not quite as spacious or private as QFs, but the IFE has music -- so winner.
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.

Recent Posts

Back
Top