Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[QF WP]

BNE - SYD this arvo - Cajun Chicken with Dirty rice.

View attachment 282594

Pretty tasty.

Copious G&T's - I eventually had to draw the line as I was driving, but the CM was happy to keep playing!

For those still working on the secret to life, the universe and everything, orders were taken 2A/C then 1A/C, 1D/F, 2D/F, however food came out 1A/C, 1D/F, 2A/C, 2D/F - nothing in life is simple it seems!

Liking the CM making sure you were well hydrated. My drink of choice as well

2A is my seat of choice

 

[kerfuffle]

2A is my seat of choice

Same here. Or 2F, depending on the views. I like having my bag underneath my seat; never know when you need something in it!

 

[westsurf]

Absolutely disgusted with the rubbish I got served up tonight SYD-PER. Seven people in business and when they got to our order we only got the vegetarian option.

Cheese tortellini … if that’s what you could call it. It was simply horrible. Thank god for five hours in the Virgin lounge or I would have starved.

Emma the business flight attendant seemed more interested in her free time than serving business seats. Asked for a tea post meal … not even a biscuit offered.

$1500 for that … despite being Platinum might be looking at the competitor next flight.

I will be complaining to Virgin. In comparison to the flight over and the attendance by Peter it was cheese and chalk pretending to be tortellini.

 

[sqrt()]

Liking the CM making sure you were well hydrated. My drink of choice as well

2A is my seat of choice

I have long legs and have discovered row 1 is not an option. If the price I have to pay is being forced onto the vego option, so be it.

 

[dk4]

...when they got to our order we only got the vegetarian option.... Thank god for five hours in the Virgin lounge or I would have starved.

...Asked for a tea post meal … not even a biscuit offered.

So, while I don't want to take away from the displeasure about the poor service which you received from the CM on one of your flights, there are two general points I would like to make for posterity (/other readers) here (as I have had Qantas frequent flyers raise similar issues with me, after they have tried Virgin - as they are use to the Qantas way of doing business class).

Virgin F&B service is very different to Qantas, IME in Business Class on Virgin - there is a base line offer, which everyone gets, then there are all sorts of additions available if you ask. (Plus the CM is free to tailor their approach above the base line at their whim, which in my opinion makes the service a whole lot less robotic/formal on Virgin, and normally gives it a different flare to Qantas.)

So, first point, hot drinks after the meal are not part of the base offer on Virgin (as in, it won't be proactively offered to you), but tea and coffee are always available if you ask, as too are biscuits, if you ask. Qantas will proactively offer hot drinks after the meal, and put a small biscuit on the side when serving it... but then that's it, you have reached the limit of Qantas F&B service. (Virgin can give you both of these things, if you ask for both.)

Point two at Virgin is - there are 2 more menus to eat from, if you remain hungry or don't like what the base line F&B offer is on your flight. If you ask, you can buy from the economy menu (unfortunately not free any more). Plus, there is an array of shelf-stable snacks available in the Business Pantry (which are free) if you ask.... So, if you are a Qantas flyer and would like some chocolate after your Virgin meal, while it is not presented on your tray with the main meal - it is available, if you ask.

Like Oliver Twist, Qantas has educated their passengers not to ask for more, as they don't have "more", Qantas present or offer everything they have as their base line service. Whereas Virgin has loads more F&B available for Business Class passengers, beyond their base line tray service, if they ask for it... There are simply too many options for every CM to have time to offer them to every passenger proactively- but let the CM know you are still hungry, or ask them for something savoury to eat, enquire about something sweet if that's your fancy, find out if there are any pies left to buy from the economy menu.... and then you get a whole lot more than you can on Qantas.

 

[THR]

What was the sequence in which orders were taken?

Sequence was 2D/F and then 2A/C (but practically may have just gone row two first, because it was a family of four with the parents seated in D and F), and then 1D and 1F (not sure if they were companions), leaving us in 1A/C.

Fly back Sunday and will let you know the sequence for the return.

 

[THR]

Point two at Virgin is - there are 2 more menus to eat from, if you remain hungry or don't like what the base line F&B offer is on your flight. If you ask, you can buy from the economy menu (unfortunately not free any more).

Your entire reply was very useful thanks as someone relatively new to Virgin. One minor note I’ll add, and it may well be an exception, when they ran out of Cajun chicken yesterday (all six passengers prior chose it), and we were offered the vegetarian option I previously posted, the cabin crew was apologetic and also said she could offer me a toasted sandwich or pie from the economy menu instead (there was no reference to me having to pay for it).

 

[aaronm]

Chicken on turkish or veggie pie on MEL-SYD this morning. Picked the veggie pie and was quite happy with the choice, was more like an eggless quiche but definitely tasty. Can recommend.

 

[sqrt()]

was more like an eggless quiche

So a pie?

 

[aaronm]

So a pie?

I’d probably have called it a vegetable tart, but was a good choice regardless.

SYD-BNE last night, choices were a vegetarian bibimbap or apricot chicken. I don’t think anyone’s had apricot chicken since about 1995 but it seems VA are bringing it back. No photo but it was a decent serve of meat accompanied with mashed potato and broccolini. It held up well in the air and I would pick this one again.

 

[sqrt()]

I’d probably have called it a vegetable tart, but was a good choice regardless.

SYD-BNE last night, choices were a vegetarian bibimbap or apricot chicken. I don’t think anyone’s had apricot chicken since about 1995 but it seems VA are bringing it back. No photo but it was a decent serve of meat accompanied with mashed potato and broccolini. It held up well in the air and I would pick this one again.

Up next, shrimp coughtail and jellied eel! I love how quirky VA is.

 

[Ade]

despite being Platinum might be looking at the competitor next flight.

Boy, the flight must have pretty bad for I have not heard my VA WP looking to switch to the competition.

I have heard QF customers say this though

 

[bam71]

I make apricot chicken sometimes!

 

[Zanzaid]

VA472 BNE - PER last night. Options were Spanish chicken with mash or Korean fried rice with veggies. I grabbed the chicken and partner grabbed the fried rice. We both liked what we got, being our first time in business class, though my chicken felt a bit thick to try get through on a warped tray.

As for service, can't say I really knew what to expect, but I didn't feel disappointed at least! A couple of the FA would check in to see if we needed anything every so often, but being a night flight, I imagine it wasn't as common as usual? We asked for snacks and they presented a few options like pretzels, chips or biscuits, so couldn't complain! I'm not big on alcohol but the guy behind me was definitely having a few beers so drinks were flowing.

Orders taken in order 1C, 1D, 1F, 2D, 2F, 2A. 1A was a kid and 2C was empty.

 

[Denali]

I think this is my first 'This is not good' review

Darwin to Sydney. No ice on board, wasn't allowed to have a can and had to wait for drink to be poured, water was warm.

Breakfast was some burnt frittata disc (only 2 on the flight) with a splash of bbq sauce to overwhelm any flavour or a 3rd degree burn hot ham, cheese and tomato crossaint flattened pastry. The crossaint was the better of the two. The cinnamon roll was good and the best part was the banana and choc chip muffin. We both arrived hungry.

 

[AIRwin]

I think this is my first 'This is not good' review

Did you submit feedback?

 

[Denali]

Did you submit feedback?

Not yet, only got home yesterday about 1.30pm and we stayed hungry until dinner time and ordered pizza

 

[MooTime]

Sat 25th MEL-DRW 7am

Arrived at terminal 530am, it was chocas, full full. Thankfully the premium line was single digits long, in lounge in no time.
Boarding time the flight was cancelled, oh no, they were 1 crew short....20 mins later a crew guy turned up to much applause, flight 'uncancelled' first I'd heard of this happening.
Anyhow flight supurb, J crew spot-on.
Food spot on. Half tomato bit odd.

Ordered & served 1A to 2F.
Saw the meal sheet & nothing circled per passenger eg VIP, Plat, Gold etc

 

[THR]

OOL-SYD - same food on offer as Thursdays flight the other way. Got the cajun chicken this time. Was fine.

Sequence was 2A/C, then us in 1A/C, then 1D/F and then 2D/F.

Attendant was good - topped us up and was proactive offering other snacks.

 

[Kayp]

Sat 25 June - BNE to SYD (VA912)
No time to access lounge. Was on a later flight that was cancelled but managed to get a fly ahead on the 6:35am flight.

PDB - orange juice or water.
Breakfast was a bacon and egg quesadilla (accompanied with a mimosa).


Sun 26 June - SYD to BNE (VA977)
Lounge - managed to get a couple of mini sausage rolls on the last offering, but disappointingly they ran out of tomato sauce. Butter chicken and rice also available alongside the soup. Was able to use the post-mix machine which wasn’t available the last time I visited the lounge in May.

PDB - nothing offered
Dinner - chicken curry or cheese tortellini. I had the curry. It was ok but really only ate about 1/2.