Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[AIRwin]

One complaint about the flight is that my tray table in 2A was broken; it didn't sit flat and slanted down.

Reminds me of the tray table on my recent QF flight:

 

[MEL_Traveller]

17/02/23 | VA65 | SYD to DPS



One complaint about the flight is that my tray table in 2A was broken; it didn't sit flat and slanted down. I was worried about its ability to support the meal tray and found the best solution was to extend it out and rest the right edge on the centre console, this meant it sagged in the middle but was otherwise stable enough to eat/drink on.

The meal tray is designed this way…you need to pull it sideways and rest it on the centre console. I’ve seen many folk struggle with this

As for the droop in the middle… it’s either that or the tray itself that can be slightly convex. Best to move drinks to the console if you intend pushing on the plate/tray/table because they can sometimes ‘pop’ off!

 

[twinaisle]

the service standard was nowhere near the expectations of VA.

Curious to know what your expectations of the service was?

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

Curious to know what your expectations of the service was?

General expectations of J service that weren't met today:
* welcomed on arrival
* PDB
* knowledge of what's being served

Put simply, unfortunately this morning's service wasn't up to scratch.

 

[twinaisle]

Instead of going straight to dinner service, a drinks and snacks service was offered first with dinner not until about 90 minutes into the flight.

capsicum dip with warmed flatbread


some of the announcements were a bit Jetstar-esque but delivered with that signature fun Virgin flair .

We generally drag the service out on long flights to keep us occupied and to keep the guests occupied, we could drop the one tray service and call it a day but there won't be much to do for the next few hours of flight.

It's a beetroot hummus

Passenger dynamics have changed so you gotta dumb down the P.a's

after the first cart service the lights were turned off and the crew took a 30-minute break during which time passengers were advised to use the call bell only for medical emergencies.

Yes, we have to have a break to eat, stocktake like you all would have your mandatory breaks at work. I can understand that it may have been communicated like that because the service cart goes by, people order and then suddenly need to order 2 minutes after while crew are onto other passengers which takes away time from crew and passengers who haven't been served yet.

Hate to break it to you guys but because of the hybrid structure of the airline and how cheaper the fares are, you most likely won't get a lounge for ISH.

Qantas have a lounge but their prices are higher.

Post automatically merged: Feb 25, 2023

General expectations of J service that weren't met today:
* welcomed on arrival
* PDB
* knowledge of what's being served

Put simply, unfortunately this morning's service wasn't up to scratch.

Sounds like you had a mediocre service hopefully next time you have a more pleasant experience

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

Sounds like you had a mediocre service hopefully next time you have a more pleasant experience

Unfortunately so...to be honest, worst I've experienced on VA in many years of flying. Hopefully it's an aberration.

 

[The-Aviator]

21/02/23 | VA66 | DPS to SYD

Back again to report on the return journey from Denpasar to Sydney! No lounge available in Bali of course, so I kept my inner AvGeek occupied checking out the planes on the tarmac. Here's VH-YIM to take us home.



Boarding commenced on time with bottled water waiting at our seats and PDB prosecco offered.



Dinner was served shortly after take-off with the options being creamy chicken with sweet potato, carrots and courgettes or fusilli pasta with tomato and grilled vegetables. I chose the chicken.



Both options were served with cheese and crackers and a cake. Turned out it was not sweet potatoes on the side with the chicken, but normal potatoes. I wasn't expecting much from an outstation meal and certainly wasn't up to the standard of VA domestic flights. Chicken portion was generous but needed the help of the salt packet to add some flavour. Weirdly it also seemed like it was at least 30-40% chicken skin! The cheese and crackers were particularly disappointing, the cheese was tasteless and the crackers soggy. The cake was dry and not particularly memorable. I finished the main but only had a few bites of the starter and dessert. To drink I had a glass of merlot and sparkling water.

Orders were taken 1DF, 1AC, 2DF, 2AC. Everyone got their first choice although given the red-eye departure, some didn't eat.

By the way, did you notice the little "blast from the past" on the meal tray? That's right, the Bali caterers are still using old Luke Mangan placemats! I guess the outstation caterers didn't get the memo, but I didn't mind the little throwback to the good old VA 1.0 days.



Our FA Zoe was great. All passengers were addressed by name, drinks were kept topped up and service was quick, helpful and unobtrusive to maximise sleep time. She also asked everyone if we wanted to be woken up for the breakfast snack prior to arrival in Sydney.

On waking up we were offered either a blueberry or banana muffin. I took the blueberry muffin - I'm still scarred after a nightmare QF flight from JNB to SYD in 2016 where literally all they served was one tasteless chocolate muffin but this muffin was actually really good, I would say it was the highlight of the flight! Coffee and tea were also offered however I went with an orange juice.



One observation was that drinks were being served with ice by default, including the water and juice which I haven't always seen. One passenger even said their white wine was warm and needed ice. I'm not sure if there was any reason behind it and it didn't bother me, just found it interesting!

Overall a good flight made better by the great VA service. Have a few domestic J flights lined up in coming weeks so looking forward to the many more 'wonderful' trips to come!

 

[twinaisle]

View attachment 317573

One observation was that drinks were being served with ice by default, including the water and juice which I haven't always seen.

Because the drinks are catered from Australia and there's not enough space in the fridge to chill all drinks.

 

[The-Aviator]

Because the drinks are catered from Australia and there's not enough space in the fridge to chill all drinks.

thank you! I thought that might have been the case but when the passenger complained about the warm wine they were told it had been refrigerated, so I was a bit confused. Like I said, not an issue from my perspective

 

[twinaisle]

thank you! I thought that might have been the case but when the passenger complained about the warm wine they were told it had been refrigerated, so I was a bit confused. Like I said, not an issue from my perspective

It takes a while to chill it in the fridge so the CM may have put the bottle in when they were doing their catering checks. From that time until time served, the fridge wouldn't have chilled the bottle of wine enough for it to be cold.

I try not to put a bottle of water for guests, it's convenient but it's the crew water and we don't offer bottles of little water unfortunately

 

[TMP]

In terms of an outstation meal, it's still better than the white bread sandwich with almost no filling I got flying back J from DPS - MEL on the red-eye many years back (maybe 2017?). Following my feedback, VA acknowledged the catering wasn't up to scratch and gave a gratis 10,000 points IIRC.

 

[twinaisle]

In terms of an outstation meal, it's still better than the white bread sandwich with almost no filling I got flying back J from DPS - MEL on the red-eye many years back (maybe 2017?). Following my feedback, VA acknowledged the catering wasn't up to scratch and gave a gratis 10,000 points IIRC.

The best outport station food I've found is NAN followed by DPS. The current menu ex DPS could be better as their last cycle had a more delicious offering.

Our crew food is excellent ex outports though

 

[TMP]

Our crew food is excellent ex outports though

I'm glad they look after you, at least! It was many years ago, I'm sure it's improved (even the post just above looked better even if the review wasn't great).

 

[twinaisle]

I'm glad they look after you, at least! It was many years ago, I'm sure it's improved (even the post just above looked better even if the review wasn't great).

You would hope they would

Food in general isn't bad! I find you get more food outport than aus (looking at you BNE gate gourmet for being stingey)

 

[Mattg]

Does anyone know if VA still has popcorn on the pantry menu?

 

[twinaisle]

Does anyone know if VA still has popcorn on the pantry menu?

No, too many adults missed their mouths causing cabin crew to spend more time cleaning saw it get removed.

 

[stm1sydney]

Unfortunately so...to be honest, worst I've experienced on VA in many years of flying. Hopefully it's an aberration.

To be fair, if that is the worst you've experienced on VA for many years, then that is a good sign. That is perfectly normal for QF.

 

[Sprucegoose]

No, too many adults missed their mouths causing cabin crew to spend more time cleaning saw it get removed.

Makes total sense to me. No different to those crusty old bread rolls on Ausrtralian airlines and crumbs going everywhere. They had dedicated cleaners in those days...now it's all about the turnaround time.


Food needs to be practical.

 

[twinaisle]

Makes total sense to me. No different to those crusty old bread rolls on Ausrtralian airlines and crumbs going everywhere. They had dedicated cleaners in those days...now it's all about the turnaround time.


Food needs to be practical.

View attachment 317703

We're now selling ham and cheese croissants in main cabin so it the apple doesn't fall far from the tree with those crumbs

 

[RooFlyer]

We're now selling ham and cheese croissants in main cabin so it the apple doesn't fall far from the tree with those crumbs

No lobster, but?