Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[RooFlyer]

As an aside, I visited the bathroom on VA820 and while looking for toilet seat covers (it seems like VA doesn't have them, unlike QF), found that all the airsickness bags were Qantas branded... mildly amusing.

Mischief? If you are going to give it a , the target is the opposition

 

[kerfuffle]

VA824 SYD-MEL: Croque Monsieur (or fancy ham and cheese toastie as it was explained to us) or waffles with banana butterscotch sauce. The waffles did smell good as my seatmate's travelling companion in front of us had one. I enjoyed the meal; hopefully can try waffles next time!

Taking and serving order was 1A-1F, then 2A-2F

 

[Milefest]

SYD-PER last night. Offered sparkling wine at departure which was appreciated. For dinner, options were roast chicken and creamy mushroom gnocchi. Gnocchi was a passenger favourite and ran out quickly. Paired my meal with a glass of shiraz.

Proactively offered items from the pantry menu after dinner, the options were: sea salt chips, vegetable chips, mixed nuts, KitKats.

 

[jase05]

VA1405 ADL-BNE 1945
Options were my favourite the Thai Green Curry and my wife’s favourite the Truffle Mac and cheese (which I think is a tad cheap) Both were excellent and my meal was probably the best of the dozen or so times I’ve had this dish. The chocolate cake was absolutely wonderful to finish off. Pantry items then offered afterwards and drinks proactively refilled and great service all round. Priority boarding strictly enforced and PDB bubbly as usual. J loo policed well and and also for disembarking.

 

[QF WP]

VA948 BNE/SYD today

Peri peri chicken burger was the option chosen today:





Probably had too much of the sauce as it leaked everywhere. But tender and tasty

The other option was pasta with pumpkin

 

[SJF211]

VA1456 - DRW-MEL
SDT: 0035 - FT 04:10

Pre departure sparkling was offered.
2 options for dinner on this flight, chicken parmigiana or vegetable pasta. This came with the standard cheese and crackers and passionfruit cake. The chicken was really tasty as was the mash, the broccolini was quite soggy. I try not to be too harsh on the crew on these short overnight flights, I hate them and I’m sure the crew aren’t the biggest fans but the cabin manager was needlessly rude. The rest of the crew were great though.

 

[kerfuffle]

VA1456 - DRW-MEL
SDT: 0035 - FT 04:10

Pre departure sparkling was offered.
2 options for dinner on this flight, chicken parmigiana or vegetable pasta. This came with the standard cheese and crackers and passionfruit cake. The chicken was really tasty as was the mash, the broccolini was quite soggy. I try not to be too harsh on the crew on these short overnight flights, I hate them and I’m sure the crew aren’t the biggest fans but the cabin manager was needlessly rude. The rest of the crew were great though.
View attachment 299344View attachment 299345

This was offered on my flight yesterday VA867 MEL-SYD. I took the saffron pasta

Serving order looked like it was a U shape i.e. 1A, 1C, 2A, 2C, 2D, 2F, 1D, 1F

 

[sudoer]

VA883 MEL-SYD 7pm departure
Gnocchi in creamy mushroom sauce, was quite tasty - would order again



Other option was grain mustard chicken with mash potato and green beans

 

[Milefest]

MEL-SYD tonight. Was an interesting flight as a group of important looking people boarded the flight with a VA staffer. Then overheard the CM speaking to ground staff about how these pax had missed their connection and had been downgraded to Y due to the full J cabin. Apparently these pax had strategic importance to VA because of an upcoming partnership

Anyway on with the show... Offered the chicken parmi and the bean pasta (again). Opted for the pasta as it was quite nice last time. The serving size was smaller than my previous experience and I suspect that they ran out and shared the other half of the serving with my seat partner who ordered the same thing.

The CM seemed distracted most of the flight which meant that he didn't serve us water with our wine/meal so had to specifically ask for it. Was still peckish after the meal but the CM was nowhere to be seen. By the time the flight crew came around to our seats, it was descent so no time to get something from the pantry unfortunately.

 

[twinaisle]

MEL-SYD tonight. Was an interesting flight as a group of important looking people boarded the flight with a VA staffer. Then overheard the CM speaking to ground staff about how these pax had missed their connection and had been downgraded to Y due to the full J cabin. Apparently these pax had strategic importance to VA because of an upcoming partnership

Anyway on with the show... Offered the chicken parmi and the bean pasta (again). Opted for the pasta as it was quite nice last time. The serving size was smaller than my previous experience and I suspect that they ran out and shared the other half of the serving with my seat partner who ordered the same thing.

The CM seemed distracted most of the flight which meant that he didn't serve us water with our wine/meal so had to specifically ask for it. Was still peckish after the meal but the CM was nowhere to be seen. By the time the flight crew came around to our seats, it was descent so no time to get something from the pantry unfortunately.

Some catering ports portions are oddly smaller than others! Meals are already pre plated and 98% of the time we don't get loaded extra serving plates so it's kinda rare to split the meals as I find the portions are already small.

 

[SJF211]

VA303 - MEL-BNE
SDT: 0610 - FT : 2:10
After a 3:45 am wake up alarm I stumbled my way from the Uber into the terminal, checkin was quick and the priority security line was open, queues weren’t huge but the other lines were moving quite slowly, largely due to most people still being half asleep.

The offerings in the lounge were okay I suppose. Mostly yougurt and cereal along with some delicious pecan and banana muffins.

The flight boarded on time and I was quite rudely cut off by an individual trying to use the priority lane, I apologised and she gave me a snooty look before being told by the gate agent that she needed to join the regular queue, I boarded very satisfied.

There were two options today, orders taken 1A/C, 2D/F, 2A/C and then 1D/F, by the time I was reached in 1F only the croque monsieur remained. The other option was waffles with banana and butterscotch sauce which was what I wanted. I had the economy version a week or so ago and personally I thought it was much nicer and had a lot more ham then the business one. Slept for the rest of the flight so overall not bad.


Versus economy

 

[dairyfloss]

Hi all - I’m new to all things VA, and will be completing my status match from QF to VA WP with some J flights with the family in November (SYD<>MCY).

I’ve read that ‘special meals’ are not really a thing for now, but does that also apply for children’s meals (CHML) in J? For mine, I can select from one of two, or generally just take what I’m given, but my 6YO isn’t so flexible. Hoping there is some way to ensure he’d get something other than a spicy chicken burger…

Perhaps we just need to pre-load in the terminal to be sure.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[Must...Fly!]

No special meals on VA unfortunately. You could of course ask to purchase off the in flight menu if your little one wants food and doesn't fancy the offering. But bringing snacks might be the best option as at least you'll have something that they will eat.

 

[dairyfloss]

No special meals on VA unfortunately. You could of course ask to purchase off the in flight menu if your little one wants food and doesn't fancy the offering. But bringing snacks might be the best option as at least you'll have something that they will eat.

Thanks for the confirmation; I thought that might be the case. Thankfully, these flights aren’t right over main meal times, so we should be able to work it out. I’m just used to being able to get something with QF.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[AIRwin]

Perhaps we just need to pre-load in the terminal to be sure.

Or try the SYD lounge?

 

[dairyfloss]

Or try the SYD lounge?

Yes, that's what I meant. We have access through class of travel or my Gold trial status there

 

[stm1sydney]

Also, in J, if you ask (or sometimes proactively offered by the CS) there is a "pantry" with lots of snacks available eg chips, biscuits, choc.

 

[Silvia]

VA268 CBR-MEL
Got offered sparkling prior departure. Both dishes were salad options. Went for the chicken salad, veggies, brown rice and sesame dressing. The dressing was too much but in all decent for a 55 min flight. Chocolate and crackers included.

CSM kept topping us often and got chips for those who didn’t want a meal. My neighbours on the opposite side were going wild for the open bar.

 

[atreides]

Hi team, it's been a while since I posted but great to see the forum is still alive and well!

I was diagnosed celiac approximately 6 months ago to great surprise, luckily i've found gluten free meals and options very easy to find. The exception to this rule though is J on VA. As most of my flights are east-west cross country, I always have to bring a backup meal for myself as 90% of the time both VA's J meal options contain gluten.

I'm loathed to move back to the 'flying rat' after 10 years of being a strong VA advocate, but the situation is extremely frustrating. Obviously VA joining the modern world and offering dietary meals would be the perfect scenario, but I don't see that happening thus a jump to the dark side looks likely. Does anyone in a similar position have any advice or recommendations?

 

[bam71]

Am about to travel MEL DPS VA J on Monday. Wondering if anyone has done an AU to DPS J flight on VA recently, and what was the meal service like? I’m assuming it would be exactly the same as any domestic or trans-con, i.e. not much? Any thoughts appreciated. I think we’ll have to end up taking some snacks I guess.