Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[Ade]

ADL-CBR. No vego meals left by the time FA came over to 2C to take good order. Was offered cheese/crackers or potato chips. I was content with just sparking water and had just that. So no meals today!

Order of service : row 1A-1F then 2D, 2F then 2A/C.

 

[antycbr]

LST-SYD today had below chicken thing, pretty underwhelming. There was only water offered as PDB, but I asked for sparkling wine and was told “if they get time” which I found a little odd particularly with no lounge in LST, but I got it (and was the only one who did).

Was sitting next to a federal senator who as a Beyond member got served first, so service order was 1D-1F-1A-1C then 2A thru 2F.

VA must be happy with J loads on a Tuesday afternoon, traditionally one of the quieter travel days.

 

[Ade]

I really wish VA would let pax pre order meals …

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

I really wish VA would let pax pre order meals …

This. I flew J with both AS & UA last year and was quite pleased to have the option of pre-ordering my meal. If anything you'd think that it would make life easier for VA if they had that activated...

 

[RooFlyer]

LST-SYD today had below chicken thing, pretty underwhelming.

That’s disappointing. Would almost qualify for “Qantas business class slop"

 

[antycbr]

That’s disappointing. Would almost qualify for “Qantas business class slop"

I’m on QF487 in J so will compare and contrast. Delayed due to parachute ops over the CBD - surely that’s a new one ?

 

[Ade]

parachute ops

What’s that?

 

[AIRwin]

What’s that?

Parachute Ops over SYD CBD

Heard a new reason for a delay ex SYD on 25 Jan evening - Parachute operations over the Sydney CBD delaying all departures and leading to a 12 min taxi queue on 34 R departures and similar on 34L. Am on QF487. Anyone heard of this one before? Assume some form of ADF counter terrorism...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Spizz]

Will they ever bring bread and butter to accompany meals like Qantas/Rex do or not needed? I'll trade you the cheese and crackers

 

[Ade]

Will they ever bring bread and butter to accompany meals like Qantas/Rex do or not needed? I'll trade you the cheese and crackers

I wish they bring it back. A warm sourdough, with a dallop of butter - simply elevates the dining experience!

 

[Milefest]

OOL-SYD last night. Had the mushroom gnocchi. Wasn't a big fan of this one, the gnocchi was quite dry and the sauce was very salty. The other option was chicken but gnocchi seemed like the favourite, unfortunatly most of row two missed out. CM had to make a frankenstein meal of pantry items/sides for the remaining guests that misssed out.

 

[Ade]

unfortunatly most of row two missed out.

Yet another reason for VA to bring back pre-ordering meals in J ... On 2C, I missed out on the vego options. FA offered pantry items, but wasn't interested and took a few glasses of sparkling water

 

[Ozymandias]

Had my first J flights last week BNE-MEL return, was a lovely experience overall.

First was VA324, sat in 1A. Full flight, offered PDB of still water or orange juice. Service order was 2D - 2F - 1D - 1F - 1A - 2A - 2C. Meals on offer were the Thai green curry and a Middle-Eastern salad, unfortunately they ran out of the curry as they got to me so I had to settle for the salad. Sorry to say it's a very average meal, but the cabin manager was super friendly even before I mentioned it was my first time in J (especially with her starting at 3am apparently), and was generous with the in-air sparkling and extra pantry snacks.



Return was VA353 and the flight was pretty much empty throughout, only three in J and about two dozen in Y (guessing due to the public holiday). I was in 2A with a couple in front. Cabin manager asked for meal preference before take-off and all offered PDB of sparkling wine or water. Options for meals were chicken parmigiana or the three cheese tortellini, I chose the latter. Nice sauce with the cherry tomatoes, couple of the tortellini were a little undercooked but otherwise a pleasant meal.



Cabin manager was an absolute delight, sat down next to me for much of the flight and showed me the staff service manual after she learned I wasn't offered sparkling on my first flight (I wasn't complaining, just recounting the previous flight - turns out sparkling should be offered from 10am with it available on request from 9am!). Anyway, myself and the couple in front also ended up chatting with the attendant as a group, and once we landed we thought we'd see if we could have look at the flight deck. She was only too happy to oblige, so got to have my first ever time in a coughpit and have a splendid chat with the pilot and first officer. Living out my childhood (and adult) dreams, right here.



As you can tell, I'm pretty happy with my first J experience. Bit of a long-winded post, so props if you made it this far.

 

[Ade]

couple of the tortellini were a little undercooked

That was my experience too.

see if we could have look at the flight deck.

I may try asking next time. I have never been in the flight deck.

 

[servicerequired]

Will they ever bring bread and butter to accompany meals like Qantas/Rex do or not needed? I'll trade you the cheese and crackers

Don't bother - more than happy with the cheese and crackers ... the meal doesn't isn't big enough to need a slice of bread.

QF can keep their warm sourdough with your croque monsieur ... bread-on-bread-on-bread.

 

[Mattg]

VA291 MEL-CBR
20:55 departure (delayed to almost 10pm)

It was late and everyone was pretty tired. The cabin manager didn’t really proactively offer meals, but asked everyone if they wanted a drink and said “by the way, there are a couple of cold meals if you feel like eating at 10 o’clock at night”. No issues there - it was a short flight, she was trying to get through the service in the short time available and she read the room well as half the J cabin seemed to be falling asleep, with several people connecting from Doha apparently.

I said I’d like to eat and was offered the Reuben sandwich or a couscous and cauliflower “Middle Eastern” salad. It was alright.

 

[The-Aviator]

26/01/23 | VA551 | SYD to PER

First VA flight in over a year. Flew minimally in 2022 due to a lot of time spent on the ground recovering from a knee and ankle injury and only flew QF when I did, but VA has always been my favourite of the two and this flight confirmed it!

Being an early morning departure from Sydney, we were offered a PDB choice of still water or orange juice. Went with the OJ.

Breakfast options on this flight to Perth were either a spinach and feta quiche or mushroom, tomato and feta bruschetta. The quiche was described as the non-vegetarian option, if someone could explain to me how that was the case I would appreciate it

I went with the quiche...


Travelling companion chose the bruschetta.

Both options served with a fresh fruit ramekin and warmed Danish. Full drinks menu available and we both opted for a mimosa. Both options were fresh, flavourful and thoroughly enjoyed.

To add another data point for the order of service, this flight featured the traditional 1A, 1C, 1F, 2A, 2C, 2F (only 6 pax)

Our flight attendant Frankie was excellent, engaging in conversation with all the guests and ensuring we were well fed and hydrated. Couldn't say no to another mimosa!



We then moved on to the wines. Frankie brought out a cabernet sauvignon and a merlot. Went with the merlot and it was excellent, had two glasses.



Snacks from the pantry were offered. These rice crackers were good, Frankie overheard us saying how good they were so brought out another two packets!



And finally something sweet towards the end of the flight.



By some stroke of luck this flight was operated by VH-IJQ, one of the ex-SilkAir jets with the new seat design. The seat is fantastic, leaps and bounds over the original J seat but one downside is the lack of a partition and that famous rope. Despite the usual announcements, the lack of a rope meant Y passengers regularly came up to use the lav. FAs pushed them back when they could but they weren't always in the galley to see it. Certainly not the the end of the world and all in all I really enjoyed the flight!

 

[PPOW]

A WARMED danish?????
I’ve been begging VA for years to warm up the danishes

 

[twinaisle]

A WARMED danish?????
I’ve been begging VA for years to warm up the danishes

Some will heat it some don't. It's not required to.

 

[Mattg]

Our flight attendant Frankie was excellent, engaging in conversation with all the guests and ensuring we were well fed and hydrated. Couldn't say no to another mimosa!

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Frankie on another flight. Assuming he’s the same person (ex-SQ) he’s really good!