Virgin Blue achieves record 93.8% on time performance in Oct.

[ansettrule]

Clifford I am with you mate, Ansett was a real airline who new how to give good service. Flying with virgin is like flying in a circus big top. God why do they think that the way they carry on is fun.
Real airlines give you food that you don't have to pay for and remember when you got a drink as well, those days are gone because they put profit before service.
I have said before Ansett were not perfect at the end but maybe those Kiwi's should have left the airline with some money to buy/lease more planes instead of taking the money and running away.

Even Qantas are skimping on the food now because they don't have any real competition and they can get away with it.

This counrty needs a new and full service airline who gives a stuff about there customers.
People deserve this.
Virgin Blue can scap with Deathstar and ????? can give Qantas what for as well.

As for Air Nz they can get stuffed,they deserve nothing from us Aussies,we should boycott NZ until the pay Ansett's employees back for what they did to the best airline in the world.

 

[NM]

Real airlines give you food that you don't have to pay for and remember when you got a drink as well, those days are gone because they put profit before service.

And would you use Ansett as an example of what happens when and airline puts service ahead of profit?

Personally, I believe the reduction of service across the board (its not the the LCC and NWC that have reduced service level over what we enjoyed in the Ansett hay-day) is more a result of passengers demanding greater competition and lower fares. I think we are to blame, not the airlines. We put too much emphasis on finding the lowest cost ticket, and the only way for them to deliver the low cost tickets in a competitive market (and I do believe we have a competitive market now) is to reduce costs and that is what is resulting in the reduced service levels.

I don't believe there are enough people willing to pay a higher fare for an improved service to support such an operation any more. A sad situation indeed, but one which has been driven by our desire to travel for the lowest possible cost.

 

[ansettrule]

Ok I am biased towards Ansett, I only ever flew with Ansett and took my first flight with Qf 2 months ago and thought to myself the service you get with them is better than DJ. More mature and better service orientated flight attendents made the flight better then I expected.Everytime I have to book a fare I cringe with sadness that Ansett are gone.

Ask yourself this simple question-- If you got a ticket with a new airline/ Qantas who offered a hot meal/hot breakfast for the same price as a ticket on Jetstar or Virgin, who would buy the ticket with??.

I think that we are so used to getting nothing when we fly that the idea of getting a bit of extra service may appeal to some travellers.

We the travelling public need to ask these airlines why you get notting when you fly with them.

I also believe that internationally Qantas are slipping with service as well, We will never fly internationally again with Qantas instead we fly Malaysia Airlines, better price and you can't fault the service you get not just with Malaysia but most asian airlines are the same.

 

[Yada Yada]

This counrty needs a new and full service airline who gives a stuff about there customers.

I'm sure we've had this debate before and that I've said this before, but it bears repeating... OzJet tried full service and failed. They even had ex-AN FA's on board (and it was fantastic service too). But they didn't get the support they needed from the travelling public, even on the busy SYD-MEL trunk route.

I don't believe there are enough people willing to pay a higher fare for an improved service to support such an operation any more. A sad situation indeed, but one which has been driven by our desire to travel for the lowest possible cost.

I think you are right, NM. We are now starting to see LCC's move into longhaul international routes. We have to accept that the majority want the cheapest airfares they can get. :-|

I also believe that internationally Qantas are slipping with service as well, We will never fly internationally again with Qantas instead we fly Malaysia Airlines, better price and you can't fault the service you get not just with Malaysia but most asian airlines are the same.

Well, FWIW I have not noticed QF service slipping on international sectors, but I am always travelling in J (and a few times in F). They wouldn't want to let things slip too far on international because they have a lot more competition (except maybe on the US sector).

 

[straitman]

crazydave98,

I'm not a knocker of DJ, my comments here are purely my experience. I'd be interested to hear your comments to my post #21 on this topic.

 

[ansettrule]

Correct me if I am wrong but Syd-Mel is the third busiest route in the world??, If this is so then Oz jet made a grave mistake in going into this route,yes most business is between Syd-Mel but they also charged stupid airfare prices and a new entrant wouldn't go near those prices.
Did they not drop airfares not long after starting to encourage passengers to fly with them.Or 2 for 1 airfares that was another ploy.
They just were not smart enough with prices, If you could fly Qf for half the Ozjet prices who would you fly with??, It is a no brainer.

 

[ansettrule]

Straitman,Post 21 says it all,I agree 100% with what you say.
You sum it all so well and I was due to fly SEPT 12 2001 when Ansett were murdered.
Well Done

 

[Evan]

Actually Ozjet prices were about 30% cheaper than QF from my memory, about $280-310 MEL-SYD compared to $4xx QF (Now $444), there were not enough flight options and that was one issue, also they launched at a crazy time of the year !

As far as i was concered i was willing to give them ago and liked the service,
I think it was worth a go and not being an airline executive i think that it seemed like it woud have had a chance, just the time of the year it launched was very bad IMO.

Evan

 

[jazzamcc]

Flew SYD-MEL-SYD on Tuesday (16th January), and the departure times were dead on time. Flew DJ808 down on a 737-700, and seated in 9F. I somehow find the seats on the 737-700 more comfortable. Was a reasonable load of around 75%, and was the usual suits (besides me!!). Was given a receipt for my purchases from the Bar, even though I didn't ask for one.
The crew were quite good, and none of their usual joking around, afterall it was mostly suits on the plane.
Coming back was again on a 737-700, with a load factor of around 60%. This flight was more of the leisure traveller than the Suits.
Was in 9A, which again was okay. The crew were more relaxed on this flight, and chatting with the passengers.
crazydave98, the crew, both ground and air, did a great job, though I do agree that some of them do need to be a bit more professional and/or a bit more discreet with their conversations with fellow crew members.
I have also noticed that you have recruited more 'mature' members to the crew, which I think is absolutely fantastic. Looks isn't everything, it is the job that they are doing that it most important. I'd rather have an experienced 44 year old Ground Crew member than an 'inexperienced' 19 year old.
I'm glad that SAC has done some great renovations to the SYD terminal, and that there is an International Transfer desk at Gate 39. It is just a shame that you guys scored the dark side of the terminal (Jetstar side seems so much more brighter.)
Things seem to be improving all the time.

 

[Evan]

jazzamcc, As you say looks is not everything, i agree completely, and if all we cared about was looks non of us would fly QF (ok some are quiet cute but not that many)

To me the Jetstar colors and just the way they designed there terminal facilities seems to stand out a lot more (not that i fly them, but will try a star class to thailand soon to see what its like)

I have never had any reason to complain about the service onboard the DJ aircraft, only the ground staff and the LCC style policy's (even when its them at fault they treat you badly)
But to be fair to DJ because of past bad expereinces i have not flown again and who knows a lot can change so i am sure i will give them a go in the future.

I was going to complain about the last of an early MEL-SYD flight but i see they now have a 6:15am option

Evan

 

[pauly7]

crazydave98, the crew, both ground and air, did a great job, though I do agree that some of them do need to be a bit more professional and/or a bit more discreet with their conversations with fellow crew members.
I have also noticed that you have recruited more 'mature' members to the crew, which I think is absolutely fantastic. Looks isn't everything, it is the job that they are doing that it most important. .

I absolutely agree with the above... I think, also if you experience poor service you should report it and give the company a chance to fix it.

About 6 months ago, 3 Virgin staff were in the front 'galley' talking explicitly about certain 'conquests' and potential 'conquests' that night. With children less than 2 metres away it was highly inappropriate (even without the kids it stil would have been!). When we landed I found the most senior staff member I could on the ground and explained what had happened. They were furious and apologetic, took my number and a week later rang to say that the staff on board had been counselled/warned and thanked me for taking the time to alert them to such behaviour. This reinforces my confidence that DJ is taking itself and its passengers more seriously now.

 

[crazydave98]

crazydave98,

I'm not a knocker of DJ, my comments here are purely my experience. I'd be interested to hear your comments to my post #21 on this topic.

Hi Bill,

I appreciate that you are not a knocker and that your comments relate to your personal experiences (and thank you for giving us a go). You raised 3 points in your post #21:


1. "They fly sardine 737 aircraft with inadequate seat pitch for a tall person."

Sorry, I think you are just wrong and I had addressed this issue previously on this thread http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/virgin-blue-velocity/seat-diagrams-side-by-side-7313.html . Our seat pitch is better than Qantas in every row where we operate the same aircraft (B737-800) as shown. I will admit that the -700 has slightly lesser average pitch (still better than QF or JQ). Our new Embraers will have the widest seats flying domestically (economy) in Australia and no middle seat. I'm 6ft2 and reasonably solid so I'm pretty conscious of personal space.

2. "They still require people on many occasions to walk on the tarmac amongst other very noisy aircraft. Taxying turbine a/c can easily reach above 100 db and the daily noise exposure before permanent hearing damage is 15 min at 100 db and 7.5 min at 103 db."

see my post today - sorry for not cross-posting. http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/open-discussion/virgin-flair-8860-4.html

3. "The responses to the raising of issues vary between mediocre to ok at best. Late at night when waiting for a late a/c to arrive there is no availability of information for arrival time and then (more importantly) the ensuing departure time."

Fair cop - I'll have it looked at. The time of day/night should not affect the quality of information flow. But just in case any one needs reminding, your flights are more likely to be on time and less likely to be cancelled with Virgin Blue than Qantas. As of October we beat Qantas every month for 2 years. And as of November 2006, we beat the combined Qantas mainline + Jetstar every month for 2 years (there have been some rare occaisons over the past few years where JQ beat us in a particular month - since they are now codesharing probably relevent to look at the combined entity too).

cheers

CrazyDave98