Virgin business class Bali flights rip-off

[jase05]

Exactly my thoughts too.

I personally wouldn’t eat later than the cabin on a narrow body red-eye - the reading light and noise would disturb others sleeping.

My biggest gripe is lack of lounge access (and even then the DPS lounges offer cheap paid entry). Other than that the product is generally similar or cheaper than JQ/etc. A bit of expectation management wouldn’t go astray.

That’s why departing from ADL is fantastic.
You get lounge access plus only a few minutes to get through immigration and then it’s only 5hrs to DPS wheras it’s 6-7hrs from the East Coast.
It’s often a few bucks cheaper too

 

[harryhv]

We're flying to Bali tomorrow from the other place where Virgin does offer a lounge - Gold Coast. Usable even if the lounge is on the domestic side of passport-control. But cruelly it seems the Virgin Gold Coast lounge has suddenly closed today for "construction". More news tomorrow.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It could be done, meals are loaded fresh so there's only so long you can keep it chilled. You might land a crew who could accommodate you because they want to or are nice but what's stopping you from "the crew on my last flight did this!" To another crew when someone tries to be nice and accommodates you?

It's about a simplified service. Why would I want to open up a can of worms and then have other guests requesting to eat at various times when I try to be nice and accommodate one guest especially on a red eye especially when out service flow indicates that meals should be served at xyz?

I guess it depends on what else you have to do for the flight? If you get a break for an hour, what do you do for the other 3.5 hours?

 

[twinaisle]

I guess it depends on what else you have to do for the flight? If you get a break for an hour, what do you do for the other 3.5 hours?

Documents, attending to sick pax from Bali belly, other miscellaneous things.

Even if we did have time we don't have to do dine on demand, it's not part of the service. Maybe in the old days but these days nope, high workload, not enough pay.

 

[Harthagan]

I guess it depends on what else you have to do for the flight? If you get a break for an hour, what do you do for the other 3.5 hours?

That's the point I think. They would prefer to just chill and chat. They assume that everyone should just go to sleep after eating and not bother them for the remainder of the flight.

 

[twinaisle]

That's the point I think. They would prefer to just chill and chat. They assume that everyone should just go to sleep after eating and not bother them for the remainder of the flight.

Assume? At 2am 97% of the cabin is sleeping. You want me to keep the lights on? I'll happily do it, doesn't bother me with it on or off.

I top up every so often, leave my guests and let them know what ever they need then let me know. I'm not going to constantly bother them at 2am or maybe I should start interrupting their movie every 8 minutes because I seem to have all the time in the world.

There's a call bell, press it if you need anything if the crew are on break or attending to the flight deck or doing other duties. It's a non stop flight not non stop service especially on a red eye.

 

[Harthagan]

Assume? At 2am 97% of the cabin is sleeping. You want me to keep the lights on? I'll happily do it, doesn't bother me with it on or off.

I top up every so often, leave my guests and let them know what ever they need then let me know. I'm not going to constantly bother them at 2am or maybe I should start interrupting their movie every 8 minutes because I seem to have all the time in the world.

There's a call bell, press it if you need anything if the crew are on break or attending to the flight deck or doing other duties. It's a non stop flight not non stop service especially on a red eye.

You are the one off on a straw man tangent here. No one said anything about around the clock non stop service. The question was raised that if you guys have nothing else to do and someone requests to have their meal later on what is the justification for saying no?

If you are so flat off your feet that it's not possible that's fine but if you just prefer to do nothing rather than accommodate a pretty reasonable request I think that's a pretty bad attitude.

 

[Stealthflyer]

That’s why departing from ADL is fantastic.
You get lounge access plus only a few minutes to get through immigration and then it’s only 5hrs to DPS wheras it’s 6-7hrs from the East Coast.
It’s often a few bucks cheaper too

ADL would have been my first choice, but the direct HBA-ADL connection only runs a few times a week and SYD had the award flights on the weekends we wanted. I can’t say I’m in a rush to transit via Sydney again. It’s a pain in the neck.

 

[twinaisle]

You are the one off on a straw man tangent here. No one said anything about around the clock non stop service. The question was raised that if you guys have nothing else to do and someone requests to have their meal later on what is the justification for saying no?

If you are so flat off your feet that it's not possible that's fine but if you just prefer to do nothing rather than accommodate a pretty reasonable request I think that's a pretty bad attitude.

Justification for saying no is because our service guide says so. It says to serve the meals within a timeframe after takeoff. Quite frankly and to be honest with you even if we had nothing else to do we'd rest instead of offering dine on demand. Why work harder for less pay and doing extra work?

As I said before, sometimes crew may accommodate. They don't have to, but they may do so because they can. On a red eye this probably would be a flat out no due to timing but Hey, you might get lucky when someone says yes. This shouldn't be expected though.

You commented " They would prefer to just chill and chat. They assume that everyone should just go to sleep after eating and not bother them for the remainder of the flight"

That wasn't a question, that was pretty much your option and your assumptions. The question was asked by MEL_Travller, not you.

 

[Harthagan]

Justification for saying no is because our service guide says so. It says to serve the meals within a timeframe after takeoff. Quite frankly and to be honest with you even if we had nothing else to do we'd rest instead of offering dine on demand. Why work harder for less pay and doing extra work?

As I said before, sometimes crew may accommodate. They don't have to, but they may do so because they can. On a red eye this probably would be a flat out no due to timing but Hey, you might get lucky when someone says yes. This shouldn't be expected though.

You commented " They would prefer to just chill and chat. They assume that everyone should just go to sleep after eating and not bother them for the remainder of the flight"

That wasn't a question, that was pretty much your option and your assumptions. The question was asked by MEL_Travller, not you.

And it's exactly what has been demonstrated by this very response of yours that my assumption was indeed correct.

Your own words are that you would rather rest than do something extra. That's the exact opposite attitude to what someone should have that's serving in business class.

If I came across a crew member in business class with an attitude like yours I would make sure I do keep ringing the call bell every 20 minutes requesting service as last time I checked that is still part of your job. Since you want to be such a stickler for the rules and all!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don’t think lights need to be on in the main cabin to serve rows 1 and 2… there should be enough ambient light to serve a single tray. Many airlines serve ‘in the dark’ for the second meal on red eyes… QF and SQ for example.

QF crews walk through the economy cabin every 20 mins or so on the flights ex Bali offering water, apples, snacks, muffins, etc.

 

[Jfaith]

Dinner was perfectly nice. It was a choice of tomato pasta with grilled veggies or a crumbed chicken and potatoes. I had the pasta and my travelling partner had the chicken. There was a side of cheese and biscuits and a cake of some kind (I didn’t try it so I can’t vouch for its quality). I didn’t feel like alcohol after a week of celebrating so I stuck with soft drink. Others had red wine though. The cabin crew asked at dinner if we wanted to be woken for a breakfast muffin and/or coffee, which I thought was very considerate. I planned to sleep till touchdown and have a coffee in the SYD domestic lounge.

View attachment 328584
I didn’t have anything to eat at the airport but my friend had a ramen that she said was soothing and just what she needed. The food offerings at DPS are nothing to write home about but if I were hungry I’d have no problems finding somewhere to eat. My pro tip: buy drinks at the WH Smith rather than the food outlets - it’s much much cheaper.

This is just what I needed to hear! Thank you for taking the time to reply

 

[twinaisle]

And it's exactly what has been demonstrated by this very response of yours that my assumption was indeed correct.

Your own words are that you would rather rest than do something extra. That's the exact opposite attitude to what someone should have that's serving in business class.

If I came across a crew member in business class with an attitude like yours I would make sure I do keep ringing the call bell every 20 minutes requesting service as last time I checked that is still part of your job. Since you want to be such a stickler for the rules and all!

On my flights you wouldn't have to press the call bell every 20 minutes because I do keep a very decent eye on my guests.

I do extra things most of the time, I won't do a dine on demand at 3am.

 

[Harthagan]

Justification for saying no is because our service guide says so. It says to serve the meals within a timeframe after takeoff. Quite frankly and to be honest with you even if we had nothing else to do we'd rest instead of offering dine on demand.

<redacted> No one is talking about offering "dine on demand" we are talking about 1 business class passenger asking if he can have his meal a little later as he's not hungry presently. Ive never done this myself, but I've witnessed it happen several times and it's never once been an issue for the crew to manage!

 

[twinaisle]

<redacted>. No one is talking about offering "dine on demand" we are talking about 1 business class passenger asking if he can have his meal a little later as he's not hungry presently. Ive never done this myself, but I've witnessed it happen several times and it's never once been an issue for the crew to manage!

I did say it's crew dependant, some may and some may not. You can't expect them to say yes all the time to a request like this.

 

[straitman]

[mod hat] Just a reminder folks that the conversation needs to remain polite and on topic. Ie attack the topic and not the other poster. Some posts here are being reviewed and may have content redacted. [/mod hat]

 

[twinaisle]

QF crews walk through the economy cabin every 20 mins or so on the flights ex Bali offering water, apples, snacks, muffins, etc.

We do walk throughs too with water every 20-30. That's the only thing we can offer complimentary these days

 

[Mattg]

No one is talking about offering "dine on demand" we are talking about 1 business class passenger asking if he can have his meal a little later as he's not hungry presently.

Asking for a meal outside of the prescribed meal time is effectively asking to "dine on demand" though, is it not?

I agree that it may be a reasonable request, but it's at the crew's discretion to decline as this is not something VA offers. In the case of the OP of this thread, it sounds like the crew agreed to do it but then didn't follow through, which isn't great.

FWIW I have been on a VA international flight pre-covid where half the J cabin asked to eat later, and the crew accommodated this. It wasn't a redeye though.

 

[Harthagan]

Asking for a meal outside of the prescribed meal time is effectively asking to "dine on demand" though, is it not?

I agree that it may be a reasonable request, but it's at the crew's discretion to decline as this is not something VA offers. In the case of the OP of this thread, it sounds like the crew agreed to do it but then didn't follow through, which isn't great.

FWIW I have been on a VA international flight pre-covid where half the J cabin asked to eat later, and the crew accommodated this. It wasn't a redeye though.

Yes it is one person asking for it as a courtesy request.

I want to clarify that im not saying that it should be expected. I'm just saying that if I had asked for it and was told no and then saw the business cabin crew subsequently chatting or "resting" the entire remainder of the flight because they had nothing else to do then I wouldn't be too impressed.

 

[Quickstatus]

A few weeks ago I had the unpleasant experience of flying Virgin J from Bali to Melbourne.

No delayed flight information?
Did you have the VA app loaded with your flight info? Would the app give you updates?

No lounge access?
That's posted on the VA website

No inflight amenities
it's not listed as a VA international short haul service

No predeparture beverage?
It's not listed as a VA international short haul service

No spirits offered?
Just press the call button and order from the inflight menu?

Room temperature beer.
That's no good

No snacks to go with beer.
Just ask. However an offering is much more welcoming that having guests ask.
I do agree that the cabin crew should come around from time to time with a basket of goodies. I would think most people would just want to shuteye

"The meal will be served then it's lights out"
AKA "feed the chooks and turn the lights out".
That happens everywhere on every international airline especially the night flights.
But I don't get the problem - the seats have an overhead light. And the IFE do not need cabin lighting.

Reheating meals?
I wonder how long would it take? And did you tell the crew that the previous crew member SSID they would reheat it
Also were there unopened selections from the economy menu?

The overall experience, dirty seat.
Remember this is VA2.0 not VA1.0 - the cheeky upstart with a bit of pizazz and flair
It is under new management with different priorities.
Rather that TripAdvisor, I would actually write to VA: note they don't provide an email - because they don't want you to have a proper email trail. I would type a letter attach to online form and also mail it.