Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for 2.

[dandandan]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

Well I went to select my J seats for 12pm MEL-SYD flight on 15th April a few days ago and saw it is no longer a J flight, 700 operating now. Still waiting for a call to advise this is the case, for surely it's not too hard for Virgin to work this out.

 

[markis10]

Well I went to select my J seats for 12pm MEL-SYD flight on 15th April a few days ago and saw it is no longer a J flight, 700 operating now. Still waiting for a call to advise this is the case, for surely it's not too hard for Virgin to work this out.

With a week to go it may change, so why do something for nothing!

 

[koonyaflyer]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

Touch wood, I hope my travel pattern continues. I have just checked and I have done 38 j class sectors with DJ since the launch of Business class. Some of the crew have been average, some great, and some OTT! I have only had 1 rogue sector, with appropriate compensation, despite full J service including catering. All in all a high pass, bordering distinction, for what I am sure was a huge business transformation impact on many areas of their business.

 

[MarkD]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

You're right, there is a lot of boo-hooinng. Right now its me.
But my flight was a late sub. The meals were loaded. I could tell from the a4 sheet stuck on one of the carts that stated the contents. That cart may not have been for my flight - but i presume it was. It was never accessed. The CSM stood there doing nothing until her dinner was ready.
I dont know about less FAs but the recovered seats suggests they were meant to be J, with J service.
One of the FAs had enough time to steal about 10 cheese packets, so i dont think time is an issue. My point with mentioning that, is that making sure the 5 J customers were happy was not the priority.

OK, so you got a bad crew, thats obviously the problem, (LCC Crew culture is hard to break). Maybe a formal complaint to Virgin is a good option here. given what you have just stated re "Stealing" Cheese and FA eating hot meal, Maybe they ate yours. If it was my business, I would want to know about such bad service.
Re the "Stealing" dont Virgin Cabin crew keep an inventory of stock, and do a stock take each flight to order up for the next trip so carts are stocked? I would have thought 10 cheese packets missing on the one 700 flight would need to be accounted for somewhere, Thats approx $50 worth of stock.

 

[pauly7]

OK, so you got a bad crew, thats obviously the problem, (LCC Crew culture is hard to break). Maybe a formal complaint to Virgin is a good option here. given what you have just stated re "Stealing" Cheese and FA eating hot meal, Maybe they ate yours. If it was my business, I would want to know about such bad service.
Re the "Stealing" dont Virgin Cabin crew keep an inventory of stock, and do a stock take each flight to order up for the next trip so carts are stocked? I would have thought 10 cheese packets missing on the one 700 flight would need to be accounted for somewhere, Thats approx $50 worth of stock.

It's amazing what you can put in the wastage column of stocktake....

 

[Fruitcake]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

It's amazing what you can put in the wastage column of stocktake....

And those that engage in the practice would likely be equally amazed at what pops out when you overlay the 'wastage' column with the cabin crew roster over the course of a few weeks .

 

[muppet]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

OK, so you got a bad crew, thats obviously the problem, (LCC Crew culture is hard to break). Maybe a formal complaint to Virgin is a good option here. given what you have just stated re "Stealing" Cheese and FA eating hot meal, Maybe they ate yours. If it was my business, I would want to know about such bad service.
Re the "Stealing" dont Virgin Cabin crew keep an inventory of stock, and do a stock take each flight to order up for the next trip so carts are stocked? I would have thought 10 cheese packets missing on the one 700 flight would need to be accounted for somewhere, Thats approx $50 worth of stock.

Perhaps I worded it wrong. It was a capital connect flight, so the cheeses would be leftovers. Still shouldnt stuff them into the bag in front of me.

Re the meals, I dont think they were pax meals, they were in the cardboard heating trays they use for the pilots. Not the white dish they serve us.

I wont be making a complaint because I've made too many presumptions, however i think they are plausible enough to mention in my whinge.

 

[MarkD]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

And those that engage in the practice would likely be equally amazed at what pops out when you overlay the 'wastage' column with the cabin crew roster over the course of a few weeks .

My thoughts exactly, it WOULD be monitored, if not, then the airline's management are plain stupid, which they obviously are not.

 

[MarkD]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

Perhaps I worded it wrong. It was a capital connect flight, so the cheeses would be leftovers. Still shouldnt stuff them into the bag in front of me.

Re the meals, I dont think they were pax meals, they were in the cardboard heating trays they use for the pilots. Not the white dish they serve us.

I wont be making a complaint because I've made too many presumptions, however i think they are plausible enough to mention in my whinge.

Regardless, its theft, and IIRC, there were several FA's fired a few years back for it. I cant recall the carrier, but it was one of the 3 major Aussie carriers

 

[mickeyc747]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

Regardless, its theft, and IIRC, there were several FA's fired a few years back for it. I cant recall the carrier, but it was one of the 3 major Aussie carriers

Read the following matter at www.fwa.gov.au (U2011/4958) Aledged theft occured but not beyond probability employee was not found guilty of taking 2 bottles of wine even though in her possesion, was terminated though for rorting staff travel.

 

[brad330]

I am considering changing my J fare CBR-MEL-CNS to CBR-OOL-TSV-CNS as the later is quicker. the website says it is J, Y, Y and the GCC says it is J all the way. Do I trust the GCC? I am afraid of getting on the plane to find J non existent.

 

[Fruitcake]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

Even if it is J service, that entire sequence of flights is going to be on an E190, which doesn't have J seats. My father loves J on the E190 (it's the old PE seats, although apparently now black, and with a guaranteed spare seat) but most members on here are pretty scathing of it. So something to keep in mind.

 

[eastwest101]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

I am pretty sure that the CBR-OOL-TSV-CNS option would be the same aircraft all the way as its faster. This also is a garuntee that it would be an E190 and not a B737 which means PE seats all the way, good if you're in a hurry, bad if you were expecting J class. As a hint - I have only ever seen E190's from OOL-TSV and TSV-CNS.....

(I see Fruitcake beat me to the punch)

 

[brad330]

I am aware that it will be E90 PE, but I am worried that catering will not be on board the last two sectors as I am hearing two different stories from the GCC and website

 

[Aus ATC]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

This evening I didn't get the business class (half price) upgrade I had paid for MEL-BNE, but can hardly complain.

I was contacted in the morning by someone to advise there wouldn't be a business class service on the aircraft - what would I like to do - reschedule (later), or get my points back. Took the points option (but kept my seat (2F)). - will see how long it takes for the refund to credit to my account.

Once on board it was a PE configuration in rows 1 and 2 (the last B737-800 apparently) and the CSM couldn't have been more helpful. Apologised for the aircraft substitution soon after I sat down, advising there would be business catering for me. Once airborne the cheese, crackers and cake was very prompt (fastest service yet), and the drinks not far behind.

So in the end I felt like I had a PE+ experience for the price of an Op-Up!!

 

[obrienja]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

I'm looking like getting an aircraft substitution tonight out of PER on DJ572. It's meant to be an A330 but given XFB's history of issues (I was delayed on it ex-SYD for 2 hrs last week) it seems it's a 738 although the DJ seat map looks more like a 737. Either way it's not a reasonable substitute for the A330 but if it's the 737 I'm hoping to have the good fortune of some on here and at least get J service in a PE seat & partial refund.

 

[nlagalle]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

The other week I had one flying to MEL on an award seat I booked. The day before I received a phone call stating the aircraft wouldn't be fitted with J and would I want o swap flights or receive a points/cash refund, which would need to be determined.

I swapped out for the next flight as it actually suited better.

I was happy they were proactive in contacting me about it.

 

[wenglock.mok]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

Either way it's not a reasonable substitute for the A330

I am guessing you will be on VH-YFC, which is coming off the DJ569 SYD service, which does have a proper business class product onboard although of course, not as good as on the A330. If you really want to get on the A330, you might want to ask them if they can put you on the delayed DJ552 service from this morning, which will be operated by VH-XFA off the DJ565 tonight, rescheduled to 00:00 tonight. The only caveat is I'm not sure if that flight is chockers with the overflow passengers from earlier in the day though...

 

[obrienja]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

I am guessing you will be on VH-YFC, which is coming off the DJ569 SYD service, which does have a proper business class product onboard although of course, not as good as on the A330. If you really want to get on the A330, you might want to ask them if they can put you on the delayed DJ552 service from this morning, which will be operated by VH-XFA off the DJ565 tonight, rescheduled to 00:00 tonight. The only caveat is I'm not sure if that flight is chockers with the overflow passengers from earlier in the day though...

That's what happened & the flight was very lightly loaded - just 5 in J and only 200 in total. I'm guessing everyone got squeezed onto DJ572. So nice save Virgin & a great crew on board trying to make the best of a bad situation with unusual catering (apologised for) but someone needs to take a look at the unreliability of the A330s. Flying to PER last week I had a 2hr delay & obviously the poor original passengers on DJ552 yesterday had it much worse. I'm starting to think that if I want to get there at a particular time Qantas might be a safer bet.

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: Virgin Business Class Lottery - Pay for Business, get Premium Economy! Now 0 for

Taking this post from the food thread as it's getting OT

I hope he/she is reading this and taking some of the thoughts back to the office. I am really delighted that Virgin have jumped into the fray and are giving QF some competition but at this point I am not at all delighted with the Business product. Is it enough of a disappointment for to me to take my business back to Qantas? YES.

IMO here is what Virgin need to fix straight away.

The seat.
In seat power.
IFE
Meal quality and meal service times and consistency.
Cabin crew consistency.
Check in staff knowledge and manners.

and on a slightly different tack their terrible website(s)

The seat - Not going to change
In seat power - Not happening
IFE - I can't find a thread on this, but they are launching the Samsung Tablets on flights starting this month, and in J class to start with
Meal Quality - Easy fix and it should happen NOW. Stop paying Luke Mangan so much $$ and spend that on the food for J class
Cabin Crew - More "managers" flying unannounced and seeing what happens in J along with more feedback/surveys for J passengers

Also what is this rubbish ? Bad reporting ? The 737-700's were not getting J I thought ?
Also some of the J staff/CSM's need to be moved on, they already have the "elite" Qantas CSM attitudes...

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

"I think we still don't have 100 per cent consistency because we're still waiting for the (Boeing) 737-700s and the Embraer business class to be fitted," he says.

"And I keep going back to the point that the biggest point of difference is our staff.


"They're happy in what they do, they do it well. They're friendly and, very importantly, they're excited about what they're doing and that shows in the way they do it."