I don’t recall seeing a report on here for V- Australia’s Premium Economy service so I thought I’d add my thoughts, the return leg was pretty similar so will just focus on the first flight..
July 2009 – VA1 - LAX to SYD
Arrived at V-Australia’s check in desk a little early and they were still setting up. A line of pax had already formed in the economy checkin area, I just took a seat and waited until they opened the counters.
Once they were open for business I strolled straight into the Y+ check in line and was processed immediately, service was ok nothing too special at this stage. No lounge access for me on this flight, so killed a few hours in the bar. Boarding was called in classes so walking on before the masses was a nice touch. Load looked light at this stage.
First impressions of the 777 - You could tell this was a brand new plane, it was sparkling clean and modern. The pictures on the web just don’t do it justice… it really is a fantastic aircraft. The mood lighting looked great as you walked through as did the southern stars embedded in the ceiling…
Strolled though J class… the seats do a look a little behind the times but the room to move in that cabin is amazing, so spacious! Loved the seats at the bar too!
Walking into Y+ you stroll past the small bar, at this stage it was empty
… We were greeted by a smiling and friendly FA …took our seats…
WOW… Very impressed with the Y+ product, leg room was ample, width of seat ample, TV screen size was huge… great start…. After a couple of minutes I was offered a pre flight drink (OJ, Champ’s, water) took the champs.. Is it bad that its such a good feeling watching everyone walk past whilst you sip on the bubbly..
Once everyone had boarded, I counted 18pax in the 40 pax Y+ cabin, was quite happy with this… it was going to be a quiet flight. The FA came up and introduced herself personally which was a nice touch, she was fantastic! So friendly and made us feel very welcome.
I started to watch a movie before we had even taken off, I wish more airlines would allow this. The IFE was one of the best I have seen and has a huge selection, screen size was HUGE, quality excellent, touch screen as well – 10/10 there.
Seat – Leather seat was better than i thought, ample legroom, great seat decline and the little lamp attached to the seat is cool, I did notice however after a few hours the bum started to get a little sore as the seat was a little firm. Fixed this with an extra blanket. We had two seats by our self , this was a major factor in deciding to book Y+ as its nice not having anyone next to you on such a long flight. Legroom in row 10 is definitely limited.. stay away..
Food – dinner order was taken personally by the FA and with no trolley in sight it was then delivered with your choice of drink, all served on and in semi real glassware. I have the menu somewhere but all food I had was great. Our plates were also collected as soon as we had finished which was awesome, I hate sitting there with the dirty dishes for 40 minutes.
Bar – Before the dinner service I observed the FA stocking the bar shelves with several spirits and was quite excited, once dinner service had finished I noticed they had all been removed!! What was going on!
Not long after dinner a couple of other pax had moved to the bar area and I could hear them chatting away to one of the FA’s, it was quite loud and keeping me awake.. So what does one do.. I decide to get up and join them … so the deal is…. After some initial booze heads got stuck into the self serve spirits and apparently really abused the privilege (or the right?) to have one too many it seems they have decided to remove all liquor and all drinks must be ordered from the FA…
I wasn’t too impressed with this as it basically turns the Y+ bar straight into the same self serve area as they offer in economy.
However for a good couple of hours we had no problems getting vodkas poured on request… over the next hour we spoke to numerous FA’s as they came past… all more than happy to stop and chat.. one did mention something about oxygen masks but I didn’t take much notice or really hear what they said and we kept drinking for another hour or so ..
It wasn’t until a different FA strolled through, stopped and told us that we were not allowed to congregate in the bar area as no oxygen masks were fitted in the area. She gave us a few minutes to finish our drinks and wanted us too move on.. Fair call and understand the rules.. but no other FA seemed to have a problem with it.. It was late so we agreed and was probably time to head back to our seats to get some sleep anyway. I think the person in row 11 was quite happy about this too!
Slept well, though not being able to move the arm rests was a bit of a bugger but still managed to get 6 to 7 hours… Breakfast was good … had the waffles…. Pretty tasty and portion size was fine, was given a few extra croissants too
Oh..we were given an amenity pack, nothing spectacular, eye patch, socks, tooth brush, tooth paste and Listerine mouthwash. I believe they only get the eye patch handed out in economy.
Overall a fantastic flight…. Would recommend these guys to anyone who isn’t fighting the addiction of being a kangaroo status junkie and or may be willing to try something new…
VA have done a really great job and it will be a real pity if they cant make it through the current market battle/conditions. It feels nothing like virgin blue and in my opinion was a much more enjoyable flight that my previous Qantas flights.
All staff I encountered were fantastic and I will likely fly them again and look forward to trying out there other cabins..
If you have any specific questions about the flight just let me know, not a hugely detailed report but it may be of some interest.
July 2009 – VA1 - LAX to SYD
Arrived at V-Australia’s check in desk a little early and they were still setting up. A line of pax had already formed in the economy checkin area, I just took a seat and waited until they opened the counters.
Once they were open for business I strolled straight into the Y+ check in line and was processed immediately, service was ok nothing too special at this stage. No lounge access for me on this flight, so killed a few hours in the bar. Boarding was called in classes so walking on before the masses was a nice touch. Load looked light at this stage.
First impressions of the 777 - You could tell this was a brand new plane, it was sparkling clean and modern. The pictures on the web just don’t do it justice… it really is a fantastic aircraft. The mood lighting looked great as you walked through as did the southern stars embedded in the ceiling…
Strolled though J class… the seats do a look a little behind the times but the room to move in that cabin is amazing, so spacious! Loved the seats at the bar too!
Walking into Y+ you stroll past the small bar, at this stage it was empty
… We were greeted by a smiling and friendly FA …took our seats… WOW… Very impressed with the Y+ product, leg room was ample, width of seat ample, TV screen size was huge… great start…. After a couple of minutes I was offered a pre flight drink (OJ, Champ’s, water) took the champs.. Is it bad that its such a good feeling watching everyone walk past whilst you sip on the bubbly..
Once everyone had boarded, I counted 18pax in the 40 pax Y+ cabin, was quite happy with this… it was going to be a quiet flight. The FA came up and introduced herself personally which was a nice touch, she was fantastic! So friendly and made us feel very welcome.
I started to watch a movie before we had even taken off, I wish more airlines would allow this. The IFE was one of the best I have seen and has a huge selection, screen size was HUGE, quality excellent, touch screen as well – 10/10 there.
Seat – Leather seat was better than i thought, ample legroom, great seat decline and the little lamp attached to the seat is cool, I did notice however after a few hours the bum started to get a little sore as the seat was a little firm. Fixed this with an extra blanket. We had two seats by our self , this was a major factor in deciding to book Y+ as its nice not having anyone next to you on such a long flight. Legroom in row 10 is definitely limited.. stay away..
Food – dinner order was taken personally by the FA and with no trolley in sight it was then delivered with your choice of drink, all served on and in semi real glassware. I have the menu somewhere but all food I had was great. Our plates were also collected as soon as we had finished which was awesome, I hate sitting there with the dirty dishes for 40 minutes.
Bar – Before the dinner service I observed the FA stocking the bar shelves with several spirits and was quite excited, once dinner service had finished I noticed they had all been removed!! What was going on!
Not long after dinner a couple of other pax had moved to the bar area and I could hear them chatting away to one of the FA’s, it was quite loud and keeping me awake.. So what does one do.. I decide to get up and join them … so the deal is…. After some initial booze heads got stuck into the self serve spirits and apparently really abused the privilege (or the right?) to have one too many it seems they have decided to remove all liquor and all drinks must be ordered from the FA…
I wasn’t too impressed with this as it basically turns the Y+ bar straight into the same self serve area as they offer in economy.
However for a good couple of hours we had no problems getting vodkas poured on request… over the next hour we spoke to numerous FA’s as they came past… all more than happy to stop and chat.. one did mention something about oxygen masks but I didn’t take much notice or really hear what they said and we kept drinking for another hour or so ..
It wasn’t until a different FA strolled through, stopped and told us that we were not allowed to congregate in the bar area as no oxygen masks were fitted in the area. She gave us a few minutes to finish our drinks and wanted us too move on.. Fair call and understand the rules.. but no other FA seemed to have a problem with it.. It was late so we agreed and was probably time to head back to our seats to get some sleep anyway. I think the person in row 11 was quite happy about this too!
Slept well, though not being able to move the arm rests was a bit of a bugger but still managed to get 6 to 7 hours… Breakfast was good … had the waffles…. Pretty tasty and portion size was fine, was given a few extra croissants too
Oh..we were given an amenity pack, nothing spectacular, eye patch, socks, tooth brush, tooth paste and Listerine mouthwash. I believe they only get the eye patch handed out in economy.
Overall a fantastic flight…. Would recommend these guys to anyone who isn’t fighting the addiction of being a kangaroo status junkie and or may be willing to try something new…
VA have done a really great job and it will be a real pity if they cant make it through the current market battle/conditions. It feels nothing like virgin blue and in my opinion was a much more enjoyable flight that my previous Qantas flights.
All staff I encountered were fantastic and I will likely fly them again and look forward to trying out there other cabins..
If you have any specific questions about the flight just let me know, not a hugely detailed report but it may be of some interest.
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