'Virgin' Virgin Business Class Trip Report ADL-PER Return

[jazza1971]

My second trip report so I hope it’s acceptable!

Took the opportunity to book a trip from Adelaide to Perth return on Virgin Business while there was still the 30 Jun Points and Pay old rate glitch which Virgin eventually got round to fixing. Purpose was for me to try the A330 on one of the legs, and for it to happen across the one day. Options to get me from ADL-PER were either a direct E190 flight, or an E190 across to Melbourne then 737-800 across to Perth. Because the Melbourne connection was a ‘through fare’ I chose it as none of the E190s have been reconfigured to me knowledge. Next leg was the A330 from Perth to Sydney followed by a 737-800 from Sydney to Adelaide.

Timings were going to be tight for the Melbourne connection, which was scheduled for 30 minutes but I had been keeping an eye on the connecting flights in the six weeks and noticed that about 15% of the time, it was running late. This left me with a problem in that if I missed the Melbourne connection it would flow on to all my other flights, so I bit the bullet and decided to overnight in Perth at a mates place, and do the return PER-ADL legs the following day.

ADL-MEL
DJ204 - ZPG E190
Seat 1F

[FONT=&amp]Morning of the trip arrived so I was off to the airport nice and early for a 0610 departure. No checked baggage, and checked in online so I got to the airport later then I normally would. I had time for a quick coffee & some pancakes in the Virgin lounge before boarding. Took advantage of using the Priority boarding lane to bypass the rest of the masses waiting to get on the plane and settled in to the old premium economy seats which are marketed as business. My jacket was taken and I was offered water & paper prior to departure. Load was 2/4 in J for this leg.

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[/FONT]Breakfast was either a Potato Rosti with Beans or a Zucchini Frittata, I chose the Rosti which was tasty enough. My only gripe was that it seemed a while for the service to happen up front while the back was getting served.

Flight was smooth, with us having to make a hold about 200km from Melbourne, cutting down my connection time. Was actually begging to wonder if I’d make the connection as Captain advised it would be a 0815 gate arrival with my next flight leaving at 0830. Making things even tighter, we had just turned onto finals when we swung into an orbit before continuing the approach. Captain explained after we landed that we had traffic on the crossing runway which couldn’t hold short so hence the orbit!

 

[jazza1971]

MEL-PER
DJ679 - YFC B737-800
Seat 2D

Bolted off the E190 at 0820 with a real worry I’d miss the next leg and end up on a later flight (which would be ok because the next service was an A330). Well as it turned out, no such luck DJ679 was at the gate next to mine and on final boarding. Turns out security & check in were a bit crazy so folks were slowly making their way to the aircraft. There ended up being about a 30 minute delay on departure due to the slow boarding.

Boarded the plane, settled into 2D, jacket taken and OJ & paper offered. I was served by the CSM Vanessa on this flight. Load was 2/8 in J for this leg. Right after departure I was offered a Digeplayer which I readily accepted so that I could get stuck into a movie (The Hunger Games). The route today was way down south due to strong headwinds but we still managed to get across in about 3:45.

Breakfast was next on offer, well actually I was asked what drink I would like with breakfast.....Coffee, Tea, Juice, Water, Beer, Wine or Spirits! You betcha I’ll have a Jim Beam & Pepsi Max!

Decided on the Tuscan breakfast with spinach & ham



Offered nuts and pretzels about 30mins after breakfast was cleared



Had a meat pie about an hour out of Perth which was quite tasty, didn’t grab a photo as it was just slapped onto a plastic plate with plastic cutlery. Must admit, would have been nice if it was plated on J plates and with metal cutlery to use. That was the only let down on the whole flight.

Have to say, the service across to Perth was fantastic. Vanessa was always quick with refills of my drinks which I consumed a number of! Mind you the other pax slept from before takeoff the whole way across until we were on descent into Perth, so really they only had one of us to look after up front....

Off the plane quickly, aisle blocked for us, and through the terminal to the Perth sunshine.....


Must say that for the first Virgin Business flights I have taken I was suitably impressed....The coast to coast on the 737 was quite nice, but little did I expect jump up on the A330 the next day!

 

[jazza1971]

PER-SYD
DJ560 - XFD A330-200
Seat 1A (originally 1C)

I got to the airport about 80 minutes before departure, with the plan to try out the Virgin lounge in Perth. No checked bags so straight to the lounge, through the priority passenger’s security lane. Checked in at the lounge for both my PER-SYD & SYD-ADL flights and found out I had no one next to me on either leg. Guest my mate into the lounge for a beer. Was pleasantly surprised with the Perth lounge, I had read where it wasn’t that nice, but I found it so much bigger than the Adelaide one, and I enjoyed kicking back on one of the couches in there. Boarding was called almost 50 minutes before departure, so I took my time to finish my beer and headed up to the gate. Was happy to confirm I was on one of the new A330s when I spied XFD. The seatmap did show a new version and I was very happy to have that confirmed! Bid farewell to my mate and made my way on board. Greeted at the door by name, and directed to 1C. Decided that with no one next to me I’d sit next to the window in 1A.

Looked after mostly on this flight by Wally & Catherine, both of whom impressed me with their professionalism and enthusiasm. Wally took my jacket and offered me water, juice or champagne...well I had to have the champagne, so with glass in hand I began to settle into my seat for the next few hours.

Figured out where the seat controls where hidden, fired up RED and enjoyed my drink while they finished refuelling and boarding more pax. Well three glasses later and we were on our way. Load for this leg was 7/24 in J.


Service started with drinks, I decided to try one of the signature coughtails ‘The Australian’ was not too bad and quite refreshing, served with warm nuts..

Meal choices for the flight were these

 

[jazza1971]

I chose the Celeriac Soup for my starter and I really enjoyed it

Followed by the Barramundi fillet for my main, which tasted delicious....

Let my lunch settle while I watched Safe House, before the crew came around with desert or cheese platter served from the trolly so you could see the choices....I decided to have the cheese and a glass of the desert wine (2008 Golden Mist Botrytis Semillon)

Then I kicked back, and enjoyed a number of Jim Beams for the rest of the flight!

Nice sunset on the way across

More JBs and a coffee to perk me up, with the cabin lighting taking full effect!

Smooth landing in Sydney, bit sad that my A330 flight had come to an end, but certainly glad I had decided to make this little run over the weekend. Before we disembarked, Wally came by and gave me a female vanity kit for my wife, was a nice touch and when I gave it to my missus she appreciated it. Off the plane and to the Sydney Lounge for 90 minutes until my next flight left to Adelaide.

 

[jazza1971]

SYD-ADL
DJ444 - YFG B737-800
Seat 2A (originally 2C)

Greeted by name, and jacket taken by David the CSM, I enjoyed a pre-departure water. Load for this leg 3/8 in J. Had a chat to David about just coming off the A330, and just how much I enjoyed it. Informed me that this aircraft was one of the new BSI birds and also noticed that it had in seat power.

Offered Digeplayer to watch another movie which I managed to get through in this leg. Was offered supper on this leg, some sort of scroll, cheese & crackers, and a desert. Plus a few more Jim Beams to finish the trip

David asked me if I was still hungry after I was done, and I was so he grabbed me a wrap and plated it up for me. Finished off the trip with a coffee just before landing

Enjoyed more of the mood lighting

Changed to a sunrise as we were coming into land

Overall, well I really enjoyed my ‘virgin’ Virgin Business experience, all the crews I had looked after me well, and I didn’t go wanting for anything, especially beverages.....have a few more flights booked in a month including another DJ560 run which I can’t wait to get on!!

 

[moa999]

This trip report was brought to you by Jim Bean...


Excellent trip report, particularly for a domestic run.

 

[smit0847]

Great trip report. I was also considering flying on June 30 to take advantage of the lower points option.

Can I ask how many points + pay this cost?

 

[jazza1971]

Great trip report. I was also considering flying on June 30 to take advantage of the lower points option.

Can I ask how many points + pay this cost?

Thanks Smit, I think it was 20700 points & around $410, great value back then!

 

[jazza1971]

This trip report was brought to you by Jim Bean...


Excellent trip report, particularly for a domestic run.

Thanks Moa! If I'm travelling Business, I'm going to enjoy myself and the staff on board made sure I did!

 

[SeatBackForward]

Thanks Moa! If I'm travelling Business, I'm going to enjoy myself and the staff on board made sure I did!

Great report Jazza, you appear to have got some lightly loaded J flights, was that by design?

 

[jazza1971]

Great report Jazza, you appear to have got some lightly loaded J flights, was that by design?

Thanks, and no I just got what I got. I had kept an eye on the seat allocations on each of them and for the E190 & 737 flights, pax was exactly what was showing on the seatmap. Only on the A330 (which was showing four the morning of depature) did more arrive. I must admit I did feel lucky that the lower numbers probably helped my drinks remaining topped up! I've got a ADL-SYD-DWN-PER-SYD DJ J, (JQ35 SYD-MEL & Flounge) & MEL-SYD-ADL DJ J run starting in about three weeks so I'll do another trip report for that and let you all know the pax numbers as well!

 

[Virginnewbie]

Hi Jazza, fantastic review on your recent trip. Looks like Virgin has certainly improved! Sounds like those Virgin cabin crew you had really know how to make an impression. Its good to see them going that extra mile to impress - certainly something I NEVER see anymore with the cranky Qantas crew I experience weekly on the trans-cont service. By the looks of this, maybe it is time for me to make the switch? Sorry flying kangaroo! I hope you took the time to provide positive feedback to Virgin about their improved products and cabin service. Feedback makes all the difference!

 

[jazza1971]

Hi Jazza, fantastic review on your recent trip. Looks like Virgin has certainly improved! Sounds like those Virgin cabin crew you had really know how to make an impression. Its good to see them going that extra mile to impress - certainly something I NEVER see anymore with the cranky Qantas crew I experience weekly on the trans-cont service. By the looks of this, maybe it is time for me to make the switch? Sorry flying kangaroo! I hope you took the time to provide positive feedback to Virgin about their improved products and cabin service. Feedback makes all the difference!

Thanks, yes the crew was fantastic on all my flights and I've certainly left feedback via the Virgin Website. I'd certainly look at trying a Virgin trans-con service, especially business on the A330. It was great, and i'd say the service was much better then any of the longhaul QF J business class flights I've taken to and from the US.

 

[Justinf]

Great report and wonderful, clear pics.

 

[UP4014]

I always enjoy a trip report with photos. Thanks

Matt
PS, the blue mood lighting, is that to put of injecting drug users.