Virgin Blue - Feral to say the least...

[brissyflyer]

To add insult to injury, FERAL Blue want $20.00 from me to update my preferences on the velocity website

I have 2 flights booked for the near future on FERAL, these I promise will be the last


Mr!

Out of interest I had a look and there is a $20 charge IF you opt for your statement to be mailed to you instead of emailed.

So the way I see it if you change your preference to paper statements then yes you will be charged $20.

 

[brett-au]

Hmm. Two thoughts. Background: I am biased strongly in Virgin's favour for any domestic travel so I will keep it short to avoid a major flame war.

Every time I have asked or paid for an exit row I was always asked "In the unlikely event of an emergency are you willing and able blah, blah, blah" at the check in. I could not get my ticket with out going through a verbal confirmation.

I am not 100% but I do believe virgin blue did upgrade gold passengers to premium economy on a flight from PQQ to SYD on an e170. Although I have no proof they were gold and not just randomly selected. I would suggest VB will not upgrade after the door is closed due to their over the top safety policy (eg no phones because we will be refueling in 15 minutes time and they must track everyone seat number).

I will say that QantasLink exceeds VB for service, but haven't been impressed flying stock standard domestic qantas.

 

[thegurio]

IME I find there to be not much difference between QF and DJ with the exception that DJ's staff are generally younger. I have never had an issue with anything and everything has always been easy to do. This is with the experience of about 15 - 20 flights a year on them. I always get what i want and like has been said earlier, i dont expect much as i dont pay much. With QF, as far as im concerned, I pay a premium and therefore expect better standard of service which i really dont get. But like antything, its what makes a market place and im than happy to keep flying them.

 

[Saab34]

Do they always seat parents with kiddies down towards the back, because of baby change table facilites???

and...when doing online checkin I was on at the first available minute, yet 80% of the plane was already selected. Is this how it all works on Virgin?? Id rather pay for a seat selecter thanks, which is another reason I stick to my ever favourite JQ...

 

[ishkaban]

I am not 100% but I do believe virgin blue did upgrade gold passengers to premium economy on a flight from PQQ to SYD on an e170. Although I have no proof they were gold and not just randomly selected. I would suggest VB will not upgrade after the door is closed due to their over the top safety policy (eg no phones because we will be refueling in 15 minutes time and they must track everyone seat number).

In the e jets the only difference between the regular seats and PE seats is the actual leather seats, they do not expand like the the 737 seats, so I guess its not a "true" upgrade if it was one

my understanding of VB's strict refuelling policy is that apart from the possible chance of mobile electronic interference with fuel, eg fire, ignition etc, in general, passengers are asked to switch off electronic equipment as VB refuel while passengers are onboard. I believe J* & QF refuel while a/c is empty.

I am also of the understanding that on the 737 800's while refuelling is taking place upon boarding, that a crew member must be in the overwing area in case of an emergency, and to operate overwing exits

 

[Mal]

I believe J* & QF refuel while a/c is empty.

Nah, both Qantas and Jetstar will re-fuel when passengers are onboard, but it's not their preference. Two examples from my travels:

QF - Turnaround and landing at airport. More fuel needed. Passengers advised to unlatch seat belts while fuelling occurs.
JQ - More fuel needed due to possible fog near destination. Passengers onboard while more fuel added. Can't recall if seatbelts were requested to be on or off.

 

[ishkaban]

def makes sense to have the seat belt unfastened, just incase you need to get off in a hurry!!

 

[oz_mark]

Nah, both Qantas and Jetstar will re-fuel when passengers are onboard, but it's not their preference. Two examples from my travels:

QF - Turnaround and landing at airport. More fuel needed. Passengers advised to unlatch seat belts while fuelling occurs.
JQ - More fuel needed due to possible fog near destination. Passengers onboard while more fuel added. Can't recall if seatbelts were requested to be on or off.

Certainly when QF have taken on more fuel ("to increase our options when we get to Perth") its always been unlatched seatbelts

 

[munitalP]

As the OP, I should have pointed out that the flight to Newcastle was booked ultra last minute - it was not a cheap flight, in fact was the fully flexi fare FERAL Blue offers. I wonder what the difference in cost to PE would have been.

To the comment about checking my BP for seat allocation when I got issued the BP, I didn't. In hindsight, the eye candy didn't mention the emergency exit procedure and that should have heightened my awareness of not having the exit row.

I guess that comes with being complacent with getting BP's with the volume of flights I do a year. I normally don't fly in exit rows, if in Y I have forward isle seating whenever I fly. Row 5, 6 or 7 doesn't worry me so I don't make a point of checking (or low 20's on a 76) - it just always happens... (well 97-98% of the time anyway)

This airline is a cheap nasty bunch of metal flying in the Australian airspace, who have pilots who seem to be in training, FA's so inexperienced they don't have the ability to deal with minor issues - God help anyone in a real emergency and a service that lacks in every respect that I would fail to call it a service.

Mr!

:evil:

 

[serfty]

As the OP, ... :evil:

Go on - tell us what you really think!

 

[munitalP]

Go on - tell us what you really think!

Ok, so maybe I was a little angry

Mr!

 

[Platy]

Ok, so maybe I was a little angry

Mr!

Why not sir! I'm sure any QF business class travellers would feel somewhat frustrated if they found on boarding they were holding a BP for an economy seat and would have a reasonably high expectation of crew reseating them (or were forceably downgraded).

Must admit when I used to fly Blue Zone I always made sure the check in person was aware that I was expecting an appropriate seat after one nearly didn't notice I had paid for the Zone.

I haven't flown on Virgin Blue for several years in protest of a safety demo on a BNE-ROK flight that turned into a joke fest from the CSM...We want to make your flight as fun as possible but there is a serious side to your flight and so I'm going to reel off a series of pathetic jokes through the demo to prove that we don't really think the serious side is worth taking seriously after all...about as pathetic as their failure to maintain adequate maintenance records in their early days...

To be fair on Virgin, I've come across some safety howlers courtesy of Deathstar...

I have had many issues with the flying roo, but hold their cabin crews in high regard and respect that they are far more likely to fix a customer issue if opportunities allow...

 

[dajop]

MunitalP some comments from someone who really finds very little functional difference between QF & DJ catering aside. I think you do indeed have a valid complaint re not accessing a blue zone. You should get in touch with DJ about this. I think there is a systemic software problem going on here, as exactly the same thing happened to me. Did you book the blue zone online? That's what I did, and the system didn't pick it up. When I checked in at the lounge, I was allocated 18D and thankfully I knew that Row 18 was not an exit row on a 737, so queried this the agent looked into my booking and found the blue zone payment, but it was not immediately obvious. If you do chose to make such a complaint, PM me as I am happy to back you up on this one. crazydave98, you still hanging around?

As for an onboard upgrade, I suspect the Cabin Manager would not have the documentation to verify your claims, and it would not be DJ policy, or maybe the cabin manager is not authorised to provide such a resolution to your problem. I would not blame inexperience or otherwise of cabin crew, rather the rules set by DJ in this regard. I also suspect that on many airlines an upgrade is not at the top of the priority list to resolve customer issues {I may be wrong - but IME, I haven't seen too many pax moved to the front of the plane once on board}

My experience with DJ & QF - they both have good and bad days and good and bad crews, but if DJ are having these sorts of issues failing to deliver on what you have purchased that is the real problem [and forget the gate change stuff sh## happens - you should, whatever the airline keep your eyes and ears open for this]

 

[Platy]

. I think there is a systemic software problem going on here, as exactly the same thing happened to me.

Well, Dajob, you might be right since every time I ever flew Blue Zone (about 15 times in a 6 month period) I got the impression that the info was not coming up on the screen at check in and the check in person was expected to notice the extra fare paid and allocate seating accordingly rather than the Blue Zone being automatic in the system and directing the agent to the exit row (or front row as then was). If so, this has been going on for years since it is quite a while since I last flew DJ - unless alternate errors with similar outcome are now prevalent in their systems...

 

[Mal]

Why not sir! I'm sure any QF business class travellers would feel somewhat frustrated if they found on boarding they were holding a BP for an economy seat and would have a reasonably high expectation of crew reseating them (or were forceably downgraded).

But what if that boarding pass showed no evidence of Business Class - ie a check-in error allocated them a Econ boarding pass in a seat in the Econ section. I feel the CSM on Qantas would act the same way. How many people a day try to blag their way into a J seat with only a Y boarding pass?

MunitalP has legitimate reasons for complaint, and I presume he will follow them up. However, I don't think a similar incident on Qantas would be treated any better.

Note the complaint about seating was made in the air - not on the ground. So no easy or quick way to verify any claim.

 

[straitman]

But what if that boarding pass showed no evidence of Business Class - ie a check-in error allocated them a Econ boarding pass in a seat in the Econ section. I feel the CSM on Qantas would act the same way. How many people a day try to blag their way into a J seat with only a Y boarding pass?

MunitalP has legitimate reasons for complaint, and I presume he will follow them up. However, I don't think a similar incident on Qantas would be treated any better.

Note the complaint about seating was made in the air - not on the ground. So no easy or quick way to verify any claim.

Unless, like a lot of us, MunitalP was carrying a copy of his booking information with him.

 

[munitalP]

...My experience with DJ & QF - they both have good and bad days and good and bad crews, but if DJ are having these sorts of issues failing to deliver on what you have purchased that is the real problem [and forget the gate change stuff sh## happens - you should, whatever the airline keep your eyes and ears open for this]

Thanks for the response - you have me thinking...

Unless, like a lot of us, MunitalP was carrying a copy of his booking information with him.

No, I didn't have this info with me

...MunitalP has legitimate reasons for complaint, and I presume he will follow them up. However, I don't think a similar incident on Qantas would be treated any better.

Note the complaint about seating was made in the air - not on the ground. So no easy or quick way to verify any claim.

Correct... hence the reason I didn't carry on or push the point with the CSM.

In Jan 2002, I was LAX / AKL / MEL on whichever the QF flight was back then, my US trip was a hectic 2 weeks (junket rearly) of 7 days at the Westin Innisbrooke in Tampa conferencing and golf (or was it mainly golf, I forget ), then a few days in Sacramento at then one of our labs and golf (there's a theme developing here). Anyway, to cut a long story short... Our corp travel agent booked me QF for long haul, Delta LAX, Atlanta, Tampa return (!), United LAX Sacramento LAX. This was all on paper tickets...
I saw it happen and I pointed it out at the time, the travel agent stuffed my Atlanta/LAX leg up when I made a date change - they wouldn't listen.

US was a mess back then (just months after 9/11 and weeks after the plane into the building in Tampa), so when I rocked up to the airport, sticks and bag in hand, I have a paper saying one thing, nothing in the computer, a non US traveller - I think every alarm bell at the airport went off.

I was escorted by armed guard (soldiers) to a private room where I was searched and humiliated by these people - all thanks to our corp travel agent who I might add was a QF agent. It didn't help either in my case having a MEL address and a NZ passport!

All was sorted out within a few hours and I was put on connecting flights. I had some time to kill at LAX so promptly raced over to the other terminal (not sure which one it is) and "GAVE IT" to the QF person in charge. QF just shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Mr! was seeing RED!... Anyway, a few days later, back at LAX for my Y flight home, I got stuffed into a rear of the plane middle seat. I kept my mouth shut knowing there was nothing I could do untill I got back to MEL (and then what even?). My frustration must have showed when a FA asked me if I was all right. I explained to him what had happened and about my seating profile and that I was eager to get back to MEL to have a close and personal chat with out travel agent.

The CSM came back not long after and asked me to please get my bags and come with him... straight to J

I got treated like a KING on that flight - I sent a huge thank you to QF followed by a larger complaint!

QF can and do as much as possible to sort out PAX issues whenever they can. I think a SYD/MEL flight, you won't see it, however, longer flights they do...

Mr!

 

[MelUser]

I'd love to know the look that resulted in the upgrade as I want to try it!

 

[crazydave98]

MunitalP some comments from someone who really finds very little functional difference between QF & DJ catering aside. I think you do indeed have a valid complaint re not accessing a blue zone. You should get in touch with DJ about this. I think there is a systemic software problem going on here, as exactly the same thing happened to me. Did you book the blue zone online? That's what I did, and the system didn't pick it up. When I checked in at the lounge, I was allocated 18D and thankfully I knew that Row 18 was not an exit row on a 737, so queried this the agent looked into my booking and found the blue zone payment, but it was not immediately obvious. If you do chose to make such a complaint, PM me as I am happy to back you up on this one. crazydave98, you still hanging around?

Hi dajop, yes it does sound like there could be a systemic problem if people are having to ask/confirm BZ after having paid for it, which I will take up with our GM Airports
regards
CrazyDave98

 

[Bellthorpe]

An interesting commentary.

I have little sympathy for the OP, based on his stated history of abusing customer service staff, and inability to check his own boarding pass.

I travel only with Virgin Blue now. Too many Qantas stuff-ups, surly superannuated staff, and delays.

I've not had a single complaint about VB. I take my own food, sometimes buy a beer. The cheesy jokes go over my head. I like the lounges. Departure record has been fine for me. Nearly always get the seat I want. Friendly staff.

I used to fly much more often with Qantas and Ansett, pretty much back to back as I was rorting the 'weekend away' tickets. From time to time something went wrong with either airline. **** happens. That didn't cause me to describe the offending airline as 'feral'. Similarly, VB will stuff up sometimes, and so will Qantas. I've made my choice, as the OP can make his.