Things Virgin Australia Does & Doesn’t Do Well

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/things-virgin-australia-does-well/

Following on from my series of articles earlier this year on things Qantas does & doesn't do well, I've done the same for Virgin Australia:

What Virgin Australia Does & Doesn't Do Well

In this opinion piece, I share my thoughts on 11 things Virgin Australia is great at... as well as 8 things the airline could do better.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Do you agree with the points in this opinion piece? Do you think something is missing? Let us know what you think in this thread!

 

[ben95]

I’d disagree with Virgin does priority boarding well. The enforcement is just inconsistent.

Too many times I’ve seen silver mobile boarding pass in the priority lane and the staff do not raise an eyebrow even though clearly there’s still a long queue of priority passenger behind.

I would much rather prefer Qantas’ over engineered system where the computer automatically turns away people not eligible for priority boarding. If one travel enough to get silver one likely know the rules of priority boarding, so he/she deserve the walk of shame trying to sneak through

 

[moa999]

I think a number of those points are ageing along with Virgins crew. It's no longer the young fun airline it once was.

Agree on priority boarding, particularly at some airports like SYD and I think it's primarily due to the smart gate design that effectively cages the seats and priority lane and leaves the outside for the priority queue.

 

[power71]

You haven't mentioned the frequent flyer earn rate. Confusing and the rolling year gets people unstuck.

Then there's the poor offering on operated flights by Link airways and Alliance airlines. Aircraft where you have an ash tray in the arm rest still.

Then there's no free wifi unlike Qantas

 

[zoomzoom]

This is a very fair and accurate assessment particularly the domestic lounge situation. Hobart is screaming out for a lounge, the QF lounge is and has always been inadequate. Come on virgin step up. Your schedule is better but you need a lounge!

 

[Saab34]

I will admit customer service during the JB years was pretty good, it’s definitely slipped these days as it’s moved to a more financial lead business.

IT is still pretty rubbish but they have been upfront around the underinvestment.

 

[simmomelb]

I definitely agree with the priority boarding. I consistently see passengers who don't qualify get politely shifted to the regular queue.
Staff & cabin crew are consistently excellent in my opinion.

The food options in Economy are dire. I was only flying back from Queenstown last week, 4 of us flying together in row 3, so I ordered 4 chicken wraps for all, "sorry, we don't have any left" and we were the first to order them.
The other options were basically junk food (party pies and toasties) and totally unappealing.
By the time the cart returned for a second round, all they had left were booze and chocolates, cheese & crackers, I mean, really?
And yes, the food and wine in the lounge need a MAJOR rethink, it's just such L cheapo wine and the food is better at 7 Eleven.

 

[mattdi]

Priority boarding: Certainly at YPPH/PER and YMML/MEL I don't feel like it is done well, its a mess of people standing around and often having to fight through a crowd of people.

In-flight Wi-Fi: Maybe my recent flights have just been unlucky but I've had three different airframes recently, including one that had the fresh fit-out, that still lacked wi-fi. While not having it is a good excuse to try and switch off from work for a few hours, when travelling for business it is helpful to have the access and its one of the few valuable platinum benefits remaining...

Food: Yeah, both lounge and onboard the offering is uninspired and bland. I may be in the minority here but the previous ham and cheesy toasty on board in the plastic bag was at least edible, the new one in the cardboard box is dry and miserable!

Lounges: In general I've found lounges in Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne recently bursting at the seams on multiple trips making it near on impossible to find anywhere to sit, with some of the lounges now also feeling quite tired.

New fit-out on board: The new layout feels like its reduced the Yx space and I feel for whoever sits in 3B or 3E in the new design as that extra leg room gets even more limited with the J seat replacement taking up a lot of the space for their feet/legs (or bag). The shower curtain also looks stupid and I empathise with the poor crew who are left trying to do to right thing defending the business cabin area, but even this is inconsistently enforced as someone who often sits in row 3 and watching people meander past while some of us do the right thing and head to the back.

Platinum upgrades (x4): Much like you Matt G, I struggle to make use of these flying on busy routes, even when there's one seat left its often not been released to be used for a platinum upgrade...

I know this has been a topic of conversation elsewhere but as someone who's a VA Plat flying out of Perth for work interstate I've felt like a lot of the recent changes to the loyalty program and a very inconsistent experience across both lounges and on-board have left me wondering why I bother in someways - the platinum experience certainly feels like its devalued greatly (ignoring earn rates etc.)

 

[Restless]

Very fair assessment.
I completely agree with the lack of international travel consistencies/lack of alliance - this is the main reason I'm shifting my family's travel preferences over to Qantas. I just like knowing what I get when I travel internationally - not having to spend hours wading through 'if you booked your ticket before X', 'if you are platinum and traveling on a VA flight number but not VA metal...', etc etc. Seriously, who has the time?

I'm aware I'll need to pay more to get QF status, but time is money, and VA's various arrangements with its partner airlines just kills me

 

[corrocoat]

A nice assessment, as a Platinum flyer like you I see things very frequently. Things that need improving are their Cafes( NOT lounges, very poor), The wine does take commitment to enjoy.
International lounge access in Brisbane WTF. Long haul flights like Bali and BNE to PER are difficult in 737 and the lack of service is in contrast to QANTAS who provide in economy complentary wine on the Perth trips. Getting complimentary upgrades from Flex fares is cough of a system, guaranteed to frustrate.....Velocity is rewards program, so not rewarding is NOT good. They have always been profitable, avoided paying tax for 8years under the previous ownership, but as you say, you get to Platinum faster than QANTAS. Not sure how the new SC system really rewards fairly. Importantly some of their management does not want feedback from Platinum FFs, which is a shame.

 

[aus_flyer]

Poor recognition/treatment of top-tier frequent flyers. Qantas Platinum One FFs receive much better service/benefits than Virgin Platinum Plus FFs.

 

[Brucetiki]

I have to disagree with the enthusiastic staff with the service ranging from indifferent to awful in the times I’ve flown them.

Some of my experiences with VA staff include:

- Being abused by a cabin crew member because I had a broken seat that wouldn’t recline back into an upright positio, even after demonstrating this to the crew member.
- Seeing staff at SYD having private conversations Prue and Trude style at bag drop while the line snaked outside the terminal
- The one time I flew business class they forgot to serve my meal, and went out of their way to avoid serving any drinks.
- The cabin manager on one flight so disinterested in her duties she resembled Sr Michael from Derry Girls (I was flying back from a funeral this night so it’s matched how I was feeling at least )

Most of these were during the JB era though so it may have improved in the past few years

 

[stm1sydney]

Yes, that is a very good summary and I agree on all points. Couple of extra notes:
- priority security lane at SYD T2 is getting extended hours
- business class meals are really good, and service and drinks are always great
- internationally I mainly fly SQ, and the VA status benefits with SQ are very good and consistently applied (even the Gold lounge in SIN T3 is excellent these days)

 

[Twister292]

No lounge at all for international business class is boderline diabolical.

 

[BCons]

You haven't mentioned the frequent flyer earn rate. Confusing and the rolling year gets people unstuck.

Then there's the poor offering on operated flights by Link airways and Alliance airlines. Aircraft where you have an ash tray in the arm rest still.

Then there's no free wifi unlike Qantas

* There is free wifi for Biz, Plat and Gold, if I remember correctly..

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don’t think VA does priority boarding well… all too often they start with the priority lane followed seconds later by the general lane. So you all end up waiting on the jet bridge. And once on board, crew don’t make any proactive announcements asking passenger not to block the aisle, or allow others to pass.

I have never understood ‘best cabin crew’. Where when how? It can’t be safety related, because that’s regulated and everyone is to the same standard. So that must mean service. Except they don’t offer any other than water and, time permitting, tea and coffee.

 

[ramboflyer]

In the past month I have flown Virgin, Qantas and Jetstar. 5 years ago I would agree Virgin cabin crew were the best and friendliest of all. This last couple of years I have noticed a drop in the Virgin cabin crew. Still nice and no complaints but no joking during announcements or happy smiles these days.

 

[L2.]

I have to disagree with the enthusiastic staff with the service ranging from indifferent to awful in the times I’ve flown them.

I have no idea how any business in Australia can be considered to be world class from a customer service perspective. We simply don't have that kind of service culture here.

I don't generally have an issue with the service on VA, although I did have one unpleasant early morning interaction with a self-bag drop attendant at MEL a few months ago, who raced over within 5 seconds of the machine rejecting my bag (without my soliciting his 'assistance') to bark at me "you need to do what the screen says".

Still processing the situation, and being somewhat tired, I asked him what he meant, to which I got an eye roll and in a ruder tone a repeat of "you need to do what the screen says" before he walked off.

As it turned out, I had made an error in placing the baggage tag around the top handle of my bag, which VA does not permit. I have no idea why he couldn't have just told me that.

Thankfully after that experience, the lady who welcomed me to the VA lounge where I had a much needed coffee was lovely.

 

[Secco]

I’d disagree with Virgin does priority boarding well. The enforcement is just inconsistent.

Too many times I’ve seen silver mobile boarding pass in the priority lane and the staff do not raise an eyebrow even though clearly there’s still a long queue of priority passenger behind.

I would much rather prefer Qantas’ over engineered system where the computer automatically turns away people not eligible for priority boarding. If one travel enough to get silver one likely know the rules of priority boarding, so he/she deserve the walk of shame trying to sneak through

Maybe that silver mobile boarding pass is for an Economy X row

 

[trisreed]

I think that is a pretty well balanced article, Matt. My most personal annoyances are that damned pasta you photographed and the international recognition or lack thereof. Flying back from HKT earlier this year, I did not get the priority checkin flying on SQ that I am meant to get (which wasted about half an hour in line) and I don't blame the staff - they probably do checkin for a bunch of airlines and knowing this 'exception' for SQ for some Australian airline is probably not reasonable for a small number of pax. I was surprised not to have issues on NZ the other week, however.

Sadly the new "priority" security line opens in Perth on the 15th so I won't get to see if it's open on tomorrow's flight. That being said, the terminal opened in November 2015 (ten years ago) and in the hundreds of times I have been through that security check, not once have I seen the priority line in use. Better dust off that sign on the wall!

Regarding the "World's Best Cabin Crew" award - well AirlineRatings is the site that (used?) to be run/owned/whatever by The West Australian and Geoffrey Thomas. They seem to have a bit of a thing for local airlines (which they probably see more often) - they certainly feature more than expected in those lists and awards.

One thing that would be nice would be better customer service as a Plat, but I guess I just need to spend more money to get an Australian call centre that can solve a problem in 30 seconds that takes 30 minutes from the international call centre (that being said - some of the international call centre agents are amazing - others are amazingly bad).