Virgin Group

[Cruiser Elite]

I recently headed from Melbourne to Vanuatu with wifey for a 5 day break. Wifey booked all the flights and accomodation.

We decided to travel with Virgin Blue / Virgin Pacific via Brisbane in Premium Economy.

Whilst I detest some of the T & C's in Velocity program - I really do enjoy the on-board experience of DJ - IMHO their FA's really have a great attitude and they generally add just that bit extra to the flight experience.

But a coupkle of points really rubbed me the wrong way this journey.

1. Baggage is checked in at MEL and checked right through to VLI with 'Priority' tags affixed. As PE passengers we enjoyed The Lounge in MEL. Transitted between domestic and international airport in BNE and sought out a lounge. Found whatever lounge VA passengers enjoy but was denied access - no access for PE passengers flying VP. Is this not strange or am I expecting too much? And to make matters worse whilst I am waiting in international terminal I decide to buy a couple of drinks from the bar their - sorry sir we do not accept AMEX. WTF - a bar in an international terminal that does not accept AMEX - give me a break (YES I know nothing to do with DJ but I just found it unbelievable).

2. On return leg collected luggage in BNE and cleared immigration - then went to check luggage to Melbourne. Was told by DJ baggage check staff that they DO NOT have 'Priority' tags. I stated this seemed weird as luggage had tags affixed in MEL so why BNE not have them. 2 DJ staff members looked me square in the eyes and said neither of them had EVER seen priority tags for Virgin. Then facing a 30 to 40 minute wait for that useless train to take us back to domestic terminal I just grabbed a cab and slipped the drive $20 and told him to leave meter off - back in domestic terminal we again get to enjoy The Lounge.

Please excuse me if I sound like I am ranting - but come on Virgin - give me a break - if you want to sell premium seats at a premium price should you not be offering some sort of premium service to justify that price?

Now as an asidee - I had a great chat to the head FA on the leg back to MEL - she was very sympathetic to my stories - but then added just watch this space - many changes coming for entire Virgin group in 2011 - asked me to just be a little patient and all will be revealed.

 

[markis10]

DJ do not advertise that priority baggage or lounge access is available as part of a PE trip through BNE, as you are probably aware there are changes that will see the PE product go, and lounge access in Brisbane through the NZ partnership. While it would be nice to see priority bags and lounge access at present, you actually received more than what is promised in this case.

Things will get better as the changes do come through and we will see a much more mature international operation through the new alliances, some of the changes are already being reported such as amenity packs etc.

 

[ishkaban]

Brisbane Airtrain runs every 30 mins ( every 15mins in peak times) to the domestic terminal

There is also an inter-terminal bus transfer from INT to DOM available every 20 mins for $5

 

[Justinf]

Some businesses don't accept Amex because of the higher fees. The bars and restaurants in any airport are independently owned so it's their choice.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Some businesses don't accept Amex because of the higher fees. The bars and restaurants in any airport are independently owned so it's their choice.

You may or may not be absolutely correct Justinf - currently we pay 2.4% to AMEX as a merchent fee - we are not high volume or high $ users - so 2.4% on a $10 or $12 drink would be 24c or 29c.

Yeah maybe this is complaining about a minor matter - but I was just totally surprised that a bar in an international departure area in a 1st world country does not accept AMEX - maybe this is more common than I think.

 

[markis10]

Some businesses don't accept Amex because of the higher fees. The bars and restaurants in any airport are independently owned so it's their choice.

You might be surprised to learn that at many Australian airports the food outlets are all owned/operated by the one company, in fact Spotless has 82 stores across Australian airports.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Now as an asidee - I had a great chat to the head FA on the leg back to MEL - she was very sympathetic to my stories - but then added just watch this space - many changes coming for entire Virgin group in 2011 - asked me to just be a little patient and all will be revealed.

This is potentially how you loose customers too. A 1 off bad experience is enough in some cases for people to switch to the opposition.

You should also consider yourself lucky to have gotten PE seats the whole way, it seems that there are quite a fair few rouge aircraft in the DJ fleet without PE and DJ are selling PE seats which they knowingly can't provide.

As for the AMEX issue. At a post office today in SYD, Mastercard/Visa accepted, but not AMEX.

 

[munitalP]

Q: Do Y+ PAX get access on a lounge on any INT Flight by any airline by default?


munitalP

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Q: Do Y+ PAX get access on a lounge on any INT Flight by any airline by default?...........munitalP

That I cannot answer my friend - I just assumed so - certainly no question the domestic leg MEL-BNE and I just assumed waiting in BNE there would be lounge access.

Obviously no access to lounge in Vanuatu and we used The Lounge in BNE domestic on return.

 

[munitalP]

That I cannot answer my friend - I just assumed so - certainly no question the domestic leg MEL-BNE and I just assumed waiting in BNE there would be lounge access.

Obviously no access to lounge in Vanuatu and we used The Lounge in BNE domestic on return.

Im actually hoping that we will get some good answers pointing people in the direction of airlines that do offer Y+ access - it would be a good reason to fly that airline methinks

 

[dk4]

Im actually hoping that we will get some good answers pointing people in the direction of airlines that do offer Y+ access - it would be a good reason to fly that airline methinks

It also demonstrates a procedural discrepancy between VA, DJ & DJ, where the consumer is expected to know that travelling PE on some "group routes" gets you lounge access, while on others it doesn't.

As indicated - IMO a consistency problem that upsets the very customers Virgin is trying hard to attract.