Your great Virgin Australia experiences!

[markis10]

DJ seem to be working hard on departure times, most of my recent flights have boarded early.

 

[MarkD]

Virgin Australia, please pass on my praises for the crew DJ1102 BNE-NTL 12/8, they had a couple of loudmouths yapping very loudly during the safety demonstration. The CS said politely over the PA " Although you may have travelled many times, those around you may not have, so please observe the safety demonstration", they continued their loud talk, the safety demonstration stopped, the FA with the life vest put her stuff down, walked up and very firmly yet politely told these guys in no uncertain terms they should zip it. Which they did.
The demonstaration continued and the whole crew were exceptional throughout the flight.
Well done, and this crew really was the friendliest, most professional, courteous crew I have ever had on Virgin

 

[Noob]

You got to love those really professional, sweet, friendly FAs who appear like they wouldn't hurt a fly but when necessary they become ferocious wild animals saving us from the wankers of the air.

 

[MarkD]

Starting to sound like a Virgin Fanboi I know, but two exceptional flights in two days, DJ1218 BNE-CBR 13/8 Nick was CS, what a fantastic bloke, was chatting about all the changes etc, he knew of platinum, but they dont know the details yet, just that its coming. I mentioned the pies, he said, oh hang on, They loaded us with pies for this flight, do you want one? Hell yes, so next thing I have a Pie on BNE-CBR, and NO MUSHROOMS thank god
All this after being op uped to row 1A, nobody in 1B.
Thats two in two days, exceptional, faultless service. The crew were excellent, they had an attitude that resembled the old caring professional, attitude of the Ansett I remember so fondly.
Well done again VA, I booked a block of flights for this month to see how the performance has changed, and it has definately improved out of this world for this Gold .

 

[Noob]

Starting to sound like a Virgin Fanboi I know, but two exceptional flights in two days, DJ1218 BNE-CBR 13/8 Nick was CS, what a fantastic bloke, was chatting about all the changes etc, he knew of platinum, but they dont know the details yet, just that its coming. I mentioned the pies, he said, oh hang on, They loaded us with pies for this flight, do you want one? Hell yes, so next thing I have a Pie on BNE-CBR, and NO MUSHROOMS thank god
All this after being op uped to row 1A, nobody in 1B.
Thats two in two days, exceptional, faultless service. The crew were excellent, they had an attitude that resembled the old caring professional, attitude of the Ansett I remember so fondly.
Well done again VA, I booked a block of flights for this month to see how the performance has changed, and it has definately improved out of this world for this Gold .

This particularly is very nice to hear.

 

[sighing]

I'm also a delighted VA flyer (Velocity Silver). I travel SYD - OOL - SYD very frequently and am constantly impressed and amazed when checking in at Sydney to sometimes be asked if I would like my usual exit row seat!

What other airline does this?

Cheers
Sigh

 

[greenfish]

Not my experience directly, but...

I bought my mother a PE reward ticket TSV-BNE. She has some mobility issues but can get around (slowly) with a cane. The kind FA wheeled her carry-on bag all the way from the plane to the arrivals area outside the terminal. Mum was very impressed.

 

[Lawlass]

Stood up for dinner so went to airport early expecting to chill in the lounge a couple of hours. Instead immediately moved forward to next available flight (not booked originally because too expensive). Seat 3F and one happy customer

 

[Lawlass]

Stood up for dinner so went to airport early expecting to chill in the lounge a couple of hours. Instead immediately moved forward to next available flight (not booked originally because too expensive). Seat 3F and one happy customer

Update: flight was very pleasant and for those who care about such things, the lady who reseated herself in row 2 was promptly told to return to her seat by the FA.

Upon arrival Lounge was closed but the extremely lovely dragon allowed me to freshen up in the bathroom anyway while she juiced up my phone which had gone flat.

Oh and priority boarding was set up and worked a treat

Seriously good service all round

 

[indigo1]

BNE-TSV

Arrived at the intl terminal and made my way to transfer desk. Lady was polite and asked whether I prefered window or aisle seat. As NZ Gold I was given 3F and was handed an Airtrain pass. Fortunatly I only had to wait 1-2 minutes for the train to arrive and made my way to the lounge. Was welcomed to the lounge and offered a tour. Had a quick glass of water and then had a shower - was good and was even given a shaver which was good. Had a couple of lettuce and tomato sandwichs (no meat available:shock and a beautiful chicken and corn soup. Was annoying not having self service beer as I had to wait 1-2 minutes for an attendant to come. Had a coffee which was great too.

I made my way to gate and boarding was announced. I proceeded down the priority lane (which is a great initiative) before the lady began to direct me to the 'plebs' line - a flash of my Gold card and I was on my way. As fate would have it, I had an empty middle seat. The foxtel was amazing, can't believe an aircraft can broadcast live TV! This was available for the whole flight and there was no mention by the FA of having to pay for it. We eventually departed about 30 minutes late ~810pm. I was on a saver fare so can't comment on the F&B.

TSV-BNE

There was a queue of about 10 pax so I tried my luck in the priority check-in lane. I was invited tot he desk ahead of other pax and as I handed over my documentation a gentleman approached from behind and started yelling at the attendant saying his parents had priority blah blah, the attendant was polite and informed him that they were in the wrong line and he backed down quickly. It's a shame DJ don't have an agreement to use the QF lounge as there is no DJ lounge in TSV. Priority boarding was inforced and I found my seat in 3A. Quite a full flight, so no spare seat beside me. Foxtel was available for the entire morning flight, but FA made reference to having to pay $4.95? Unfortunatly the transfer desk at BNE Dom was closed so I had to shell out $5 for the Airtrain back to Intl.

Overall a very pleasant experience and the TV made the flight so much better! The staff were great too, very very friendly

 

[Deleted member 29185]

It's been easy of late, to be a little critical of some fairly minor DJ inconsistancies and I've found it's also easy to get too caught up in the minor issues that are raised from time to time and forget about the big DJ picture. My recent flights have really struck home to me, just how fortunate we are that DJ are actually making these changes, even if there are some minor day to day dramas.

My recent flights are my first since attaining gold and I am pretty happy. OOL-MEL on Sunday saw me (and the family) preselected row 3 (hard to go wrong with row 3). Sitting at the airport studying where the new lounge was going (no sign of any work there yet) and heard my name paged. Bugger, I thought. Must be some of those pesky Plats aboard and we're getting bumped back down the bus. Well almost right, just in the opposite direction......an op-up to row 2 .

The day then took a bit of a turn, with a minor 'warning light" coming on whilst taxiing out, causing a return to the gate, a 1/2 hour wait on board then a disembarkation back into the terminal . The minor warning light ended up with crew crawling all over the plane, stbd engine cowls off and a 3 hour flight delay. We were just going on a short holiday, but I really felt sorry for the people who would be destined to miss connections due to the delay, but I guess it comes down to reality. What would the preference be, fly with a potential problem or delay and be safe. I choose the delay and be safe route so just chalk that down to one of the pitfalls of flying. Again, I hear my name paged. Bugger, I thought. This has to be a change for the worse.........wrong again! The polite guy at the gate apologised for the delay and handed over $32 worth of vouchers for breakfast. Four of us didn't use all the voucher value, so I thought that was generous of DJ. Finally back on board and off, without further incident to MEL.

Arrived MEL to find we did indeed get a Europcar upgrade from the base (auto) Getz we booked to a luxury category Audi A3......very nice thanks to the DJ partner status match programme. While I organised the luggage and the car, I "guested" my +3 into the MEL Lounge, which pleased them no end, once again thanks to DJ for giving not just "any time access" but also "family" guesting benefits.

The apartment at Docklands was adequate. Nothing special, but we did get a minor upgrade from a 2 b/room, 1 bathroom to a two b/room, 2 bathroom but I did miss the Hilton executive lounge and breakfasts, but hey, at less than 1/2 the price, Docklands did the trick and we enjoyed some great meals out with the savings.

Flight back, we were once again preselected row 3 but thanks to the QF baggage handlers strike, the plane was chockers so no blanked out seats beside us but no other problems or delays and a very comfortable flight home. Both directions we had LTA, which was also supplied complementary. Prior to the flight, we enjoyed the MEL lounge (my wife stated she really enjoyed just watching the coming and goings of the planes......which MEL has as a distinct advantage) and we even had those wonderful LMPPs brought round the lounge in a real service fashion. The MEL lounge staff were efficient and friendly and I'm not sure if the style is growing on me, but I now quite like the ambience of that "sterile" look (only just figured out the headrests pull forward on those red single seater lounges ).

Next morning, I had a BNE-MKY flight, preselected 3A (isle preference is obviously not yet active) and jagged a BSI......got to love that legroom and 3B was kept vacant (not sure if thats an intentional shadow or not). Only two J seats booked and no op-ups there for anyone, so perhaps DJ are indeed protecting the integrity of the J cabin.

MKY Europcar also gave an upgrade (unrequested) from a i30 to a Forester and for my flight back that evening I was running late (in under the 30 min check-in) but the check-in angels accepted my luggage with a smile ........thank God I wasn't on JQ or I'd have been booted! Preselected 3D on an Embraer 190 and the crew were once again, very professional. The PE seats had 4 full PE guests and the remaining 4 were kept vacent. Upon landing in BNE, I quickly had a bite to eat in the BNE lounge (an absolutely fantastic Thai chicken soup....and I say that in all honesty) and a flat white (love the all day Barista), once more proving the worth of ATA.

All in all, these trips (except the engineering issue in OOL) went exceptionally smoothly and provided me with some very real value. I'm loving the row 3 preselection and the rental upgrades......just need my Europcar Privilege to officially come through so I can apply for the Accor match. HH seems to be the only real PITA, which is a real shame but I'm not going to chase after an accomodation house when accomodation bargains are a dime a dozen. Since they don't seem interested in satisfying genuine clients, it seems destined that never the Twain shall meet on that score.

To cap it all off, arrived home to my Secure Sentinal pack in the mailbox! It was dated 31-8-11 so they obviously have quite a few to process as well!

So on a sincere and genuine note, I'd like to offer my thanks to DJ for taking up the challenge of offering us FFers a real choice in the Australian aviation market and I certainly hope your "big picture" continues to develop in such a rewarding and perhaps even, exciting way! Whilst you continue to provide us with these tangible (and pleasurable) value-added benefits, I've got no doubt you will succeed in taking a lot of business from the competition and you've certainly proven to me that my decision to "jump the fence" a few years ago was indeed the right move for me.

Thanks DJ

 

[drewbles]

To cap it all off, arrived home to my Secure Sentinal pack in the mailbox! It was dated 31-8-11 so they obviously have quite a few to process as well!

Interesting. I clicked the 'Apply for Complimentary Secure Sentinel' on the 1st of September. The button has since vanished from my profile, and no one has called me/emailed me or anything.

 

[LiamR]

Interesting. I clicked the 'Apply for Complimentary Secure Sentinel' on the 1st of September. The button has since vanished from my profile, and no one has called me/emailed me or anything.

I received a letter two weeks ago confirming my membership with them, and that I need to call up to confirm a few more details with my account. Was then told I'll be sent out the new membership kit within 14 (I think?) days.

My new membership pack arrived on Tuesday.

Maybe Gold Coast residents finally getting something first.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Interesting. I clicked the 'Apply for Complimentary Secure Sentinel' on the 1st of September. The button has since vanished from my profile, and no one has called me/emailed me or anything.

I applied on the 28-8-11 and received this email on the 31-8-11 from velocityfrequentflyer, info email address;
We are pleased to confirm that you have selected to receive a complimentary 12 month membership
into the SecurePlus™ tier of the Secure Sentinel program.

Secure Sentinel will be in contact with you shortly to complete your membership.


Kind Regards,
The Velocity Frequent Flyer Team

so if you applied on the 1-9-11, you might be in for a bit of a wait still.

 

[drewbles]

I received a letter two weeks ago confirming my membership with them, and that I need to call up to confirm a few more details with my account. Was then told I'll be sent out the new membership kit within 14 (I think?) days.

My new membership pack arrived on Tuesday.

Maybe Gold Coast residents finally getting something first.

Things are out of whack. I realised I had the wrong address on my DJ profile, after I was matched, so quickly updated it to the right address.

My whole situation is a little strange.

I had a 'parcel waiting' slip in my PO Box, which I checked a week later (Was waiting on something, and thought it was what I was waiting for). I picked said waited-for item up and thought nothing more.

A week later in my PO box I got a 'final notice parcel waiting' slip. Went in to pick it up, and it turns out that it was my DJ Gold 'replacement' pack ("Introducing the new Velocity Rewards" pack) with a date of 3 weeks earlier. Turns out that the DJ pack arrived at the same time as the other item I was waiting for, and they didn't give me both when I went in the first time.

Timeline:

Mid-August: Address on Velocity site was incorrect.

Late-August: DJ Gold pack delivered to PO Box (but not collected till last week).

End of August: WP match approved.

Very early September: Applied for Secure Sentinel via website.

A week later in September: Checked postal address on website to realise it was wrong. Corrected.

A few days later: Called DJ Call Centre to inform WP pack would have been sent to wrong address. Lady happily ordered replacement.

A week after that again: Collected DJ Gold pack, scratching head as to how it got there, when I had not updated the address (and the letter was dated mid-august).

Yesterday: Replacement (card only; not pack) arrived at my home address.

Summary: I have no idea where things are being sent! I have attempted to contact someone at my old address, but no success in having them respond. For all I know, the Secure Sentinel paperwork has been sent to outer Mongolia

(I've already PM'd VFF asking what happened to my WP pack with tags etc, but i'm a little stumped as to what happened).

 

[DGW]

I had a great experience coming home from PER yesterday. I had preselected 3F for the massive legroom, and upon checking in the agent offered to move a colleague I was travelling with into 3D (best he could preselect was 4A) and block the seat between us and I of course took up the offer. I'd checked out the loading on Flightstats and commented to her that I thought the flight was full. Her response was "yeah it's full, but not that full". As it turns out the middle seat had to be unblocked to accommodate a bloke originally booked on the 5pm fiight but I appreciated the effort.

I was on a Saver on the way back (it was cheaper than the Flexi on the way over), but was offered a free wrap on board. Another nice touch.

 

[LiamR]

Moments from boarding a Virgin Australia flight from OOL to SYD when I recieved a call saying a good friend of mine had just found out he has terminal cancer.

I wanted to rush home as you'd expect. I made the assumption that I would loose my fare (Flexi)... I told the gate agent what was happening and how I was unable to fly. I understand that once you've checked in Flexi fares aren't so flexable?

Rather than just taking me off the flight she transfered me to next weekend free of charge, for both my OOL-SYD and SYD-OOL flights and nicely replied "You are a Platinum, we like to take care of you guys when things go wrong. I hope things turn out alright with your friend. Take care"

It's times like that where you really can't put a price on how helpful the staff are.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Moments from boarding a Virgin Australia flight from OOL to SYD when I recieved a call saying a good friend of mine had just found out he has terminal cancer.

Sorry to hear about your friend Liam. Nice to hear compassion has not been lost in the business world of flying.

 

[DrAndyC]

Virgin Australia anytime access for gold/platinum is great.....after a flight with Rex into SYD I needed to urgently download a file which was too big for 3G. Popped into the lounge.....a glass of bubbles, 5 mins, and I'm out of there. Thank you virgin for anytime access.....a hole left by qantas has been filled. And I shall travel with u more shortly. The bubbles in the lounge were better than the current offering in the qc

 

[777]

Virgin Australia anytime access for gold/platinum is great.....after a flight with Rex into SYD I needed to urgently download a file which was too big for 3G. Popped into the lounge.....a glass of bubbles, 5 mins, and I'm out of there. Thank you virgin for anytime access.....a hole left by qantas has been filled. And I shall travel with u more shortly. The bubbles in the lounge were better than the current offering in the qc

Not to mention the internet worked