Business Class Trip Report

[`X']

Its really not good enough is it? If its cost cutting, and surely it is, nickel and diming your highest paying customers, then why not offer a $$ discount for flying at their idea of snack times? I just can't understand it as a marketing strategy. Surely you'll get more complaints and less repeat business by serving a client a cookie when he really though he was getting a meal than you will by serving someone a meal when they thought they were getting a bag of nuts??

When the client expecting full service goes away forever, I hope the strategy still manages to somehow pay for itself.

I got more than a cookie.

Ended up with the egg and bacon pie with fruit salad, which felt more like a breakfast meal really. So not sure if it was mis catered. Will chat to my contacts at Virgin on monday and see if i can get some outlines on it.

 

[oz_mark]

Its really not good enough is it? If its cost cutting, and surely it is, nickel and diming your highest paying customers, then why not offer a $$ discount for flying at their idea of snack times?

Given the recency of the introduction of business class, I would be most surprised if it were a cost cutting measure.

 

[MarkD]

If it is the catering company, Virgin needs to swiftly kick them in the cods, by the sounds of it, they are losing the very customers they have tried to win over, quicker than they got them with their status matches. No more of this "Its a new thing and takes time" cough, a premium product needs to be delivered on time every time, I really feel for the DJ Cabin Crews, as they really are passionate about their jobs, their company, and the direction they are trying to head. It seems though that someone along the line is really letting the team down, and if it is a subbie, DJ really need to sort it out immediately, as it would be a shame to see it all turn to **** for such a promising company.

 

[jaspon]

Just had a good flight but confused about the catering myself.

What are classified as meal times with J? Would be good to know for my clients. Just did DJ1493 leaving sydney pretty much on noon and getting into Mackay around 1:30 local. Yet was served a "morning snack" Would think for a 2.5 hour flight around this time would of been a full lunch service (im sure it would of been on QF).

Anyone got any more info or could explain?

i believe meal times are something like this -

flights under 3 hrs which are scheduled to depart within these times

Breakfast - first flight of the day till 830am
Morning Snack - 830am to midday
Lunch - midday to 2pm
Afternoon snack - 2pm to 6pm
Dinner - 6pm to 8pm
Evening snack - 8pm onwards



flights over 3 hrs which are scheduled to depart within these times

Breakfast - first flight of the day till 930am
Lunch - 930am to 4pm
Dinner - 4pm onwards
Supper & breakfast - redeye flights

 

[Moopere]

Given the recency of the introduction of business class, I would be most surprised if it were a cost cutting measure.

Its boggling my mind actually. At catering rates what could they possibly be saving on the 'snack' type meals? 10$? 20$? If you are an LCC sure, I understand, but premium product being sold at premium product pricing simply had to deliver the promise of premium product.

There were two of us in J on Friday night and let me tell you, the other guy, a QF J regular (we chatted) was mightily pissed off, but not only about the food, it just didn't help the matter. Given his mood, I'd be very surprised if he chose to fly/pay DJ J again.

And thats the thing isn't it? They stuffed up the catering on my flight, but if that hadn't happened, and they'd handed us both a wrap or something as the _actual_ J meal ... well, $20 bucks saved and a customer lost .. hope it was worth it.

To me, service failure happens from time to time. I'm hoping to a fair resolution when I contact DJ and it won't stop me flying J with them again, but little things matter, particularly when they are a few little things in combination that go missing.

 

[oz_mark]

Its boggling my mind actually. At catering rates what could they possibly be saving on the 'snack' type meals? 10$? 20$? If you are an LCC sure, I understand, but premium product being sold at premium product pricing simply had to deliver the promise of premium product.

While there does seem to be something amiss, it is just that I would be most surprised if that something was 'cost-cutting'. Now, in a years time, I might buy the cost cutting argument :shock:. Something else seems to be wrong, but I could not say what that something else was.

I do hope that you get a fair resolution from them.

 

[`X']

i believe meal times are something like this -

flights under 3 hrs which are scheduled to depart within these times

Breakfast - first flight of the day till 830am
Morning Snack - 830am to midday
Lunch - midday to 2pm
Afternoon snack - 2pm to 6pm
Dinner - 6pm to 8pm
Evening snack - 8pm onwards

If those are infact the Lunch times I think they should be adjusted as hell, A flexi fare got a better lunch than I did in reality all over 30 minutes. I had a chat with our Virgin Australia rep today (ran into her at the FC Expo) and she did suggest I put in a complaint just to see what they come back with. I took the flight mainly for the status credits and the rest of the flight was faultless, but given if I was on that flight again, I would chose Flexi over Business as the legroom in Row 3 is just as good, still get lounge access and all other benefits as Gold so the price difference for a bit wider seat isnt all that its cracked up to be (If i was paying).

Still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt at the moment. I will get back to you with anything they come back with (a breakdown of the meal times would be fantastic).

 

[lovestotravel]

During the week I have completed another 2 J flights and the short version is

MEL-OOL - Flight was full in J and Y but service was flawless
OOL-MEL - Just me in J and Y only had a few spare seats. Service was perfect and my wine and water glass were kept very full

Service from all Virgin crew was great and I am sending feedback on 3 staff who helped a mildly autistic girl about 8 years old on the plane yesterday, the extra mile that all these staff went to keep all parties as happy as they could be during these trying moments was great!

It caused a delay of approximately 10 minutes, and this was on top of a late arriving aircraft...!

As for meals, I actually heard several staff talking about the "meal times" on my last flight and how something had changed, I couldn't quite hear what was being said, but I think Virgin may have "enhanced" the meal times.

My only concern with my OOL-MEL flight, was that a flight leaving OOL at 16:50 and arriving into MEL at 20:05 only has a snack service... While it's only a 2hour flight the 1 hour time difference means after arriving into MEL at 20:05, most people are not home until 21:00

The meal consisted of a small but very yummy warm scroll and a passion fruit panna cotta but that was it. I asked and was promptly served up the very yummy sandwich from the menu, which was served up on another tray on a plate, with cutlery!

 

[MichaelD]

Thought I'd add my 2 cents here, as my voice has been one of the most vociferous regarding the 737-700 PE seating.

How far up the wall can I reach?
4 sectors per week usually, sometimes more. Mixture of capital cities and regionals. Mostly J on the capital city routes and flexi Y for the regional where there is no J. Minimum 1 J per week. The vast bulk of my flying is paid for with $. The #1 factor for me in choosing J is the seat. I spend a lot of time in small seats on small regional planes, so look for comfort above all else when I can get it.

I was starting to share my J bookings about 50/50 Virgin/Qantas until my negative -700 experience (x2).

Now, Virgin still have my leisure J domestic bookings (which are points/pay), but I'm very reluctant to select Virgin over Qantas at the moment for real paid travel as the product is just too unreliable for me to fork out real $ for. At least with Qantas on the routes I fly, I will get what I paid for.

The little niggly things I was prepared to forgive Virgin for now sway my decision making process;

- very ordinary J snacks between meal times. Qantas J snacks are WAY better. You'll come off a Virgin plane hungry in between mealtimes.
- a chance of getting a -700 or E190 instead of an -800 for operational reasons. I don't like that idea at all. The odds are a little too high still for my liking.
- it took a long time for my issues to be addressed. With Qantas, if there is an issue, it's usually sorted out before I even ask.
- taking the -700 Js offline - I would have preferred if they sold them as PE. Buy a PE seat, and there's a good chance of a J seat? I'd go for that. The approach taken just seems clumsy and knee-jerk.
- most Virgin cabin and ground crew are really fantastic, but there are a few who seem still stuck in the LCC days. Apart from Qantas lounge dragons (scary), in the last 12 months I have not been able to fault any Qantas J cabin crew or ground staff - they have undoubtedly improved in my eyes.
- the odd way they count Status Credits, not rewarding indirect routings
- their inability to check luggage through to my final destination with two PNRs (a consequence of my previous point)

I'll still send some J spend Virgin's way to keep testing the waters - will requal myself as Plat shortly and then siphon the rest of the points for the year to my other status matched family members to keep them Plat - but they need to work out their rough edges a bit more before I go back to 50/50 spending with them.

Bottom Line: Qantas vs Virgin for me
Qantas is more consistent and professional overall right at the moment
Virgin can be better than Qantas, but are still somewhat inconsistent and have some rough edges still to sort out. There's lots of potential, and I do like the way things generally change for the better (eg hot food in the lounges now). Competition is good - I get more choice. (Also, Velocity has three very attractive perks to me; family pooling, 4 x comp upgrades - perfect for leisure travel, and points+pay also perfect for leisure travel).

 

[777]

- very ordinary J snacks between meal times. Qantas J snacks are WAY better. You'll come off a Virgin plane hungry in between mealtimes.

I'll leave the rest of this list but surely the fact that you can anything from the BOB menu for free means there is very little chance of stepping off the plane hungry?

 

[maninblack]

I'll leave the rest of this list but surely the fact that you can anything from the BOB menu for free means there is very little chance of stepping off the plane hungry?

Sure. But not really the point when you pay for a business class service. Qantas serves lunch on QF 702 even though it is a 9.35 am departure. It's 3hr and 35min flight and by about 10.30-11.00 when they serve the meal people have been on the go since early morning and are hungry. Common sense. A warm scroll and a passionfruit panna cotta (or something equally as cute) won't really cut it. I have not tried the matching Virgin flight yet so don't know what they serve.

 

[MichaelD]

I'll leave the rest of this list but surely the fact that you can anything from the BOB menu for free means there is very little chance of stepping off the plane hungry?

Our last experience was;

Wife - on being served the scroll thing: "Are there any other choices?"
FA (with LCC mentality) - "No" and promptly disappeared for the rest of the flight.

Not saying the above was a typical experience.

My experience: Any extra choices are unappealing as I have had them so many times in the past (wrap, deli sandwich, salad) and the pies are mythical on my sectors. Putting black stickers on them with the words "Luke Mangan" and "Gourmet" doesn't make it so.

 

[markis10]

- very ordinary J snacks between meal times. Qantas J snacks are WAY better. You'll come off a Virgin plane hungry in between mealtimes.

Sure. But not really the point when you pay for a business class service. Qantas serves lunch on QF 702 even though it is a 9.35 am departure. It's 3hr and 35min flight and by about 10.30-11.00 when they serve the meal people have been on the go since early morning and are hungry. Common sense. A warm scroll and a passionfruit panna cotta (or something equally as cute) won't really cut it. I have not tried the matching Virgin flight yet so don't know what they serve.

777s post was taking to task the comment that you will come off the flight hungry, and pointing out that you have the choice of anything on the menu as well which is pretty extensive. Sure you might be sick of the offerings when you fly a lot, I have not reached that point yet myself and look forward to the pies every flight they are on offer, which is often what a QF J snack is. I also think it depends on what cities you fly from, the breakfast with QF in J ex TSV leaves the BNE version for dead, with the upcoming cutbacks to QF catering and feedback taken on board by DJ, things are going to change, I look forward to better options in the future, including some real BREAKFAST choices!

 

[oz_mark]

Sure. But not really the point when you pay for a business class service. Qantas serves lunch on QF 702 even though it is a 9.35 am departure. It's 3hr and 35min flight and by about 10.30-11.00 when they serve the meal people have been on the go since early morning and are hungry. Common sense. A warm scroll and a passionfruit panna cotta (or something equally as cute) won't really cut it. I have not tried the matching Virgin flight yet so don't know what they serve.

I think you have missed the point that there is a different service on flights greater than 3 hours in duration versus those less than 2 hours in duration. You really need to compare a 3 1/2 hour flight with a 3 1/2 hour flight.

(I've only done the less than 3 hour flights so far, but I do think I'd get over the scroll soon enough....)

 

[maninblack]

I think you have missed the point that there is a different service on flights greater than 3 hours in duration versus those less than 2 hours in duration. You really need to compare a 3 1/2 hour flight with a 3 1/2 hour flight.

(I've only done the less than 3 hour flights so far, but I do think I'd get over the scroll soon enough....)

So what happens on flights of between 2 hours and 3 hours then I made it pretty clear that I had not yet done a the MEL-CNS flight see will see what is offered.

 

[markis10]

I think you have missed the point that there is a different service on flights greater than 3 hours in duration versus those less than 2 hours in duration. You really need to compare a 3 1/2 hour flight with a 3 1/2 hour flight.

(I've only done the less than 3 hour flights so far, but I do think I'd get over the scroll soon enough....)

Must admit the cheese plate in J on my NTL BNE flight was awesome, so were the four scotches that may have impaired my judgement a tad

 

[maninblack]

777s post was taking to task the comment that you will come off the flight hungry, and pointing out that you have the choice of anything on the menu as well which is pretty extensive.

Understand but I don't not think that is an acceptable situation from the perspective of a J customer. It is a ridiculous service concept when Y passengers get the option of a whole menu (Y standard offerings) and J passengers get bupkes! (or Y standard offerings) IMO VA need to do something better and BIGGER:!:

 

[oz_mark]

I made it pretty clear that I had not yet done a the MEL-CNS flight see will se what is offered.

But you did say that a scroll isn't going to cut it, when it has already been stated that flights over three hours get the lunch service.

As for a 2 1/2 hout flight, I assume the scroll

 

[markis10]

Understand but I don't not think that is an acceptable situation from the perspective of a J customer. It is a ridiculous service concept when Y passengers get the option of a whole menu (Y standard offerings) and J passengers get bupkes! (or Y standard offerings) IMO VA need to do something better and BIGGER:!:

Y customers get the option of paying, J get a free go, and in the flights I have had with Pies, express pie selection (ex CNS and MEL).

 

[maninblack]

Y customers get the option of paying, J get a free go, and in the flights I have had with Pies, express pie selection (ex CNS and MEL).

Nothing is free. It's included in the price.