Virgin delays DELAYS DELAYS

[Stuser]

I'm in the Virgin lounge in Melbourne about to board my fourth Virgin flight in as many days.

Oh wait, I should say "I was about to board..." On my way to the gate and suddenly the flight status is updated to delayed, by more than two hours....

What is going on with Virgin!!!???? THREE of the last four flights have been delayed. Okay, the first, CAN - MEL, On Thursday was fair enough, Sydney airport was apparently closed for a while with some crazy weather and most flights were delayed. That was for only half an hour.....

Second flight that day MEL-HOB was NINETY minutes late, getting us to Hobart a mere 5 minutes before curfew....

Third flight today HOB-MEL on time and now MEL-CAN about 140 minutes late at the moment.

I gotta say, this kinda killing the great virgin feeling i got at the moment...... I got the free status match in September and I about to requalify for Gold in a couple of weeks, but now with these constant delays I'm wondering if I should have stuck with Qantas.

Oh and I already raved a couple of weeks ago about a cancelled CAN-SYD flight and the subsequent replacement flight being delayed again....

Virgin airport lounges are great, but then so is my family time!!!

Is this just a big GLITCH or is this what we should expect? What is going on with Virgin! :evil:

 

[haydensydney]

Oh you poor thing!

(*hugs*)

 

[Stuser]

Oh you poor thing!

(*hugs*)

haha thanks for the hugs.... however reliability is kinda an important aspect of choosing airlines, and frankly Virgin is falling down big time lately for me. Yes, poor me, stuck in an airline lounge, but it is still an airport and I think I have spent an extra 3-4 hours at the airport lately just because of delays.... it's not cool.

 

[haydensydney]

I get it, I too would be rancid if my airline left me delayed on multiple occasions. But, in all my years flying VA I would say that less than a handful of flights were delayed and none in recent living memory. I would dear say that luck just isn't on your side my friend... At least you can enjoy another drink in the lounge.

 

[medhead]

Have a chat to JohnK about delays and then get back to us

 

[Sprucegoose]

Of the 000's of flights, my record with delays is surprisingly low, not in line with the OP's experience!Is this Kama?

 

[Stuser]

Of the 000's of flights, my record with delays is surprisingly low, not in line with the OP's experience!Is this Kama?

Hmmm, shocked that you seem to know me....

 

[kamchatsky]

What is going on with Virgin!!!???? THREE of the last four flights have been delayed. Okay, the first, CAN - MEL, On Thursday was fair enough, Sydney airport was apparently closed for a while with some crazy weather and most flights were delayed. That was for only half an hour.....

Second flight that day MEL-HOB was NINETY minutes late, getting us to Hobart a mere 5 minutes before curfew....

Third flight today HOB-MEL on time and now MEL-CAN about 140 minutes late at the moment.

...
Oh and I already raved a couple of weeks ago about a cancelled CAN-SYD flight and the subsequent replacement flight being delayed again....

I never know Virgin flies from Guangzhou (CAN)/Lea County (HOB) to Melbourne/Sydney! Must be news to me!

 

[Stuser]

Ahhh now I know why my flights soooo delayed.....

I never know Virgin flies from Guangzhou (CAN)/Lea County (HOB) to Melbourne/Sydney! Must be news to me!

 

[yohy?!]

Is your last name "Murphy" by any chance? Sounds like bad luck, put the hard word on the Lounge Angels for an upgrade

 

[Moopere]

You're on to something I reckon. About 50% of my DJ flights are delayed by more than trivial amounts. Can't explain it ... less planes working harder? I really don't know. It gets old fast though.

 

[TheInsider]

I reckon it's mainly due to their LCC model of turning around aircraft (catering, cleaning, re-fuelling blah blah blah) which no longer fits their business.

 

[markis10]

It will be interesting to see the on time figures over the next few months, as DJ expand their capacity I suspect it will start putting pressure on timetables and gate space.

 

[haydensydney]

I reckon it's mainly due to their LCC model of turning around aircraft (catering, cleaning, re-fuelling blah blah blah) which no longer fits their business.

Can you elaborate? I don't understand your statement.

 

[MarkD]

Can you elaborate? I don't understand your statement.

I think what he is saying is that they still run with LCC turn around times, so there is insufficient time to restock a full galley, clean the aircraft. Load and get out of there. 30 min turn around? Is that right? Pretty big ask, they may need to adjust turnaround times as things progress

 

[Stuser]

Some recent figures...

Airline On Time Performance Statistics – Monthly

although this fails to record how large the delays were..... 10 minutes and 1-2 hours are clearly different creatures.....

 

[markis10]

Some recent figures...

Airline On Time Performance Statistics – Monthly

although this fails to record how large the delays were..... 10 minutes and 1-2 hours are clearly different creatures.....

I am waiting for the figures for Feb and March when holidays are finished, J is on offer and business is back at work.

 

[Stuser]

I am waiting for the figures for Feb and March when holidays are finished, J is on offer and business is back at work.

The January figures were published on the 21 Feb, so a week or so before Feb ones are available?

Jan on-time was worse than Dec on-time, so with the extra bits you added in and my own experiences I would imagine Feb and March worse again.

Unless of course in a bid to make their figures look not so bad they have fewer, but longer, delays.....

 

[straitman]

Whilst not having lots of flights to use as a basis (six I think) this year my flights have all been on time or even slightly early.

 

[simongr]

Of the 000's of flights, my record with delays is surprisingly low, not in line with the OP's experience!Is this Kama?

What have japanese scythes got to do with anything?

Back to the OP - given you are about to requal gold I am guessing you have had many other VA flights since the status match? What was OTP like for them?

Three out of four with significant delays seems like someone is picking on you