Virgin Business Trip Report ADL-SYD-DWN-PER-SYD MEL-SYD-ADL & JQ Y SYD-MEL

[jazza1971]

Good mate of mine from Darwin was having his 40[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday so I thought it was a good idea to make the trek up from Adelaide. I made sure I took advantage of the old points and pay in J on Virgin before it was removed, plus a JQ35 flight so I could use my QF F lounge pass before it ran out in December. Also worked well as the tribe wanted to holiday in Newcastle so it meant dad took off a week before them and we’d catch up there.
I’ll apologise up front as I can’t remember all the names of the CSMs as my phone coughped out and I lost the notes I took.

ADL-SYD
DJ401 – VUA B737-800
Seat 2C

Pretty good flight to start off the day, 2/8 in J, OJ on boarding and had a tasty breakfast. CSM was attentive checking if we wanted anything else to eat or drink. Nice touch by the CSM on this flight. About 30 mins out I got a coffee and not only did it arrive, but a nice toblerone chocolate was presented on a plate as well....I just think little things like that help make the flight....

Headed off to the lounge for a coffee and spent a bit of time using the flightradar24 website and watching aircraft arrive from the aircraft’s perspective while also watching them out the window, yep pretty aviation nerdish!

SYD-DRW
DJ1351 – VOW B737-800
Seat 2C

Greeted by name on this flight by the CSM Linda, with a Mocktail before departure. Load for this leg 4/8 in J. After departure, Linda came around and introduced herself to each of the passengers while taking our pre-meal drinks. Had my usual Jimmy Beam. Drink was accompanied by warm nuts (didn’t think they did them on 737s?)

Lunch followed with a soup starter which was really nice, main choices were chicken dish or a Thai Salad with a Lemon Meringue pie type desert. I chose the chicken and it was pretty nice. Linda was very apologetic, catering failed to load cutlery for us so we had to use plastic stuff. Spent most of the flight downing a number of JBs (the mocktail mix ran out after my first vodka one), while watching the Digiplayer. About 90 mins out I grabbed a Pie which was just what I needed after all the JBs! We also got one of those Ice cream sandwiches towards the end of the 4:30hrs flight...

Really enjoyed the flight, even with it being 4:30hrs, seat was more then comfortable and I was well and truly feed & watered when I got off......

 

[jazza1971]

Had a cracking time at my mate’s in Darwin. It had been close to ten years since we moved down to Adelaide so I was great to see how much the place had changed....

Harbour Panorama

Gado Gado

Mindle Beach sunset panaroma

My luxury Darwin accommodation, a double swag!

To get back to Sydney where I was meeting the family at the end of the week I had two choices, both were the same cost & points. Either the direct 737 from Darwin, or a 737 down Perth and the A330 across to Sydney. No brainer for me, long route it was to be! I’m on holidays so there’s no hurry for anything!

DRW-PER
DJ1432 B737-800
Seat 2D

Early morning start in Darwin with a 0700 departure to Perth. No lounge up there so I got the airport not long before check in closed. Load was 1/8 with only me up front on the flight down to Perth so I took breakfast and then crashed out for about three hours...the solid four late nights on the JB changed the plan of me having a drink on the way down to Perth...Never mind still lots of hours left in the day and the A330 awaited!

 

[jazza1971]

Spent about 3 hours in the lounge in Perth, having a few beers once the bar opened before getting on the flight to Sydney

PER-SYD
DJ560 - XFD A330-200
Seat 1A (originally 1C)

[FONT=&amp]Walked through the terminal to see I was on one of the new birds, pretty happy with that considering I had such a cracking time last flight on one. Was greeted by the CSM Bronwyn (and I passed on a message to her from an AFFer and she had a good laugh), and turned left to my seat. Was greeted by Wally who helped look after me on my last flight across. Wally remembered that on the last trip I went through to Adelaide. I was really impressed that Wally remembered that detail and the fact that he’d make sure I was well stocked up with Jimmy for my flight. Had a few Lansons before departure and settled into watching a movie. Load was 9/25 in J. Was looked after by Dominique mostly on this leg. Wally had told her I like my JBs so when she came around for the drinks service she asked if I wanted one, yes thanks! She said she’d keep me well watered for my flight...Soon after, one ice cold JB and warm nuts.

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[FONT=&amp]Next was lunch service, decided I’d try the opposites to what I had on my last flight

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[FONT=&amp]Smoked trout with horseradish and dill potato salad and salmon caviar

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Braised beef with pumpkin puree, snow peas, baby turnips and soy beans. I have to say the food was delicious, in fact the beef was some of the nicest I’ve had on board an aircraft.

Cherry and apple crumble with vanilla custard with a Baileys & Milk, already had a nibble then remembered I didn't take a photo!

 

[jazza1971]

Rest of the flight just rushed though, and before I knew it was over which was a real shame as I thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic service that the crew provided me.

Off I trotted, ticking over, for a 3.5 hour train ride to Newcastle.....

Spent the rest of the week in Newcastle at the in-laws, before I headed back down to Sydney for an overnight trip to Melbourne so I could use my QF F Lounge invitation.

Qantas First Lounge Sydney

Bit of mucking about chasing up a D Sticker but I was in the QF F Lounge right on the three hour check in point thanks to the T2 QP girls. Was looking forward to a good eat and drink..Sat up at the island to eat this time.
Started off with some Taittinger Brut Reserve.

[FONT=&amp]Chinese style chicken wonton & noodle soup

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Salt & Pepper Squid

Beef burger with Wynn’s Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Started up a conversation with a gent sitting next to me, turns out he was a fellow AFFer (cant remember your forum name as I lost it when my phone died). Had a great chat and eat and drink with him for a few hours, when you read this I hope your trip to NZ went well and here’s the photo I said I’d put up! Three hours flew by (JQ35 was delayed) and before I knew it I was on the JQ bus!

SYD-MEL
JQ35 - EBA A330-200
Seat 30 something

Not much to say about this leg except the flight was chockers down back with a heap of domestic leg passangers. I actually slept most of the way thanks to a belly full of food and booze!

 

[jazza1971]

MEL-SYD
DJ845 - BZG B737-800
Seat 1D (originally 2D then 1A)

Got to the airport early and guested my mate into the lounge so we could have a drink. Found that DJ had switched me out of 2D which I wasn’t super happy about as I like the legroom under the seat in front, but it was only a 55min flight so 1A wouldn’t be too bad. Flight was called, farewells exchanged and off I trotted to the aircraft. Got on board to a full cabin, 1A had a child in it next to his mum so I said I’m fine with 1D instead. Load for this leg was 8/8, evidently at least four were from a cancelled earlier flight. Took a while for the service to begin, but the CSM handled the full load well. Choices for lunch were the Chicken or Thai salad just like on my Sydney – Darwin leg. We all had just finished eating and post meal coffees on descent into Sydney. Had a chat with my seatmate about the Merlot we had with lunch, was quite nice. Turns out he was a QF WP trying out DJ J for the first time. He said he was really impressed with the level of service he had received on the way down from Sydney the day before and on this flight and that he was planning to travel DJ from now on. I told him to get on the coast to coast A330 run and try that as well. Also suggested he email velocity and see if they’d status match him as I knew they still do it on a case by case basis. I hope he was successful.

Legroom 1D

Finally meet up with the family and off we headed to Newcastle and got to have a bit of a holiday where I left them there to spend an extra week while I headed back to Adelaide to work. Caught the train down from Newcastle and ended up checking in about 3.5 hours before the flight. Lovely girl on the desk asked if I’d like the earlier flight but I was fine watching the AFL in the lounge with a few beers, plus I had organised a mate to pick me up. Had a nice relaxing time in the lounge before I got on my flight to Adelaide.

SYD-ADL
DJ436 - BZG B737-800
Seat 2C


Was greeted by name by the CSM Nick, who got me a mocktail. Load for this leg 1/8 (Nick later told me this Sat evening flight was normally lightly loaded, but generally the evening flights were well populated). After departure Nick made me up a Vodka mocktail before handing me one of the new Samsung tablets and starting the meal service. Meal I had for this flight was pasta with chorizo sausage. It was tasty as and I really enjoyed it! Had quite a long conversation with Nick during this leg about DJ, the business product, and how he thought it was progressing. Nick was probably one of the best CSMs I’ve had, admittedly I was the only one up front, but he just kept filling me up with the vodka mocktails and I was really impressed with his enthusiasm about Virgin as an employer and also their business class service. Was also introduced to Jemma, a Virgin Atlantic exchange crew member who’s over here for six months I think. Had a really great flight to finish off my travels for the time being.

Pasta with Chorizo Sausage

New Samsung Tablet


In my opinion Virgin are really doing a good job with this product, especially on the coast to coast run, and all the staff I encountered on my flights were excellent. I would highly recommend Virgin Business class to anyone.



Thanks for reading this trip report!

 

[TonyHancock]

Great Report! I really like the look of the [FONT=&amp]Smoked trout with horseradish and dill potato salad and salmon caviar! F lounge chips too![/FONT]
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Thanks for sharing
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[Boeta]

Great trip report but I'm particularly fond of your high quality & fantastic pics jazza1971!!

 

[RWJ777]

Great report, looks like a fun trip.I see you went for the low calorie menu ;-)

 

[moa999]

Great trip report but I'm particularly fond of your high quality & fantastic pics jazza1971!!

Agree fantastic photos, most taken with a Panasonic FZ28 (a fairly serious camera), remainder with a Galaxy S.
(FxIF plugin for Firefox - albeit only works on this site if you compress your own photos, the auto-shrink software on this site strips the EXIF data)

jazza1971
How did you find the new Samsung tablet.
What were the selections like - more/less than the old clunker

 

[jazza1971]

Thanks guys, and I did take all those shots with those cameras.

moa999 the Samsung tablet was fine, worked like any other tablet, and had exactly the same loaded as the Digiplayers. The CSM on the Darwin to Perth leg was telling me they had been receiving some complaints about the volume of the video & audio when using the tablets and that DJ should look at using noise cancelling headphones with them instead of the ear pieces. I did have to turn it up to maximum to hear stuff so it's probably a good idea.

RWJ77 definitely not the low carb menu, I have to do that at home all the time and when I fly its my time to enjoy life!

 

[RWJ777]

RWJ77 definitely not the low carb menu, I have to do that at home all the time and when I fly its my time to enjoy life!

Haha, yes rules like that become necessary when you advance through your 30s don't they! ;-)

 

[froggerADL]

Thanks for the info on DRW-PER-SYD. My partner was booked DRW-SYD for next week but has now changed it to try out J on the A330. Excellent value for no extra cost if you have a full day to enjoy DJ J (which she apparently does, and gets into SYD an hour earlier which is another bonus). It was one of the old 6900 points plus ~$150 deals too.

 

[smit0847]

Goodness you drink a lot!!

 

[pauly7]

Goodness you drink a lot!!

LOL was trying to think of a nice way to say this but you came right on out!

 

[jazza1971]

Goodness you drink a lot!!

Only when I'm travelling, I hardly touch the stuff at home anymore. Like I said before, travelling is my time to relax and unwind, part of that to me is having a good olde feed & drink. Life's to short not to enjoy yourself!

 

[Platinum A332]

That's not true. On the flight from DRW-PER, not one alcoholic beverage was consumed.

Great trip report.

 

[jakeseven7]

Great TR thank you, some of the food looked dubious, others better. A lot very unhealthy lol

J cabins were very empty...

 

[Wiganmick]

MAte great trip report and great photo from the f lounge in Sydney. Enjoyed the catch up and the drinks... Not been on here for a while. How's your traveling going? Sorry to hear ur phone buggerred up. Michael

 

[lovestotravel]

Great report - Thanks for sharing!

 

[jazza1971]

MAte great trip report and great photo from the f lounge in Sydney. Enjoyed the catch up and the drinks... Not been on here for a while. How's your traveling going? Sorry to hear ur phone buggerred up. Michael

Mick, was great catching up mate. Travel was good, but glad to be home! Funny bumping into AFFs when you dont expect it! Trip across the ditch was good I hope.

Great report - Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!