Treatment on points seat vs revenue or just rude crew?

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babysun

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Feb 22, 2008
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I flew BNE-LAX in The Business recently and I have to say I was rather underwhelmed.

I've read before that AFF members have felt they're treated differently than passengers who paid cash for their fare rather than on points.

Lucky me scored the magical reward seat a few days from departure and was pretty excited to not have to travel economy and without my children so it was a double bonus for me.

One crew member who seemed to be allocated to my seat area seemed more interested in getting everyone off to sleep so he could do whatever it is he does when everyone is asleep.

He poured me a tiny glass of wine with my lunch and whisked it away without asking if I wanted a top up or for me to ask for one.

When I asked if they had more pillows besides the two little ones I had he said, "What? More than the ones you've already got?" as if I had a bed full of giant full size pillows. I said yes and he brought me back one of the extra small pillows with disdain.

I don't actually get what his problem was. I was nice to him. I wasn't demanding. I went to the bar and dutifully got my drinks like all the other passengers because the crew had all disappeared so it felt a bit weird to ring your bell when people are trying to sleep.

I've flown short haul business class both upgraded with points and paid cash and the crew were delightful. This guy was like one of those grumpy old farts who has been living a life in constant jet lag for the last 35 years and passengers are just an inconvenience.

I have written to Virgin about my experience along with the lukewarm food and non- existent self serve snacks amongst other things on this flight.

It made me wonder why we've bothered to save so many points so they can be used on what would otherwise be a ridiculously expensive seat instead of just using them for shorter trips.

So did I just get a bad egg? Or have others had similar experiences too? This guy was projecting an attitude at times that I should just be lucky I'm in my fancy seat and be a good girl and do what I'm told. It really annoyed me but it wasn't the time or place to tell the guy where to stick his attitude.

Safe and fun travels everyone!
 
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Sorry to hear that... How did he treat the other passengers?
 
Ive flown reward J a few times and not notice any difference to a paid seat, maybe you just got the wrong crew on a bad day.
 
Sorry to hear that... How did he treat the other passengers?
I couldn’t hear what he was saying so it’s hard to say. I only noticed him smiling & laughing in an engaged way once but once meals were done he disappeared. I slept through breakfast.

Maybe he was having a bad day. I have a feeling he’s just an old sourpuss. It’s just disappointing to be treated like that. The cheeriness I saw was not long before landing. That would improve anyone’s mood if their shift is almost over!
 
I have done 2 upgrades sydney to HKG and countless upgrades Sydney - Perth and I have been treated like a everyone else.

Perhaps you just got the person on a bad day

In saying that the best I have been treated on a Virgin Australia flight was when I had a flight to Abu Dhabi on a Etihad ticket! It was def the best Virgin WP treatment I have had!
 
I flew BNE-LAX in The Business recently and I have to say I was rather underwhelmed.

I've also experienced the VA 'attitude' on more than a few long-haul Js. Seems markedly different from the generally good crew on VA's domestic sectors. But when compared to Singapore & Etihad, well there simply is no comparison. Same applies with Q really - Australian's offer on balance sub-par service, it's just not in our culture. It's a good thing sometimes (i.e. when you yourself are the server!) - I mean I don't like fawning over people either. But yeah VA's very patchy and inconsistent J service continues, by the sound of it.
 
I've also experienced the VA 'attitude' on more than a few long-haul Js. Seems markedly different from the generally good crew on VA's domestic sectors. But when compared to Singapore & Etihad, well there simply is no comparison. Same applies with Q really - Australian's offer on balance sub-par service, it's just not in our culture. It's a good thing sometimes (i.e. when you yourself are the server!) - I mean I don't like fawning over people either. But yeah VA's very patchy and inconsistent J service continues, by the sound of it.
I don’t like be fawned over either. Just some manners & friendly service. I’ve found the short haul eg Fiji & Vanuatu J crew strike the right balance. VA make out like The Business IS the best thing. Thanks for your feedback on other airlines.
 
I can’t comment on international, but I’ve done plenty of trans continental and shorter domestic hops with upgrades or points tickets and generally the service has been excellent. I think you’ve probably lucked out.

I’ve flown EY and had a total mix. One J flight PER-AUH the service was better than F in the return. Others have been meh.
 
Would the crew even have any idea how you bought your ticket? CSM perhaps, but the average crew member...?
 
A friend of mine who worked as crew for Virgin Australia and worked in J class on the A330 always told me the crew are "unaware". They simply see the class of ticket.

They will see passengers as a "Z" class fare (pretty sure it's "Z") which means you either have a reward ticket, used to points to upgrade, platinum upgrade offer, upgrademe bid etc.
With all the variance, they treat everyone the same as if there's been an upgrade you could have paid a lot of money for the base fare (IE platinum upgrade, upgraded at gate.)
 
....., they treat everyone the same....?

Last LAX-SYD flight, hubby was fawned over by the cabin manager for being a WP, got 2 separate greetings and goodbyes and thank you for supporting and choosing to fly with us. I was just SG at the time and completely skipped over.

Edit: but no complaints about FAs or flight, Im a happy VA flyer, just redeemed hubby J reward seats again.
 
Sorry to hear you did not have a good experience, babysun! I suspect you unfortunately encountered a bad crew on this occasion, rather than it being a systemic issue.

They will see passengers as a "Z" class fare (pretty sure it's "Z") which means you either have a reward ticket, used to points to upgrade, platinum upgrade offer, upgrademe bid etc.
With all the variance, they treat everyone the same as if there's been an upgrade you could have paid a lot of money for the base fare (IE platinum upgrade, upgraded at gate.)

Indeed! For what it's worth, I've flown VA J on domestic, trans-con and long-haul (HK, but not LAX) routes, having tried all the combinations of outright points, point upgrades and platinum upgrades, and I've never felt that the service was different based on how I got the seat. (I doubt being platinum has had anything to do with it, given it usually goes unrecognised.)

And I think you're right it's Z, it's the only one I've had anyway. Separate to what the crew can see on the manifest though, it's interesting to note that the fare class is visible on paper boarding passes (whether the crew would pay attention, I can't say), but is not shown at all on digital/mobile boarding passes.

Having said that, op-ups at the gate are different as your original cabin is clearly shown.
 
I recall flying AKL-SYD and some sort of manifest in the galley and from what I could see, a huge majority of the pax had FF status. Dont recall if ticket info was printed but then again, I was being snoopy so moved away after I realised what I was reading.
 
Have flown both paid and on points AUS-LAX flights and like everyone else, have not noticed any difference in treatment. Let us know what feedback, if any, you receive from VA.
 
Thanks everyone for your responses and insights,

I received an email littered with weird grammar and spelling errors today. The email arrived about 4 hours after I landed in Australia. The author of the email started with, "I do not wish to appear to be making excuses as we accept the constructive criticism and the points you have brought to our attention. This type of feedback is fundamental for our growth and as such is openly accepted."

There was lots of apologising, reminding me they're usually great and telling me they would pass on the feedback to the cabin crew management team, "As you did not like our meals served on your flight". I don't think there will ever be a flight where everyone "likes the food" and I don't think that's worthy of a complaint if the flavour wasn't to your personal palate. What I said was the food was delicious but the two meals I had were served to me lukewarm (even my hot drink at breakfast) and the self serve snacks were almost non-existent except for a short period after the dinner service.

The letter was basically what I expected as far as apologising, my experience is not the usual exceptional standard of service from VA J class & they will pass it on to the relevant departments yada yada.....

However-

The response annoyed me as I clearly stated that I felt that the attitude projected by the crew member a lot of the time made me feel like an inconvenience and his questioning of how I asked for more pillows was quite rude. The email from VA said, "I feel sorry that you do not enjoy the meal served to you. I further apologise as he was not attentive and hence provided substandard service". Inattentiveness and downright rudeness are very different things to me. I am sure many people experienced many "inattentive" crew and it's like water off a ducks back when you fly a lot. Some are more engaged with passengers than others. As with food you "don't like" I feel it's not complaint worthy. Nobody deserves to be treated rudely regardless of their status, class of travel or the fare class.

I find it difficult to comprehend that they will openly accept my feedback when the person responding to it seems to have not understood what I said. This is the first time I've sent a complaint to VA and I expected something a bit more articulate from somebody who grasped the basics of what I was saying. In writing.

Anyway. Time to let it go and take the 20,000 points they are going to deposit into my account as compensation. Better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick eh?

P.S. If this is full of weird grammar and spelling I'm blaming it on jet lag!
 
Have flown both paid and on points AUS-LAX flights and like everyone else, have not noticed any difference in treatment. Let us know what feedback, if any, you receive from VA.

See above re response from VA
 
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Thanks everyone for your responses and insights,

I received an email littered with weird grammar and spelling errors today. The email arrived about 4 hours after I landed in Australia. The author of the email started with, "I do not wish to appear to be making excuses as we accept the constructive criticism and the points you have brought to our attention. This type of feedback is fundamental for our growth and as such is openly accepted."

There was lots of apologising, reminding me they're usually great and telling me they would pass on the feedback to the cabin crew management team, "As you did not like our meals served on your flight". I don't think there will ever be a flight where everyone "likes the food" and I don't think that's worthy of a complaint if the flavour wasn't to your personal palate. What I said was the food was delicious but the two meals I had were served to me lukewarm (even my hot drink at breakfast) and the self serve snacks were almost non-existent except for a short period after the dinner service.

The letter was basically what I expected as far as apologising, my experience is not the usual exceptional standard of service from VA J class & they will pass it on to the relevant departments yada yada.....

However-

The response annoyed me as I clearly stated that I felt that the attitude projected by the crew member a lot of the time made me feel like an inconvenience and his questioning of how I asked for more pillows was quite rude. The email from VA said, "I feel sorry that you do not enjoy the meal served to you. I further apologise as he was not attentive and hence provided substandard service". Inattentiveness and downright rudeness are very different things to me. I am sure many people experienced many "inattentive" crew and it's like water off a ducks back when you fly a lot. Some are more engaged with passengers than others. As with food you "don't like" I feel it's not complaint worthy. Nobody deserves to be treated rudely regardless of their status, class of travel or the fare class.

I find it difficult to comprehend that they will openly accept my feedback when the person responding to it seems to have not understood what I said. This is the first time I've sent a complaint to VA and I expected something a bit more articulate from somebody who grasped the basics of what I was saying. In writing.

Anyway. Time to let it go and take the 20,000 points they are going to deposit into my account as compensation. Better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick eh?

P.S. If this is full of weird grammar and spelling I'm blaming it on jet lag!

Hi Babysun, I really like your writing style and think you were treated poorly. I have only had awesome times in J on VA, and have been a Plat for a long time. Also now Plat on QF and they don't match up.
 
Hi Babysun, I really like your writing style and think you were treated poorly. I have only had awesome times in J on VA, and have been a Plat for a long time. Also now Plat on QF and they don't match up.
Thanks!
 
Every complaint I've sent to VA has resulted in a stock standard copy and paste fluff response that had little to no relevance to my original complaint. Sounds like you have done better than most in at least having something vaguely personalised... If they've offered you some compensation they've at least tried to do something about it - well done.
 
Every complaint I've sent to VA has resulted in a stock standard copy and paste fluff response that had little to no relevance to my original complaint. Sounds like you have done better than most in at least having something vaguely personalised... If they've offered you some compensation they've at least tried to do something about it - well done.


I am surprised by the points. I didn't expect anything much but a cut & paste type letter which I'm sure it is to a certain degree. It's been badly personalise to my situation. I've never complained to VA before so I had no idea that points are something they give to compensate customers. 20K is about a 20% refund of the points I used for the flight.
 
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