Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

ADL-BNE 9:30ish flight. Options were a potato and spinach slice, or chicken and corn sandwiches. I thought sandwiches an odd thing at this time of day.

I had the slice. It was fine but a bit bland.

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Others around me had the sandwiches which looked ok but quite basic.

The CSM was excellent. Full range of beverages offered. Also brought the pantry basket around a bit later in the flight. While I didn’t partake, this made up for what I would otherwise have called a J fail (my first on VA).
 
Lunch on BNE-CNS. Beef massaman curry or a salad (barley with optional chicken, I think).

After a poor start (FAs sat for a good 5 minutes chatting after the seatbelt sign went out. Even then the CSM gave the spiel about the seatbelts, toilets etc which is normally done before), service was then pretty good. Drinks and pantry items offered pre-meal and also post.

Curry was very tasty. Three big pieces of beef. Only problem is two of them were bout half gristle so that detracted from the dish.

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Included bread roll, a strawberry mousse and crackers with one cheese wedge.

Good flight.
 
12/10/19 | VA83 | SYD to HKG

My first experience of The Business on a long-haul international journey and it did not disappoint! Started off with a pre-departure beverage, the fabulous Ayala Brut Majeur champagne...

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Menus handed out soon after.

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Once we were in the air I opted for a gin and tonic, served with Parmesan biscuits and almond-filled olives.

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Bread basket was brought around just before the starters. Never turn down a slice of their garlic bread! 🤤

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For my starter I ordered the Beef wonton soup with Sichuan pepper and bok choy. Really great dish full of flavour and perfect start to a holiday in Asia! For the wine accompanying the meal I went with my favourite Hardys The Magic Stick Shiraz, there was an extensive menu of three whites, three reds, two dessert wines, champagne and then a range of spirits, champagne coughtails, liqueurs, beers and non-alcoholic options.

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For the main I went with the braised lamb with pea purée, pearl barley, radish and pea tendrils. Admittedly does not look great in the picture and wasn't as good as the fantastic starter, but still a very pleasant and well-cooked dish in its own right and I'd happily have it again!

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Was quite full by this point but decided to go with a cheese platter to end the meal. Consisted of three different cheeses; cheddar, brie and blue accompanied by grapes, crackers and truffle honey. My travelling companion was not a fan but I really enjoyed it! Usually have had quince paste when travelling with VA domestically and trans-Tasman but the truffle honey is actually a game changer, works so well with the crackers and cheese! The accompanying drink is the Grant Burge Aged Tawny, which I find works really well as an after dinner beverage. The flight attendant in my aisle, Kim, was lovely and served me a huge glass of it!

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After a movie and a short rest I had a mid-flight beer and some chips from the pantry...

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And finally shortly before arrival into Hong Kong the light dinner meal was served. Our FA made a point of mentioning at the start of the flight that the pre-arrival meal was a smaller and lighter meal but I found it was still very substantial! I had the steak sandwich with cheddar cheese, caramelised onion and tomato relish, along with a bread roll, muffin, fruit salad and orange juice. Steak sandwich was excellent with plenty of steak in it. Wasn't a huge fan of the bread roll but the muffin was tasty.

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The pre-arrival meal also included dessert, an orange and frangipane tart with crème anglaise (Nespresso cappuccino in the background). The tart was excellent!

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All in all a really good experience from start to finish, we were well looked after by our flight attendants throughout the flight, sleep-suits and amenity kits were distributed at the start of the flight and beds made for those who wanted to get some rest, whilst others were free to watch movies or catch up on some work. In-flight Wi-Fi was fast and worked well, I felt the $25 cost for the full flight was quite reasonable considering there weren't any data usage restrictions. Service was very personal with the cabin manager coming around to each passenger to greet them personally, thank the frequent flyers for their loyalty and offer any assistance. FAs Kim and Roxe were also excellent and in my opinion provided service above and beyond the already high standard I find when flying with VA.

I feel VA are certainly the market leaders in the J product on the Australia - HK route, sad to see speculation that they may shut down the route or reduce frequency but the load both in J and Y seemed reasonably strong so I hope they might be able to pull through and make this route profitable. Would definitely be keen to fly with them to HK again!

Will make another post for the flight home.
 
PER-BNE 9:15 A330 flight.

Have to say I was rather disappointed to find this was classed as a breakfast flight. Yes a 9:15 departure but 4.5 hour flight, landing Brisbane at 15:45 (taking off 11:15 Brisbane time). Plus food not served until about 12:30 BNE time -- definitely lunchtime.

PDB offered, including sparkling wine. Menu:

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Order taken after take-off (despite very early boarding and lots of waiting). Drink order taken at same time (I chose the excellent Riesling). Everything available, and was served a few minutes later. Meal was about an hour later.

'Starter":

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Was very tasty and thoroughly enjoyable.
 
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Tortilla for main was very nice but could have been bigger (or could have had two). It's a long flight.

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Pantry to the rescue later in the flight.

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Aside from the breakfast decision and odd delay in serving the food, a really good flight with another good crew.

So nice to also have music available on the IFE on a domestic flight (with decent headphones) and stunning desert scenery out the window.
 
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PER-BNE 9:15 A330 flight.

Have to say I was rather disappointed to find this was classed as a breakfast flight. Yes a 9:15 departure but 4.5 hour flight, landing Brisbane at 15:45 (taking off 11:15 Brisbane time). Plus food not served until about 12:30 BNE time -- definitely lunchtime.

I remember once being similarly disappointed by a PER-MEL departing at a similar time. I had had a breakfast at my hotel, breakfast in the lounge and then was offered breakfast as the meal on the flight. I similarly argued about MEL time making it appropriate to serve lunch food. The FA did his best scraping things together from Y and offered me a bottle of wine on the way out. I presume they offer breakfast because it is cheap and people are less likely to get stuck into the booze.
 
From memory on transcon, lunch service starts at 0930. My last SYD-PER flight had a scheduled 0935 departure so got very lucky and had lunch!
 
I've been missing my J flights (a bit of a hiatus from work travel), but a couple coming up domestically and looking forward to seeing those green olives!
 
The worst food experiences are easily the red eyes PER ... to where ever.

Supper and a half coughd breakfast. I’ll be avoiding these flights in the future unless there is no other opportunity.
 
Yes, and as mentioned already it was a misunderstanding. And it's only the Ink Gin that's not complimentary now, the regular Gordon's (I think that's what they have) is still included.

Oh didn't know gin was included. Only been offered wine, sparkling, water.
Is gin in the evenings?

Had some chicken skewers last week at 430 BNE to SYD. Tasty and a nice Chili kick
 
The worst food experiences are easily the red eyes PER ... to where ever.

Supper and a half coughd breakfast. I’ll be avoiding these flights in the future unless there is no other opportunity.
Can you elaborate? I've only ever flown QF redeye and have been very underwhelmed. Had hoped VA may be better but sounds not. I'd be most grateful if you could provide some more detail.

Cheers.
 
I remember once being similarly disappointed by a PER-MEL departing at a similar time. I had had a breakfast at my hotel, breakfast in the lounge and then was offered breakfast as the meal on the flight. I similarly argued about MEL time making it appropriate to serve lunch food. The FA did his best scraping things together from Y and offered me a bottle of wine on the way out. I presume they offer breakfast because it is cheap and people are less likely to get stuck into the booze.
Yep, has to be cost-saving.
As nice as everything was, yoghurt and cereal is not a starter (perhaps a cold cut plate or smoked salmon) and one tortilla rather poor. A full English breakfast or equivalent would have sufficed.
What was also disappointing was the bakery was only a sourdough roll. No variety and no croissant or toast as I had assumed from the menu might make up the choice.

But QF transcon breakfast flights similar - usually a more substantial egg dish, but no pantry offering.
 
From memory on transcon, lunch service starts at 0930. My last SYD-PER flight had a scheduled 0935 departure so got very lucky and had lunch!
I think that is correct. Breakfast is everything up to 09:29 (STD local) and 09:30 is a lunch. Same again at 21.30 when dinner finishes and the red eye overnight menu kicks in.
 

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