eastwest101
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- Oct 26, 2010
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Well, we all have to do it a lot, the domestic Y class grind, where BFOD rules and the company pays, so here is my first TR, and apologies for the lack of photos (I was this close to the obligatory "legroom shot" but was running out of batteries on the mob phone).
VA372 TSV-BNE.
Virgin online manage my booking & seat selection is still broken for me at least, so I decided to take my chances at the airport. The Virgin self-checkin kiosks could recognize my Velocity card, but couldn't see my booked flights, and also wouldn't recognize my booking no or PNR. An earlier look at the flight tracking web site showed the inbound flight running 35mins late due to the usual BAC congestion and delays.
Interestingly, at the front check-in counters the staff admitted there were a few IT/Sabre "bugs" that were being worked on, and commented on how many people had been asking about timeframes for fixing things. According to them its on their list of things to fix, which implies that there is a list at all, and also makes you wonder what higher priority things on the list are being fixed. According to the check-in staff "I had just made it in time" to check in for my flight and after a quick HLO checkin they sent me running to a gate, that of course, didn't even have an aircraft parked at it yet. This also brought to mind the recent "departure and arrivals boards are aspirational only and do not bear any resemblence to reality" thread that we had here on AFF.
I have never seen PB attempted in Tsv so no difference from usual there, QF have never attempt PB in TSV either, probably due to inadequate space despite the recent and probably very expensive terminal expansion. So without a lounge in TSV I got to enjoy a coffee at the airport anyway. A Virgin Australia B738 eventually turned up at my gate and the front and rear stairs disembarkation and boarding went fairly quickly and efficiently.
The aircraft was VH-VUV a typical old red exterior B738 refit, the cabin was clean and tidy and in good condition. Of course being a VA refit there was no IFE provided, which doesn't bother me greatly as I usually bring my own now as its increasingly rare to get one of the older 737's with the Live2Air. I was seated in 11C as a silver with an empty B seat next to me, probably due to the very low load factor. The J cabin was totally empty, and the Y cabin was only 45% occupied. The pax load and distribution was very strange, and possibly affected by ongoing IT issues and Tsv checkin staff manual intervention. Rows 3-15 were moderately full, and rows 16-24 were completely empty and rows 25-30 had some pax. The J cabin was not roped off (J empty anyway).
No flexi meals were given out that I could see, therefore I presume no/few flexi fares were sold. The usual buy on board service was done well, but a few pax got free food as the crew were busy & forgot to charge pax (good for pax but not VA shareholders), free coffee/tea/water was offered to all pax.
No pax reclined into each other, which was a nice change, but also not surprising as it was a late morning departure. The seat was a normal Y class leather VA B738 seat which are fine for short flights. The rubbish run was done early & fast which is good, unless its done too early and the final clear cabin crew get overwhelmed with lots of "slow eater" rubbish. The flight went smoothly and crew were attentive in offering water before start of descent.
The flight landed about 30 mins late in BNE plus we got a walk outside due to a genuine lack of aerobridges (unlike other times where there seemed to be a great deal of disorganization and late gate changes at VA despite there being abundant empty aerobridges!).
So I popped in the the BNE lounge for a quick coffee, and I'll give kudos to Robbie working at the VA lounge front desk for great customer service in pulling up the seat map for me in case I wanted a new boarding pass. After telling me I had an empty seat next to me and the flight was about to board I decided to stick with my allocated seat. He was obviously struggling with a fairly slow computer check-in system, but maintained a high standard of personal service.
VA1398 BNE-ADL
This flight was co-incidently on the same aircraft, but with a different crew, the flight was running about 10mins late and PB was done properly, and as expected, from my casual observations.
For the flight BNE-ADL the load was only 1 pax in the J class cabin, but with the Y cabin about 85-90% full, very much more full than the previous flight. Obviously the aircraft was more evenly loaded throughout, with row 3 being full, possible shadows sometimes present in rows 4-7 and not too many empty seats past that at all. As a VA silver I was very happy with my allocated seat of 6C (seems at least 1 inch more legroom than 11C on that particular aircraft) which was actually allocated to me by the check-in staff in TSV.
Some flexi meals were given out and I got one, so then I finally realized why my seating was better than expected. Then I kicked myself for not requesting a points upgrade to J class! And then I realized that with.VA's dysfunctional web sites/IT systems at the moment, that I never could have known any of this, or been able to do anything about it anyway, without spending hours on the phone, so more lost opportunities for VA there.
Again the J class flight attendant assisted the crew in the Y cabin with the food service. It was noteworthy that the J class cabin was roped off and protected as well. The flight went smoothly and I enjoyed my flexi meal.
I also saw a Rex flight attendant in uniform on the BNE-ADL flight, but was positioning from TSV to ADL (training possibly?), she was flying in Y class and got reclined on during lunch. Seeing that, prompted me to think that its a really good idea for crew to pax on other airlines, to see what their peers do better or worse, and of course to suffer the indignities that some of us here on AFF often talk about! But she seemed to take it in good grace.
Despite the BNE delays we landed in ADL only 5-10mins late and both doors were used for disembarkation.
So although my expectations were low, for these short haul Y flights I gave VA an overall pass for getting me there alive and without any massive delays/discomfort but a fail for its current IT issues, especially for OLCI etc that seem to require inordinate amounts of manual intervention just to do what used to be possible online by the customer, but I thought that once you are through the doors of the aircraft then VA's Y class product passes muster but doesn't exactly blow me away.
VA372 TSV-BNE.
Virgin online manage my booking & seat selection is still broken for me at least, so I decided to take my chances at the airport. The Virgin self-checkin kiosks could recognize my Velocity card, but couldn't see my booked flights, and also wouldn't recognize my booking no or PNR. An earlier look at the flight tracking web site showed the inbound flight running 35mins late due to the usual BAC congestion and delays.
Interestingly, at the front check-in counters the staff admitted there were a few IT/Sabre "bugs" that were being worked on, and commented on how many people had been asking about timeframes for fixing things. According to them its on their list of things to fix, which implies that there is a list at all, and also makes you wonder what higher priority things on the list are being fixed. According to the check-in staff "I had just made it in time" to check in for my flight and after a quick HLO checkin they sent me running to a gate, that of course, didn't even have an aircraft parked at it yet. This also brought to mind the recent "departure and arrivals boards are aspirational only and do not bear any resemblence to reality" thread that we had here on AFF.
I have never seen PB attempted in Tsv so no difference from usual there, QF have never attempt PB in TSV either, probably due to inadequate space despite the recent and probably very expensive terminal expansion. So without a lounge in TSV I got to enjoy a coffee at the airport anyway. A Virgin Australia B738 eventually turned up at my gate and the front and rear stairs disembarkation and boarding went fairly quickly and efficiently.
The aircraft was VH-VUV a typical old red exterior B738 refit, the cabin was clean and tidy and in good condition. Of course being a VA refit there was no IFE provided, which doesn't bother me greatly as I usually bring my own now as its increasingly rare to get one of the older 737's with the Live2Air. I was seated in 11C as a silver with an empty B seat next to me, probably due to the very low load factor. The J cabin was totally empty, and the Y cabin was only 45% occupied. The pax load and distribution was very strange, and possibly affected by ongoing IT issues and Tsv checkin staff manual intervention. Rows 3-15 were moderately full, and rows 16-24 were completely empty and rows 25-30 had some pax. The J cabin was not roped off (J empty anyway).
No flexi meals were given out that I could see, therefore I presume no/few flexi fares were sold. The usual buy on board service was done well, but a few pax got free food as the crew were busy & forgot to charge pax (good for pax but not VA shareholders), free coffee/tea/water was offered to all pax.
No pax reclined into each other, which was a nice change, but also not surprising as it was a late morning departure. The seat was a normal Y class leather VA B738 seat which are fine for short flights. The rubbish run was done early & fast which is good, unless its done too early and the final clear cabin crew get overwhelmed with lots of "slow eater" rubbish. The flight went smoothly and crew were attentive in offering water before start of descent.
The flight landed about 30 mins late in BNE plus we got a walk outside due to a genuine lack of aerobridges (unlike other times where there seemed to be a great deal of disorganization and late gate changes at VA despite there being abundant empty aerobridges!).
So I popped in the the BNE lounge for a quick coffee, and I'll give kudos to Robbie working at the VA lounge front desk for great customer service in pulling up the seat map for me in case I wanted a new boarding pass. After telling me I had an empty seat next to me and the flight was about to board I decided to stick with my allocated seat. He was obviously struggling with a fairly slow computer check-in system, but maintained a high standard of personal service.
VA1398 BNE-ADL
This flight was co-incidently on the same aircraft, but with a different crew, the flight was running about 10mins late and PB was done properly, and as expected, from my casual observations.
For the flight BNE-ADL the load was only 1 pax in the J class cabin, but with the Y cabin about 85-90% full, very much more full than the previous flight. Obviously the aircraft was more evenly loaded throughout, with row 3 being full, possible shadows sometimes present in rows 4-7 and not too many empty seats past that at all. As a VA silver I was very happy with my allocated seat of 6C (seems at least 1 inch more legroom than 11C on that particular aircraft) which was actually allocated to me by the check-in staff in TSV.
Some flexi meals were given out and I got one, so then I finally realized why my seating was better than expected. Then I kicked myself for not requesting a points upgrade to J class! And then I realized that with.VA's dysfunctional web sites/IT systems at the moment, that I never could have known any of this, or been able to do anything about it anyway, without spending hours on the phone, so more lost opportunities for VA there.
Again the J class flight attendant assisted the crew in the Y cabin with the food service. It was noteworthy that the J class cabin was roped off and protected as well. The flight went smoothly and I enjoyed my flexi meal.
I also saw a Rex flight attendant in uniform on the BNE-ADL flight, but was positioning from TSV to ADL (training possibly?), she was flying in Y class and got reclined on during lunch. Seeing that, prompted me to think that its a really good idea for crew to pax on other airlines, to see what their peers do better or worse, and of course to suffer the indignities that some of us here on AFF often talk about! But she seemed to take it in good grace.
Despite the BNE delays we landed in ADL only 5-10mins late and both doors were used for disembarkation.
So although my expectations were low, for these short haul Y flights I gave VA an overall pass for getting me there alive and without any massive delays/discomfort but a fail for its current IT issues, especially for OLCI etc that seem to require inordinate amounts of manual intervention just to do what used to be possible online by the customer, but I thought that once you are through the doors of the aircraft then VA's Y class product passes muster but doesn't exactly blow me away.
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