Business Class Trip Report

[maninblack]

It's a food court.

During summer when it's has a significant increase in passengers, it's an overcrowded food court.

Indeed, I find it noisy and annoying, but it's hardly "hell on earth".

 

[airtraveladdict]

Excellent report, there are good points there for Virgin to improve on. You should send the feedback to them. I do agree, their cabin staff are great but I have not tried J class yet, I have only flew in PE before Jan 17.

Although I have a J flight redeye from Melbourne to Darwin at 1.45AM, enroute to east timor, so it would be interesting to see what service is provided on a redeye flight FYI the lounge in Melbourne stays open at midnight because of the MELB-DRW flight!! HOW GOOD IS THAT?!

I'll try to do a trip report.

Unfortunately I'm flying back on Qantas on Saturday because Virgin's schedule doesn't suit me

 

[calroth]

A quick trip report. Flew CBR-BNE-TSV today in Business, thanks to a Velocity redemption of 6900 points plus cash (about $170... when compared to the regular price of $1049, I calculate the value of a Velocity point at 12.5c each!).

Besides aiming to try the J service, I wanted to convince Mrs Calroth that flying could be fun again—she'd been quite displeased at the customer service on her last few flights with Qantas. No such problem this time... as people have noted, the customer service with Virgin Australia is attentive and personal. In fact, it was disconcerting to have so much attention!

She also quickly twigged that anything coloured purple meant "you are special and this is for you": the priority check-in, priority boarding (scooting past a long line at Brisbane), priority baggage (ours was the first off at Townsville), etc.

I didn't take many photos, as they've all been seen before. However, the food might be of interest:

CBR-BNE: served for breakfast a frittata that was so airy that you could mistake it for a muffin top, chipolatas, chickpea salad, fruit salad, and a warmed croissant with jam or honey. Tasty. (Also: real cutlery! Real glassware! Only blemish was they didn't take the plastic cover off the fruit bowl, but that's not huge.) (Also: had the "spiced juice" pre-flight drink, which was more trendy than tasty. A bit like a lemon, lime and bitters.)



BNE-TSV: served as a morning snack, a quiche/egg tart, tomato relish, and fruit salad. Also tasty.

 

[JKjnr]

Trip Report: Bali – BNE. 737 800. 2 PAX in J (wife and I)
Priority check in fine. You will get a pass for the Premier Lounge which is used by several airlines including Singapore. This is a comfortable and peaceful lounge with so-so food. There is an outdoor smoking area overlooking the tarmac which reminded me of years past at BNE when you could go outside and get a whiff of Avgas and feel the roar.
There is not Priority Boarding at Bali and it’s a bit average there at the gate! But on board the attention was almost “intense”. Very professional and clued in to a high level of service by the lead FA. I couldn’t fault it. The midnight dinner was good though I believe this was local Denpasar catering so pretty different from what your guys have been experiencing. However, presentation v good. Wife and I have flown J internationally and this J experience rates – except the seat.
Wife not happy at all with the seat (use to lie flat seat….) and so FA finds her an empty row in Y so back she goes to economy for a lie down for 3 hours. I watch movie on the Digi with two bourbons and then a nap. Breakfast was huge indeed and the attention a bit OTT – but I think it is a good idea and approach so far. The folks in Y didn’t even get a cup of water OR a trolly run ! I felt a bit guilty even.
I did appreciate my own WC before landing – this is a treat even in International J.
All up it was of course great at that price. We have another J in 2 weeks (full fare) and in a month. I think if you had a bit of cash to burn this is a product worth taking. Otherwise, I think it is best to accrue points on select Y and J flights then redeem with upgrades into J.

 

[serfty]

Thanks for the trip report.

It looks quite interesting on these flights.

 

[Wayne Herring]

Trip Report: Bali – BNE. 737 800. 2 PAX in J (wife and I)
Priority check in fine. You will get a pass for the Premier Lounge which is used by several airlines including Singapore. This is a comfortable and peaceful lounge with so-so food. There is an outdoor smoking area overlooking the tarmac which reminded me of years past at BNE when you could go outside and get a whiff of Avgas and feel the roar.
There is not Priority Boarding at Bali and it’s a bit average there at the gate! But on board the attention was almost “intense”. Very professional and clued in to a high level of service by the lead FA. I couldn’t fault it. The midnight dinner was good though I believe this was local Denpasar catering so pretty different from what your guys have been experiencing. However, presentation v good. Wife and I have flown J internationally and this J experience rates – except the seat.
Wife not happy at all with the seat (use to lie flat seat….) and so FA finds her an empty row in Y so back she goes to economy for a lie down for 3 hours. I watch movie on the Digi with two bourbons and then a nap. Breakfast was huge indeed and the attention a bit OTT – but I think it is a good idea and approach so far. The folks in Y didn’t even get a cup of water OR a trolly run ! I felt a bit guilty even.
I did appreciate my own WC before landing – this is a treat even in International J.
All up it was of course great at that price. We have another J in 2 weeks (full fare) and in a month. I think if you had a bit of cash to burn this is a product worth taking. Otherwise, I think it is best to accrue points on select Y and J flights then redeem with upgrades into J.

I did the Bali to Sydney run in J a couple of weeks ago with a similar experience except I had J all to myself. Was slightly embarrassed when the announcement was made that the front toilet was for J passengers only - i.e. me! I've never had my own personal toilet on a flight before.

 

[maninblack]

Those meals look pathetic. Especially the second one barely looks fit for a small child. So far my experience with Virgin J meals has not been impressive. (not saying that QF is much better)

 

[markis10]

Those meals look pathetic. Especially the second one barely looks fit for a small child. So far my experience with Virgin J meals has not been impressive. (not saying that QF is much better)

The second one is a snack - not a meal as such, although airline definitions of meals and snacks tend to be different to most. I would not use the word impressive with my meals/snacks to date with DJ either.

 

[maninblack]

The second one is a snack - not a meal as such, although airline definitions of meals and snacks tend to be different to most. I would not use the word impressive with my meals/snacks to date with DJ either.

Regarding morsel number 2.

So lets say you have been in meetings all day. You have barely managed to fit in a quick sandwich for lunch. You motor to the airport for a 3 o'clock flight to Sydney to make a late meeting. You are jolly well starving and for your $1000 return ticket you get served that

 

[lovestotravel]

I am sure you could have requested something from the Economy menu ? I did on a late night snack only flight...

What does QF provide in J for a snack ?

 

[markis10]

Regarding morsel number 2.

So lets say you have been in meetings all day. You have barely managed to fit in a quick sandwich for lunch. You motor to the airport for a 3 o'clock flight to Sydney to make a late meeting. You are jolly well starving and for your $1000 return ticket you get served that

What would you get served with the opposition ( generally do early morn late Afternoon J myself) ?

 

[Oneworldplus2]

What does QF provide in J for a snack ?

A few weeks ago, afternoon flight (snack time), SYD-MEL (QF, J) - A choice of either, mushroom soup or a cheese plate....(I didn't even brother eating, the Shiraz was very nice though....)

 

[markis10]

DJs biggest let down is the wines, maybe I should gift them an Epiqure membership?

 

[maninblack]

I am sure you could have requested something from the Economy menu ? I did on a late night snack only flight...

What does QF provide in J for a snack ?

Indeed I did on one J flight, but one shouldn't need to. What Qantas do or don't do is not really relevant though I cannot recall anything as mingy as what I have been served up several times on Virgin. If Virgin's only ambition is to provide a J service that is just as ordinary or slightly worse than Qantas then unfortunately they are succeeding at this point, but that's a pretty poor ambition.

 

[lovestotravel]

Indeed I did on one J flight, but one shouldn't need to. What Qantas do or don't do is not really relevant though I cannot recall anything as mingy as what I have been served up several times on Virgin. If Virgin's only ambition is to provide a J service that is just as ordinary or slightly worse than Qantas then unfortunately they are succeeding at this point, but that's a pretty poor ambition.

So you'd rather not have a choice of anything else ?

What Qantas do IS relevant as that's the competition..

A few weeks ago, afternoon flight (snack time), SYD-MEL (QF, J) - A choice of either, mushroom soup or a cheese plate....(I didn't even brother eating, the Shiraz was very nice though....)

So it seems that the snack on Qantas is not much better AND the benefit with VA is that you can request any other food you want! Not sure what QF would say about that....

 

[maninblack]

I think you are missing my point. We should not be applauding Virgin for being just as ordinary as Qantas. In my experience they are still some way behind Qantas so that's a dissapointing situation. To be 2nd in a two horse race is to be....last.

 

[firefox]

i have to admit I am starting to get really sick and tired of the rubbish being spread about Virgin on these threads in the past week or so. Really and truly, this is just personality coming through there is NO substance to these negative hype it's really sad.

I've taken my third business class flight today (in 4 days with another 4 planned this week) with VA BNE-MEL and i cant speak highly enough of VA and the product. I speak from massive experience NOT only on VA but airlines in general. Here's a quick synopsis..

(VA Platinum about 5+ times over i.e 4000+ status points, QF WP - ex chairmans club, Air NZ GE, SQ PPS and numerous other private clubs etc). I only fly Business anywhere in the world and domestically and do domestically 4-10 flights a week! Thats enough to explain that YES i fly alot and i am a high priority customer for VA.

In business everyone has glitches! VA have released a new product that has needed to be tweaked. But the MASS hype shown on this forum is just crazy and completely unwarranted!. I flew VA PE for many years and many times i got rouge aircraft, and was always looked after when it was stuffed up. To say that business passengers would run the other way just because of a different seat is just plain wrong! Personally i've found that these people complaining maybe fly business once in a while and are upset. Now this doesn't mean that VA shouldn't fix the problem, but really it has to be put into context!

I rang and spoke to some people i know very very high up in VA about the comments on this forum last week and was scared that VA had seriously busted everything based on comments on the thread. Thats simply not the case! The product is fantastic, i find the food easily on par with Air NZ business (lamb the other day was great), i think the wine maybe could be better. But other then that, the product is good.

I think for those complaining, we need to really ask the question? How often do you really fly business? Are you the people VA is trying to put into those seats (i.e not just a once a year business flyer or upgrade) but actually someone spending big $$ on the seats. I get the feeling and that 98% of people on this forum are platinum and good flyers, but not people that VA is trying to put into Business, but just adhoc business flyers. VA are trying to attract people like me, that is willing to part with 3K a week in travel expenditure!

The VA product is not perfect, but it's certainly a good product. I paid $800 for my seat today, i could have got on a Qantas plane and flown the same trip for $1000 (which i did about 3 weeks ago) and the VA product, (staff, seat, food) is far superior to Qantas, even if i was on an old 737-700 it would be on par, and i would get a credit from VA! I think if people actually flew regularly on these Business routes, you couldn't make these comments people are making, its because you've spent alot extra then you normally would to try the product and you had a problem. In this case, you should be fixed, but the negative hype is completely uncalled for!

Speaking as an authoritative source the product is NOT broken, the changes now forced by dropping the 737-700 seat issue is rubbish, yes they want to avoid putting people into the old seats, but now forcing VA to drop these flights has caused other normal business class flyers pain, just because people here whom fly business maybe 2-5% of the time have complained. Personally and i spoke to 4 other business class flyers today, all of us if received the wrong seating would have simply asked/received a credit for the change and none of us would have thought anything other and been happy. The world is NOT falling to pieces just because my seat is actually 8cm narrower!

Please if you are going to post such negative comments about a good product, please please, show that you actually can comment, I.E state, how much you paid for the tickets (not upgrades), how often you fly business, and why it's broken. I know for a fact, that the product is not bad, and VA are great at listening, sometimes i think though they listen to much to this forum as really public forums can be a bad place, i.e it's easy to have a loud voice on this forum..

I like reading this forum, however the negative bashing should stop, and i believe the mods should step in. Otherwise i think this forum is going to loose a number of good people.

Sorry for the long post, but seriously some people need to grow up. It's not that bad, VA is looking after people, put some positive criticism or nothing!

 

[maninblack]

i have to admit I am starting to get really sick and tired of the rubbish being spread about Virgin on these threads in the past week or so. Really and truly, this is just personality coming through there is NO substance to these negative hype it's really sad.

I've taken my third business class flight today (in 4 days with another 4 planned this week) with VA BNE-MEL and i cant speak highly enough of VA and the product. I speak from massive experience NOT only on VA but airlines in general. Here's a quick synopsis..

(VA Platinum about 5+ times over i.e 4000+ status points, QF WP - ex chairmans club, Air NZ GE, SQ PPS and numerous other private clubs etc). I only fly Business anywhere in the world and domestically and do domestically 4-10 flights a week! Thats enough to explain that YES i fly alot and i am a high priority customer for VA.

In business everyone has glitches! VA have released a new product that has needed to be tweaked. But the MASS hype shown on this forum is just crazy and completely unwarranted!. I flew VA PE for many years and many times i got rouge aircraft, and was always looked after when it was stuffed up. To say that business passengers would run the other way just because of a different seat is just plain wrong! Personally i've found that these people complaining maybe fly business once in a while and are upset. Now this doesn't mean that VA shouldn't fix the problem, but really it has to be put into context!

I rang and spoke to some people i know very very high up in VA about the comments on this forum last week and was scared that VA had seriously busted everything based on comments on the thread. Thats simply not the case! The product is fantastic, i find the food easily on par with Air NZ business (lamb the other day was great), i think the wine maybe could be better. But other then that, the product is good.

I think for those complaining, we need to really ask the question? How often do you really fly business? Are you the people VA is trying to put into those seats (i.e not just a once a year business flyer or upgrade) but actually someone spending big $$ on the seats. I get the feeling and that 98% of people on this forum are platinum and good flyers, but not people that VA is trying to put into Business, but just adhoc business flyers. VA are trying to attract people like me, that is willing to part with 3K a week in travel expenditure!

The VA product is not perfect, but it's certainly a good product. I paid $800 for my seat today, i could have got on a Qantas plane and flown the same trip for $1000 (which i did about 3 weeks ago) and the VA product, (staff, seat, food) is far superior to Qantas, even if i was on an old 737-700 it would be on par, and i would get a credit from VA! I think if people actually flew regularly on these Business routes, you couldn't make these comments people are making, its because you've spent alot extra then you normally would to try the product and you had a problem. In this case, you should be fixed, but the negative hype is completely uncalled for!

Speaking as an authoritative source the product is NOT broken, the changes now forced by dropping the 737-700 seat issue is rubbish, yes they want to avoid putting people into the old seats, but now forcing VA to drop these flights has caused other normal business class flyers pain, just because people here whom fly business maybe 2-5% of the time have complained. Personally and i spoke to 4 other business class flyers today, all of us if received the wrong seating would have simply asked/received a credit for the change and none of us would have thought anything other and been happy. The world is NOT falling to pieces just because my seat is actually 8cm narrower!

Please if you are going to post such negative comments about a good product, please please, show that you actually can comment, I.E state, how much you paid for the tickets (not upgrades), how often you fly business, and why it's broken. I know for a fact, that the product is not bad, and VA are great at listening, sometimes i think though they listen to much to this forum as really public forums can be a bad place, i.e it's easy to have a loud voice on this forum..

I like reading this forum, however the negative bashing should stop, and i believe the mods should step in. Otherwise i think this forum is going to loose a number of good people.

Sorry for the long post, but seriously some people need to grow up. It's not that bad, VA is looking after people, put some positive criticism or nothing!

Don't really agree with virtually anything you are saying. Oh and I fly only in F and J, have done so on at least 40 different airlines and have taken so many flights that I lost count many many years ago. I am a Virgin Platinum Status matched in September and already re-qualified in December, and I will make comment where i see fit without fear or favor, so put that in your jock strap

PS. This is not kindergarten. If Virgin want to go up against a brand like Qantas then they want to be prepared, playtime is over.

PPS. I have also flown PE on Virgin, Y on Qantaslink and similar airlines where no PE or J is available and have flown in domestic Y on rare occassions when J has been booked solid. I also flew in Y many times as achild and as a young adult.

 

[dfcatch]

I'm glad that you spend $3k per week on business class - that's your business.

What i do or don't spend is my business - and none of yours.

However - when i pay for a business class seat, as advertised on VA's website as being a 737-800, and as advertised by VA as being available, and being their brand spanking new jazzy product that they are splashing all over the web, papers etc. then I have a reasonable expectation of getting just that.

How I pay for it, whether cash, upgrade, comp or Santa Claus is irrelevant.

When I make a conscious choice to spend more in order to try the new fancy VA product - I'm clearly going to be critical if it fails to meet my expectations. I'm going to be critical if I'm delivered an aircraft that is different to what VA advertised I would get (I'm not talking about IRROPS).

And yes - you're right - I don't spend what you do, and of course VA cares more about you than me.

But they do still care about me a bit.... Enough to want to win my business and encourage me to spend more on a regular basis.

And if they don't, then I'll keep my spend with QF - simple.

And if you've read my reviews of VA Business Class, then you'll see that I've provided a very balanced and objective assessment.

I've also said that VA should simply sell the inferior product as PE (which is what it really is), and save the advertised J for aircraft that actually have true J.

It's VA's gain that people like you don't care.

But others are entitled to their opinions - even if they do go on a bit (which I agree with you).

 

[777]

I fly only in F and J,

I thought you'd been flying Virgin domestically before the J rollout, or do i have my wires crossed?