Business Class Trip Report

[oz_mark]

Nothing is free. It's included in the price.

That's why airlines use the word 'complimentary' rather than 'free' :shock:

 

[serfty]

777s post was taking to task the comment that you will come off the flight hungry, and pointing out that you have the choice of anything on the menu as well which is pretty extensive. ...

Y customers get the option of paying, J get a free go, and in the flights I have had with Pies, express pie selection (ex CNS and MEL).

I guess you missed this post (posted at a similar time):

Our last experience was;

Wife - on being served the scroll thing: "Are there any other choices?"
FA (with LCC mentality) - "No" and promptly disappeared for the rest of the flight.

Not saying the above was a typical experience. ...

MichaelD, if I were you I would be relating that experience to DJ management.

Seems like a re-training opportunity.

 

[MichaelD]

Just want to add one more point to this thread, lest I come across as a Virgin basher and Qantas fanboi.

I think it is FANTASTIC that we are able to discuss Virgin J vs Qantas J in the first place. Choice is good.

 

[markis10]

Nothing is free. It's included in the price.

Free go means you can have what you want when you want it, once again point missed . You can graze as required, not the case with a snack service on QF J where you might be lucky to be offered seconds.

 

[MichaelD]

MichaelD, if I were you I would be relating that experience to DJ management.

It was. I have had a satisfactory response from them, but the inconsistency of Virgin remains based on reports here.

eg the inconsistency of getting a call before a -700 J flight
eg the difficulty in getting the 50% refund
eg the inconsistency of being offered Y choices in J if still hungry

I get the feeling that if you don't complain you'll get nothing, and that's not how J should be.

When Virgin hits the mark, which they do most of the time, they hit it well.
When they miss, they really miss badly.

 

[maninblack]

But you did say that a scroll isn't going to cut it, when it has already been stated that flights over three hours get the lunch service.

As for a 2 1/2 hout flight, I assume the scroll

Indeed and I take your point nevertheless despite now being a regular and mostly happy VA customer the food service in J has been disappointing so far. YMMV. So whilst it has been "stated" by others I will wait until i see it myself.

 

[markis10]

I guess you missed this post (posted at a similar time):MichaelD, if I were you I would be relating that experience to DJ management.

Seems like a re-training opportunity.

Didn't miss it at all, the choice of complimentary cart offerings has been there since PE evolved, and it sounds like its assumed knowledge when it comes to some cabin crew responses. Sadly like QF, they can be very bad at times, usually when it's the last flight of their day, I don't know why it's so hard when it comes to catering with DJ, I have had a few to many flights where PE pax were asked to pay for food, or flexi fares went hungry, and the odd flight where carts were simply not loaded, Compass learnt the mistake about catering many years ago, and I put it in front of IFE when it comes to priorities to fix!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Must admit the cheese plate in J on my NTL BNE flight was awesome, so were the four scotches that may have impaired my judgement a tad

Sadly you won't be able to repeat that again in a hurry as they seem to be now all Y Alliance flights
I rang the Platinum call centre to add my Velocity number to a booking and I can't get a good seat allocation either as they are all "Extra Leg Room " seats for purchase.
Please bring back the E190, pretty please

 

[maninblack]

You can graze as required

I don't want to graze off the Y menu. I want a decent J food service. That is my point.

So far they are worse than QF and QF is already very ordinary. YMMV

PS. I think it is pretty valid to critique the J food service so far. If some people think it's currently of an acceptable standard then so be it.

 

[AirlineGuy]

I believe the Flight Attendants have recently been directed to NOT offer anything from the Economy menu. The Economy menu is for the Economy Cabin only, except in an extreme circumstance I.E J catering not loaded. Fair Call, and I can see their point in trying to keep the two different cabin classes/products seperate. So by not being offered anything from the Y menu, it shouldn't be taken as an inconsistency, rather the crew doing their job, in an effort to create consistency.

I think they should introduce some 'on demand' snack options, specifically created for the J cabin, to cater for those instances where something extra would be appreciated.....Suggestions??

 

[markis10]

I believe the Flight Attendants have recently been directed to NOT offer anything from the Economy menu.

If that is the case then its a backward step in a big way!

 

[serfty]

Didn't miss it at all, the choice of complimentary cart offerings has been there since PE evolved, and it sounds like its assumed knowledge when it comes to some cabin crew responses. ...

Seems like some cabin crew can be quite abrupt.

I believe the Flight Attendants have recently been directed to NOT offer anything from the Economy menu. The Economy menu is for the Economy Cabin only, except in an extreme circumstance I.E J catering not loaded. ...

If that is the case then we are back to:

...

- very ordinary J snacks between meal times. Qantas J snacks are WAY better. You'll come off a Virgin plane hungry in between mealtimes....

... unless DJ decide to make an improvement.

 

[Reg Reagan]

Interesting reading the various feedback as I'll be travelling J over the weekend. Agreed that there should be clearly defined meal times as well as more substantial "gourmet" snack options. Will report back on my experiences plus a OOL lounge update.

 

[markis10]

Please do, the more reports the clearer the picture becomes, in theory!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Wow.

I can't believe it's been about a month since the introduction of supposed full service J and the food offering has still not been sorted.

It really isn't rocket science. People pay a lot of money for J and do (rightly) expect the product. Where's bloody Luke Mangan? Why have a celeb. chef if you don't utilise his expertise??

This is nothing like the technical difficulties facing DJ with the ife debacle, it's purely and simply a pathetic response which is risking losing them the very clients they've bent over backward to entice. I'm absolutely amazed at the incompetence (I cannot believe it's intentional penny-pinching).

Wakey, wakey DJ. Your golden geese are about to flock off, out of here!

 

[straitman]

Yesterday I flew CBR-MEL on DJ in J and again today MEL-OOL.

On each occasion the service and meal were as good or better than the best J service on Qantas.

 

[koonyaflyer]

I have done at least 10 Business class flights since to introduction in mid January, and am yet to fault the J class meals. Last night was a choice of 3 meals, and plenty of wine! The meals are as good as anything on QF, although I do wish the wine was colder!

On 2 occassions I have declined the meal as it was a connecting flight and I have enjoyed the wine and pretzels or crisps nicely served in white china.

No complaints here!

 

[serfty]

Yesterday I flew CBR-MEL on DJ in J and again today MEL-OOL.

On each occasion the service and meal were as good or better than the best J service on Qantas.

Your flight today was scheduled to depart at 12:05 and yesterdays was for 12:55. Both inside the "lunchtime" window.

The issues that are being reported relate to 'sack flights' and are:

1) That the Business catering outside of meal times seems rudimentary and not as good as Qantas' offering, and,

2) Staff have apparently been told not to offer anything from the Economy menu to Business PAX. Previously business PAX had the option.

 

[Sprucegoose]

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

I don't do meetings that don't serve lunch!!

 

[jaspon]

Your flight today was scheduled to depart at 12:05 and yesterdays was for 12:55. Both inside the "lunchtime" window.

The issues that are being reported relate to 'sack flights' and are:

1) That the Business catering outside of meal times seems rudimentary and not as good as Qantas' offering, and,

2) Staff have apparently been told not to offer anything from the Economy menu to Business PAX. Previously business PAX had the option.

J class still have the option of the economy menu if they require additional items, it is on a request though