Business Class Trip Report

[markis10]

Please enlighten me. What is this "shrinkage" issue you refer to?
I assume you are not talking about this; Seinfeld - The Shrinkage - YouTube

Shrinkage is a term uses to describe stock loss before sale, be it spoilage, theft or by other means.

 

[oz_mark]

This thread when the menu was pruned:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-sky-suggestions-new-32102-14.html#post478067

It must be something about spirits. QF pulled spirits from Y for a time citing lack of demand, but then reinstated them. I imagine they are still off the WA flighst though.

 

[777]

It must be something about spirits. QF pulled spirits from Y for a time citing lack of demand, but then reinstated them. I imagine they are still off the WA flighst though.

No, they listened and put them back!

 

[Reg Reagan]

Here's a quick summary of my J flights.

OOL-MEL - Priority boarding worked well, walked straight past the massive lineup that stretched beyond Hungry Jack's. Warmly greeted by the lead FA, pre-departure offered OJ & water + newspapers. Amenity kit was on my seat & only me in J in new BSI. Brekky service included frittata, fruit salad, warmed croissant with vegemite, more OJ & water + tea/coffee. Service was absolutely excellent throughout with only drawback being IFE digeplayer.

MEL-OOL - Delayed 30min. PB again flawless, onboard offered soft drink so opted for the 'mocktail'. No amenity kit this time & 7 pax in J refurbed cabin. Dinner service was chicken & potato with mushrooms & tomato gravy, salad consisting only of lettuce, and macadamia chocolates. Offered choice of wine/beer/water, and the lead FA made a point of mentioning there's no menu in the seat pocket. Digeplayer failed & was promptly replaced. Service was good without being excellent.

 

[bigbadbyrnes]

>_>

PB at OOL? That I gotta see. I was in a J flight out of there yesterday arvo to MEL, got snubbed with the aircraft (not an updated cabin, but I did get the call from VA late last week letting me know what to expect and that I'll get a credit for some of the fare I forked out), and didn't see anywhere any signage or directions for PB for Golds, Plats or J pax.

Anyone else managed to PB out of OOL?? I seriously cannot wait for The Lounge just to get a place to sit down. OOL is not a happy place to be when full.

Got the lamb curry on the way down, enjoyed a mocktail before take off, pretty good service overall. The absence of menu's from the seat pocket made my choice for second beverage tricky as I can't stomach Fat Yak or Crown Lager and couldn't recall what spirts/mixers they offered. Went with a Lemonade and Gin in the end. I found the dukka, curry, breadroll, sweetcake and mocktail all pretty good. Y+ seats not up to scratch compared with the excellent BSI cabin, but that's well known to all, and not a major worry for me so long as that credit comes back to me for a portion of the fare.

I'm a massive fan of the FA standing inbetween J/Y+ and Y to allow the J pax to get their carry on bags humanely (without having other pax breath on top of them). That's gold.

Our three priority tagged bags were numbers 1, 2 and 3 coming off the conveyor belt downstairs at MEL and were coming out just as we walked down the stairs to baggage collection.

Jagged a free upgrade to a brand new Audi A4 from Europcar with the comp'd privilege elite status that comes with Platinum as well - bonus.

Overall, happy with the J flight experience, would be dissatisfied if not for the credit for the lack of J seating.

 

[straitman]

>_>

PB at OOL? That I gotta see.

I'll look tomorrow.

I hope it works.

It certainly did not happen in CBR last Thursday. :evil:

 

[psyentist]

In a nutshell, I thought the service was good.

The food was lacklustre. Nuked chicken n pasta. And I had no choice either due to catering issues. The dukkah was merely ok, not sure that bread is the optimal choice. Didn't touch the dessert. The mocktail was fine however that will be a no-go in future for health reasons.
That being said, I rarely touch airline food so it wasn't that big a deal. A bit disappointing, but not really surprising either.

As for the the seats, they're great. Comfy; and roomy, at 2C.

Excellent service ... only two of us, however the attendant appeared capable

So overall, I think it is of a very good standard. Gold is out of reach most years so having lounge access incl in the ticket is an important element. Factor in points + pay and flexi upgrades and it suddenly becomes pretty darn good value.

 

[Moopere]

So overall, I think it is of a very good standard. Gold is out of reach most years so having lounge access incl in the ticket is an important element. Factor in points + pay and flexi upgrades and it suddenly becomes pretty darn good value.

I agree. Kinks still there, but overall, I'm reasonably happy. I run spreadsheets on 'relative value' which combines lounge access points earn/burn etc and place these DJ return J rewards seats at about $1,000 value PER-MEL or PER-SYD.

 

[MarkD]

It certainly seems they have improved the Business class over the last week, well done, good to see a company that acts on the feedback they recieve

 

[simonsyd]

I have been doing some commuting these last weeks SYD - BNE, had not set foot on a DJ plane for around 4 years, but have switched some domestic flying to DJ following status match. I have been pleasantly surprised by the new J class product altough the food needs some work (esp breakfast). The staff are what impress me most with their can do attitude.
Normally I would not get a J class fare with the travel budget I am given, however as has been posted previously Amex Platinum travel have a 25% off DJ domestic J class offer at the minute (available until May I think) which brings J class within budget! Combined with the double points and SC bonus this month I am very happy overall, I have booked some points plus pay redemptions in the coming weeks.

 

[cityloop]

>_>

PB at OOL? That I gotta see. I was in a J flight out of there yesterday arvo to MEL, got snubbed with the aircraft (not an updated cabin, but I did get the call from VA late last week letting me know what to expect and that I'll get a credit for some of the fare I forked out), and didn't see anywhere any signage or directions for PB for Golds, Plats or J pax.

Anyone else managed to PB out of OOL?? I seriously cannot wait for The Lounge just to get a place to sit down. OOL is not a happy place to be when full.

Yep, I have experienced 'PB' at OOL. It's a makeshift PB really. It's demonstrated best at Gate 3 (near Hungry Jacks). Cattle class tend to line up by the long black divider barrier/rail that curves around the seating area toward Sumo Salad. All the Gold/Plat/Biz pax simply wait by Hungry Jacks on the other side of the black barrier/rail and proceed to the boarding desk as soon as PB pax are called for. It works and I do this everytime I'm at OOL. The econ pax do get a bit pissy as they think you're jumping the queue but they soon realise who you are.

 

[cityloop]

I've had a few J flights in the past week, namely OOL-MEL and MEL-PER (originally SYD-PER but had a flight cancellation).

OOL-MEL: Experienced excellent service. Warmly greeted by all cabin crew. Lovely gentleman by the name of Brett (cabin manager) was right on the money. He personally greeted us and took us through the service offering. Was offered a variety of drinks before and after takeoff. Meals were served via meal trolley and were garnished infront of us. Nice touch. Wine was also poured infront of us which was great. Brett knew quite a lot about the food and wine. He was also very warm and sociable. Meal was Morrocan lamb with cous cous and was very delicious. We were also offered a vegetarian option. Great service throughout the flight with Brett constantly making sure we were ok, topping up wine, offering snacks etc. Brilliant.

MEL-PER: Not good experience at all. No greeting from cabin crew or crew manager. Crew were flustered throughout the flight and were rushing past from the back of the cabin to the front constantly which was very off putting. Crew manager didn't really know much about the meal, nor could he pronounce "Coq au Vin", nor was there a choice of meal. Meals weren't brought out via the trolley but simply brought out "flexi fare" meal style. Drink service was few and far between. Cabin crew weren't attentive to the J pax and seemed to be more interested in serving economy. The part I hated the most was the constant stream of economy pax pulling the J barrier rope off and using the biz toilet all throughout the flight! The first time I was ok as one guy couldn't get to the back as they were serving meals, however it happened again and again with more and more people. The cabin crew even helped the economy passengers to remove the biz class barrier rope so they could get to the front toilet. They were also directing them to the front!!! I was very annoyed at this and have made a complaint to Virgin.

Travelling J PER-MEL tomorrow so will see how that goes.

 

[maninblack]

OOL-MEL: Experienced excellent service. Warmly greeted by all cabin crew. Lovely gentleman by the name of Brett (cabin manager) was right on the money. He personally greeted us and took us through the service offering. Was offered a variety of drinks before and after takeoff. Meals were served via meal trolley and were garnished infront of us. Nice touch. Wine was also poured infront of us which was great. Brett knew quite a lot about the food and wine. He was also very warm and sociable. Meal was Morrocan lamb with cous cous and was very delicious. We were also offered a vegetarian option. Great service throughout the flight with Brett constantly making sure we were ok, topping up wine, offering snacks etc. Brilliant.

Back to the coalface eh. I was wondering what he's doing now

 

[markis10]

Back to the coalface eh. I was wondering what he's doing now

Still doing a great job I suspect, if it's the same Brett I have had before,OOL based?

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Brett Godfrey...

 

[Mal]

I've had one J flight. Was good enough, but there were a few niggling issues. I'm sure these will get sorted.

Tried checking in online using my mobile. It wouldn't send me a BP, so I had to collect it at the Lounge. No issues really, just a little inconvenient.

Boarded and was very warmly welcomed. My allocated seat was 1C.. There was two other J pax - 1A and 1F. This is a bit of a bugbear of mine - the Premium cabin often has strangers allocated seats together in row 1, yet row 2 is empty. I asked to move to Row 2, got the nod so moved to 2C. The CSM visited, welcomed me by name and suggested I could move into 2A if I wanted. (Did move - so ended up sitting in 3 different seats). Was offered water or Cranberry juice. Took the Cranberry juice.

(As others have commented, the service method is wrong IMHO. For three pax - just take orders, prepare and return. Less waste, less mucking around).

Was offered a digiplayer but declined.

After reaching cruising altitude, the CSM returned and took orders for the meal service. There were two lunch options:
- (Hot) Spiced Moroccan Lamb w/Couscous.
- (Cold) Lentil something.

1A and 1F got their meals quickly, Mine took longer to arrive (assume it was something to do with heating time or the other orders). Asked for a beer, and was offered a choice of Crown Lager or Pure Blonde. Took the Crown - although would have preferred to be asked "Crown Lager / Cascade / Pure Blonde etc" - all are on the cart.... Although Crown is only offered to Flexi and Business guests. I'm sure I could have asked, but didn't bother.

The meal was average. I've had worse in in domestic J, I've had better in the air. It basically consisted of:
- an Orange Madeira cake cuplet, the Moroccan Lamb/couscous, a small bottle of Olive oil, a Balsamic Vinegar/Olive Oil caplet, a packet of Dhaka, salt'n'pepper shakers. A roll was also offered. I have a photo, but it isn't as clear as I wanted - so won't post.

I read the instructions on the back of the Dhaka. It was something similar to "dip bread in olive oil, then dip in the Dhaka". However, I was then wondering - I had a small bowl (the cuplet of Balsamic/Olive was seated in there), but nothing else except my bread plate. Another small bowl would have been handy....

Now to the main. It was a plated dish, couscous on one side, lamb in a curry/sauce on the other. Was garnished with slices (ginger?, Almonds plus something else I couldn't determine). The lamb was cubed, and wasn't tender. It was ok - just more the consistency of cheap lamb that is a bit older than being a lamb! The spiced curry was nice.

Rest of flight was good. Beer was replaced, Upon disembarkation the crew blocked the path between Economy and Business etc.

CSM farewelled me by name.

 

[Noob]

I've had a few J flights in the past week, namely OOL-MEL and MEL-PER (originally SYD-PER but had a flight cancellation).

OOL-MEL: Experienced excellent service. Warmly greeted by all cabin crew. Lovely gentleman by the name of Brett (cabin manager) was right on the money. He personally greeted us and took us through the service offering. Was offered a variety of drinks before and after takeoff. Meals were served via meal trolley and were garnished infront of us. Nice touch. Wine was also poured infront of us which was great. Brett knew quite a lot about the food and wine. He was also very warm and sociable. Meal was Morrocan lamb with cous cous and was very delicious. We were also offered a vegetarian option. Great service throughout the flight with Brett constantly making sure we were ok, topping up wine, offering snacks etc. Brilliant.

MEL-PER: Not good experience at all. No greeting from cabin crew or crew manager. Crew were flustered throughout the flight and were rushing past from the back of the cabin to the front constantly which was very off putting. Crew manager didn't really know much about the meal, nor could he pronounce "Coq au Vin", nor was there a choice of meal. Meals weren't brought out via the trolley but simply brought out "flexi fare" meal style. Drink service was few and far between. Cabin crew weren't attentive to the J pax and seemed to be more interested in serving economy. The part I hated the most was the constant stream of economy pax pulling the J barrier rope off and using the biz toilet all throughout the flight! The first time I was ok as one guy couldn't get to the back as they were serving meals, however it happened again and again with more and more people. The cabin crew even helped the economy passengers to remove the biz class barrier rope so they could get to the front toilet. They were also directing them to the front!!! I was very annoyed at this and have made a complaint to Virgin.

Travelling J PER-MEL tomorrow so will see how that goes.

Great comparison. I have also had Brett before, even before J class he was great. I really feel for cabin crew like him who are really making an effort to provide exemplary service when others just don't make the cut for whatever reason. Hopefully positive feedback being sent regarding great Cabin Service Managers will lead to their involvement in training others.

 

[markis10]

Both Brett and Karen from the OOL crew are standouts IMHO. And yes I leave positive feedback when I encounter such good service, lackluster service I often put down to a bad day, ie benefit of the doubt, unless it's from the same crew member twice.

 

[cityloop]

Both Brett and Karen from the OOL crew are standouts IMHO. And yes I leave positive feedback when I encounter such good service, lackluster service I often put down to a bad day, ie benefit of the doubt, unless it's from the same crew member twice.

Absolutely, I have left positive feedback with Virgin re: Brett and his crew. And yes I agree a promotion should be in order to train others how to provide exemplary service. Even if junior crew get the chance to fly with him and observe his methods.

 

[jaspon]

1A and 1F got their meals quickly, Mine took longer to arrive (assume it was something to do with heating time or the other orders). Asked for a beer, and was offered a choice of Crown Lager or Pure Blonde. Took the Crown - although would have preferred to be asked "Crown Lager / Cascade / Pure Blonde etc" - all are on the cart.... Although Crown is only offered to Flexi and Business guests. I'm sure I could have asked, but didn't bother.

Currently the beer offering in J Class is Crown Lager and the guest beer, which is currently Fat Yak Pale Ale.

Pax in economy have a choice of either Cascade Premium or Pure Blonde