Coast to Coast [Economy] Cost Cutting

[Deleted member 29185]

To nitpick, the plastic packaging of the cutlery also appears (and feels) cheap versus the paper packaging that QF use. It is no different to most other major airlines however so is an extremely minor issue.

Given VA do like to gush about their environmentally sustainable programs and support, one might be forgiven for expecting paper over plastic as well!

 

[nonscenic]

My only recent VA flight was the evening MEL - HBA flight on 28 April. Just got in by a couple of days to the VA lounge on my WOAG B class fare (no longer included on flights from 1 May) which was a good thing because the only food offering on the flight was a packet of cheese and biscuits. Granted, QF "Dinners" to HBA have long since only been a meat pie (or a herb toastie for Vegetarian), but QF and VA should come clean with HBA flights and state that they only serve "refreshments" all day.

 

[Cecil]

I find them fine out of OOL & Syd. The alternatives - not much on offer at same value. Also going BNE-LAX rtn in August. Will monitor the experience.

 

[paulobrien56]

My daughter and her 8 month old baby flew to LAX from BNE with Virgin recently.
She had such a bad experience that she has decided NEVR to fly with Virgin again.

She had major problems trying get a confirmed bassinet seat despite booking one months before. When she arrived to check in they tried to bump her off the bassinet seat to accommodate some teenagers who were travelling with a sporting team. She refused to move and after a lot of argument they relented and let her keep her originally booked seat.

On the flight - there was no baby food, as promised; the flight attendants gave her NO assistance with the baby when she was eating or needing to go to the restrooms. Also, there was dried vomit on the side of the bassinet mattress. When made aware of this, the flight attendant didn't clean it up, she gave her a napkin to put over it.

On arrival in LAX - no assistance was provided to get off the plane or to retrieve her luggage.

I was surprised at this because I took the same flight 12 months earlier and it was the best BNE-LAX economy class flight I have ever had.

I stopped flying Qantas a few years ago, mainly because of Virgin's superior service, better FF program and better flight availability. However, recently I have noticed that Virgin's fares are no longer as competitive as Qantas's, particularly their specials, and Qantas FF credit card fees and earning rates now seem to be better. I am now considering moving back to Qantas.

 

[Shudai1]

I'm a very loyal VA customer (never less than Platinum and normally Partner Platinum for the last decade), but am considering shifting back to QF based on the quality of the cabin experience in economy. I don't think there's any doubt that it's been heading southwards for some time, and in the last year has taken several noticeable hits. (I might not be in the best frame of mind for this...a long-delayed VA West Coast service got me to bed at almost 4am today!).

What will eventually turn me though is the lounge. I wandered into the QF lounge with a colleague for the first time in a couple of years, and I think the gap in quality is now very noticeable.

Either VA pick their game up, and soon, or I'll definitely make the move.

 

[BAM1748]

I stopped flying Qantas a few years ago, mainly because of Virgin's superior service, better FF program and better flight availability. However, recently I have noticed that Virgin's fares are no longer as competitive as Qantas's, particularly their specials, and Qantas FF credit card fees and earning rates now seem to be better. I am now considering moving back to Qantas.

It has "different service" but I would never have said "superior service" which in my opinion it does not and never had.

Matt

 

[Lagrande]

Flew VA Brisbane Nadi Business class Monday last week, basic meal, no desert, and NO SPARKLING WINE, let alone Champagne and a stupid little iPad thing with ear buds to watch movies. No comparison to AirNZ.

 

[Matt_01]

VA have definitely gone down hill not just in Y but also J. I switched to VA a few years back and am Platinum to May 17, however by Jul 2015 I was becoming so disappointed with VA I went back to QF to see if the service had improved. QF offered me a gold challenge to get lounge access ASAP, I noticed a vast improvement with current QF compared with a few years back. Unfortunately for me, I travel to much and was able to hit QF P1 within 8 months. Although the FF earn rate is not as high with QF the other options such as Aquire soon make up for that. I find the reach of VA for international is limited and the fact they are not a "true" Star Alliance member availability to Star Alliance members is sadly lacking (both fights and lounges). With OW the access to International J redemption's on partner airlines is much more abundant, and at P and above with QF the option to request reward seats makes it even easier.

For what I think it is worth QF have picked up their game in the past few years and my time with VA is over. I plan on transferring remaining VA FF points to Krisflyer.

One final thought, VA get rid of the rope between Y and J, it is most annoying to have to wait to use the amenities while the staff to finish handing out a bag of nut to 150 odd passengers when seated in row 3 when there is amenities at the front of the plan. QF does not have an issue with forward seated Y passengers using the amenities at the front.

 

[anat0l]

My daughter and her 8 month old baby flew to LAX from BNE with Virgin recently.
She had such a bad experience that she has decided NEVR to fly with Virgin again.

That may be her decision, but I think it should at least be worthy of a well-worded complaint to VA. Perhaps if the AFF representative can pick this case up.

...quality of the cabin experience in economy. I don't think there's any doubt that it's been heading southwards for some time...

An irony in some way because the quality of VA making incursions on QF's dominance was measured by its leaps and bounds being made in almost every part of the flying experience except in Economy. Even to this day, there is nearly no one, let alone on AFF, who actually judges VA based on the experience it offers in Y. Except maybe this thread.

Since there are many on AFF who fly VA almost exclusively in J anyway, many seem to be "shielded" from any significant effects of cuts.

I know for me that I don't fly VA often enough (because I don't travel often enough anyway these days) but I don't expect much when I fly Y. Then again, much the same if I flew any other airline in Y.

Flew VA Brisbane Nadi Business class Monday last week, basic meal, no desert, and NO SPARKLING WINE, let alone Champagne and a stupid little iPad thing with ear buds to watch movies. No comparison to AirNZ.

Was it flown with a 737? I don't know if they carry the bubbles on that aircraft, but even if they didn't, what's with the no dessert? Even 737 flights in the domestic network come with some sort of dessert, ranging from either a cake or two chocolates.

An advantage you had compared to flying NZ in that case is not having to transit via AKL, which is not to say that's an awful thing to do but basically you saved some time.

 

[anat0l]

One final thought, VA get rid of the rope between Y and J, it is most annoying to have to wait to use the amenities while the staff to finish handing out a bag of nut to 150 odd passengers when seated in row 3 when there is amenities at the front of the plan. QF does not have an issue with forward seated Y passengers using the amenities at the front.

This is always a source of contentious debate. Threads on AFF have come and gone, but you should know there is definitely a side of the debate which says that J toilets are only for J passengers, no exceptions, period.

We probably shouldn't start another thread on this right here, but if you search on AFF they are there and are not short trivial matters.

 

[coco50]

I don't care, because I don't fly Virgin. That doesn't mean ever. If I have to fly other than BNK - SYD or BNK - MEL, I'll fly QF

 

[maxwell]

Was it flown with a 737? I don't know if they carry the bubbles on that aircraft, but even if they didn't, what's with the no dessert? Even 737 flights in the domestic network come with some sort of dessert, ranging from either a cake or two chocolates.

An advantage you had compared to flying NZ in that case is not having to transit via AKL, which is not to say that's an awful thing to do but basically you saved some time.

Last Saturday, Partner and I flew J BNE-SYD on the E90 and he saw the FA with a bottle of bubbles before take-off. They're quite reluctant to open a bottle on short-haul especially if there were only 5 J passengers on the flight, explains why she didn't offer it before the meal service. He was quite happy as he had the whole bottle to himself (not a big champagne drinker) & she quickly offered him the rest just before landing to get rid of it.

 

[BAM1748]

Last Saturday, Partner and I flew J BNE-SYD on the E90 and he saw the FA with a bottle of bubbles before take-off. They're quite reluctant to open a bottle on short-haul especially if there were only 5 J passengers on the flight, explains why she didn't offer it before the meal service. He was quite happy as he had the whole bottle to himself (not a big champagne drinker) & she quickly offered him the rest just before landing to get rid of it.

5 passengers - only a glass each.

 

[maxwell]

5 passengers - only a glass each.

or 1 gay man who loves his bubbles.

 

[Gazza129]

A shame to hear to think things are getting even worse. We actively avoid using them on international flights wherever possible but do use them internally.

Interestingly we recently flew Hamilton Island -MEL business class and copped Charlie as our (exclusive as it turns out as we were the only 2) flight attendant along with another guy. Without a doubt he was the best we have encountered on ANY flight ANYWHERE. When I mentioned this to the second (older) person he admitted that that he was the trainer doing a check on Charlie.
Charlie is GOLD!! he proclaimed and said he wanted him to give up flying and start training the Gen Xs and Ys coming through. If only there were Charlies on every flight.

Re The meal; despite we being the only 2 up front we still didn't get our preferred meal choice as they had run out !!!!!!

 

[SuzieQ68]

This is a really interesting thread. I've been loyal to VA (over QF) for a number of years now, but haven't flown with VA since early February (due to unforeseen circumstances). If VA is cost cutting in the tangible areas (such as meals / drinks / customer service etc), then they really do need to take a good hard look at themselves and start asking questions as to why they cannot lift their soft product to a level that encourages customers to choose VA over other options.

If you don't have customers, you don't have an airline. Customers expect value for money, and (quite rightly) expect to be valued by the company attempting to secure their business. From reading the comments in this thread, there is a very real threat that many loyal VA customers may suck up losing their status with VA to transfer over to QF. I would sincerely hope that VA take the comments noted in this thread under advisement and take real steps to improve their offering. Otherwise, whatever credibility they've built to date could quickly be washed away.

 

[BAM1748]

Re The meal; despite we being the only 2 up front we still didn't get our preferred meal choice as they had run out !!!!!!

Wow, that is really a poor performance.

 

[BAM1748]

This is a really interesting thread. I've been loyal to VA (over QF) for a number of years now, but haven't flown with VA since early February (due to unforeseen circumstances). If VA is cost cutting in the tangible areas (such as meals / drinks / customer service etc), then they really do need to take a good hard look at themselves and start asking questions as to why they cannot lift their soft product to a level that encourages customers to choose VA over other options.

If you don't have customers, you don't have an airline. Customers expect value for money, and (quite rightly) expect to be valued by the company attempting to secure their business. From reading the comments in this thread, there is a very real threat that many loyal VA customers may suck up losing their status with VA to transfer over to QF. I would sincerely hope that VA take the comments noted in this thread under advisement and take real steps to improve their offering. Otherwise, whatever credibility they're built to date could quickly be washed away.

When Virgin was trying to grab the QF flyers with increased service, status match and lounges, I took a flight with them and ust thought this isn't worth the $20 saving (at the time) over QF considering the better offerings, larger route, better lounges, on board food and service a cut above.

So I didn't change and in the mean time been addiing to my lifetime SCs with QF.

Matt

 

[SuzieQ68]

When Virgin was trying to grab the QF flyers with increased service, status match and lounges, I took a flight with them and ust thought this isn't worth the $20 saving (at the time) over QF considering the better offerings, larger route, better lounges, on board food and service a cut above.

So I didn't change and in the mean time been addiing to my lifetime SCs with QF.

And definitely each to their own - I can appreciate that. Me personally, I've had good experiences with VA overall, but then again I haven't flown QF for many years (they lost me when the stopped the OOL route and brought in JQ). I guess the concern with VA now is that they're starting to charge more for a supposed 'full service' product, but they're not delivering on the promise. They do have an opportunity to take a good share of the market if they lift their game, but if they don't, then they have no-one to blame but themselves.

 

[csomole]

I don't care, because I don't fly Virgin.

I DO care, even though I don't fly Virgin.
If Virgin go downhill, Qantas will again get lazy. The big fat roo needs to be kept on its toes at all times.