I did also recieve this and not as high status or frequent flyer as others here.
Besides being a data gathering / emaill harvesting exercise or even just ticking someones box on a KPI (cynical I know
) - if it looks like VA and Velocity are actually interested in what their customers think and are prepared to do something about it, then perhaps we should be ranking and discussing some realistic but tangible improvements that they could do - and also tell them about the things that we do like and don't want 'enhanced'.....
I've been away from the forum for a while but would the following still be a good start as to what the general consensus is about VAi VAd and the actual VFF program itself? List is in no particular order and we should be open to discussion about what needs to be a high priority. Some of these may be "old news" or unrealistic and wishful thinking given the extreme pressure on
Virgin Australia's bottom line but if they are going to stay in business against their main domestic competitor then they are going to have to offer a compelling case to fly with them either in price or in product quality.
The fact that both Qantas and Virgin don't seem to support having an active social media rep here on AFF, or other forums, would seem to indicate that they are extremely uninterested in what their customers, or frequent customers think about their products so we should probably temper our enthusiasm as to how real or how committed we should be to this sort of market research.
Anyway - here is my summation of what I have seen in the threads lately - but as I said - others may have new/better things to suggest.
Brickbats
1. Overall patchwork of partner airlines and earn/burn class and lounge inconsistency within these partnerships with DL NZ EY HA and SQ
2. Pricing of Y and J fares and where VA actually sit in the market
3. Sheer economy of scale and not quite the domestic frequency and reach that Qantas ha - not a cheap fix.
4. The roll out of Economy X product - price vs what you actually get - and its affect on seating availibility
5. No proper food or inconsistent food on board aircraft except for Perth services
6. Web site and App user experience problems - I assume the VA web site is still fairly shambolic/unreliable?
7. Loss of A330 services on longer coast to coast flights by deploying these aricraft to HGK (apparently this is not such a profit bonanza as expected) - last minute substitutions from A330 to B737 a big downgrade for J class pax especially - I think both QF and VA are guilty of this - they love to advertise and sell A330 transcon at the point of sale but seem to have a habit of delivering the B737 product.
8. Poor non-existant redemption opportunites - especially between Australian and LAX - anywhere else?
9. Call centre wait times and performance - I don't use them a lot but others may have good or bad things to suggest
10. Ground/airport response to IIROPS (weather of planes going unservicable) - is the ground response satisfactory?
Compliments
1. Are they still doing priority boarding properly? Or at least more consistently than their competitor?
2. Family pooling in Velocity, is this still a positive? I think most of us here would agree that this is a point of differentiation.
3. Protecting J class cabins and toilets from pax in Y class - is this still enforced and is it important?
3. B777 fleet still 9 abreast in Y
4. A330 J class cabin - not seen domestically much anymore but
5. Other high status perk or lack therof - what tangible benefits to VA Plats and Gold get and how useful are they?
6. Velocity tie-up with Flybuys seems to be fairly popular?
