DJs Biggest Success

[Deleted member 29185]

Yesterday, I had a short notice MEL trip necessary and on viewing the available fares, I was left despondent. Where were my favourite savers for under 100 bucks! Honestly, the fares OOL-MEL on all carriers were ridiculous, so it had to be Brisbane. Faced with DJ @ $125 each way, or TT @ $69 each way, my hand trembled over the TT purchase. BFOD works well, TT is a credible airline, I kept repeating to myself.

Well, I couldn't do it. DJ got the sale and upon arrival at BNE at an ungodly 4am, my decision was very quickly justified. In desperate need of a coffee, I breezed through priority sceening and headed straight for the Lounge. Expecting to have to wait until 4.15 for it to open, I was surprised to see four beaming and happy angels behind the check-in desk. I hadn't checked in yet, so that was handled quickly and very pleasantly and although my late booking meant row 3 only had the middle seats left, the lovely lady processing it kept my allocated 5C and thoughtfully, applied a shaddow on 5B for me. Annette (the BNE lounge manager) was on hand, so we had a quick chat. The lady who processed my check-in snuck away whilst I chatted with Annette and quickly returned brandishing my favourite flat white coffee. What a wonderful unprovoked gesture from a team who genuinely appear to enjoy their interaction with the pax.

Whilst I was having breakfast, Annette once again came over for another chat, which is one of my favourite pastimes and she was interested to hear any feedback I had. I thought about it and to be honest, any minor irritations are depatched so effectively with the helpfull Virgin staff, that had to be my reply to her.........DJs greatest achievement is the attitude of their human resources. And DJs human resources are very, very human. They don't pretend to be robots, or even perfect....they do however place an importance on being human. Welcoming, efficient, helpful, thoughtful and friendly are supelatives which spring to mind and when I fly with DJ, it really feels like I am important to them as a pax, rather than an unfortunate side effect of running an airline. When I enter the BNE lounge especially, it really feels like I'm coming home with....family, almost. That kind of achievement cannot be overstated. That committment from the coal face staff, shows something right is happening at management level. On my return yesterday, I had the same feeling at MEL. I had a great chat with one of the staff (sorry, a 1 am start yesterday made me a little careless and I didn't get his name) in the MEL lounge. He was wearing a black suit and continually fussing around to make sure everything was just right around the lounge, so I'm not sure if he was the Lounge manager or one of the team, but doesn't that say it all about the staff? When their attitude is the same from manager to cleaner, to a degree that the pax can't differentiate.

Well done to all the DJ "human recources" I met yesterday. The priority screening, the new aircraft fitouts, the updated lounges, the priority boarding, the on time performance, etc are all important, but the DJ human team is what makes the difference and in my estimation, is Virgin Australias biggest success.

PS - Please keep prices reasonable for saver fares though DJ. I have kids, a wife and a renovation so my pockets are regularly empty these days !

 

[smit0847]

I think VA's biggest asset has always been their staff.

This is an airline that keeps getting better and better. It just shows how irrelevant QF is becoming!

 

[markis10]

QFs biggest asset is its staff as well, those on the customer facing front, the difference being they are not supported by admin/HO staff who seem to take a different view to service/custoemr orientation.

 

[medhead]

I have to agree that qantas have some very good staff. (they also have some average staff) The only difference is that the VA staff are more likely to go above what I expect. They always offer to bring out my coffee in the ADL lounge across multiple staff members. Maybe that is what is required but I'm happy to wait 2 minutes to carry my own coffee. By comparison there is only one QF lounge staff member who does more than I expect - he waits on me completely, bringing NPPP with sauce, beers etc.

Some issues with the VA lounge in SYD have already been mentioned and I find the staff there to be the expected mix of good and average.

On the aircraft I've met good, bad and indifferent on both airlines.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[simongr]

I think VA's biggest asset has always been their staff.

This is an airline that keeps getting better and better. It just shows how irrelevant QF is becoming!

It's comments like these that lead to me not taking the DJ/VA advocates seriously. QF is not becoming irrelevant - DJ/VA is providing the level of service that they have done for some time and are leading to tangible and intangible improvements over at QF.

I have sadly cancelled by DJ/VA flight this week as I couldn't get a seat further forward than 8C and 10C - rebooked for similar priced flights yesterday for travel on QF tomorrow and have 23J and 4D - front row of whY. I will be looking to fly DJ/VA on one of the longer routes coming up (probably ADL) and most likely to upgrade.

 

[dfcatch]

QF have some excellent staff. And when you have a good QF staff experience - it is difficult to even find a comparison.

However I agree with VA / DJ, Virgin staff (almost without exception), seem to be 'genuinely' warm, enthusiastic and pleased to be of service and assistance.

It truly is a genuine warmth, and it is DJ's best asset, a QF does continue to beat them (and will for some time) on the product front.

 

[travelislife]

Good to hear. I think for this very reason though they have to be careful with regarding to outsourcing staff in the lounges etc. Surely the cost saving can't be that much and it will create a lot more disenchantment if it goes that way.

 

[BAM1748]

I think VA's biggest asset has always been their staff.

Well it isn't their IT system! :mrgreen:

 

[Major]

Their staff training has certainly improved in the last couple of years.
They must also closely monitor their lounge operations to ensure that independent contractors achieve the highest standards.

 

[simongr]

Good to hear. I think for this very reason though they have to be careful with regarding to outsourcing staff in the lounges etc. Surely the cost saving can't be that much and it will create a lot more disenchantment if it goes that way.

It works well in the SYD F lounge where the catering side is supplied by Sofitel - it isn't the outsourcing per se that is the problem it is the service level agreement and monitoring that can be the problem with outsourcing.

 

[N860CR]

I think the chance of running into a poor staff member is higher on QF than DJ, however I guess it depends where exactly you find yourself crossing them.

- Call Centre - QF Premium has been very good to me. I get the occasional one who seems like they'd rather not be at work, however they do a good job and resolve queries quickly. Virgin are friendly and seem to want to help, but lack the knowledge or back end support to be able to do it (often, not always).
- Ground Staff (checkin, service desk etc) - I find QF/DJ to be about on par (and neither of them very good). I can't remember the last time I had a pleasant experience with a ground staff member on either airline (my "research area" is limited to SYD and BNE).
- Lounge Staff (admin/front desk) - Virgin is miles and miles ahead. The QP staff members I find generally disinterested and only happy to do the minimum required of them (and only when asked). The Virgin Lounge staff are (generally) exceptional and go out of their way to help you.
- Cabin Crew - I have had some really exceptional staff on QF who use the fairly good premium product they have and make the most of it. However, I've also had some absolutely terrible QF/QFLink staff who have made some flights so intolerable that I was just begging for them to be over. I find the Virgin crews are friendly and helpful more often, but don't have the greatest product to work with. I've had a few of them who I'd call "poor" and don't seem to have moved forward from the LCC days.
- Customer Care - both are pretty bad, however my experiences with Virgin leads me to believe they're much worse. The QF policy is generally side with the customer (over the phone, not in writing), throw them a voucher or something and then do whatever they do behind closed doors. I'm yet to have a decent response from Virgin (although I've only made two complaints to them). Each time I received a template email that didn't answer my queries nor try to resolve them.

Virgin have come a long way, and a lot of the staff are great, but I wouldn't put them miles ahead of Qantas just yet.

 

[cosi]

Its because the current VA CEO is very well respected by all the staff and grealty missed by the long serving QF staff

 

[TonyHancock]

Staff and management working in some sort of harmony is the biggest success I see at DJ.

 

[BAM1748]

I think the chance of running into a poor staff member is higher on QF than DJ, however I guess it depends where exactly you find yourself crossing them.

Might also have something to do with staff numbers, while the % of poor staff is likely similar the actual number is much larger.

employee count
Virgin (2007 was the most recent I could find, perhaps the Virgin rep can could update) 4,060
QANTAS (2011) 35,700


Matt

 

[markis10]

Might also have something to do with staff numbers, while the % of poor staff is likely similar the actual number is much larger.

employee count
Virgin (2007 was the most recent I could find, perhaps the Virgin rep can could update) 4,060
QANTAS (2011) 35,700


Matt

Virgin is 7000+ for 2011 according to the annual report.