Enough is Enough

[brad330]

Today I flew in Business on DJ785 from Brisbane to Cairns. A lot of passengers and crew have complained about the use of the trolley for the serving of meals. Almost all of my flights sconce the introduction of Business they have been hand delivered. When the seat belt sign went off I went to the lavatory and on my way out I noticed the cabin manager preparing the trolley for service. There was me and three friends in the Business cabin. I almost said to her dot worry about using the trolley for us. A few minutes later she came out with the trolley and started the service serving my friends in 1A and 1C when t he cabin manager got a glass from the tray and put back she went to serve the my friend her drink and then we hit a small bump and the trolley fell forward to the floor making the loudest noise. All the glasses smashed and the wine bottles flew down the aisle smashing. The food was on the floor and there was glass everywhere in the cabin up to row 20! I couldn't believe it! The cabin manager turned around I'm shock and the whole cabin was string in disbelief. The trolley empty trolley was put back in the galley and the crew started picking up the larger pieces of glass and my fiends started to pick up the items from the trolley that were on the floor. I took some of the trays back to the galley and stowed the cart and put the items in it.the crew tried to get the glass of the floor but it was everywhere. The meals were wrecked so me and one of my friends were offered something if the economy menu. The cabin manager then came and apologised to us. Why is Virgin not listening to there crew and customers as this could have being avoided!

 

[dfcatch]

Unfortunate incident for the cabin manager, and whilst clearly not the crew's fault - it does require complaints to be lodged to VA so that they are aware of it, and so that they have to deal with unhappy passengers (not just feedback from the crew).

I do feel for the crew in this instance - but the complaints process is the only way this gets addressed.

 

[brad330]

Unfortunate incident for the cabin manager, and whilst clearly not the crew's fault - it does require complaints to be lodged to VA so that they are aware of it, and so that they have to deal with unhappy passengers (not just feedback from the crew).

I do feel for the crew in this instance - but the complaints process is the only way this gets addressed.

the crew took our contact details in the incidecnt and acident report as there was some injuries and said we wil be contacted by head office on monday to give our account of events.

 

[Justinf]

Row 20!!!!! That must have been some small bump. Let's hope you get some form of compensation for that.

 

[DJVA]

Wow, that's terrible. I hope in your feedback you come down hard against the mandatory use of trollies!

 

[Mal]

Horrible overall. But should the private comments from staff be made public?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[maninblack]

Am I missing something? QF and most other airlines around the world have been using trolleys forever and manage to provide service without botching everything up. Why can't Virgin get their Business class service in order after a year or more?

 

[DJVA]

Am I missing something? QF and most other airlines around the world have been using trolleys forever and manage to provide service without botching everything up. Why can't Virgin get their Business class service in order after a year or more?

Ugh, oh come on, I'm sure Qantas and almost every other airline has experienced something similar - it just hasn't made it to a forum.

 

[brad330]

Am I missing something? QF and most other airlines around the world have been using trolleys forever and manage to provide service without botching everything up. Why can't Virgin get their Business class service in order after a year or more?

The point is that Virgin did not upgrade the galley's on there aircraft to be able to stow full cart hence why they have to use half carts.

 

[under the radar]

Horrible overall. But should the private comments from staff be made public?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

welcome to the 21st century!! where EVERYTHING gets posted online....NOTHING is private anymore!! :evil:

 

[brad330]

welcome to the 21st century!! where EVERYTHING gets posted online....NOTHING is private anymore!! :evil:

Staff comments were removed some time ago

 

[Nitro]

I had the exact same thing happen to be about 4 months ago flying from MEL-SYD. Cabin manager started serving J class but in this instance he stowed too many items down one end of the trolley and it literally fell backwards causing wine bottles to smash everywhere.

Similar effect, wine gushing down the aisle and glass everywhere. Never got a follow up call or any time of communication from VA on this matter.

 

[MarkD]

Why would they do half the job, seems totally crazy. Seems they are still floundering, and upgrades have been half hearted. Easier to put back if it doesnt work I guess. Their Business class really is poor though, I must admit, and I would never pay full price to fly J with VA Domestic (A330 excluded)

The point is that Virgin did not upgrade the galley's on there aircraft to be able to stow full cart hence why they have to use half carts.

 

[bullerdude]

Although there are definitely aspects that Virgin need to improve in their Business service, it would seems that you really were unlucky to hit bad turbulence on your flight.

On the trolley point, I totally agree that all food should be hand delivered just like in a restaurant. This should totally be manageable for a cabin of maximum 8 people. That said, in all my 12+ business flights in the last 6 months, my food has always been hand delivered. As a reference point, these flight have been to/from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

What really bugs me - an I mean **really** bugs me to the point where enough is enough - is the shocking lack of consistency in their business class service and the completely undersized snack services. I have flown an a variety of morning-snack, lunch, afternoon-snack and dinner flights so I have decent experiences in the range of good to bad services that you can receive.

Lets use my 11am SYD-MEL flight from as an example and consider it with the following statement from the Virgin website.

Onboard, stretch out and relax in your luxurious leather seat. Start your flight with a complimentary newspaper and signature mocktail, and in-flight enjoy premium food and beverages from our exclusive onboard Business Class menu designed by renowned Australian chef Luke Mangan.

Firstly, there was no news paper offered to anyone despite being loaded onboard (I saw them in the overhead locker). Secondly, no mocktail was offered as they supposedly forgot to load it. Thirdly, what 'exclusive onboard Business Class menu'?? Each passenger was provided with one of two snack meals without first being asked what they would like. I was given a meal with a toasted sandwich whilst my sister received a pumpkin egg frittata like thing. My sandwich - whilst being so not true business class food - was actually really good so I'll given it a pass in this case. My sister's egg thing was not great though and she didn't like it, which is saying something because she quite likes quiches and other egg dishes.

So for me personally - whilst presentation and food delivery is something VA should improve - it's the actually food that needs the most attention. They need to abolish the 'snack' services right away!! I mean seriously, one of the main reasons to fly business is to get more - emphasis on more - food then a snack!! I mean seriouslt, Qantas serves its economy passengers snacks on every flight for free - surely Virgin business can serve decent meals or even perhaps an actual business class menu for each flight as oposed to inconsistant snacks and meals. Then, (adding to the previous point) they need to find some decent food to serve - is it really that hard??? Moat other airlines around the world seem to get this right everyday! Lastly, they need to get some damn consistency in their product - starting with actually providing the service described on their website on every flight and then move onto improving the finer details.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on VA business atm - basically its a service where you get a better seat and - depending on your flight attendants - maybe a better service.

 

[lovestotravel]

I had a fairly long chat with a phone rep a few days ago....

So, I actually rang to cancel a flight (which was my last flight booked on Virgin) as as it stands I have zero flights booked with them and I was asked "why"

I was a little taken back with being asked why I have no future flights booked, but I played along....

Instead of me rattling off my issues with Virgin, I decided to ask the phone rep why he thought I was no longer flying with Virgin

He told me pretty much everything that I had issues with, without me giving him ANY information, and he wouldn't have had time to read any notes on my account/file/membership/velocity number etc etc

Quality of food and variety
Staff inconsistency
Lack of in-flight entertainment

He assured me that Virgin was working hard to fix these issues blah blah blah

So it seems that at least one person in the call centre knows of the issues around Virgin.....

I know that Virgin has only just really started moving down the full service path, but they have had 13 months to get the business product to a very high standard

For me the real clincher is brand new sky interior planes arriving with no IFE :shock:

 

[xtoss]

Used some of my comp upgrades to see how business was. (3 different flights)

Inconsistent unfortunately. One leg wasn't offered any IFE. While the others I was.


Meals definitely nothing to write home about.

All times cabin had only 4 people in them. I just can't imagine a world where you would pay the difference for this business class.

It's sad that I was eating pasta and more jealous and craving a flexi meal I saw a few days earlier.

Also, on same leg with no IFE. Flying with my partner, she was enjoying a couple of glasses of the red.

The other couple in the cabin (all of us in row 1) were also enjoying the red but probably went back for a couple more glasses.

Cabin supervisor then gives them a complimentary bottle of the Sisters Run, then glances at us awkwardly and then just goes back inside. I don't really mind as I wasn't drinking it, but my missus was jealous!

It just seemed really odd to do this to one couple and not the other, you might say because I used the upgrades and they maybe paid full fare (and I'm unsure if they even can tell this as you board), it was warranted. But if the point of the complimentary upgrades is to provide this wonderful experience. I'd expect some consistency and maybe a bit more subtlety or sharing if you wish to gift wine to flyers.

 

[lovestotravel]

Sounds about right!

I feel bad ditching Virgin, as if it wasn't for them Qantas would be all Jetstar by now................

But then again I am only one person and Virgin keep claiming to be getting more and more of the corporate market so I am sure they won't miss me

 

[bullerdude]

But then again I am only one person and Virgin keep claiming to be getting more and more of the corporate market so I am sure they won't miss me

I suspect the A330 trans-con service is where a lot of those numbers are coming from - especially considering that service is excellent. Pity they can't replicate that quality to the main 737 fleet and the golden triangle.

 

[serfty]

...

Also, on same leg with no IFE. Flying with my partner, she was enjoying a couple of glasses of the red.
...

I am here to state that IFE is normally available on every leg - it should have been offered - if not then you just ask (although you should not need to do that).

 

[markis10]

I am here to state that IFE is normally available on every leg - it should have been offered - if not then you just ask (although you should not need to do that).

I agree, I have not been on a flight where it was not onboard, I have been on a flight where I had to ask. Moving from a LCC to a full service next generation carrier is a big step, and the culture change has been somewhat underestimated in the haste to get it done.