Epic Fail - Virgin's Special Platinum Treatment

[Fungus]

Virgin are trying to capture a large slice of the corporate market so this means treating their higher status pax well. In my case I have only attained Platinum with them though a status match.

Based on what I have experienced, they have just lost any chance of me moving my flying over to them.

I had booked flights a couple of months ago, mine direct, the others via an agent, and after much consternation, with Virgin and the agent initially not wanting to have anything to do with the bookings made by the other, had the bookings linked and seats allocated.

I've turned up today to find the bookings not linked and us not sitting together on either the forward or return legs of our trip. Coupled with the surliness of the lounge staff who eventually did sort things out, although we were certainly placed further back in the plane, it was a great start to our holiday.

Never again.

 

[pauly7]

I let my VA sink to gold.

I'm now trying to work out if it is even worth maintaining that.... Wonder if anyone else is in same boat??

Like you I've had little positivity from the VA lounge dragons in general - mostly when I tried to fly ahead...and don't get me started on their ability (or lack thereof) to call and display boarding flights!

I do like the NEW a330 J but that's not enough to keep me, and QF will top that with their new a330 offering next year anyway....

Decisions decisions!

Sorry to hear you had an average experience.

 

[lukenet]

I do find VA to be quite good. I am plat and find them most helpful and very accommodating when things don't quite go right.. I did get my plat on domestic Y so I do fly them quite often.

Maybe it was more of an issue with your travel agent.. It would not be the first time an agent have blamed others for their shortcomings.

 

[mkentwell]

I too have reached Platinum twice flying super cheap Y and have never had anything but fantastic service from very friendly - always ready to help - lounge staff. Maybe you walked in unhappy and upset and that transferred to the treatment you received?

 

[serfty]

I've had that sort of problem occur on several airlines.

I did not stop flying Qantas when my then 6yo daughter on a separate booking was allocated across the cabin and in a different row from us even though the bookings were "linked" by Qantas agents.

What I did learn was never to assume what I have been told is accurate and be proactive in ensuring similar no longer occurred.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Why didn't you just both select seats next to each other in advance.

 

[muppet]

Virgin are trying to capture a large slice of the corporate market so this means treating their higher status pax well. In my case I have only attained Platinum with them though a status match.

Based on what I have experienced, they have just lost any chance of me moving my flying over to them.

I had booked flights a couple of months ago, mine direct, the others via an agent, and after much consternation, with Virgin and the agent initially not wanting to have anything to do worth the bookings made by the other, had the bookings linked and seats allocated.

I've turned up today to find the bookings not linked and us not sitting together on either the forward or return legs of our trip. Coupled with the surliness of the lounge staff who eventually did sort things out, although we were certainly placed further back in the plane, it was a great start to our holiday.

Never again.

What happens when you have to take different trains to work? Can you be separated that long? But seriously, forward seating for Gold and Plats non-status guests is ONLY a benefit when on the same PNR. Same with Qantas, Cathay, American and everyone else in the world.

 

[MarkD]

Like you I've had little positivity from the VA lounge dragons in general - mostly when I tried to fly ahead
.

Thats the one area that has worked flawlessly for me, whenever I have shown up and asked, they have obliged, and on several occasions, I havnt asked, but they have offered.

 

[straitman]

Yes I did report it. Not that I disagree with the content, but I disagree with the way the opinion was expressed. Like a rat up a drain pipe. But each to their own I suppose, all I know is, I would have been banned again If I wrote it.

[mod hat on]

MarkD,

I did not see the comments so I cannot comment on the post.

You did complain online about the post at 2:29pm, your report came through at 3:00pm and was acted upon at 3:18pm. Whether mods were online or not is irrelevant as this was all done and dusted within the hour so really not an issue IMHO.

In future please use the report function first and the post will be reviewed and sorted fairly quickly.

[mod hat off]

 

[medhead]

Well I still wonder what the OP did beside linking bookings to prevent the problem happening. Two separate bookings is going to be problematic on any airline. I'm really not sure how that is bad service by one particular airline.

 

[MarkD]

I wasnt knocking the response to the moderation, you have lives as well, and dont sit on here 24/7. Appreciate the response

[mod hat on]

MarkD,

I did not see the comments so I cannot comment on the post.

You did complain online about the post at 2:29pm, your report came through at 3:00pm and was acted upon at 3:18pm. Whether mods were online or not is irrelevant as this was all done and dusted within the hour so really not an issue IMHO.

In future please use the report function first and the post will be reviewed and sorted fairly quickly.

[mod hat off]

 

[flying_double]

Well i've been warned!! So take two...


Its a long weekend Saturday morning, if planes are full, status or no status, seating issues are going to be hard to juggle shortly before a flight. 'Linking' in the lead up didn't work, this is unfortunate but operationally it sounds like the lounge angels did their best by managing to seat you next to each other.


Next time, you may prefer to book on one PNR and as a higher status pax utilise one of your Platinum benefits by selecting a couple of Row 3 seats for both travellers when you book.

Cheerio

 

[Fungus]

Judging from some of the responses, I either haven't explained myself very well, or people haven't read my post properly before jumping in to condemn me and/or defend Virgin.

Maybe you walked in unhappy and upset and that transferred to the treatment you received?

I was fine until I was told the bookings weren't linked and we weren't sitting together. When I went back later to check on my return booking to see if was going to have the same problem (which I asked them to look at the first time around and they didn't) I had to wait for the two staff members to finish a personal conversation they were engrossed in.

Why didn't you just both select seats next to each other in advance.

Next time, you may prefer to book on one PNR and as a higher status pax utilise one of your Platinum benefits by selecting a couple of Row 3 seats for both travellers when you book.

We did exactly this back in April when I first made the booking, although the ones made through the agent had to be done by the agent in consultation with Virgin, whereas mine had to be done over the phone with Virgin.

What happens when you have to take different trains to work? Can you be separated that long? But seriously, forward seating for Gold and Plats non-status guests is ONLY a benefit when on the same PNR. Same with Qantas, Cathay, American and everyone else in the world.

I would think most people when travelling with their other half or their family, including myself, like to sit next to each other! Re forward seating, that may be the case officially with Qantas, but I have always managed to have us all seated together, and the family and I are more often than not on separate bookings, which I then link.

What I did learn was never to assume what I have been told is accurate and be proactive in ensuring similar no longer occurred.

In hindsight, calling up a few days beforehand to check would have been a prudent move, but I guess I've been spoilt by Qantas where I've never encountered such a problem before. Not being able to see all the seat allocations online like I can with Qantas certainly contributed to the issue (I just had confirmation of everything via an email).

To top it all off, once we got on the plane, two out of the three seats I'd originally reserved (including my own) were empty on takeoff!

 

[vitagen]

I've had pretty good service as a SG. Seat selection, fly ahead and general smiles! I got treated better as a SG on VA than a WP on QF..

You can't beat the VA A330 product in Y and J!

 

[mannej]

You can't beat the VA A330 product in Y and J!

Unless you are in the back of one of the ex-EK birds ;-)

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I had booked flights a couple of months ago, mine direct, the others via an agent,...... and after much consternation, had the bookings linked and seats allocated........I've turned up today to find the bookings not linked ..........the lounge staff ...eventually did sort things out.

Never again.

Now I have been known to snap at VA, but I'm struggling to see how this is an "Epic Fail" as the thread title states! At worst, it was an minor inconvenience caused by you booking on two PNRs and perhaps some "attitude" in the resolution, but you know.....we all have off days (even me ). Your problem was resolved and if you flew more with VA, you'd know the staff (particularly the GCC and Lounge staff) are some of VAs greatest assets and for me, I can very honestly say I very rarely experience poor attitude. My advice (if asked) would be don't let this one experience guide your opinion overall. VA have a lot of issues just now, but staff is not one of them (IMHO).

Like you I've had little positivity from the VA lounge dragons in general - mostly when I tried to fly ahead...

This really surprises me a great deal. The fly-ahead benefit works so well for me and I do use it a lot. Remembering of course there are limitations that are well known (or should be), like only available if seats are spare and no checked luggage (which frequently gets waived), for the rest of it, I find it works exceptionally well and is without doubt, for me, the best status benefit VA offer! Just on Friday, I had a 0600 flt BNE-GLT and a return booked for 1700. I often don't know how long a job will take so I book the earliest and latest flts to be comfortable. On Friday, my job went perfectly and I was done and dusted in 1.5 hours and back at the airport to make the 1040 rtn. How good was that? Long week-end, early knock off Friday......sweeeeeet! (I had a checked bag as well).

(PS...before markis10 pipes-up...yes I broke my own rule and flew on the airborne Greyhound bus........and they still suck, in fact far more than I remembered when I booked the tix )

 

[pauly7]

This really surprises me a great deal. The fly-ahead benefit works so well for me and I do use it a lot. Remembering of course there are limitations that are well known

Perhaps I just seem to run into the limitations of the program more frequently - basically these days only my main travel role employer will only make us fly VA if QF is literally sold out and that means when that happens I am traveling at the peak peak peak times and usually trying to fly ahead very close to those times. With smaller aircraft on the golden triangle than QF I guess VA are just more limited in what they can do at those times.

Secondly perhaps I'm only flying them during these times I'm encountering the 'battle weary' VA lounge dragons who must have been asked the same question 50 times in the previous 30 mins and they get short and surly being asked again like it is some massive hassle and imposition to them. That is when I miss the professionalism of QF lounge staff.

Just trying to give some context, not making excuses for them - but for me the benefit just hasn't paid off

 

[Deleted member 29185]

for me the benefit just hasn't paid off

That's a fair statement. We all have to decide what works for us and what doesn't. Admittedly, most of my flts are outside peak periods and more often not within the golden triangle. Perhaps what you suggest is indeed a major reason.

 

[Justinf]

Fly ahead has always worked for me too. Most of the time I don't even need to ask.

 

[SimonF]

So basically one bad incident and you're like " stuff this airline, I'm changing alliance!" ?

I see way too many of these posts around how one mirror ( subjective I know) problem or incident causes someone to just give up on the airline completely. I remember reading a year ago how some top tier qantas person who had been top tier with them for 10 years on one flight they didn't load his fruit meal so that was it the usual "can't believe it ,never flying them again" comments came out.

Surely all airlines make mistake or have issues. Lately yes that's been VA a lot but I've never had any significant issues with them that would make me want to say " I'm never flying you again" or comments like that. I sure as hell wouldn't care about some seat mix up for a domestic flight which is so short. Sure these things in theory shouldn't happen but they do. Even to plats like you and me.

I would be slightly upset if I was flying from Mel to Europe or USA in F and I was mis-allocated seats and ended up being away from her but then again who cares - I spend enough time with her as it is.