Feeling ripped off by Virgin advertising - we now serve food and beverage

[Deleted member 29185]

Point taken.

My point is in the time they did have available with 2 carts they could have given everyone a "snack" and drink. The paid service with all its glitches can be done after the "free" service? No?

It is quite obvious to me the FAs cannot handle both.

Shhhhh, it doesn't effect me in row 3 and I fear they'll remove the BOB and all of us will be just left with the insult to normal intelligence that they call a snack.

BTW, I also find QF "food" is better, although my QF flights recently are 2+ hours usually. I don't know about short hops.

 

[medhead]

Well here is Qantas' snack from today. Granted the packaging is impressive. But the quality of the actual food was no better than VA. Birdseed, sloppy dip like stuff and crumbly biscuits that were pretty darn sweet despite the label.

 

[medhead]

Cheese and crackers last night on the Qantas flight. Outstanding quality packaging!!! But still inside the beautiful pack there was cheese and crackers.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Cheese and crackers last night on the Qantas flight. Outstanding quality packaging!!! But still inside the beautiful pack there was cheese and crackers.

Coincidentally, my last VA flight was.......cheese and crackers. But, believe it or not, it was a win. The previous cheese and crackers I got on VA was some odd looking crackers (minimal in number) and one bit of cheese packaged up in a designer wrapper. "That piece of cheese is not big enough to choke a mouse", I though, whereas last flight we got the Mainland cheese and crackers off the cart, which was a huge improvement as all I had to do was to buy a Pinot Gris off the cart and I was happy. How's that for the state of VA "food" offering. To do better, they go back to the cart offering of the LCC years! :mrgreen:

So, who's up for a race to the bottom?

 

[medhead]

Coincidentally, my last VA flight was.......cheese and crackers. But, believe it or not, it was a win. The previous cheese and crackers I got on VA was some odd looking crackers (minimal in number) and one bit of cheese packaged up in a designer wrapper. "That piece of cheese is not big enough to choke a mouse", I though, whereas last flight we got the Mainland cheese and crackers off the cart, which was a huge improvement as all I had to do was to buy a Pinot Gris off the cart and I was happy. How's that for the state of VA "food" offering. To do better, they go back to the cart offering of the LCC years! :mrgreen:

So, who's up for a race to the bottom?

Gotta say, that loping at my usual route ADL-SYD, I see VA standard price is at $159, against IIRC $165 on qantas. Not much margin for buying off the cart. At least on Qantas the CSM will tell me about his holiday in Brazil, and ask about the funny mark on my face.

 

[Warks]

SYD-OOL-SYD = one Mint Slice biscuit each way! Two would have been okay. Better than nothing though.

 

[Saab34]

Does Virgin actually offer full meals (same as trans con and pacific) on any routes besides Perth?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Gotta say, that loping at my usual route ADL-SYD, I see VA standard price is at $159, against IIRC $165 on qantas. Not much margin for buying off the cart. At least on Qantas the CSM will tell me about his holiday in Brazil, and ask about the funny mark on my face.

Not much margin, I grant you. My attitude has always been that if I fly cheap, I can afford the odd wine and cheese in flight. Trouble is, that was LCC, -Y. Now I fly the supposed FCC in Flexi and for upwards of 4x the fare. I get little more than I did in -Y LCC. Hmmmm, where's the alternative? My guess is JQ (for me, I'm not advocating it)!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Does Virgin actually offer full meals (same as trans con and pacific) on any routes besides Perth?

Don't mention the meals! I did once, but I think I got away with it!*

*Basil Fawlty ..... The War.

 

[JohnK]

So, who's up for a race to the bottom?

I don't get that feeling from Qantas. But then my experiences are not the same as others on here.

E.g. SYD-BNE flight today with 5:05pm departure. Offered penne pasta with vegetables and ham pieces (very tasty sauce) or Middle Eastern salad for "dinner". Have dinner times been extended? Also had a complimentary wine as I helped out with safety demonstration.

And cheese and biscuits on Virgin would be a huge improvement on some of the stuff they are serving.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I don't get that feeling from Qantas. But then my experiences are not the same as others on here.

E.g. SYD-BNE flight today with 5:05pm departure. Offered penne pasta with vegetables and ham pieces (very tasty sauce) or Middle Eastern salad for "dinner". Have dinner times been extended? Also had a complimentary wine as I helped out with safety demonstration.

And cheese and biscuits on Virgin would be a huge improvement on some of the stuff they are serving.

Dinner was extended til 5pm a while back

 

[Deleted member 29185]

And cheese and biscuits on Virgin would be a huge improvement on some of the stuff they are serving.

Yep, I agree with that whole-heartedly!

 

[Warks]

Flew SYD-AKL on VA and WLG-SYD on NZ in the last two weeks and didn't get a scrap of food on either leg. What's that about? It was almost as though they went out of their way to give us nothing. There was an announcement about meals for Flexis which I assumed would come out first but it seems like at least 2 out of 3 pax got meals. With no IFE on the VA flight it was pretty poor overall. I didn't think the flights I booked were all that cheap either (although they were the cheapest I could get for January). On Air NZ we also got nothing but a cup of water (or tea/coffee) but at least we had IFE.If VA are spruiking about their meals on all domestic flights now how come they can't throw in something for three hour trans-Tasman flights? Pretty poor. Our domestic Air NZ flights were better - at least we got a Cookie Time cookie!I'm glad I didn't pay an extra $100 or whatever for a $15 meal but it would be nice to be offered something - not even a boiled lolly (a staple of Air NZ domestic).Also glad I could get into the Koru Clubs and tuck in!

 

[Milefest]

I wasn't aware flexis still had specific meals, though you would have been disappointed with the "food" anyway, it's better to eat beforehand or at the lounge unfortunately. When you say there was no IFE, are you referring to the on-board wifi service?

 

[mannej]

The inclusions are listed under Planning -> Fare type -> Short haul international wrt food and beverage

 

[HeavyElectricity]

The short-haul international 'saver' fare description says food is only provided on flights to Denpasar, coughet, and Nadi: https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/plan/fare-types/short-haul-international/#saver .

 

[Warks]

The inclusions are listed under Planning -> Fare type -> Short haul international wrt food and beverage

Yeah I just assumed given all the hoohah about 'meals' on all domestic services. What I couldn't figure is that nearly all the passengers I could see got meals. Did they really all pay much higher fares?

As for IFE there probably was the wifi but as I only carry a phone I'm not going to waste time watching stuff on that. They offered tablets to some pax near the front though.
The Air NZ flight had full IFE - screen in back of chair, console etc but I noted they charged for ALL movies - even old rubbish that has been on TV a hundred times. But the TV shows were free so I managed to see the first two episodes of 'Humans' so will check that out now.

Anyway I didn't really care that much as we got plenty to eat in the lounges but it's a bit of a weak offering by VA I think.

 

[bubblyguy]

Anyway I didn't really care that much as we got plenty to eat in the lounges but it's a bit of a weak offering by VA I think.

The Trans Tasman experience and making it a totally different is due to Air New Zealand. They didn't even want Business Class on the TT flights but VA finally dug in their heels and put it on.

Last week actually a new fare structure has been announced which is effective the 11th of February for TT. In Economy there is now Seat, Seat and Bag, Saver and Flexi. The retail fare guide is located here http://www.virginaustralia.com/cs/g...bcontent/~edisp/fare_type_guide_tt_retail.pdf

Saver and Flexi fares include complimentary food and beverages. Seat and Seat and Bag fares do not. Currently only Flexi fares and above include food and beverages.

You will notice in the fare guide that the fare codes T and Q overlap in both the Seat and Bag and Saver fare types. To ensure more inclusions if you are selecting T or Q class you will want the Saver type.

All Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 aircraft do have the WiFi entertainment system, there are two 737-700 aircraft, mostly flying in WA, that do not have the WiFi system. Guests travelling in Business Class are offered the complimentary tablets as part of their fare. They used to be also offered to Flexi fare guests but this is no longer possible as the aircraft can't hold enough tablets to accomodate Flexi fare passengers (peak periods can be 120+).

I hope this information helps to understand why things are different on Tasman flights compared to all other VA services.

 

[bullerdude]

Yep the problem of food on the trans-tasman flights sits with VA legal team who have to agree with AirNZ's legal team on how their 'alliance' flight work, so that they have matching services.

So whilst VA may want to lift the services, its quite hard for them to do so as it requires re-agreeing the entire alliance agreement which governs every trans-tasman flight for VA and AirNZ.

The new fare guide coming up for Feb 11th seems to show even further allignment with the AirNZ ticket types.

 

[Warks]

For all that the fares aren't even cheap most of the time. QF can have better fares and of course there's Jetstar. It should really just be a domestic flight, hopefully that will change in the future and we may see some decent competition. Won't hold my breath.