I'll go the duck! A Virgin tester.

[cove]

I did a tester this weekend on the Virgin A330 from Perth to Melbourne in J. This followed on from earlier suggestions from my youngest son and several AFF members who had told me that this service could not be faulted.
The business class section of the plane had only 5 seats used so it was a sit where you like thing and the folks from row one moved.
I passed on the champagne so I cannot tell you about which one was on offer.
My seat was easy to adjust and the IFE worked well once it was reset and the headsets were very good.
Flying time ended up around 3 and a half hours so just enough to watch two of the shorter movies.
Of course my question is " Why were only 5 seats taken when there is a 15% off points promotion running?"
The duck was excellent and the full redemption flights (there and back) were only 57,400 points and $45.80.

 

[vitagen]

Champers is lanson black label.

The Virgin dom J product in the new a330s beats QFs offering handsdown!

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[JohnK]

The duck was excellent and the full redemption flights (there and back) were only 57,400 points and $45.80.

Only 57,400 points? LOL. You say that as if it is only going to take you a week or 2 to replace those points.

 

[cove]

Thanks Vitagen for the champagne update. May try it on the way back to Perth.
Melbourne weather must have kept Perth folks away from here seeing it is wet,grey and cold.

 

[cove]

Actually JohnK it could be faster than a week as I have points warehoused in Citi Select and Westpac Black Altitude and there is a 15% transfer bonus at the moment.
Having zero status with Virgin it did not matter. The points offer to get status credits was a real chunk so I passed on bothering to get started on that journey.

 

[vitagen]

The champers is pretty bog standard, I would rate it above moet nv and just below veuve cliq nv.

 

[JohnK]

Actually JohnK it could be faster than a week....

Which was my point exactly.

Most people would take 2-3 years to accumulate those sorts of points so a return business class PER-MEL on Virgin for 1 person is not that high on their priority list.

 

[cove]

AFF is a place where you might learn how to earn a Golden Ticket like in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory but for flying.

 

[Reggie]

Thanks Vitagen for the champagne update. May try it on the way back to Perth.
Melbourne weather must have kept Perth folks away from here seeing it is wet,grey and cold.

Hi Cove,

the weather here in Perth is no better than you describe in MEL

 

[Princess Fiona]

The hard product is great on VA but I still think the soft product is not as good as QF at their best.
Enjoy it while you can folks, I personally don't think there is a big enough market to support QF and VA running large J cabins on the transcons.
Having said that I will give VA another go for my next SYD-PER scheduled at this stage for May 14

 

[cove]

In the next couple of days I will be doing the return to Perth out of Melbourne so naturally I will be interested in the plane and the number of seats taken in J on the A330. I had better try the champagne as well seeing my two day working week will be completed.
After assessing the flight I will look at whether I transfer more points across to Velocity using the 15% bonus that runs until the end of November.

 

[serfty]

...
After assessing the flight I will look at whether I transfer more points across to Velocity using the 15% bonus that runs until the end of November.

Just double checking - AFAIK, the 15% bonus transfer finished Oct 31st.

There is certainly still the 15% reduction on reward points redemption cost until the end of the month: Airline Special Offers | Velocity Frequent Flyer

Discussion here: www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/...ff-award-bookings-til-54288-2.html#post932352

 

[cove]

Serfty I think you are correct. My plan to get extra points on transfers appears to be over but I have plenty anyway.
No need to be greedy.

 

[markis10]

Serfty I think you are correct. My plan to get extra points on transfers appears to be over but I have plenty anyway.
No need to be greedy.

So the golden goose became duck!

 

[anat0l]

The hard product is great on VA but I still think the soft product is not as good as QF at their best.
Enjoy it while you can folks, I personally don't think there is a big enough market to support QF and VA running large J cabins on the transcons.
Having said that I will give VA another go for my next SYD-PER scheduled at this stage for May 14

I agree on your points (though VA vs QF is a lot more line ball in my books, or with VA having the edge).

I think the transcon market, however, isn't at risk of oversaturation. At least, our sandgroper brethren would heartily disagree and welcome any more services (anything to please them ). But seriously I don't believe it's oversaturated and not turning that way any time soon. The eastern seaboard, OTOH....

Now if the WA resources industry crashes, then maybe...

I'm confused like cove too as to why VA J cabins aren't all that full at all times. They have less seats than QF J, J is cheaper (both points and cash, excluding ASAs) and even if most of the seats are filled with corporate butts, VA supposedly wooed a nice chunk of those from QF. I'll admit I haven't been on a QF J transcon for yonks so maybe it's the same with QF - don't know.

Anyway, good to hear you enjoyed the service cove . I think it's clear you now have two clear transcon options.

 

[cove]

I am close to testing the return from MEL to PER so it will be interesting if it is the same style of J service and to see just how many seats are filled.
I have always enjoyed any duck meal and they did get the fat reduction done properly on my flight over.
Maybe we can get a golden goose from the Perth Mint.

 

[robd]

I am close to testing the return from MEL to PER so it will be interesting if it is the same style of J service and to see just how many seats are filled.
I have always enjoyed any duck meal and they did get the fat reduction done properly on my flight over.
Maybe we can get a golden goose from the Perth Mint.

I enjoyed the duck meal too, although I had to swipe the copious amount of beans off it, the flavour of which I thought overpowered the duck.

 

[drewbles]

I enjoyed the duck meal too, although I had to swipe the copious amount of beans off it, the flavour of which I thought overpowered the duck.

Interesting. Very few beans in the two duck mains I've had (both of which literally fell off the bone). Wonder if the menu will change in the next week or two (have another few flights coming up).

 

[cove]

On my way back to Perth from Melbourne in business class there were eight on board and I went two glasses of the Lanson champagne on the A330. I had the fish and prawn dinner and that was quite lovely following the soup.
You would be hard pressed to fault the service so the favorable comments I had from Serfty, Princess Fiona and my youngest son all proved to be correct. I think there were about one third of the seats taken so I am still wondering about the slow take up by the corporates and Platinums and higher Qantas flyers.
Now the last time I mentioned the product Singapore Suites in another thread the patronage seemed to jump dramatically so I was told off by Mrscove for crowding up their suites offering.
Anyway the coast to coast A330 service on Virgin Australia was really good and the staff were really excellent.
The Virgin tester is now completed.

 

[tuapekastar]

On my way back to Perth from Melbourne in business class there were eight on board and I went two glasses of the Lanson champagne on the A330. I had the fish and prawn dinner and that was quite lovely following the soup.
You would be hard pressed to fault the service so the favorable comments I had from Serfty, Princess Fiona and my youngest son all proved to be correct. I think there were about one third of the seats taken so I am still wondering about the slow take up by the corporates and Platinums and higher Qantas flyers.
Now the last time I mentioned the product Singapore Suites in another thread the patronage seemed to jump dramatically so I was told off by Mrscove for crowding up their suites offering.
Anyway the coast to coast A330 service on Virgin Australia was really good and the staff were really excellent.
The Virgin tester is now completed.

Glad you had good trips! FWIW, and make of it what you will, but of 7 transcon VA 332 sectors flown in J (the 8th had a 738 subbed in ;(), 6 of them had no more than about 6 or 7 pax, and the flights were brilliant, particularly the service.
However the other flight had about 16 pax in J and the crew seemed under severe pressure and a lot of mistakes were made - none of them huge, but when added together they certainly made for a disappointing experience. That flight was 12 or 18 months ago, so hopefully they have got better at it now.
Perhaps service in full J cabins is where QF excel over VA?