More work required...

[greenfish]

Just hopped off DJ1225 CBR-BNE. First observation of the new service on an E190

Seated in 3C, business class looked good, served "vietnamese spring rolls" (I was purely an observer, flying on a saver). The empty aisle seats were as expected. a 4 person to 1 toilet ratio seems a bit silly.

Service for the saver fare plebs, not so good. "Would you like to buy anything off the menu?" - no thanks. No offer of a beer / tea / coffee.

Waited and waited. 30 minute delay announced. Still no complementary beverage service. Wandered down to the back of the plane (all staff had disappeared to the back where they were having some tucker). I asked what service there was supposed to be on the plane - they blamed the turbulence for the lack of a drinks service - though they still managed the "pay" service. However there was no problem giving me a nice cold beer wen I asked,

I was disappointed. On QF flights, everyone gets a drink and a meal (obviously) - and more often than not, we're offered another drink during the all too frequent delays into Brisbane. There was ample time for a drinks service during the delay (we were 40 minutes late into Brisbane),

The good news is I have 6 J reward tickets booked for the next few weeks - am looking forward to trying the spring rolls, and the service did look good in J.

Take home for DJ:

Platinum saver PAX would prefer to be offered a drink at some point.
Reserving the front loo for 4 PAX doesn't seem that sensible (though it doesn't impact me - no need to use it as I didn't get anything to drink for the first 1h20 minutes of the flight!).

 

[mavrick9]

same no beverage service was mentioned elsewhere in this forum... sounds like a good tip. - If they don't offer - Just ask and they'll give.

 

[Moopere]

Reserving the front loo for 4 PAX doesn't seem that sensible

I agree. But then, whilst I'm not a loo snob, they've got a hard enough time trying to create a differentiation to justify the J price. Y Pax lining up in the tiny forward section isn't going to advance the perception of a worthwhile spend on an E190 J experience.

I must admit I did notice the close guarding of both the J loo and the overhead locker space on a recent 737 trip. Y Pax tried to use both, even bursting through the little magnetic chain thingy, but were uncomprimisingly (but nicely) told that they could not do so.

 

[Noob]

Some really good feedback for Virgin there! Thanks for an interesting insight Greenfish.

Give it a week or two and hopefully these bumps are ironed out - 3 days since service start, crew would still be getting use to it I would imagine, especially being such a significant change.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Service for the saver fare plebs, not so good. "Would you like to buy anything off the menu?" - no thanks. No offer of a beer / tea / coffee.

Without getting too embroiled in a debate, I wonder what the FAs would have done if you asked for a beer then?

"Would you like to purchase anything from the menu?"
"No thanks, but I will have beer".
"That's $8 thanks."
"No it's not, it's complementary"

Seems a change to the initial spiel is required.

"Would you like to purchase any food from the menu, and would you like a complementary beverage?"

Bit of a tongue twister to be repeated many times.

 

[medipri]

Thanks so much for the feedback! I've been waiting for some comments on the E190 J class.

Im flying PER-ADL J class next wk. I was starting to wonder what exactly Virgin would be offering given that the E190s were only getting refurbished in Feb as reported on ausbt.com.au and whether its worth it. Good to hear that an updated menu and J service is already in place while we wait for IFE and better seats.

I can also confirm that Virgin is having alot of "catering issues" at the moment as already mentioned on another thread (VA launches Y class in Aus). I was flying Y class PER-ADL return which included the day that the new J class was supposed to be launching. On both flights, FA had to apologise to flexi savers that there were not enough meals provided to them by the caterers.

Ill definitely be logging my experience but I know it'll probably not be as good as the A330 PER-SYD J class product.

 

[Fruitcake]

Without getting too embroiled in a debate, I wonder what the FAs would have done if you asked for a beer then?

"Would you like to purchase anything from the menu?"
"No thanks, but I will have beer".
"That's $8 thanks."
"No it's not, it's complementary"

At which you'd probably be politely informed that, in line with the initial announcement of the 'complimentary drinks' program and the press release on the day of launch that the aforementioned service only applies to weekday flights

Edit: As Greenfish points out below, the flight in question was on a Friday, so my observation is largely irrelevant. Apologies.

Today we can also announce that our Saver fare guests travelling between Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney on Monday to Friday will be offered complimentary beer and wine between the hours of 4:00pm and 7:00pm (AEST).

FWIW, I was on board DJ661 (CBR-SYD @ 1700) yesterday and was offered the advertised 'capital connect' service of a muffin with complimentary beer, wine, juice or water.

On the way down to CBR on Friday night no service at all was received because the seatbelt sign remained illuminated until after top of descent, so the crew didn't leave their seats for the whole flight. That was due to forecast storms throughout the flight, so no real complaints from me there.

 

[greenfish]

At which you'd probably be politely informed that, in line with the initial announcement of the 'complimentary drinks' program and the press release on the day of launch that the aforementioned service only applies to weekday flights .

My flight was a Friday flight?

 

[Fruitcake]

My flight was a Friday flight?

My apologies, greenfish. I mentally 'mis-processed' the date of your post and thought your flight was on Saturday.

 

[smit0847]

I flew MEL-ADL on VA on Saturday morning and my experience was exactly the opposite. I was moved up to row 3 despite only being Silver so got to have a good look at the J product (which, interestingly was full despite the Y load only being about 80%.

Regarding the J product I noticed:

- Drinks were offered off a tray before take-off. This seemed stupid as presumably those that weren't taken were thrown out before take-off. With only 8 seats the crew member should have taken orders, made the drinks then served them.
- The magnetic divider thingy between Y and J was up for most of the flight which seemed to irritate the crew as they kept going back and forth through it. It may look simple but its not as easy to move through as a curtain.
- J Breakfast service was PAINFULLY slow. I was watching carefully and it took the CSM a good 30 minutes after the seat-belt sign went off before she wheeled the trolley out to serve. They are going to HAVE to get faster at this on these 1 hour flights. It appeared that breakfast was some sort of frittata/small quiche with a simple green salad and a side fruit salad. Smart, simple purple trays. Presentation looked nice but service was so slow that when the CSM finished serving the last person in row 2 she immediately moved back to row 1 to start collecting trays as we were starting the descent.

Meanwhile back in Y:
Row 3 is good (love the legroom) and feels like an exit row. The only downside to the aircraft I was on was that IFE was installed from row 4 onwards!!!
Drinks service was personally advised that on a saver I was entitled to free tea, coffee and water (the flirtatious cabin crew also offered me anything off the trolley whispering that it would all be complimentary but I dont think that was anything official because he certainly didnt offer that to anyone else in row 3).
The new black leather seats look fresh, smart and are very comfortable.

Overally I was pretty impressed with the new fit-outs - apart from the painfull slow-ness of the J service VA seem to have a clear idea of what they are doing and where they are going and it all seems modern, fresh and logical.

I flew back on QF (only because it was cheaper) and it reminded me exactly why I dont fly with them - ratty old plane, row 28, refused a request to move up any closer 50 minutes before departure, broken seat, pathetic 35g 'refreshment', departed and arrived late.