Things Virgin Australia Does & Doesn’t Do Well

[kevinmanderson]

Agree with mostof that. Food selection in lounge is boring and I often see fast food bought in. Some do dumplings at 5ish some days, nice change.

I’m Hobart based so lack of a lounge there is a pain. The recently made redundant security screening area must be an easy consideration although a bit tight.

 

[stevenwr175]

* There is free wifi for Biz, Plat and Gold, if I remember correctly..

That free wifi depends on the airframe you’re flying on and out of the last 10 flights on the east coast and to Adelaide 5 have had it with the last one not even on board entertainment on board. They need to fix this as it yet again just says we don’t value our frequent flyers especially those that need to catch up with business via an internet connection when they can.

 

[ben95]

Maybe that silver mobile boarding pass is for an Economy X row

Not in the cases I’ve witnesses.

 

[AIRwin]

* There is free wifi for Biz, Plat and Gold, if I remember correctly..

Not for Gold

 

[Flyingwombat]

Disagree on service - we find them disinterested at best and downright rude at worst. The fares are generally more expensive out of Hobart, and family pooling is now useless with the new status rules. We’ve pretty much stopped flying virgin for these reasons and the loss of international partners like Etihad and Delta. Qantas is not great by any means but virgin just don’t compete anymore… and I used to be a fan and even got to platinum… now red again and happy never to have status with them again.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That free wifi depends on the airframe you’re flying on and out of the last 10 flights on the east coast and to Adelaide 5 have had it with the last one not even on board entertainment on board. They need to fix this as it yet again just says we don’t value our frequent flyers especially those that need to catch up with business via an internet connection when they can.

I wrote to VA after 6/8 flights in a row didnt have wifi and or entertainment working.

The response was ‘inflight entertainment is only available on selected routes and on selected aircraft types’

I wrote back that Sydney to Melbourne should be one of those routes and the 737-800 one of those aircraft types.

They just wrote back and said entertainment is complimentary so there’s no reason to complain if it’s not offered.

 

[prelude]

Priority Boarding is an interesting one, overall, I've found it to be good in general, but in some ports (e.g., HBA and ADL), I can't tell if it's being poorly enforced or I happen to take flights with high premium loading. In SYD/MEL/BNE, I've found that I can gather my things in the lounge when boarding is called, and more often than not I just walk straight on in before general boarding starts. There was a recent instance where a dozen of us or so got final called on a delayed flight out of MEL though... was graciously allowed to put my luggage in the Business overhead (was in Econ X) but others behind me weren't as lucky...

One thing not covered in the original article is the baggage check-in experience which I've found to be wildly inconsistent. Terrible at MEL, I think the only port where I've had generally good experiences with was in SYD? Priority tagging hit and miss, although the in-app baggage notifications are great (I believe QF might have their own system but I've had not personal experience with it).

Another 'negative' is the lack of ways to earn status credits on the ground. Aside from the marginal Coles earn, there really aren't really any other opportunities (there was a credit card one I think two years ago?). It may be just a one-off from QF, but I will have 'accidentally' reached Silver (edited) from 4 flights this membership year from random status promotions and Green tier.

 

[serfty]

It may be just a one-off from QF, but I will have 'accidentally' reached Bronze from 4 flights this membership year from random status promotions and Green tier.

You mean Silver?

 

[2APlease]

I would add loading limited food in Business.
In my experience Row 1 is always served first and often Row 2 doesn't get a choice. It's the vegetarian leftovers only.
You could argue that this reduces waste but it's not the experience that was paid for.

 

[antycbr]

I would add loading limited food in Business.
In my experience Row 1 is always served first and often Row 2 doesn't get a choice. It's the vegetarian leftovers only.
You could argue that this reduces waste but it's not the experience that was paid for.

Especially when you could have a preorder system for both business and international short haul/transcon Y

 

[simmomelb]

* There is free wifi for Biz, Plat and Gold, if I remember correctly..

Bus and Plat. Not Gold.

 

[simmomelb]

Not in the cases I’ve witnesses.

You can't easily see their seat number, normally, and unless you are following them down to the centre of the aircraft...
Keep in mind there are at least 24 seats in Econ X that also have priority boarding, these pax may not have any Gold or Plat status.

 

[ben95]

You can't easily see their seat number, normally, and unless you are following them down to the centre of the aircraft...

Easy enough if you are like me which prefer the exit row Economy X. Simply see them turn around down the stairs to board from the back or follow them and see them take a seat that’s not the front economy X section.

I don’t make those kind of allegation unless I’m 100% sure

 

[kairos1901]

Nice article;
- I would add that Virgin does "lounge access on arrival" well for Gold and Platinum; I've never been refused entry before, and its nice to pickup a brief takeaway coffee on the way out

 

[aus_flyer]

Another 'negative' is the lack of ways to earn status credits on the ground. Aside from the marginal Coles earn, there really aren't really any other opportunities (there was a credit card one I think two years ago?). It may be just a one-off from QF, but I will have 'accidentally' reached Silver (edited) from 4 flights this membership year from random status promotions and Green tier.

Very rare for Qantas to allow status credit earn on the ground. Virgin offers more opportunities

 

[im.daniel]

Big things for me that VA do well;

1. Fares
More often than not, significantly cheaper than QF for domestic flying. That is the main reason I will continue to use VA despite the negative changes to their FF program. It also helps that I can easily earn QF WP solely from my international flying.

2. Fly Ahead
I have literally saved thousands of $$ over the years I have been Platinum with VA, selecting the cheapest night flight and calling on the day to fly at an earlier time that suits my needs. This is without a doubt the perk I value the most from VA, and it has never failed me once.

 

[aus_flyer]

2. Fly Ahead
I have literally saved thousands of $$ over the years I have been Platinum with VA, selecting the cheapest night flight and calling on the day to fly at an earlier time that suits my needs. This is without a doubt the perk I value the most from VA, and it has never failed me once.

Isn’t there a limit now on how much earlier you can fly? Such as, only the flight before?

 

[serfty]

Isn’t there a limit now on how much earlier you can fly? Such as, only the flight before?

Yes. For Platinum it is to move to flights scheduled up to two hours before a booked flight between two of Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane. For all other routes, the prior flight.

For Platinum Plus they need to call at least one hour before the scheduled departure time of the target flight.

Having posted this, tightening of the rules was relatively recent and that it would have been quite possible for @im.daniel to have done so before then.

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