Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[dzinh]

Because alcohol can't be served on the ground on the 737/E90, but can be on the A330?

Do they serve The Australian coughtail on the A330? I know they do on the 777.

No Australian coughtail on my flight the other day. That mock tail & coughtail would of been the cherry ontop for my trip

 

[jazza1971]

Well tbh, I often ask and receive a 'mocktail' with vodka when boarding....never been a drama

 

[Princess Fiona]

No Australian coughtail on my flight the other day. That mock tail & coughtail would of been the cherry ontop for my trip

They do serve Champagne on the A330 though and I would much prefer that any day YMMV

 

[dzinh]

Well tbh, I often ask and receive a 'mocktail' with vodka when boarding....never been a drama

I guess you've been recieving the mocktial on the 737 then, it's a shame its not on the 330.

 

[dzinh]

They do serve Champagne on the A330 though and I would much prefer that any day YMMV

Yes indeed!!! I went against my "no alcohol on board today" and had 4 glasses of the Lanson as well as baileys. The 330 crew are very attentive and kept that glass topped up

 

[Princess Fiona]

Yes indeed!!! I went against my "no alcohol on board today" and had 4 glasses of the Lanson as well as baileys. The 330 crew are very attentive and kept that glass topped up

A bit slow to post but I had my inaugural Coast to Coast A330 flight last night BNE-PER.
As many will know I'm an avowed QF fan but I have to say that this tears strips off everything QF has on the transcons with the exception of the now defunct 747 and the Skybed A330.
Great seat, massive TV screen, amenity kits and small but attractive menu with 3 choices for entree, main and desert.
Very impressed and would happily choose VA again for this route.
TBH I think that the E190 and 737 are a sort of novelty J class but I think VA have really hit their stride with the A330.

 

[dzinh]

A bit slow to post but I had my inaugural Coast to Coast A330 flight last night BNE-PER.
As many will know I'm an avowed QF fan but I have to say that this tears strips off everything QF has on the transcons with the exception of the now defunct 747 and the Skybed A330.
Great seat, massive TV screen, amenity kits and small but attractive menu with 3 choices for entree, main and desert.
Very impressed and would happily choose VA again for this route.
TBH I think that the E190 and 737 are a sort of novelty J class but I think VA have really hit their stride with the A330.

After experiencing J in the 330, I can't look the the 737 J service the same again, I was telling myself that it was a domestic flight home to MEL, not to some destination in asia or so, its sad that the 330 is only on transcon flights, if VA deployed the 330 to other destinations then it would be a massive step up and hit QF directly for the J business.

 

[Justinf]

Well tbh, I often ask and receive a 'mocktail' with vodka when boarding....never been a drama

On a SYD-OOL flight 12.10pm last Saturday I was asked if I wanted a pre-flight drink. I asked whether I could have a glass of red and the CSM was happy to oblige. Made me feel important* sipping on my cab sav while everyone in Y walked past and looked out of jealousy.
* I didn't really feel important, but it did feel good.

 

[QF WP]

A bit slow to post but I had my inaugural Coast to Coast A330 flight last night BNE-PER.
As many will know I'm an avowed QF fan but I have to say that this tears strips off everything QF has on the transcons with the exception of the now defunct 747 and the Skybed A330.
Great seat, massive TV screen, amenity kits and small but attractive menu with 3 choices for entree, main and desert.
Very impressed and would happily choose VA again for this route.
TBH I think that the E190 and 737 are a sort of novelty J class but I think VA have really hit their stride with the A330.

+2, Princess Fiona. Mrs LW had her first 2 weeks ago MEL/PER, then we followed up with a 767 return to BNE on QF.

Admittedly not a direct comparison, however she was bowled over by VA's 332 - service, menu, comfort, space. I doubt she'll willingly let me book her on anything else now - what have I done

 

[serfty]

Because alcohol can't be served on the ground on the 737/E90, but can be on the A330?

Do they serve The Australian coughtail on the A330? I know they do on the 777.

I seriously doubt that; unless the have some LCC echeapo licence, I can not see why alcohol could be not be served other than it being VA policy.

 

[drewbles]

Because alcohol can't be served on the ground on the 737/E90, but can be on the A330?

Do they serve The Australian coughtail on the A330? I know they do on the 777.

The Australia coughtail went the way of the dodo some time ago (unless it's come back). I wasn't bumped to J the other day so was slumming it in W. No idea if the other side of the curtain had it

 

[Bundy Bear]

I flew on the morning service BNE-PER and the service was very good.

First up was breakfast



Then a mid morning snack.



Then finally an arrival type lunch.



And that's not all an amenity kit.



I will use the pen and the toothpaste.

Then tablet had a decent selection, got through 2 movies, Big with Tom Hanks and Cheerful weather for a wedding.

Although I would have preferred live2 air.

 

[LiamR]

I seriously doubt that; unless the have some LCC echeapo licence, I can not see why alcohol could be not be served other than it being VA policy.

Nope! It's completely correct, no liquor licence for narrow bodies on the ground.

Do QF serve liquor on the ground, on narrow bodies?

 

[muppet]

Nope! It's completely correct, no liquor licence for narrow bodies on the ground.

Do QF serve liquor on the ground, on narrow bodies?

Yep. Jetconnect across to NZ.

 

[LiamR]

Yep. Jetconnect across to NZ.

Yes I'm aware of this, however I was thinking more along the lines of VH registered narrow body aircraft, which come under Australian law.

 

[Noob]

Yes I'm aware of this, however I was thinking more along the lines of VH registered narrow body aircraft, which come under Australian law.

I've never been offered alcohol pre-flight on the ground on a QF 737 in J (Or VA 737 in J)- That being said, i don't fly J hardly ever, no point for me ADL<->MEL when i'm just trying to wake up or rest...

 

[Ewing]

Yes I'm aware of this, however I was thinking more along the lines of VH registered narrow body aircraft, which come under Australian law.

VH yes, but also when flying to NZ.

 

[smit0847]

MEL-BNE-MEL over the weekend - both flights dinner service. Both CSMs were great but the service was very, very different between the two flights.

MEL-BNE
CSM Thyra (I think thats the correct spelling, but pronounced Tyra like the model?) was excellent when she was there but hid away for much of the flight. She vanished behind the curtain for agggggges once she was released from take-off - it would have been at least 30 minutes before she even took our dinner order. Choice between beef spare rib with onions and polenta or some sort of ravioli or cannelloni pasta thing. We both went for the beef and it was delicious - certainly the best non-breakfast J meal I've had. Beef was very tender. Trays delivered individually from the galley and constant drink refills offered. Once again got the pointless leaf salad which feels like an afterthought and no dessert except for 2 chocolates - was there ever dessert offered with dinner in J?!
My clumsy partner accidentally spilled my coughtail all over my pants (light gray jeans) so I was covered in red liquid. I went into the front galley in search of a towel and some soda water and Thyra immediately sprung into action offering to douse the affected areas with soda water and this is where she shone. The spillage had reached some rather interesting parts of my jeans and as she was patting those areas she realised what she was doing and said 'please don't report me!'. We both laughed it off and I will send good feedback about her - she did everything she could to help solve something that was our fault and very quickly replaced the spilt drink too.
5/8 in J.

BNE-MEL
I think the CSM's name was Ed and he was very comfortable and confident in his role (he seemed like he had been doing it for quite some time and could do it in his sleep). Offered a pre-meal drink after take-off which we didn't receive on the previous flight and served us dinner very, very quickly. This was done off the trolley which I really dislike as it feels like a Y meal and service (I don't want to see them taking off foil etc). Choice between Mediterranean chicken with israeli cous-cous or polenta. I went the chicken and it looked and tasted like a Lean Cuisine meal - very dull and someone I could have made much better in 15 minutes at home. Again, pointless salad and no dessert.
Ed was very diligent with drink refills and offered us snacks off the Y menu after dinner (cheese and crackers, chips etc). Some of the pax were hitting the wine pretty hard - I saw one guy have at least 5 glasses during the 2 hour flight - Ed was still pouring wine when we had started our descent and allowed pax to keep their glasses for landing which I thought was odd.
There was a woman with 2 small very well-dressed children in row 3 who Im guessing was either WP+, staff or a VIP as the crew fussed over her quite a bit (galaxy pads, snacks served in J crockery) which was fine except her kids were a pain in the a**e. They were rolling (yes rolling) up through the business cabin under the curtain to the front toilets. They did this a few times and then started running up through the business cabin and literally hurtling themselves through the curtain and landing on the floor. Not the safest way to behave on a plane and the Mother did nothing to control them. This happened to be at the times when the CSM was down the back otherwise I hope he would have turned them around.

Overall, 2 really good flights. I still don't think J is worth the price VA charge (we were using $200 happy hour fares) but it certainly is a very pleasant way to travel.

 

[dzinh]

Great feedback on the J product Smit0847. After flying on the 330, I don't know how I'm going to face the 737 J again, I personally wouldn't pay for it with my own money as I don't find it to be spectacular enough, no in seat power or personal IFE.

Catering can be a hit and miss and service wise just relies on who is looking after the cabin.

 

[toowongman]

Catering can be a hit and miss and service wise just relies on who is looking after the cabin.

That's one of the largest problems - everything is so random (food, service standards etc.) You can have a great dessert with a snack meal, yet they give two chocolates with dinner (and that coughpy green bowl of plain warm salad leaves). Some crew are fantastic, and some should be left behind. I'll have a good flight, tell someone about it - and they have a cough flight which makes me look like a dill and loses VA another possible customer.