What do you want from Business Class seats on Virgin?

[anat0l]

I think VA has quite literally dropped the ball on this, especially with today's announcement by QF of the new A330 1:2:1 J class cabin

They have enough time to saunter. QF won't start refitting until late 2014; plenty of time for VA to strategically analyse the QF move and then propose one of their own, which I'm sure will have a faster implementation than its competitor.

 

[smit0847]

Unless VA start sending their A330s internationally I don't think there is much need to change their C2C offering. Yes QF will probably have the worlds best domestic business class but they will also have 1/3 less J seats than they do now with their refit. I suspect this will mean a steady increase in fare price to compensate. While they will have a better product, VA will simply drop their price (a bit) and will then be priced well under QF for the same routes. As nice as it is to have a fully-flat bed its really not necessary for 4 - 5 hour flights (especially during the day) so I doubt THAT many people will pay a substantial premium for the QF product if the VA product is much cheaper. Would you pay, say $1300 for PER-SYD on QF if VA was only $800?

I think the new J will be brilliant for QF international, I think it's overkill for domestic.

 

[docjames]

I think VA has quite literally dropped the ball on this, especially with today's announcement by QF of the new A330 1:2:1 J class cabin

You wouldn't suppose they were inter-related?

The delay may have been that they heard rumours of QF's upgrade (it's been flagged for a while) and wanted to wait and see what QF announced before jumping.

It would have been nice, after the offer here from the VA reps, to have a bit more detail as to what happened / why the ongoing delay?

 

[MichaelD]

Would you pay, say $1300 for PER-SYD on QF if VA was only $800?

Absolutely, yes. I would and I *do*.

I have one last VA MEL-PER flight this weekend. All my MEL-PER bookings after that are on Qantas DESPITE the substantial price differential.

Why?

1. QF consistency of service. VA service, even on their supposedly flagship coast-to-coast service, varies from excellent to dreadful. [I am referring to J, not Y.]

2. On time performance. Even though the published numbers suggest VA is better than QF, this has most definitely NOT been my experience in real life. If I really need to get somewhere on time, I'm far more likely to get there on time with QF than VA.

3. Fixing things proactively. QF big win here over VA. I just have less hassles getting to where I need to go on time with Qantas than with Virgin. If there are problems, they are much better handled with QF than VA. VA really drops the ball when flights are cancelled or delayed.


I'll be interested to see the flight loadings with my next QF coast-to-coast trip, as VA loads MEL-PER have been getting lighter and lighter in J of late, despite the substantial price difference.


If you keep shafting your premium customers, as is evident from this thread, they vote with their feet. It is STAGGERING that a company specifically invites their PREMIUM customers to an event and then the company simply DOESN'T SHOW UP. Extraordinary! And they expect these customers to reward them?

 

[goingboeing]

1. QF consistency of service. VA service, even on their supposedly flagship coast-to-coast service, varies from excellent to dreadful. [I am referring to J, not Y.]

This is a big mystery box that VA have on the Coast to Coast. The A330's are a great product (well except our friends XFA and XFB) and while last minute tech problems come up, it is highly annoying when VA advertise the service as "all A330" from Sydney and Melbourne in their marketing, and then go and stick in 737's as they like.

You still are paying the same amount, but in my opinion, the hard product is a big drop from the A330 to the 737 and leaves a bad taste. Yes, you still get there in the end which is the main point - but don't market how great the A330 is and state this as the AC type during booking only to then still bump flights back to the 737NGs at random when it isn't due to last minute tech issues.

 

[smit0847]

Virgin Australia plans next-gen 'Qantas-beating' seat for A330s - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

A classic line from JB: "My first reaction (on seeing the new Qantas suite) was almost to send Alan Joyce a 'thank you' note for showing me with over a year's lead time what he's going to be doing with the product" Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti told Australian Business Traveller when asked about his thoughts on the new seat.

He has a point.

 

[straitman]

Absolutely, yes. I would and I *do*.

I have one last VA MEL-PER flight this weekend. All my MEL-PER bookings after that are on Qantas DESPITE the substantial price differential.

Why?

1. QF consistency of service. VA service, even on their supposedly flagship coast-to-coast service, varies from excellent to dreadful. [I am referring to J, not Y.]

2. On time performance. Even though the published numbers suggest VA is better than QF, this has most definitely NOT been my experience in real life. If I really need to get somewhere on time, I'm far more likely to get there on time with QF than VA.

3. Fixing things proactively. QF big win here over VA. I just have less hassles getting to where I need to go on time with Qantas than with Virgin. If there are problems, they are much better handled with QF than VA. VA really drops the ball when flights are cancelled or delayed.


I'll be interested to see the flight loadings with my next QF coast-to-coast trip, as VA loads MEL-PER have been getting lighter and lighter in J of late, despite the substantial price difference.


If you keep shafting your premium customers, as is evident from this thread, they vote with their feet. It is STAGGERING that a company specifically invites their PREMIUM customers to an event and then the company simply DOESN'T SHOW UP. Extraordinary! And they expect these customers to reward them?

Tomorrow will be my 9th VA 'J' flight in 3 weeks with all flights being between the MEL, BNE and CNS combinations. I'll answer your comments one at a time. My last flights, MEL-BNE, BNE-CNS and CNS-MEL I tried to book QF but it was not a practical option.

I would not pay the fare difference you are talking about even IF there was the service difference and I don't believe there is. Certainly on these flights it's not appropriate as QF has 'almost' abandoned Cairns. (Sorry donated Cairns to JQ)

Points 1, 2 & 3.

1. Inconsistency of service is the thing that Qantas is consistently accused of by many people on the forums. My VA experience of the last few weeks has been at worst very good and mostly great.

2. The latest we have had was a 22 min late departure from MEL-BNE. Most of that was made up until BNE ATC gave us 15 min holding and so we landed 25 min late. Every other flight was more or less on time. ie my experience is obviously quite different to yours.

3. Not meaning to offend but I think you are dreaming here. VA is so much better at service recovery than I have ever seen out of QF. I was talking about this with two lots of friends in the last two days. One group are passengers and the other are (QF) pilots and retired pilots and they agree with me on this. VA are not as prominent on the forum at the moment but they have had great service recovery on the few occasions I have needed it.

 

[MichaelD]

VA are not as prominent on the forum at the moment but they have had great service recovery on the few occasions I have needed it.

We'll have to agree to disagree I'm afraid. Every time I have had delays or problems with VA they have been entirely unhelpful. :-|

Pleasant - yes. Polite - yes. Helpful - nope. I've always had to either suggest solutions or proactively help myself at the earliest hint of a problem.

My family groans and moans endlessly whenever they hear we're travelling on VA and almost need to be dragged onto their planes these days due to the ongoing service inconsistencies that they perceive. That speaks volumes.

ps I am delighted that your experiences have been better than mine.

 

[Whatever]

Not sure it will be the Best Domestic Business Class in the World.... This is essentially the same seat in use on the Delta 767 today and being installed by Jetblue soon. At least Jetblue made the aisle seat private with the addition of a door.

Introducing JetBlue’s New Interior Design on Vimeo

 

[IainF]

My current thoughts (Incl Mrs F thoughts..she has flown 100+ J flights on VA in last 12 months both international & domestic)

The Hard Product
737 - Seats are actually not very comfortable. Pitch is OK but I can never seem to get the right seating position.
A330 - The J seats are great.... the exception being XFA & XFB. These two planes seem to be used more on the BNE-PER of late. We hate them with a passion.
777 - Love them, especially row 5. Best seats I have flown on, with the exception of EK First suite.

The Soft Product
737/A330 - Varies from OK to great. The exception though is dietary choice. MrsF is Gluten free and often ends up with a salad & some nuts cobbled together from a Y meal....
Multiple suggestions & complaints have led to exactly nothing changing. When Mrs F travels her plans are set and she generally doesn't change flights, there is no reason why SOME sort of meal could be sorted for her. She commutes between BNE & PER quite often (2-3 times a month at least) and rarely gets to eat. The FAs are generally good at handling this but are let down by the choice they are given. Given the price being paid for the flight, a grilled chicken salad and some fruit would be fine.......

777 - No problem with International catering. They have looked after her well. I am very happy with choice of food on the flights. The service has been spectacular. We flew SYD-LAX on Xmas day 2012 and loved how well we were treated. Is easily the best service we have had in the last 5 years. The only complaint here is the transfers between domestic and international at SYD. Plats in J class should receive a bit of consideration.... Maybe not having to queue to get a transfer pass would be nice.

Overall, we are happy with J class on VA. Still ranks above QF both domestically and internationally for us, but the little things that go wrong have really annoyed us.

 

[maninblack]

My current thoughts (Incl Mrs F thoughts..she has flown 100+ J flights on VA in last 12 months both international & domestic)

The only complaint here is the transfers between domestic and international at SYD. Plats in J class should receive a bit of consideration.... Maybe not having to queue to get a transfer pass would be nice.

Overall, we are happy with J class on VA. Still ranks above QF both domestically and internationally for us, but the little things that go wrong have really annoyed us.

Interesting comments. It's all of the little inadequacies and inconsistencies with VA that I find still really let them down when you add them together. You know those surveys that ask you, "how likely is it that you would recommend to a friend?" or some such question...with VA I'm still right in the middle on that one.