[Anonymous]

[tonyrastall]

No question, fantastic ad campaigns, but I can’t help feeling they are in danger of over promising and under delivering.

I have flown them many times to / from USA and on most flights there are “issues” i.e. short trip to Vegas last year, flight out cancelled a few days before for no explained reason (gather it was too empty) and offered alt dates, having lost the special seats in Upper we had reserved – wife is a Dr so last minute holiday date changes not a 5 min job, no offer of any compo – flew out to Miami last week in Prem Economy – asked for a few things (nothing outrageous, a sweetener for my coffee, and an extra sandwich) on both occasions they said they would come back – of course they didn’t.

Flying back with them to day again in Prem Economy, nothing in my screen worked (no light, no movie, no call button) – i was told i could not be moved because the plane was “chokka” (despite being asked at check in if I wanted to pay over US$1600 to fly back upper!) – my compo here 4000 airmiles or a £20 voucher (apparently 12 other seats had the same problem!), and then of course the classic a few years ago on the virgin credit card scam where you spent x grand to get a free companion ticket, but of course the trap was the first ticket had to be sold to you at max full price, so it was inevitably cheaper to buy 2 cheapies on line – what maketing genius came up with that one?

Met a Virgin staff member who said they got very bad feedback from loads of their frequent fliers for that gag. Finally, add to that the tired planes and the old bed seats, (and an increasingly user unfriendly freq flyer programme) and I can’t believe I am saying it, but I would these days rather go BA!!

[Shearer]

Virgin do seem to have a problem with consistency.

Companion ticket does not have to accompany a full price ticket, just a flexible one. Which is still sneaky.

[superchris]

Like a lot of frequent flyer programs, its just about knowing what represents value and what doesnt. The companion vouchers are poor value, unless you can bring a partner on a ‘paid for by the business’ flexible ticket, which is unusual.

Miles and money fares are also a poor use of miles. Yet I found the points via ancillary spend quite good value (especially purple parking) and then burning via W or J class tickets pretty good. I recently had an upgrade voucher via my credit card and was able to use it against a miles sale fare to gt a bargain one way fare in w class joburg – heathrow. Plus have done at airport upgrades to J for a reasonable amount of miles.

Agree re the service though. Its an old product, particularly the A340-300’s, and the staff get really bored of apologising for it. Their Vegas route also, from a service point of view is a dog. Largely due to all the outrageous stag dos on board and again the staff find it hard to bite their lip.

A bit of investment needed from a US and Middle East sugar daddy is needed perhaps…..

[TDGlen4]

They should spend money on the product and not the flashy ad.

[capetonianm]

My last two trips on VS between LHR and CPT/JNB were below the service levels I expected and below the levels of their competitors on the route. Had the price been exceptionally low, I might have regarded that as a fair compromise, but it wasn’t.

It’s an airline that I am unlikely to fly on again.

[travelworld]

The service levels are without doubt a far cry from the heady days of the 1990s (sofas in Upper Class on the first A340s, Range Rover pick up at LHR,flight beauty therapist, great goodie bags ) and earlier parts of the 2000s but all airlines have had to scrimp and save. I also think that an image makeover woudln’t go amiss- what was previously novel and informal is now just tacky. Overall, I still think that they are pretty good, but no longer head and shoulders above most of the rest. Must confess I usually prefer BA.

[CityRiskBoy]

They have been sliding down that slippery slope for the past few years. A big problem with their onboard product is their fleet size, its just not big enough to maintain consistency across the whole fleet from problems on board with IFE or a last minute cancellation.
I have had X amount of feedback from our employees (we do a lot of international travel as a company) telling me the same old stories….Running out of alcohol mid flight, poor catering, dodgy IFE, poor frequent flyer program and cabin crew that just disappear, are rude or stand around in the galleys chatting about their social lives.

[VintageKrug]

The Ads are great.

The lounge at Heathrow is top notch, as is the chauffeur transfer if you’re on one of the overpriced ticket classes which permit its use.

Apart from those differentiators, it’s not worth the bother.

[AnastasiaBeaverhouzen]

Oh Vintage you would say that wouldn’t you honey?

My regular trips are proving to be more than adequate to SFO, certainly none of the problems some of those old BA planes were having, and the food, well it hasn’t killed me and it hasn’t spat in my face like the slop from BA!

And I bet you thought I’d gone for good!

xx Anastasia

[LeTigre]

This kind of question is not really answerable. You would have to ask thousands of people to get a reliable answer.

But, anyway, the hard product of both BA and Virgin Atlantic has improved and is improving. BA is introducing A380s, 787s, 777-300ERs and refurbishing a few 777s. It is let down by tired 737-400s and 747s which are likely to be gone within 5-10 years. Similarly, Virgin Atlantic has 10 brand new A330s in operation as well as 8 (or seven) refitted 747s, and 787-9s coming next year. Most of the A340-600s are only 6-9 years old. They are let down by older A340-300s, the only ones without AVOD, but there are only a few and these are all going within a couple of years.

So the hard product is getting updated. Soft product is hard to measure though, and it may be that both airlines are saving on catering.

Another point with Virgin is the novelty has worn off. Could this be one reason?

[rferguson]

Oh LeTigre don’t forget the BA 767’s that really are an embarrassment and make the old 747’s look luxurious!

In fairness, what I have thought for a long time about Virgin is that it has become a victim of it’s own hype. I started my aviation career with Virgin as crew. at that time (late mid 90’s) it really DID deliver what it said on the box. It was a totally new concept, it was naughty, it was cheeky, it was glamorous and the staff WERE beautiful (modesty is a virtue lol). Only kidding. And I think today they still try to promote the same image – that of total innovation and glamour and cutting edge design and technology. Which to a great degree isn’t really what you will experience.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Virgin in a lot of aspects kick BA in the butt. But I think where the difference is, is that passengers kind of get with BA what it promotes in it’s own advertising. Dependable, British, understated. Yes, sometimes that can mean delayed, cold and snobbish! But there is almost like there is that slight expectation that that will be the case anyway with BA. Give them an ontime flight with friendly crew and decent grub and they are all ‘Ohhh BA is great, much better than I was expecting’.

Whereas I think when people chose to fly Virgin for the first time their expectations are massive. They have flown BA and the likes and are tired of them and want that Virgin ‘flair’ that VS promotes. They want that totally ‘different, fun’ experience from glamorous and sexy staff, served on new aircraft with top of the range products. But the reality is they are likely to get on an aircraft which is much like pretty much any other airlines with staff that are feeling quite demotivated at the moment (im told by my VS friends that morale is very low) serving a product that has ‘cost cutting’ written all over it (like many airlines out there).

[Bullfrog]

The Clubhouse at Heathrow is great, and yes, being a member of Freeway, their frequent flyer program since 1992, their ‘companion offer’ is useless.

Fortunately all my experiences with Virgin are in Upper Class. I personally prefer Upper Class over BA CW when I need a flat bed, as at 6’2 tall, CW is just too cramped.

My partner returned this morning from Newark on BA. She had nothing but criticism for the CW seat on the 767.

So it’s ‘swings and roundabouts’ on both BA and VS.

[DRWAC001]

I have been a loyal Virgin supporter for over 20 years, but I have to agree that the product and service is slipping and inconsistent these days.
We just came back from a return flight to NY in UC on the 747. As usual the transfer, drive thru check in and Clubhouse was excellent and I cannot fault it.
However, the flight itself was not great. We were in the upper deck, both of our seats still had socks and rubbish left from the previous flight in the pockets. The seat was grubby and my screen could not be stowed away as the latch had gone. I realise they are in the process of replacing the seats, but the cleaning is an issue.
We were looking forward to be able to start watching the IFE as soon as we boarded, a service only recently introduced. Only problem was the IFE didn’t work. We had to wait until the system was reset , which took 45 minutes. It worked for 15 minutes and then froze again. This was the case all over the plane. In the end it was stopped and reset over 4 times but only started working properly 2 hours before landing. They have also dropped the afternoon tea offering from the NY service (wonder why as the Boston flight still has it and that is a shorter flight, as far as I know)

Trying to sleep was difficultl, as the seat didn’t go completely flat which left a ridge just where your shoulder is, making it very uncomfortable.

Although the CSD came upstairs on a few occasions to go into the cockpit, he never once bothered to introduce himself or in fact even acknowledge any of the UC pax ( we are both FC gold members and in the past the CSD would at the very least come to introduce him/herself).

Towards the end of the flight when he came upstairs again, I approached him and discussed my concerns with the service. He had a real superior air to him and was extremely condescending in his manner making me feel that I was in the wrong for raising my concerns

On arriving at Newark we were keen to get off quickly for immigration purposes. The only problem is that with the new layout you have to wait for the economy passengers also on the upper deck, to disembark first. Although annoying if you pay for a UC ticket, it’s not the end of the world. However in reality it meant that most of the downstairs PE pax also disembarked before us and we were made to wait for almost 15 minutes after the doors had opened, and we ended up at the back of a very long queue at customs.

The return flight was better I have to admit, but when we arrived in The revivals lounge and tried to book a treatment we were told there were no slots available for 3 hours. There was a total of 4 people in the lounge at that time, so they must have only had one ( very slow or thorough massage therapist!)

I am not a fan of BA at all and have always been vocal in my support of Virgin. I have written to them about the issues mentioned and will see how they respond, but I am starting to wonder if I need to start looking elsewhere.

[VintageKrug]

If you’re an NYC regular, you should check out BA’s A318 32-seater all business class jet. I think you’d like it:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/cwlcexp/public/en_gb

Get the early flight for pre-clearance in Shannon, but the second flight has prioritised expedited passport control at JFK so not too much of a loss.

[Author]

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