[VintageKrug]

MarcusUK aka MarkRoberts9 you have oft repeated this “Global Linked Up Airline” strategy.

Although some elements of the airline (which is mostly owned by Singapore Airlines) are getting more joined up, connections between Virgin Atlantic (which is the most significant part of the group for UK based business travellers) and the rest of the group are far from joined up with the other elements (V: Australia, Vigin Blue, Virgin America, Virgin Pacific) and this will struggle to change prior to the end of this year for both logistical and regulatory reasons.

The footprint is strong in Asia, but they have no presence whatsoever in Europe, South America and lack of anything more than a smattering of loose affiliations with other dodgy carriers.

Stating this “strategy” which you gleaned from Galley Chatter on your recent V: Australia flight will be fully operational by 2011 across all Virgin group airlines could mislead customers to expect a seamless experience if booking tickets now for early next year.

Flying London Gatwick-Las Vegas-Los Angeles-Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney-Auckland and you would find it impossible to book as a single ticket, and connection support, FF programme reciprocity and interlining would be largely non-existent.

[JeffD]

Well my experience recently has been very good. I regulary use Virgin trains between London Euston and Birmingham. Whilst I agree the menus have gone, the standard of service remains very high, I have used this route twice in the last week. On each train I was offered frequent tea and coffee, choice of cold drink and a hot meal. I can recommend the chicken cassarole !

[MarcusUK]

Took a trip to mids 1st up & standard back on Virgin trains a week ago.
The food is really well & truly poor quality now.
No freshly made sandwiches on board, just a “White Bap” of humous cheese & a slice of red pepper, coffee slopped out at you, lucky if the fruit you like is left, & Packaged biscuits or cake with more E numbers & chemical ingredients than can fit on the wrapper.
I was offered a 2nd cup of coffee after an hr, which turned out to be luke warm, clearly left over from the first serving.

Enjoy the cabin, but take yr own food & coffee if you want decent healthy ingredients.
Other than that, have a good meal prior to travel & go standard, on a quiet / off peak t train!

Virgin First is no longer a great or enjoyable experience, as such has been its decline.

Whils the cabin remains fine, the

[MartynSinclair]

I’ve travelled Virgin Trains First on several occasions and generally found the product to be worth the price. However, on a recent Friday evening, catching the 18.55 from Newark to Kings X, experienced very poor on board service.

The steward was being very selective on who he was going to serve food to.. decided to serve a party of 3 sat on the opposite side of the aisle, but refused to serve me a hot meal.

I was offered a couple of drinks but one hour BEFORE King Cross, the steward announced catering was now closed. I asked for another drink and his response was that he had given me 2, and if I wanted more I should go to the bar and buy one!

I did write to Virgin Customer relations and their answer

“The catering provided in 1st Class is complimentary and offered subject to availability.”

“I understand that you feel you paid First Class prices for complimentary food and drink however I do need to inform you that when buying a First Class ticket with us you are paying for the journey to get you from your origin station to your chosen destination station and for First Class, you pay for comfort.”

I did re confirm to Virgin that catering supplies were not in question as the bar was full, rather a Steward who clearly wanted to shut his service early and put is feet up.

Am I being unreasonable in expecting service to continue for a little longer… after all, the leaflets scattered through the carriage do say complimentary food and drink throughout your journey!!

[LuganoPirate]

No, you’re not being unreasonable Martyn, and I think the reply is a typical Virgin one who care little for their passengers and more for the bottom line.

This was probably one of Old Beardies edicts in order to save money!

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Remember the ECML which you were on has only been with Virgin (who are only 10% shareholders – more like Stagecoach with 90%) for just over 100 days now and id a very different operation to the West Coast Main Line. No doubt staff morale could be very low since the switchover which may impact on service.

I did have this before though – I could only get snacks at certain points through the journey – crucially not throughout the journey. Bit of a rubbish response though and as didn’t sound as though you were being unreasonable.

[goalie11]

Martyn, I think that is a bloody awful response and needs to be elevated. Try this email address for East Coast’s CEO with your original complaint and the response and let us know what happens, <a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected]

[WillieWelsh]

In the short days since Virgin took over the East Coast route it is already possible to see standards dropping. More than one member of train crews has told me that Virgin HR teams arrived, issued new contracts and said sign or clear off. Needless to say the terms and conditions were inferior and 99% signed as they had no other job to go to.

My understanding is that this is borderline illegal but I’m sure others will know more.

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

I have just returned from Carlisle to London the other Tuesday in First Class. This trip commanded an immediate complaint to customer service. I got the full amount refunded [in vouchers]. Journey time 3hr15, nothing to eat, not even a bag of crisps offered, until Milton Keynes some 2 hours into the journey, where that is all I got, along with a packet of sandwich fingers. I left carlisle at 1700 which, according to their website, left me with 1hr to benefit from their delicious hot meal service. The Scottish staff until Preston were a joke, and only 1 chap took their place from there on down to London- he was rushed offhis feet. All in all a huge disapointment.

[rjhcambs]

Stevenage-Peterborough-Edinburgh early morning on Tuesday. No chef on either train so only bacon roll Or porridge for breakfast. However rest of staff extremely helpful. The return yesterday afternoon was excellent with staff doing several drinks and food runs throughout the journey. My biggest moan about the Stagecoach/Virgin takeover is the change from the excellent East Coast trains loyalty scheme to one which gives only Nectar points. If anybody thinks Avios are useless they should try Nectar redemption!

[MartynSinclair]

@goalie11

Thank you very much for email address. I sent the email on Thursday 18th June. My complaint was I had paid for a First Class ticket. On the tables in First Class there is a leaflet entitled “First Class All Day Menu” which contains the words…

“If you’re only making a short journey with us today, you can look forward to a selection of complimentary drinks and snacks”

I addressed my email to David Horne as you suggested and today, 25th June 2015 I received a reply from Georgios Mavrelis – Customer Relations Advisor.

I thought the response times were extremely acceptable and the fact that David Horne did not reply personally did not bother me at all. So well done for the quick response.

The letter acknowledged that the two previous emails had been generic, but I was to be assured the matter had been investigated,

The long and short is that the leaflet confirming even short journeys…. is false and does not correspond to what Mr Mavrelis wrote.

“I understand your disappointment in not being offered the full complimentary service advertised whilst others around you were enjoying the items, I have looked into this and can confirm that as your journey was under 70 minutes you received the full complimentary items available to you. On shorter journeys of 70 minutes or under we will endeavour to provide you with complimentary drinks and snacks however no meals. Regarding the family of three that got on board at Newark with you I can assume that they order food prior to arrival at Grantham station. However, I am very concerned to learn you were not offered a second drink at Peterborough”.

So now we know. Short journeys of less than 70 minutes, my journey was actually 90 minutes, reduced service and no food.

I was offered a £10 voucher, but need to use this 10 days in advance, which is useless to me as I never book a train 10 days in advance.

Very disappointed with First Class on Virgin trains….

[MartynSinclair]

Update on complaint to Virgin trains.

My correspondence was finally picked up by someone within the David Horne’s office, Mike Ross.

Due to holidays and overseas trips we kept on missing each other, but he has now addressed the issue of bad service and reassures me it was an isolated incident. He has very generously comp’d me a couple of return tickets on Virgin to ‘restore my faith’…

However, what I found most interesting, is he would like to arrange a meeting sometime in September to go through the Virgin East Coast offering and the improvements being rolled out. I think this is a very proactive way of meeting his customers and understanding concerns and wishes….

If anyone with more knowledge of the train offerings would like to join me on this meeting, please feel free to contact me…

[Author]

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