VS007 LHR-LAX 2 Sep 05 (Econ)

This is a Trip Report from the Economy cabin

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We travelled on VS007 and VS020 as part of Virgin's 'King of the Road' flydrive tour. I won't go into details of the whole holiday as its too long winded so I'll just cover the flights for now.

This was mine and my g/f's 3rd time on VA and have to say this was not the best trip we've ever had with VA and will probably be the last.

VS007 LHR - LAX. We arrived about 5hr early so check in was nice and fast. My g/f suffers from Coeliac disease which means she is alergic to anything which contains gluten/wheat/oats so we had requested a gluten free meal for her in advance which checkin confirmed. We settled in for breakfast and when we went to board the flight we were delighted to see Tubular Belle so we knew we'd get V:Port. We were in row 45 by the window. Although we boarded the flight on time we were kept on the runway for well over 90mins with no reason given and it got extreamly hot on the plane! A lot of people were starting to complain about feeling sick because of the heat. We eventually took of 90 mins late and I was really surprised when the food wasn't served for another 90mins so thats 3hrs since boarding the flight! When my g/f got her gluten free meal they had given her oat biscuits. Only by her being quick enough to spot it did she avoid getting very ill but this wasn't the only mess with the meals. They actually did the same thing later on and also completely missed out the mid flight snack saying its not classed as a meal for special meal passengers! The chocolate they served also had wafers in which again they said doesn't count for special meals so her evening meal consisted of a bag of fruit! Personally, I also didn't get a choice as they had run out of everything each time so I got what I was given. Also drinks were only served once for the whole 11hrs!

Best bit of the flight, V:Port! Excellent system!

VS020 - 18/09/2005 SFO-LHR.
Because of the problems on the way out we were not looking forward to the return trip. Although we took off on time this time VA still messed up the special gluten free meal a bit as there was always something on the meal shouldn't have been there. Luckily this wasn't a nut allergy as you can imagine the sort of consequences of a person alergic to nuts eating nuts on a flight!! I also drew the short straw again on meals and was limited to NO choice yet again. Apart from the turbulance the flight wasn't too bad and once again V:Port was stunning. Turned to a downer at the airport when my suitcase had been seriously bashed/dented to such a degree that I have had to bin it now.

So overall, would we fly with VA again? Probably not. Mainly due to the mess up with the special meal, lack of drinks service and the ridiculous amount of legroom you get in cattle class. Think I'll stick to AA or Delta if there still going.

Andy

What a shame to hear of your experiences on your last holiday. The mess re. special meals is very serious and if I were you I would contact Virgin directly, with a straightforwardly polite but accurate email or letter, and let them know what happened to your girlfriend. I think it's unacceptable to provide meals and options that don't accommodate especially when notice has been given.

On your other matters I don't think you'll find the space in Delta or AA better (especially as AA is reducing the legroom in its coach cabin). And the IFE is certainly worse on competitors ... but you marked the staff down too, was that because of their reaction to the meal situation?

I hope you follow up with Virgin and you might be pleasantly surprised at their response ... good luck!

Andy

Thanks for the TR. It's bad enough that you ended up getting the short straw with your meal choices, but it's appalling that ordering a special meal doesn't result in getting the special meal - especially when it's required for a medical condition [V] Whether or not you fly with VS again, I hope you write to them expressing this and the potential results if your g/f had eaten the offending items.

Hope the rest of the 'King of the road' trip was good though.

Cheers

Michael

Thanks guys for understanding. We did actually right to Virgin about a week after getting back so thats almost a month ago now and we still haven't heard anything back. I actually proposed to my g/f on holiday and as we have travelled with VH so many times before we would probably have booked the wedding/honeymoon through them as well but I think we will be looking elsewhere for this. Shame...

Thats wierd. I have 11 different emails for 11 different replys posted but there are only 2? Strange

I generally sit in the area 42-45a when I'm flying economy and have never had a problem with the choice of meals. THere has always been a complete range of options.

Probably best to bring something to eat with you just in case. I know this defeats the purpose of getting a hot meal on the plane, but it does help if you get peckish or are expecting them to screw up as in a few examples I've read about - I would complain to Virgin regarding this. did you complain on the aircraft?
As for drinks, it seems to be generally a couple of times they offer drinks (worse on night flights), but I'm sure you could just press the attendant button and ask for something if need be?

The air conditioning thing. Same sort of thing happened when I flew out of Heathrow last month. It didn't come on until after we had took off, but the captain did mention this problem over the tannoy. It was warm and a little uncomfortable but not too bad overall.

Sorry to hear about your flights - it's really poor if they cannot get the special meals correct.

Many congratulations on the engagement! If you are going to give Virgin a miss for the honeymoon, I can thoroughly recommend Emirates Tours for a honeymoon. We got a really special deal for the Oberoi in Mauritius for our honeymoon this year, free business class flights included, all at less than half price - try http://www.emiratestours.co.uk and click on Special Offers - they change quite regularly, so worth keeping an eye on. And the service and food on Emirates business class is superb - dare I say it, IMHO far superior to VA. Only the seats are not quite so good, but who's complaining when it's a free upgrade. The Oberoi hotel is fantastic as well if you want a romantic holiday - less good if you are into action-packed stuff.

Congratulations again!

Originally posted by AndyR
Thanks guys for understanding. We did actually right to Virgin about a week after getting back so thats almost a month ago now and we still haven't heard anything back. I actually proposed to my g/f on holiday and as we have travelled with VH so many times before we would probably have booked the wedding/honeymoon through them as well but I think we will be looking elsewhere for this. Shame...

Congratulations!

Suggest you go to the Virgin web site and in the contact us section write to them again.

This kind of thing amazes me - if you request a special diet in advance, you should at least receive the correct food for that diet - very poor of VA... [n]

As for writing to VA and not receiving a response to your complaint - very poor again... [n]

It is when you read about experiences like you had, it makes a mockery of the recent case as detailed in this topic http://www.v-flyer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8320 - I trust VA respond to your complaint soon and convince you that VA are still the airline that responds to customer 'feedback'...

Oh - congratulations on your engagement... [:D]

[ChuckC]

Andy,
Am distressed to read your story. If this had happened to me I would not be able to rest until I'd heard directly from Virgin's team. I am allergic to certain shellfish plus I work in a restaurant environment where guests need to have their dietary restrictions taken seriously.

Please give VS customer service another try and do let us know of the response. As for not flying VS again, well, I obviously hope that you reconsider. Let's see what customer service has to say about your poor experience. It might also be informing to speak with the caterer and ask what its standards are for gluten-free meals.

Regards,
Chuck-

Thanks for your comments everyone. We actually had a letter turn up today from Virgin saying that they had recieved our letter and as per ABTA regulations will respond within 28 days of when they recieved it. Hopefully we will hear something back from them soon about it then.

Thanks for the tip on Emirates Tours for a honeymoon. Looks well nice

Will keep you all posted on how it goes.

Andy,
I'm pretty horrified about the meal situation especially as it was for medical reason and yes, can you imagine a person with a nut allergy being served an innapropriate meal!!! Doesn't bare thinking about.

Just to let you know, lack of choice is nothing new to me as I was upstairs in PE recently and suffered the same treatment.

Have you complained via Virgin Holidays? If so, if recent events are anything to go by I reckon you will get a satisfactory response.

Regards

John

Originally posted by JAT74L
Andy,
Have you complained via Virgin Holidays? If so, if recent events are anything to go by I reckon you will get a satisfactory response.

Yeah complained after we got back. Had a letter yesterday saying they had recieved it and would reply in 28 days as specified in the ABTA code of conduct. Will let you know what they come back with.

andyr - i may have misunderstood, but am I correct in thinking that you have written to Virgin Holidays and not Virgin Atlantic - if so, if I was you I would email VA as well - I am sure they will look after your problem directly... [i]

All, sorry for the late reply on this. We had a letter back from VH the other day about the complaint we raised.

Basically, they apologise a lot for the problems with the holiday and have given us £150 vouchers towards another VH holiday. They also said that because of the issues with the flight they have forwarded a letter to VA for them to respond. Will have to see when/if we get a response from them or not.

Just to let you know we had a letter today from VA.

They apologises for the special meal problems but said that special meals only include the one meal and no snacks. They should really state this at time of booking. Also said that drinks service apart from the first is now on a request only basis, again they should tell you this.

Basically though they apologises for the problems and gave us 10,000 flying club miles. Not bad?

All in all £150 of vouchers and 10,000 miles seems like a good offer, certainly worth the time and effort taken in writing [:D]

But still think that more care and attention should be made by airlines who offer 'special' meals to ensure that PAX are not potentially put at risk

Originally posted by AndyR

They should really state this at time of booking. Also said that drinks service apart from the first is now on a request only basis, again they should tell you this.

I agree with this, and think it is awful that you did not get the special mean request. So awful in fact that I suspect there is little VS or VH could have done to have restored your confidence or to have got you back as a customer. 150 in vouchers and 10000 miles is probably not bad. But do you see yourself using them, or would you prefer to use other companies in future? If it is the latter, to be honest I couldn't really blaim you.

£150 and 10k miles is one thing - having the wrong items in a medically restricted meal is completly different. [V]

I see again that VAA failed to give you a reason WHY this was the case with your gluten free meal. A similar response to my complaint re choice of meals. A lot of blah blah blah whilst skirting around the real issue.

I hope you try again because VAA are generally quite good.

John