Happy new on-board service today

I can confirm on the 1st we did have the 'menu' but certainly no 'cocktail' in Y. The meal we did not partake of cause its usually not all that but We did get afternoon tea, which was two very nice finger sandwiches and an ice cold scone with jam and cream. I look forward to the flight home this Friday to see what's on offer in Y from MCO then and will report back if anything interesting to say.

[Darren Wheeler]

Given it's only in it's first week, some of the crew are only seeing it live for the first time.

Hopefully the teething issues will soon be worked out.

The 'Welcome Cocktail' is available on flights where there is a drinks service first (mainly day flights). It is not offered to each passenger but is listed in the menu along with the other drinks so needs to be asked for as you would any other drink. Think there may be a misconception that crew go round offering this cocktail as a separate service?

I flew on the day flight from EWR to Heathrow on Staurday 5th November. The menu listed Welcome cocktail, followed by breakfast and finally the lunch options. There was no drinks round before breakfast. I naively asked about the 'welcome cocktail' and was told it would be served on a later drinks round - only tea or coffee with breakfast. I had requested a Gluten free meal so did not expect much for breakfast. I was treated to a rice cake and a tub of fruit - the entire fruit portion would have had room to stretch out on a table spoon - not a good start. The drinks round only appeared just before lunch (or dinner?). I wasnt offered the cocktail and I didn't ask as I prefer wine with a meal. The meal this time was chicken breast on rice with some lemony flavour - standard us - uk virgin meal. We were sitting in the 1st row of extra legroom seats in economy (38 H&K I think - 340 600)and nearly 1st to be served. My son asked for the pasta dish as per the menu and was told they didn't have any left. This was made worse by the fact that the crew were telling passengers to read the menu to pick their choice. An hour later a passenger who was asleep previously asked the crew for her meal - she was given the choice of pasta or beef! Given the hype over the new economy service, I was very disappointed both by the product and the service. I definitely got more to eat with the old offering!

Came back on VS22 on Monday (TP to follow). Given it was a night flight, there was no welcome cocktail and drinks were served with the meal. Some very good points though, particularly the crew. Hats off the the stewardess who got me away from the school party at the back and into the extra legroom seats!!

Just returned in Y from hk and can confirm the meal service was disappointing. Desert and main all served up together, no cocktail offering, drinks only after the meal service, mains piled up haphazardly in cardboard boxes atop the trolley. Trip report to follow as soon as I get round to it, but really virgin if you are going to make a big deal about changes in Y you need to deliver a noticeable improvement or the whole announcment only draws attention to your failings.

I am a long time loyal vs flier, only AG but have continued to renew at this level for many years. It's unlikely i will shift allegency any time soon but confess to being disappointed by this "big" change

VS6 from MIA on Sunday night - braised beef in red wine was chewy and inedible, Chicken Korma was very dry and generally unappealing. The food from the US in Y never fails to disappoint!

The good news for us non-cheese eaters is that the breakfast no longer gives you a choice of cheese muffin or ham and cheese croissant. Our breakfast has a nice yoghurt and OJ but also a very, very cold and therefore hard croissant with a portion of jam. If easyJet can manage to warm up croissants for punters you'd think VA might be able to do the same.

Must try harder.

The 'Welcome Cocktail' is available on flights where there is a drinks service first (mainly day flights). It is not offered to each passenger but is listed in the menu along with the other drinks so needs to be asked for as you would any other drink. Think there may be a misconception that crew go round offering this cocktail as a separate service?

My view, I think along with others, is that if VS are branding this as a 'welcome cocktail' then it should mean exactly that, ie. offered as a welcome after boarding. I definitely would not interpret the welcome cocktail as being something that should be akin to asking for the chicken or beef on the menu. If they have no intention of actually offering it as a welcome type thing then why not simply list it as a standard drink offering. It is the 'welcome' branding that is causing the confusion it seems.

Cheers
James

<snip>why not simply list it as a standard drink offering. It is the 'welcome' branding that is causing the confusion it seems.

Agreed. Though the website under

Home > What's Onboard > Economy

clearly states;

"When the plane takes off, you'll be handed our brand new menu. It's packed full of things to whet your appetite. On most flights, it’s then time for our drinks service, including the new Welcome Cocktail"

positioning it as an option on the drinks menu the email I received says;

"It all starts as soon as you take off, when our cabin crew bring round a mouth watering menu for you to choose from, while you sip our new Welcome Cocktail."

which to me suggests some kind of universal offering.

[Darren Wheeler]

I don't think you could ever do a 'welcome aboard' drink run in Y in the same way as PE or Upper.

On an MCO flight, you have 350+ passengers, all trying to get seated and store baggage while some are still boarding. Throw a drink run into to that and you'd have to start boarding an hour earlier.

Is it just me or is there a pattern emerging here?

The majority of people seem to be rather underwhelmed by the new offering.

Agreed. Though the website under

Home > What's Onboard > Economy

clearly states;

"When the plane takes off, you'll be handed our brand new menu. It's packed full of things to whet your appetite. On most flights, it’s then time for our drinks service, including the new Welcome Cocktail"

The fact that we're already examining the small print suggests that yet again (sigh) the marketing has been rather better developed than the product...

I feel a bit stupid because I thought it all sounded great

But that is the perception from VS marketing...

I've just looked at my menu from HGK to LHR in Y from friday. It is actually specific for this flight, yet still states welcome cocktail... Yet this mentioned nor offered - drink run only after meal served... it also says desert will be delivered after a pause but this was squeezed onto the tray.

Either then vs flight crew are just ignoring the new ideas, or this is just marketing fluff that the crew are old to interpret in their own way. It seems rather soon after the new hyped change to be letting it slip so clearly. Should we hold out any hope that the upper and PE planned changes will fare any better

I would make an assumption that the crew took it upon themselves to try and speed up the service rather than follow the model. Like anything new it does take time to bed in and the crew probably weren't confident enough. I'm sure trying a new service on a full Y 346 is tough for them. However I'm on this route in Jan so if it hasn't bedded in by then there'll be hell on here!

Has anyone ever thought that it might not be the crew cutting corners. Some of the menus have printing errors on and detail the service incorrect to the way the crew have been told to deliver it.

This should be rectified mid nov.
The service is pretty easy to deliver even on a full 600.

Hi

I'm Geoff, the Brand Copywriter at Virgin Atlantic. My role falls under the product and service team, who are the team that invented and implemented the new Economy meal experience.

Being that I was the person that posted about what was happening, it's only right that I address some of your feedback.

The entire meal experience I originally posted about is what you'll experience if you travel on one of our longer day flights for example London to Los Angeles or San Francisco.

There are variations to the service, which are based around your needs at specific times of the day and the length of the flight.

For example, on our shorter overnight flights, your priority is sleep, which is why we present a supper version of the service with dessert on the tray, and instead of the Welcome Cocktail, we offer you Hot Chocolate.

On certain other flights, to give you maximim sleep time, there isn't time for a separate drinks service, however the Welcome Cocktail is still part of the meals drink service.

We've called the Welcome Cocktail a welcome cocktail because it's the beginning of our meal experience. It isn't a pre flight drink.

Thank you so much for your feedback. We're reading everything and it's being fed back to the right teams, so please keep it coming. It's been 15 years since we last refreshed our Economy meal service, and we're really proud of the new experience.

If you have any questions, please ask and I'll endeavor to get you answers as soon as possible.

Thanks

Geoff

[preiffer]

Might have been worth making that clear before you launched the big marketing video on youtube/facebook/etc then, Geoff - as you've now (once again) set peoples' expectations higher than many of them will see delivered...


Foot... In target... Aim.... Fire.

Indeed Paul and I did say in an earlier post that VS has a tendency for over promissing and under delivery and got criticised for it.

There is nothing wrong in having route specific menus and service but to infer that that the 'west coast' service is available on all routes is the road to dissapointment for your customers (as can be seen on here, FB and flyertalk).

I have always been very happy with the UC service (when fortunate enough to be in the pointy end)so I was eagerly trying to spot the subtle enhancements on my LHR-HKG last wednesday.
Yes they were subtle and I mention them for info rather than a particular personal opinion.

menu has changed colour - the front was all purple.
choice seemed good (always has)
crisps used to be served on a saucer and have now been promoted to a tea cup without handle. VS need to pay attention to the crisp portion here as 5 crisps look meaningful on a saucer but are a bit lonely in a cup.
Main course came on a big round plate.
side plate is now a sort of slate mini cheese board thing. nice bit not really worth the effort. Would rather have seen the garlic break back.
errr .. thats it. certainly subtle.
oh, the airplane salt and pepper were still there.

all of this is not really important though. the whole point of UC is for the flat bed which is still the best.

There is nothing wrong in having route specific menus and service but to infer that that the 'west coast' service is available on all routes is the road to dissapointment for your customers (as can be seen on here, FB and flyertalk).

I have to agree with you there TB. If VS are to advertise the new service it would make more sense to advertise the service for shorter flights (east USA) as there are more of these, than to advertise the service for the long flights.

advertising the short flight service would not lead the majority of pax to expect more than they will get.
advertising/promoting the minimum and leaving the rest as a bonus may have been a better strategy.

Has the Freedom menu been dispensed with in UC then?
My wife flew to SFO and back in the past week and the new menus don't mention it and she said it was made totally clear that you ate when they wanted you to.

[Darren Wheeler]

Has the Freedom menu been dispensed with in UC then?
My wife flew to SFO and back in the past week and the new menus don't mention it and she said it was made totally clear that you ate when they wanted you to.

Was still in operation 3 weeks ago and no issues making use of it.

Good morning,

Firstly, thank you for the feedback, and genuine apologies if you think that we've implied that the whole menu is available on every service.

As you'll see from my earlier post, we've been quite careful to emphasis the fact that certain elements of the service are available 'on most flights' or 'on shorter flights', but I can see this was open to some confusion, so I'm pleased we got the chance to correct it.

The most important thing to say is that the vast majority of our flights feature the full service. Where we do alter the way we deliver the service or the occasional element, it's to give consideration to the fact that the majority of passengers of those flights prefer to sleep.

You'd get more sleep time than you would if we delivered the dessert on the tray rather than separately. Likewise, late at night, hot chocolate is a more considerate option to help you sleep.

The Freedom menu in Upper Class is absolutely still available. If we make any changes to this, we'll let you know first.

Again, if you have any questions about the new Economy meal service, please let me know and I'll get the answers for you.

Many thanks

Geoff

21-Decd - LGW/BGI on Y...

I was looking forward to an "enhanced" meal service - and am now not sure what to expect. "Certain elements..." - does that mean the smaller tray so less food?

Oh whatever, as long as I get to Barbados...

21-Decd - LGW/BGI on Y...

I was looking forward to an "enhanced" meal service - and am now not sure what to expect. "Certain elements..." - does that mean the smaller tray so less food?

I think this is one thing we can dispell. VS really do not seem to have gotten folks to understand that a smaller tray does not mean less food - it's just that the food can come separately rather than having numerous elements on 1 massive tray.