V-Flyer

Travelled back form Delhi on VS 301 on Friday 15th Feb. Some CC were saying they thought V-Flyer was becoming rather negative.

So I thought I'd start a when everything goes well post.

It did on this flight- perfect handling by Cambata Staff at DEL, swift handling though passport control and security and a excellent service on the flight itself especially from the UC services supervisor and her team; arrival 13 minutes early.

There has been a lot of negativity, although some would say that this simply reflects people's experiences. I flew a lot last year and generally was very happy, although there was only very rarely a flight without any niggles at all. Ironically, probably my best flight was on the new UC A333, and I've been fighting a losing battle ever since to convince people that it isn't as bad as some say!

tugpilot

Thanks for passing this on.

In response, V Flyer will never be an apologist for VS - any perception of a swing to negative comments is only a reflection of what many customers see is a noticeable decline in standards.

None of us are stupid and know full well how many airlines are finding times hard, but VS Management will never learn that the consistent gripe of V Flyers is the lack of consistency and that really has to be tackled

When VS is good, they really are good, but you don't know before you travel whether your journey will be excellent or a "whatever" experience

buns

I think many people don't get round to writing a TR when a trip goes well and nothing untoward happens. It is when something really good or rather bad occurs that one feels it worth mentioning. So hundreds of flights where passengers are completely satisfied and positive about VS simply don't make it into the forums.
Or do I just hope this is true !!!

They obviously don't read the VS face book page which is very negative.

But most of that is VS own fault by over promising and under delivering.

The website does them no favours either.

VS is obviously not an organisation that learns from its mistakes.

But we have been saying the above things for years.

Facebook is fast becoming a moaning/slagging off medium for most companies now though and is rapidly loosing it's credibility as a customer service channel.

Virtually every company that now has a Facebook page receive more negative/moaning posts than they do positive hence the reason why many companies now set their FB pages to read-only.

Anything positive posted often just gets lost in the tide of abuse or negative posts.

Why people think it's OK to post abusive and outright rude posts on FB when I'm sure they wouldn't speak to the company like that is beyond me?

I must admit I haven't got around (yet) to posting a TR about my last trip in October which was excellent - but to be honest it is not just V-Flyer that is negative about Virgin. I was in Revivals after my last trip (343) and there were two Americans who had obviously just come off a 330. They were loudly complaining about their trip and the new UCS and bemoaning the roll out of the 330 across USA routes.

I have to say my last few flights on the 330 not a single J pax had complained about the seat and indeed several gold pax were complementing it so maybe people are starting to get used to it? Now if only the aisles were a little wider so we didn't have to twist and turn our way up them....

virginboy747 wrote:I have to say my last few flights on the 330 not a single J pax had complained about the seat and indeed several gold pax were complementing it so maybe people are starting to get used to it? Now if only the aisles were a little wider so we didn't have to twist and turn our way up them....

I would agree.....I was on the VS022 last week on "Golden Girl" and certainly my views on the UCDS have changed since I first experienced it last year. I know the more I have travelled on it the more I have adapted to it...which I guess is to be expected. The aisles are narrow and did see a couple of CC trip when trying to get up and down the aisles.

But I'm much more positive about the UCDS than I was and actually really enjoyed it. My last two flights were very good and will post TRs on here in the next couple of days.

Jon

My recent flights were excellent. I only completed a TR for the return, but the outbound was also very good.

hiljil wrote:I think many people don't get round to writing a TR when a trip goes well and nothing untoward happens. It is when something really good or rather bad occurs that one feels it worth mentioning. So hundreds of flights where passengers are completely satisfied and positive about VS simply don't make it into the forums.
Or do I just hope this is true !!!

I believe this must be the case as well!!

I'm all for keep VS on their toes (it's in my interest as I just renewed AU) but I'm just sensing a more negative tone in some particular threads. Now, whether that comes from my own perception of reading someones reply to a thread or the effect of disinhibition of the internet, I don't know!

buns wrote:any perception of a swing to negative comments is only a reflection of what many customers see is a noticeable decline in standards.

I don't totally agree with you there buns, (hope you don't mind ), whilst I would agree that there has been some areas of concerns in the hard and soft product, I would point to the similarity to the VS Skytrak profile or as someone earlier mentioned, the FB page. The ability to rant via a visible and rather loud manner on the internet I believe can distort the overall picture some what.

However completely agree that V-Flyer is and shall remain an independent voice for travellers on VS. Maybe there should be a tick box before each post submit saying "Please post responsibly!"


This post has been certified as Responsible. y)

I recently flew back from DXB on the A330 and was in 9A and admint hat I actually liked that seat. You can still peak out of the window at 8A and it is a bit wider than the other seats too!

I was chatting to the husband in 8A about the new seat and we commented it was miles ahead of the competition we had flown into Abu Dhabi in J.

Agreed that people are more likely to post when they have a negative experience, we should encourage response to their positive trip experiences.

If we want to get an overall improvement I think it would be better for VS to come clean regarding the cut back policy in on board catering & drinks services rather than trying to point the finger at 'customer feedback" and a very small minority of badly behaved passengers as an excuse for reduced service on some flights

Haven't got round to posting my last Couple of TR but as I'm away this week with the family I have plenty of time to do it so I will the point being they will both be positive ones with the return being on the UCDS which I actually quite liked
Blacky

Hi all

I have never posted any trip report as all of the trips have been average and nothing happened good or bad that warranted a report.

I only travel to the USA once a year on vacation.
Over the last 14 years I have used VS 10 times, Delta, BA and Lufthansa once each. The last 7 trips being in PE.
Year on Year I have noticed the continual decline of the Virgin "experience" whilst frequent flyers might not notice the gradual decline as much as me.
In my experience flying with :-
Lufthansa economy was far better than VS in all aspects.
Delta economy was mediocre.
BA World Traveller + was better than VS in most aspects, but I did not like paying for advance seat reservation and no priority boarding/luggage return.
Its like others have commented, VS continually push the customer "experience" then fail to deliver. They advertised the new PE seat and service, then in small print it was on selected routes only.
Mainly I do the bucket and spade route to Florida, VS give those routes the worst planes and service.
At the start I used to look forward to the way VS treated their valued customers, now they do not seem to value us.
I have booked with VS for this years vacation, but next year will definitely choose BA or VS purely on price.

The bucket and spade 744s now have new W and Y seats and touch screen IFE so hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised this year