V-Flyer

Flying to LAX in Upper, I had the chicken curry from the pre-order menu, which tasted good but the portion was ridiculous. I had two pieces of chicken on it, that was it, just two chunks, barely half a chicken breast. There's cost cutting, then there's giving me a smaller portion that school dinners.

Does anyone know who Virgin use as their catering partner? I know all caterers will have multiple product offers / price options to cater for different customers & different cabins the customer flies.

Whilst I admit the food on our outbound on Sunday from MAN was better than expected, it is still a world away from what the likes of Emirates offer in Business class. Some of the reports on here suggest that Aramark (a company who do catering contract for prisons / military / theme parks and the like) have gone into in-flight catering and Virgin have snapped up their offer.

Merlin Entertainments (Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington etc) out-sourced all their food & beverage to Aramark last year. The quality nose-dived and the prices - theme park prices - increased. Some of the descriptions of Virgin meals on here sound like Aramark offerings.

Kraken wrote:Does anyone know who Virgin use as their catering partner? I know all caterers will have multiple product offers / price options to cater for different customers & different cabins the customer flies.

Whilst I admit the food on our outbound on Sunday from MAN was better than expected, it is still a world away from what the likes of Emirates offer in Business class. Some of the reports on here suggest that Aramark (a company who do catering contract for prisons / military / theme parks and the like) have gone into in-flight catering and Virgin have snapped up their offer.

Merlin Entertainments (Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington etc) out-sourced all their food & beverage to Aramark last year. The quality nose-dived and the prices - theme park prices - increased. Some of the descriptions of Virgin meals on here sound like Aramark offerings.

Wouldn't be surprising. Prison food in Upper Class. Virgin need to change pretty sharpish.

Dnata ( owned by Emirates ) are the VS catering supllier unless that’s changed in the last few months. Returning from SFO last month I thought the quality was better than my previous trip to LAS in November but the portion sizes do seem to be less generous.

Kraken wrote:Does anyone know who Virgin use as their catering partner? I know all caterers will have multiple product offers / price options to cater for different customers & different cabins the customer flies.

Whilst I admit the food on our outbound on Sunday from MAN was better than expected, it is still a world away from what the likes of Emirates offer in Business class. Some of the reports on here suggest that Aramark (a company who do catering contract for prisons / military / theme parks and the like) have gone into in-flight catering and Virgin have snapped up their offer.

Merlin Entertainments (Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington etc) out-sourced all their food & beverage to Aramark last year. The quality nose-dived and the prices - theme park prices - increased. Some of the descriptions of Virgin meals on here sound like Aramark offerings.

I would guess VS use a different catering company at MAN as the pre-order options on all MAN flights always offer less choice / fewer options compared to LHR flights.

I thought LHR was done by GateGourmet?

Does anyone know when VS will launch the next iteration of the menu? I'm consistently disappointed with food on VS and getting rather bored of the chicken achiri - which Ive found is the nicest thing they do Ex-UK.

flying low wrote:Does anyone know when VS will launch the next iteration of the menu? I'm consistently disappointed with food on VS and getting rather bored of the chicken achiri - which Ive found is the nicest thing they do Ex-UK.

Was told on my flight at the end of Jan the new menu will come into effect in April. We actually had a sample on our flight - Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast. Nothing to write home about unfortunately

Pre-ordered the sweet and sour pork for a flight in Upper to Atlanta. Wow has the quality plummeted! It tasted fine - like a ready meal - but the portion was tiny. You'd have needed a jeweller's scale to weigh the pork because there was so little. Had the awful thought that Aer Lingus really aren't far off them at this stage. Arancini nice, chocolate mousse nice enough. But all miles away from my first Upper experience in early 2020. That was special, I'm now kind of thinking I'll just choose whoever is cheapest.

I moved from the UK to Dubai last year and even though VA relaunched the Dubai route, solely due to the food quality I made the switch to BA & Qatar. The difference really is substantial. Food is light years ahead both in quality and options. Qsuites/new BA club suites are also more spacious and functional vs the a350/330-neo new seats
Probably the only pro of VA would be the crew vs BA but Qatar would be better than all 3 on the 10 or so flights I’ve done for comparison in the last 8 months.
Real shame as I’ve loved the VA brand and been loyal over the last 20 years but sadly I can’t say I’d ever look back…
Actually writing this reminds me probably the only VA winner would be the LHR clubhouse which I still think is fantastic despite the Covid kept changes.

Lukecouchman wrote:

flying low wrote:Was told on my flight at the end of Jan the new menu will come into effect in April. We actually had a sample on our flight - Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast. Nothing to write home about unfortunately

Right at the outset, I must say that I have not experienced this 'new' menu, so cannot comment on the quality (or quantity) of the meals. My opinion has been informed by what I have read on here - and other forums - but looking at the Upper cabin, I can't say that anything on the menu actually appeals. Roll on the next edition in Apr.
As an aside, would it be beyond the realms of possibility for VS to actually ask pax (in all cabins) what they would like to see on a menu. They might be pleasantly surprised and the bean counters could actually save a few bob.

Treelo wrote:

Lukecouchman wrote:

flying low wrote:They might be pleasantly surprised and the bean counters could actually save a few bob.

Would settle for beans on toast or a bacon burger in upper compared to what has been offered so far.

jimbowimbo wrote:I moved from the UK to Dubai last year and even though VA relaunched the Dubai route, solely due to the food quality I made the switch to BA & Qatar. The difference really is substantial. Food is light years ahead both in quality and options. Qsuites/new BA club suites are also more spacious and functional vs the a350/330-neo new seats
Probably the only pro of VA would be the crew vs BA but Qatar would be better than all 3 on the 10 or so flights I’ve done for comparison in the last 8 months.
Real shame as I’ve loved the VA brand and been loyal over the last 20 years but sadly I can’t say I’d ever look back…
Actually writing this reminds me probably the only VA winner would be the LHR clubhouse which I still think is fantastic despite the Covid kept changes.

Speaking of Qatar; I think they might be part of realising the VS decline for me. Flew them in J for the first time in October, connecting in Doha. So it was 4 flights - 2 x 787-8 and 2 x A350 Q suites. One crew were more just functional than lovely, but even then perfectly fine and pleasant. The other 3 were very kind and sweet. And I'm a solo female traveller so can tend to be a bit ignored. The food was so much better than VS, the amenity kits were better, the lounge in Doha great. Like you, still think the LHR Clubhouse is fantastic. I only experienced it once pre-Covid and wish they'd bring back facials etc, but it's a great space and staff lovely. The QR 787 seat didn't have good privacy, but plenty of storage. Loved the Q Suite. Think VS really falling behind with the 787/A330 hard product now, even the A350 is lacking storage and looking a bit tired, and it's all starting to feel less premium. Kept thinking that the economy main was probably equivalent to my sweet and sour, or possibly more substantial, and that's not a good place to be!

I complained to Virgin about the terrible portions on the meal and a few other issues on my flight, got a generic copy and pasted email back, which had copied and pasted things which had nothing to do with my issues. Not a hint of points bonus as apology. Whilst I was genuinely feeding back in the hope that they improve the meals, if only for my sake on future flights, I found it strange that they didn't chuck a few miles my way.

Meanwhile I recently emailed BA CS to compliment an excellent crew on a recent Club World ticket and make a minor complaint about the headphones they offer and they quickly thew 15k Avios my way. Again not expected at all, but an easy way to build goodwill.

mediamonkey wrote:I complained to Virgin about the terrible portions on the meal and a few other issues on my flight, got a generic copy and pasted email back, which had copied and pasted things which had nothing to do with my issues. Not a hint of points bonus as apology. Whilst I was genuinely feeding back in the hope that they improve the meals, if only for my sake on future flights, I found it strange that they didn't chuck a few miles my way.

Meanwhile I recently emailed BA CS to compliment an excellent crew on a recent Club World ticket and make a minor complaint about the headphones they offer and they quickly thew 15k Avios my way. Again not expected at all, but an easy way to build goodwill.

I think the two best ways of getting VS to actually hear feedback is via the crew and via the surveys that come post flight. The crews do seem to do a good job of passing feedback internally. And most of the crews I’ve spoken to know the food situation is bad and are moaning internally about it.

Whether anything changes though, remains to be seen. BA are beating VS on a lot of fronts at the moment. VS management need to understand that as a boutique challenger to BA, that cannot be the case. They need to buck up, or they’ll be out of a job.

CommanderB wrote:............................ BA are beating VS on a lot of fronts at the moment. VS management need to understand that as a boutique challenger to BA, that cannot be the case. They need to buck up, or they’ll be out of a job.

I wholeheartedly agree. Having read many posts on this and other websites, I have been saddened by reports of poor/indifferent food as well as the state of repair of the UC suites, particularly on the 330-300s. The only thing that remains constant is the great service provided by VS crews.
I look forward to seeing if there is any improvement in the food - including portion size -and infrastructure on my upcoming flight in Apr (albeit on a 330-300)

CommanderB wrote: Whether anything changes though, remains to be seen. BA are beating VS on a lot of fronts at the moment. VS management need to understand that as a boutique challenger to BA, that cannot be the case. They need to buck up, or they’ll be out of a job.

Fully agree here. It used to be that I would avoid BA for Virgin, now I very much choose BA over Virgin wherever possible. The Club World Suites are much better than the older Virgin UC product and I actually prefer them to the newer product on the airbus planes. The food is so much better, the soft product better, I particular like the white company bedding. Virgin has lost its 'it factor.'

Heading out on vs7 end of march, wondering if there’s any ideas on what’s being served outbound and also vs156 inbound?
Would be great for a rough idea on what to expect

Fordie wrote:Heading out on vs7 end of march, wondering if there’s any ideas on what’s being served outbound and also vs156 inbound?
Would be great for a rough idea on what to expect

Still the same menu as above.