V-Flyer

After over a year of waiting I was finally on my first Virgin flight. Whats happens, one mistake after another from Virgin. I had pre-booked seats in August last year. Checked in online to find they had been moved and someone else had our seats. We had chosen certain seats to be with others from our party who had booked seperatly and to also get the advantage of the bit extra room at the back. We were moved from row 60 and 62 to row 40 and 41. I understand the plane chages etc but the other party were still in exactly the same seats as they had booked.
Once on the flight we were given the great news that the IFE was faulty and there would only be one film available. It could be repaired but it would take 2 hours. Once of the ground we then found out there was on IFE at all. Nine and half hours with no IFE meant I had to speak to the wife for a while! The offer of compensation was nothing more than a token. 25 of your next flight or pre-ordered duty free. Although the pre-order did not include your return journey.
Once airbourne it was meal time and sadly only one of the 2 pre-booked veggie meal arrived. We were told there was no record but don't worry there is another option on the trolley. Of the crew went to get the meal and they were finished. This meant a meal of a roll and grapes taken from the other tray.
The last downside was that during the flight the galleys began to run out of alchoholic and soft drinks. I believe on arrival there was some lemonade and not much else.
The shining light however was the staff. Depsite all the problems they were professional and helpful at all times. I was travelling with a disabled Uncle and they were great with him. Special thanks to M (Australian I believe) who could not do more for us.
This was a dissapointing start to our hols and despite a e-mail of complaint sent on 6/7/07, I have still not received a reply. To add insult our pre-booked seats were once again moved for our return and one veggie meal was fogotten yet again. Apart from that our return flight went fine with the IFE working from start to finish.

Overall - Yip we were economy but Virgin economy should still outclass a normal charter, on this trip it certainly did not feel like it. Would I use Virgin again? Really, really unsure.

[:0] Talking to the wife for all that time [:0][:0][:0]

Thanks for the TR, its good to get another ECO report in.

Danno

Thanks for the TR. It's not pleasant when everything seems to go wrong at once.

A tip if you do decide to fly with Virgin again. Keep checking on the Update booking page on their website to make sure your seat assignments do not change. If they do and you cannot change them online I would give them a call. I would also check that your return seats are still in place. This doesn't guarantee them as the airline has a right to change them at the last minute, but it helps

Originally posted by honey lamb
Keep checking on the Update booking page on their website to make sure your seat assignments do not change. If they do and you cannot change them online I would give them a call.

The other bit of advice I can offer is that if you are travelling with others as a group, but on different PNRs, you can ask VS to 'link' the different PNRs, so that if the aircraft is reseated due to an equipment change or similar event, there is a better chance of still being sat together.

It doesn't promise anything, but it does at least indicate that a connection exists.

Cheers,
Mike

Thanks for that. Two days before both journeys the manage my booking section still showed us in the correct seats which was strange. The wife has not forgiven me yet!

Originally posted by Govan Jaggie
Would I use Virgin again? Really, really unsure.

Based on your experience, I can't say that I blame you. Was the return any better from a seating point of view? I see the IFE was better.

Nick

Our return seats had also been moved but after contacting Virgin Hols in Cuba they contacted VA and got our seats moved back to where they should be. It meant that we got that little extra comfort and to sit as a group as we had hoped.

Virgin have now given all the members of the party 10000 miles which is not to bad. It has given me the urge to use them again as I am very near an upgrade now! Thank you Virgin.