V-Flyer

Plain Sailing
Seat 50C

This is my first longhaul TR in Economy for a very long time, and quite frankly I was very disappointed, I'll explain at the end of the TR.

Picked up at 7:00am by my usual Taxi driver, and arrived at T3 around 7:40am, and walked up to the UC check in, all desks were open and I only waited for 2 minutes or so.

The checkin agent was very friendly, and chatty and rang and obtained an Exit row eat for me FOC. This was a nice gesture.

Went through the security channel, again 6 staff, 1 customer. This time I had to remove my shoes. I've never done that before in the dedicated security chanel.

Went to the HMV store to return a defective DS Light, to be told they do not honour the warranty as an airport store, and by the time I get back the warranty will have expired.

Got to the Clubhouse greater to find the flight was delayed 2 hours, and as I had a connecting flight I needed to speak to the concierge to see what they could do to help.

Fortunately, I had insisted to Amex (my travel agent) that the flight with Virgin should be a fully flexible one and all on one ticket. This was inportant because a colleague got to Chicago late with United the other week and had to buy a one way UC ticket to get home.

The concierge was left with the task of sorting out my flights, and I headed to the comfortable seats by the window. There are in my opinion 2 things wrong with these seats, you can smell the AVGAS and the waiting staff apear to forget you are there.

I had to find someone to order a full english, after waiting 20 minutes and hoped it would arrive by the time my massage was booked.

It did, and tasted very good, although I still say it's too small.

At 8.50 I went to have my massage, and had another good neck/back/scalp rub. I re-booked for my 4th Nov trip, and will apparently be looked after by the same girl. It was relaxing and no where near as brutal as the one of the 11th Oct !

During the massage I was called to the concierge desk, so I waited until it was over before heading over to the desk.

Virgin had managed to get me on the later IAD to DEN flight, at 10pm, which was 5 hours after I should have been leaving. With a 2 hour delay there was still a chance I could make it, as I was told I would be met at the plane, and escorted through. This was not true and more of this later.

I enquired if there was any better connections from other Virgin destinations, as I have connected in the past in LAX or SFO. However, as it was the first day of Half term, the VS19 and VS7 were oversold.
The only option was a 10pm flight, which would get into Denver around 11:30pm.

I remained in the lounge, continued to be ignored by the waiting staff, so went and found the waitress who appologise for missing me the last time, as I had waited 30 minutes for her to come round, and by now I wanted lunch.

I ordered the Shepherds Pie, which was average, but filled a hole.

It was now 13:15, and we had not yet been called, so I headed to gate 40, to get my bags in the overhead bins and talk to the CC about my connecting flight issue.

The gate area was full, and we had to wait for another 15 minutes. Pre-boarding was called for UC and PE passengers only, no mention of AU, so I decided to head on board anyway.

Found 50C, and chatted to the CC who was at that door, she said she would look into my request later. Unfortunately, she never did, and this was a trend I'll explain later.

The plane filled up and we eventually pushed back at 14:20, which is almost 3 hours late, which had blown my connection. We were told that the flight time was going to be 8 hrs and 45 minutes, as there were 200 mph headwinds. We were also told that they had to change a front tyre.

The FSM was male with a strong Irish accent, and made some very charismatic PAs, I do not think he was reading from the script, he certainly made the late situation a little more bearable. Also, even in 50C , I saw him walk through the cabin at least 6 times, given I was asleep for some of that, it is more than on some flights when I have been in PE.

The pre-flight safety video stopped a few times, and the screens in 50A and 50C packed up completely. We did ask the CC i spoke to earlier to reset the screens, and she said she would sort it.

Dinner was served 3 hours after take off, bear in mind that the flight was delayed from 11:30 to 14:30, and we were now being fed 3 hours afterwards, I was starving, and opted for the chicken, which was so visually unappealing I took a photo of it. It will be in the photo section shortly.

I was hoping the screens would be reset and sorted before dinner, so i could snooze afterwards, but still the CC member we spoke to was elsewhere.

When my neighbour asked for it to be sorted, the CC member was very snappy, and I was aksed by my neighbour if this was normal Virgin service, as it was their first flight with VS. I said that the delays and technical issues with the plane and seatback TVs are not normal. I also said that the CC service was normally so much better.

After dinner was cleared, I crabbed the CSS for Economy and PE, and asked him to see if there were some DVD players spare. I also asked him if the CC girl I spoke to had mentioned my connecting flight issue ?

She had n't and he wend off to see if there were 2 spare DVD players.
He came back, and we had sound problems, because he had put both of the ear pieces into the Video Out.

The flight passed reasonably well, although the seats in Economy are dreadfully uncomfortable, and sleep was hard to come by, particularly as there is no footrest.

We started our approach at almost an hour out, as the weather was bad, with thunderstorms and high winds. The CC were asked to strap in for a while, before the cabin was secured, and we had a roller coaster ride until we were about 20 minutes out.

Once we touched down, and were taxiing, the CSS asked me to take his jump seat in UC so I moved forward with my carryon. We landed around 19:30, pretty much 4 hours late.

I exited the plane, and spoke with the Virgin rep at the door, about the escorting through, and was told to go to the Luggage belt, so there goes a fast track through immigration.

The Immigration hall was quiet, and I got through in just a few minutes, the person in front of me clearly had n't filled her forms out, so he quickly rejected her back to the line, and called me forward.

No questions, 4 finger scan and a picture I was free to go to Belt 6. I spoke with the Virgin Rep and was told I should drop my bags with United and if there were any problems to go to the Virgin Desk. So again, misleading information from the Clubhouse it appears.

My bag appeared a few minutes later, and we queued up to hand in the customs form. I spotted someone else with United tags, and I asked her if Virgin had told her the same story about being met etc etc. She had, and was also a little cross that it was all wrong.

We headed to the United bag drop, and were told they could not issue the boarding pass, but we had to go to the United Checkin area.

I escorted the other Virgin passenger there, as she had not been in IAD before, and fortunately the airport was fairly quiet. I blagged my way through security showing my Virgin AU card and headed to the C gates.

As it was now gone 8pm, I decided there was no point trying to go to the Virgin Lounge, as they would have the VS22 and early VS56 passengers in there.

All in all, a pretty crappy travel experience, as I did n't get to the hotel until 1.30am.

Highlights : Checkin at LHR, exit row seat, friendly service. Concierge re-booking my United flights

Lowlights : Being invisible in the Clubhouse, Concierge instructions not accurate for the IAD meet and great, CC in my area snappy and disinterested in solving minor concerns, uncomoftable seat and visually unappealing food.

I've traveled in Economy for most of my flying time, only in the 2 years have I exclusively flown PE, both for business and personally.

I did n't feel as if any of the concerns being raised were being attended to by the CC in my area, and I certainly did n't feel I was valued as a frequent flyer.

As I write this, I feel i want to give the feedback to Virgin, but it's hard to put pen to paper without it coming across as a whinge.

I'll wait until the Economy flight back from LAX later this week to see how I feel after that.

Sorry it's been a long TR.

Mark

Mark you must write into VS and elaborate on the issues you mention here. I am sorry to hear of your travails, as an equally frequent flier through the US connecting, I know how frustrating this sort of poor service can be. Thankfully, it's not aypical.

Mark,

Do not forget that you are VS Au and therefore give them a considerable amount of cash for the privelage of flying with them.

The food looks shocking, and the on board service sounds well below par.
It does not come across as whinging to me.

thanks for the TR[y]

Iain

Mark

Thanks for the TR, It just shows that the little things count, The indifference in service that has slowly crept into Virgin, Liky Slinky write to Virgin and fully agree its not typical.


Jurgen and Sue

Thanks for the TR. Sorry to hear about poor service.

Mark

Your TR highlights, once again, the greatest issue that VS needs to get to grips with - consistency.

For once, it is good to hear of a highly visible FSM, but if that fails to motivate / set an example to other crew then the consistency will never be there.

Like others, i believe you should write - in short you were misled and as a consequence let down. If they wished to retain your custom then it is right that they become of where service could have been better

buns

Yesterday I received a long reply to my email to the FC regarding the concerns from this flight. The response came back quickly, but I suspect that was because they knew I was on another flight. It came in just as I was driving back from LHR.

No real answer why the DC team were not there to meet the delayed passengers, that is still being investigated, but I doubt I'll hear back any more.

There were apologies for the snappy crew member and a credit of 5,000 miles.