V-Flyer

My fiancé and I travelled on the VS085 to Las Vegas from Manchester, a trip we had been looking forward to for over 9 months. However, the flight wasn't the start to the vacation that we had hoped for.
There main issues were:
• The food and crew, and
• The "policy" of alcohol,
• The tired, dreary and weary look of the plane "Jersey Girl".
I'll detail that in more depth for each. Firstly, I've no need to remind you that the tickets for this flights cost in excess of £2000 and for that, you have to expect a certain standard. So, imagine our surprise when we were told that our first choice meal was not available, as all of the fellow passengers had ordered it, due to the other two meals looking decidedly less than appetising. When the flight attendant offered us alternatives, my fiancé declined as neither was acceptable, later on the same crew member said that she would see what was in the crew food-cart. Nothing came of that, leaving my fiancé both hungry and waiting, later on I challenged the crew member on the food from the crew-cart, to be told that her supervisor told her that this was not how Virgin did things. This was not relayed to us, and we were left to stew on that.
So, on asking if there was any other food or if there was anything that could be done, we were quite taken aback when the same crew member told my fiancé that she "...should have gone to Boots, or something, to get a sandwich..." and that "...there's no other food on the aircraft...". This left me in a very frustrated mood, as not more than 90 minutes later, we were offered sandwiches - despite being told that there was no food on the aircraft. My fiancé, having not eaten since an hour before boarding, was now starving, and only around 2 hours from Las Vegas. She was close to tears from the hunger and frustration, so I asked for the flight service supervisor. When he came to us, his immediate manner was the "stand off" and he really didn't care. He blamed the caterers and told us that it was just something we would have to deal with. He offered a token apology, in both his verbal delivery and rather blasé manner. On asking for the complaints address, he was initially reticent to offer it, so on pressing, he came back with one.
Now, the return flight, was incredible. Excellent staff, very courteous, good food and overall, totally opposite to to outbound.
Secondly, the alleged policy on alcohol. We were sat behind a couple, who were continually ordering alcohol during the entire flight, and the man in front of me was rocking and jumping/bouncing in his chair, I asked him several times to refrain, as it was bouncing off my knees. This couple ordered so much alcohol in fact that the lady spilled a full glass of wine down herself and then fell out of her seat into the aisle. She was then served with more alcohol when she returned. A policy on consumption? Really?
There now seems to be lottery on the flight that you receive with Virgin Atlantic, either excellent or shocking. At the moment, it is no longer a default position for us to fly with Virgin Atlantic for our next Trans-Atlantic holiday. We might look to another carrier and use the savings to "...go to Boots or something" before the flight.
Also, there was an unexpected expense incurred with the Baggage Drop facility at Las Vegas. Having been used to the free drop at Disney in Orlando, it was a shock for us to be charged $10 per bag for our check in. This was not mentioned to us, and the first we heard of this was when the attendant asked us how we'd be paying.
Finally, the aircraft “Jersey Girl” was looking very shabby. All very worn, partly working In-Flight-Entertainment and scruffy seats. I appreciate that Virgin are refitting the 747 fleet (as I saw from the return flight on “Barbarella”, but this is NOT a premium-class craft.

Clearly not a good experience

Mrs Buns and I have, on more than one occasion (especially as our favourite seats were 79 A&C or 80 H&K) found that our choice of meal was no longer available and usually the Crew have gone out of their way to help

Your crew encounter is, IMHO, well short of the standards one could expect from VS - irrespective of class and I do think that Crawley Towers should be given some constructive feedback of how standards were not met on this occasion. To be honest with you, I would not expect any offer for a refund, but you are making sure that the actions of the supervisor and crew member are noted and hopefully improved as a result.

As far as the drinking is concerned - I do feel sorry for crew operating flights to LAS as they are in a no win situation

I do hope the return was better

buns

Oh dear -- sorry to hear about this. Have you complained in writing? It basically sounds like a poor crew on a knackered plane -- and we've heard such reports before...

Having said that, food choices do sometimes run out -- it has happened to me in Upper Class and it is bad luck, but you just have to grin and bear it. I usually have something bought at the airport with me in case of disasters, because there is nothing worse than being hungry on a flight, so maybe the crew-member was right in what they said about going to Boots -- although obviously it is not appropriate for him/her to tell you that!

Again -- sorry you didn't enjoy your flight, but sounds like the return was much better. Thanks for the TR!

Thanks for your trip report As Buns said earlier I think a letter to SRB is very much in order to describe your frustrations. To have a CC that were that poor in their attitude is quite unbelievable
I hope there are more positives for your return TR

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I have sent a (slightly) modified version of the TR to SRB - am awaiting a response. I'll post it up when they respond.

As for the return trip, on Barbarella. That was great. Couldn't fault it.

Sorry you had such a poor flight, not a great start to your trip I must admit these kind of reports are off putting when it comes to booking VS flights from LGW/MAN. Having flown with VS from LHR a few times now and had a great experience, anything less would be a disappointment. Really hope they can get the plane refurbs turned over as quickly as possible - and a refurb on some customer service it would seem also!

It's scandalous that PE or even more so UC passengers should have to go to boots and take on board there own food. For what these meals cost the airlines they should load two of each choice excepting veg which is pre-orderable! With the average UC flight being in excess of 2k return and sometime as much as £5k it's is incredible that they risk such adverse publicity for the sake taking a full stock of extra £10 meals

Hey Johnny.

My parents flew back from LAS to LGW on 3rd June, onboard Jersey Girl when she swapped with the LGW flight. They said the exact same about the cabin: no redeeming features whatsoever and it certainly didn't feel like a "Premium" cabin. Of course I explained to them that the aircraft were (slowly but surely!) being refurbished but it didn't really wash. Fair enough I suppose. It would be a different story if the high ticket prices actually reflected the onboard product!

They also remarked on how poor the crew were - compared with their outbound flight from LHR to SFO. They also received no water onboard (don't even know if they had bottled water on their seats when they boarded). And my mum did ask the CC for water several times. One promised to go get her a glass but quelle surprise it never came.

They didn't see the CC at all from when they cleared the meal service, until the a/c was entering UK airspace and they came round with the breakfast. Compare that to last year, when we flew PE from MCO-GLA and the crew couldn't have been more attentive: constantly coming round offering fruit, drinks top-ups etc.

I get that everybody is deserved to have off days, but the fact that Virgin pride themselves on going that extra mile (in terms of service) when it's often the complete opposite in reality, is extremely off-putting.

Thanks for the report

Good TR, have to agree with Johnny the refit can't come quick enough IMO. Even the bubble looks tired and have to admit i know fuel is a big cost, but more should be put into the food. Due to go out on VS073 on Friday, and wife has taken one look at the menu and it appears a footlong will boarding the plane. Looks like it will an old style one, fingers crossed for a miracle on the re-fit plane.

How very disappointing for you, I too would have sent a letter/email of complaint.

In recent years we have had very little reason for complaint on our twice yearly PE flights but have to agree that the PE seats/cabin on the 747's are absolutely knackered...... but we still choose these planes for our return trip as we prefer the later flight.

One of 'the Mum's' up at school is flying VA for the first time this month and was asking me if Virgin are 'any good' or not? The only answer I could give her was, sometimes they are great, sometimes not, depends on the crew and plane etc which is such a shame as we have been pretty happy with our flights in recent years but I am more than aware of 'inconsistencies' and so didn't want to get her hopes up.....

Ali.

How different 2 flights can be

I posted my trip report about my trip from LGW to LAS quoting its one of the best I had
We also travelled on Jersey Girl, and although well worn was still comfortable and the staff were fantastic.

I think we would all agree that some consistency is required, Virgin must realise that the Flights are not just about getting you to your holiday destination, they are a big part of your holiday and a great flight can really make a difference.

I am here in Las Vegas now having a great time that started with a good flight, had it been a bad flight like you had experienced, it would be eating me away and making me uneasy about the return.

Well, I sent letter of complaint in to the email address supplied, the auto-responder stated I'd have a reply within 28 days. That's today - nothing!
Looks like the good service of the outbound flight is continuing!

Thanks for the TR.

We have also had similar meal problems to you in PE, even when sat half way down the cabin in the exit seats! It's not on in my opinion. I also find the crew to be really inconsistent and this can make or break your flight. So many times flying back from the US the crew have gone missing from clearing the meal away to serving breakfast, it's one of my irritations!

Send your letter again if you haven't had a reply

Ok, I heard back from Virgin, by the way of a phone call from a lovely woman called Francesca. She apologised profusely and agreed that the conduct wasn't right, and asking someone to go to Boots before a flight is totally wrong.
More apologies were forthcoming with regards to state of Jersey Girl - and the details of the refurbishment duly followed.
A pleasant conversation, which resulted in us being rewarded with 6,000 miles.
Not sure what I'll be doing with that!

Sounds like the fairly standard 'sorry about that, here's some miles to make you go away'.

clarkeysntfc wrote:Sounds like the fairly standard 'sorry about that, here's some miles to make you go away'.

Indeed.
I thought that the an offer of an upgrade from Economy to PE would be in order for one of the legs? But c'est le vie.

It's still by no means a given that I'll be going with Virgin for my next trans-Atlantic holiday.

That's a real shame, and though I don't work for VS, I'm sorry you experienced that. I had a long chat with an FSM once about passenger misbehaviour (drinking) and she told me hands down it was LAS and LAX that caused them the most problems.