VS073 MAN-MCO 27 Mar 09 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

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quote:Originally posted by seats for landing
Hey Capt. I think the cabin crew who have posted have in no way brought the company into disrepute, or whatever the term is, quite the contrary.

Me too [^] [y] Please don't stop posting guys - I think I speak for many v-flyers when I say that we love reading crew posts.

quote:Would you care to expand on that view, please?
What I meant was:

a) The UC passengers who have the time to spend and the inclination to post on here are not representative of the majority of Virgin passengers and probably not even a true representation of the majority of UC passengers.

b) Clearly, the views expressed on here will obviously only represent the views of the sort of passengers who wish to take part in online forums such as this.

It stating the obvious really, but it is relevant when discussing passengers expectations and crew attitudes to those passengers.

There seems to be an attitude on this forum which implies that UC passengers should in some way be treated differently to others. Surely everyone should be treated with politeness and respect irrespective of how much they can afford for a ticket. What you're buying with a more expensive ticket is better facilities at the airport, more room, better seating, better food, priority boarding etc., all together a better service - what you shouldn't be buying is a better attitude from crew, that should be good for everyone!

I fly in all classes, usually depending on who's paying, and I must admit to preferring the extra room and quietness up-front, however, the attitude and rudeness from many UC passengers towards cabin crew is often sickening, embarrassing and much worse than from those at the back.

Just my own experience on Virgin!

[Decker]

quote:Originally posted by Capt.Pag
[quote]however, the attitude and rudeness from many UC passengers towards cabin crew is often sickening, embarrassing and much worse than from those at the back.


Firstly I'd have to say that yes then, VFers are not representative of the UC pax you encounter. Rudeness to anyone is unacceptable and I'd say the majority of VF UCers would strongly agree with that stance.

I would however be interested to know whether is is true that the observed behaviour is 'often.... much worse than from those at the back' as most of the horror stories I hear seem to involve coach - but then with 6 times more people in coach than UC this might skew the numbers somewhat.

Just catching up on this thread after the weekend. Some truly fantastic posts from crew and it has certianly opened my eyes a little wider to the duties that they have and undertake on our behalf.[oo] I like the BB and MT format, nice one VS[y]

I also agree that staff should have the correct attitude regardless of what cabin they are working in however if they are working in a J cabin the service level, not attitude should be better. The PAX is paying for a level and quality of service.

Mrs B, congratulations on having the most replies to a TR[oo][:w]

Iain

I've just caught up on this thread too and it's nice to see opinions from all sides.

Again, rudeness is not an option. We travel from BHX very often as it is only about 10 miles from where we live and use Emirates business class. When checking in, we have always been friendly to staff and a couple of times have received the comment 'a business class customer who is friendly and has sense of humour'. When I asked about this, the check in agent said they don't like working on the business desks as 95% of the passengers are rude to them. I cannot understand why this as they have to ask standard questions to do their job properly and there is no need to be rude and not acknowledge them with civility.

On another note, with the same airline, we have been given bottles of wine or champagne as a thank you for being a 'nice passenger'. Not sure what this means exactly, but really it's just a case of being friendly and saying please and thank you for things. It does worry me what other passengers are like if we get treated like this for being normal.

Hey lynnewob, you would be amazed how many passengers dont even acknowledge you when you bring their drink or clear their tray etc.
Even when I do my walkaround to say hello and introduce myself and give out the essentials, quite often pax will just hold up their hand and wave me away because they dont want to speak to me (maybe they dont like the look of me? lol!)
So when someone is nice and says please and thankyou and has time for a chat it really does make a difference to us, and we'll go back to the galley and say 'wow the lady in 8a is really lovely'. I know that all the V-Flyers on here will always be polite and friendly but sadly there are a lot of people out there who aren't. Luckily we just keep smiling!

quote:Originally posted by Capt.Pag
I too enjoy reading things from the crews perspective but, without my knowledge of Virgin's exact terms of employment, isn't it a bit risky for staff to discuss company procedures or attitudes on an open forum? If it's all ok and allowed to be published then that's great but it would be a big shame if those who are trying to help got into trouble.

I mean, it's not as if the UC people who have the time and inclination to post on here are in any way representative of the majority of Virgin passengers!


I suppose the Capt is right in this original statement. How can the UC passengers etc, or PE for that matter, be representative of the majority of Virgin passengers when the majority of passengers travel economy.

Just look at the trip reports. 0f the last hundred 55% have been UC, 29% PE and 16% have been Econ. Although they are all very interesting they are individual reports and 84% of the experiences cannot be regarded as statistically representative of those of the majority of passengers on the same flights (I hope not anyway, otherwise there are a lot of broken seat backs!).

I guess you could say the reports might provide a statistical representation of the experience of the vast majority of Virgin passengers if, say, the %ages for UC and Econ were swappped.

Don't you just love statistics?



[:D]

quote:Originally posted by Galley Guy

I do believe we should welcome back our Gold and Silver Card Holders, no matter what cabin they are sitting in. You will usually find me wandering down economy with 4 glasses of bubbly balanced awkwardly, getting the envious stares of the masses, as they all enquire if I am handing it out. Nope! A nice glass of bubbly and a 'Welcome Back' usually gets a shocked stare that slides into a smile!



You wouldn't happen to be crewing VS43 on 13/04 would you??

A couple of Ag in Y wouldn't mind a glass [:D]


..... (I can hope, can't I[:w])

quote:Originally posted by HWVlover
[I suppose the Capt is right in this original statement. How can the UC passengers etc, or PE for that matter, be representative of the majority of Virgin passengers when the majority of passengers travel economy.




Don't you just love statistics?



[:D]



Well one might say that an Upper Class pax that travels on, say, 10 to 16 return trips a year may be more representative in terms of views than an Econ Pxx that travels, say, once or twice a year.

As you say statistics are just that - one can read whatever one wants into thier results [:w]

Regards,

Hackneyguy

quote:Originally posted by Capt.Pag
a) The UC passengers who have the time to spend and the inclination to post on here are not representative of the majority of Virgin passengers and probably not even a true representation of the majority of UC passengers.


I am not sure why a UC passenger is not a representative passenger? All who travel can claim that regardless of class of service?

quote:Originally posted by Capt.Pag
There seems to be an attitude on this forum which implies that UC passengers should in some way be treated differently to others

... however, the attitude and rudeness from many UC passengers towards cabin crew is often sickening, embarrassing and much worse than from those at the back.


Yes, you're right, it can be, but at least we don't generally over booze, start a fight and have the plane diverted [B)]. Nor do I think anyone on here has suggested or even intimated that the delivery of the service should be any different per class, the service yes of course.