MORE Onboard Service Cutbacks to save money update

quote:Originally posted by slinky09
quote:Originally posted by GrinningJackanapes
As long as the cuts don't impact UC, they can serve dog food down back for all I care.

GJ


Before any of our non-regulars believe anything different. This is from GJ.


Apologist.

Dog food, I say! DOG FOOD!

GJ

Am very late to this party. Not sure how I missed this topic.

Cuts in Y. No big surprise.

Given the standard of Y food, am not too happy about the cheese and biscuits being cut. IIRC last year the cheese and biscuit, was the only thing I ate on the flight over to MCO. I think maybe it is time to do a Mdvipond, and instead of taking a lime, take my own cheese and a pack of Carrs!

Scrooge hits the nail on the head, VS are often not the cheapest. Regardless of what class someone is traveling, they will want to feel their hard earned cash has been well spent. Y may not make an airline any money but as I have said before, for most people their first VS experience is down the back in Y. If that first experience is god damn awful, customers will go. Its a fine balance, I will reserve judgement until the summer on if I think the Bean Counters have gone too far (or not far enough). My father is flying back to the UK tomorrow, I will be interested to see if he passes comment on the above changes.

Just got back from NY and watched the UC crew struggle to sort out breakfast and the cabin before we got to heathrow, there was almost a sense of panic as each CC had a whole row of the A340-600 to do each. We even saw the FSM pitching in!

A few of our more vocal US cousins started to mutter that service was better on BA......

Is this a cut too far?

Have they thought of flying on just one engine?

Surely it would save more money getting rid of some of the middle management at head office!!! On top of that how bad does the '25 Years Old and still Red Hot' campaign look now. Service is probably worse now than it was then?

I seriously think it is about time SRB spent a little more time watching over his flagship business and banging some heads together rather than walking around F1 pit lanes.

I jotted some observations on the VS008 coming back from LA last night, noticing that one crew down made an obvious difference since on the 346 the crew reduction has come from the UC cabin (apparently from the PE cabin on the LHR 747s) - our flight was full too:

- much slower service post take-off, it took 50 mins for my first drink and crisps
- two crew to the LHS and one crew to the RHS, not sure why since the RHS has more seats
- crew obviously stressed, hurried to take service items away, less time for interaction
- FSM more clearly standing in to serve items during meal time, no personal service in terms of name recognition on my flight no one crew member used a passengers name
- more obvious crew rotation from other cabins, crew who dont know what you want to drink or what your preferences are

I left recalling seeing VS's advertising over on FlyerTalk 'first class service at business class prices' and felt there was an obvious decline in the service level that makes this advertising somewhat false. I gave my feedback onboard and will do to VS. Have to say though that our crew were great as usual, apart from one issue that would make LROM's blood boil, crew traveling and taking up the bar seats leaving one standing and unattended to!

[preiffer]

One thing - on the tray insert things...

I PREFER the new ones. Am I the only person who got annoyed by the old 'pillowcases' - they simply didn't ever quite 'fit' properly anyway. [n]

quote:Originally posted by slinky09

- two crew to the LHS and one crew to the RHS, not sure why since the RHS has more seats


One crew member looks after A seats
One crew member looks after K seats
One crew member looks after D/G seats so has to constantly switch between the two aisles

[:X]

quote:Originally posted by slinky09
- much slower service post take-off, it took 50 mins for my first drink and crisps
- more obvious crew rotation from other cabins, crew who dont know what you want to drink or what your preferences are


These two issues were really noticeable on my last 744 flight, pre crew reductions, but I think that was more due to the crew on the day, who just didn't seem on the ball, or some problem which wasn't visible to the passengers.

It sounds like it's time for VS to investigate changes in the service flow, such as allowing crew to be up and about more during taxi-out, so they can take after departure drink and meal orders before we get airborne.

The current SOP on VS seems to be for the FSM to make the 'seats for takeoff call' and this often comes very early, sometimes as soon as the aircraft starts the taxi. In the case of Heathrow, this is 15-20 minutes that seem to be 'wasted'.

Other airlines seem to have the flight deck call 'seats for takeoff', and I think this works better - the flight deck will have a better idea of when takeoff is imminent, and this allows the crew to be more available in the cabin during taxi-out.

Either that, or we're setting a course for service from carts in the aisles in J?

Mike

Can't really comment on recent cutbacks as my last VS flight was in 07. But the crew and service then were both excellent.

What I have noticed though when flying with other carriers premium cabins is being addressed by name. EK, MH and TG do this. I even get welcomed by name both at the boarding gate and on boarding the aircraft when flying QF Y. I am admittedly Au FF but that is not the top tier. DJ do the same on boarding the aircraft although they use first name rather than last. It just makes you feel special when in reality you are just another punter.

In terms of being served from a trolley in J - why not - all other carriers that I have flown, except NZ, do. It doesn't bother me at all - in fact now I think about I actually prefer it. Everything is there at the same time and the CC are not constantly running up and down the aisles. Which I am sure if you are near the galley on a 346 must be a nuisance.

Tolleys are so common ...

So the latest bean counter cut backs have just been announced:

From 26th June the only newspapers in the clubhouse and onboard will be The Daily Mail or The Times. All other titles will stop.
Chocolates/sweet item will be removed from meal tray in economy and premium.
Tanq no10 gin will be removed from upper class.

Oh what joy.....!

[mitchja]

Good grief. What's actually left on an economy tray now?

Regards

Death by a thousand cuts... eh? (Says me, the 2-time VS flyer with no real right to comment!)

So will we still get a desert then? Or does this count as the chocolates/sweet item.

Its getting stupid now.

Kev.

So let's get this straight, in economy there'll be no cheese and biscuits, nor a dessert on the meal tray?

No, there will still be a dessert on every Y tray, all that is being removed is the chocolate/sweet that was found on trays on routes outside of US/Carribean/UK flights, so they are removing it to standarise the tray and also save a little bit of money. I too am very saddened that Tanq 10 has been taken off, however the Akvinta vodka is has been replaced with is on trial for 2 months so you never know, maybe the Tanq will return, I certainly know any feedback I get from customers about the lack of Tanq will be written up on the catering report!!!

Just to give a non-v-flyer, non-regular pax perspective, a colleague flew VS to the US last week, where we were both attending the same meeting.

She's noticed the cuts too. When I asked her how the flight was, she said 'God, Virgin have gone downhill in my estimation', and 'Where were the pretzels?'.

She also said the crew looked embarrassed and demotivated by what they were giving out.

So, even a non-seasoned flyer can see this...

Mike

I think standardising the meal trays is a pretty good idea, and I wouldn't really notice the absence of the chocolate/sweet to be honest.

Well the old folks were off loaded on VS201 in HKG due to overbooking and was put on the next Qantas flight out. In the last 5 years they have always flown this route with VS in Y so not had much of a comparison with other airlines. But boy after their QF flight did they give them compliments. They said there are more space in Y on QF (744) than VS (346). The drink service was excellent. QF actually gives out plastic bottle of wine rather than just a cup. The food was better. The amenity kit was better. Especially now the mileage earning has been halved on VS there isn't really much going for them.

having spent the money on a PE upgrade on a flight to st lucia... im not wondering why i bothered. Seems less 'premium' every time i log on here

What saddens me most, and I don't think it has been mentioned so far, is will there ever be a point when VS think - 'Great things are good again - let's reduce our margins and stick some more crew in the cabins again' And dare I say it... 'Lets make the amenity kit worth having'

Not going to happen is it

Like it or not, IMHO the product is unlikely to return to its former glory, and this is probably true of the industry as a whole until planes can be powered by water. Especially so given the success of the LCCs in recent years.

Those of you who miss the top class Virgin upper offering of recent years, take comfort and remember it well... your children are unlikely to ever be so lucky.

My depressing thought for a Friday.

quote:Originally posted by diggeryd
Especially so given the success of the LCCs in recent years.


The LCCs are suffering too, on my last flight with FR, there were 48 passengers on a plane with I think, 216 seats.

So when the money starts flowing again, as it will, there may well be a call for some comforts after the 'austerity'.

Sandi Togsvig has the answer to the credit crunch: Just get Robert Peston to say on the BBC News that it's over.

Forgetting for a moment comparisons with other airlines, my mother travelled on PE for the first time last month. She remarked that the service reminded her of economy back in the 70s. It does make me think - if you remove tax, has economy ever been cheaper? Perhaps that's what has happened. As economy continues to get cheaper the product diminishes and another product, in VS's case PE, steps into the breach, and is perhaps at a price more related to that of economy in the 70s.

quote:Originally posted by McMaddog
Forgetting for a moment comparisons with other airlines, my mother travelled on PE for the first time last month. She remarked that the service reminded her of economy back in the 70s. It does make me think - if you remove tax, has economy ever been cheaper? Perhaps that's what has happened. As economy continues to get cheaper the product diminishes and another product, in VS's case PE, steps into the breach, and is perhaps at a price more related to that of economy in the 70s.


AFAIK, in real terms there has been no change in the price of economy tickets for years...