2nd Trip VS, this time PE and still dissapointed

I flew Y to Cape Town last year and even though the loads both ways were light to say the least, even having 2 seats I found the whole experience dissapointing. Seats were not comfortable, sporadic VPort (good when it did work) and the most plastic crew I've witnessed on any airline.

I've just returned from a holiday in Kenya and chose VS as I got a decent deal in PE and I'm always prepared to forgive a 'one off'.

PE was a total dissapointment. Luckily we had bulkhead seats on the way out, but the main meal was served in foil trays, the Oddeysey system was poor (compared to BA, SAA, EK, even Thomas Cook) breakfast was a let down, with the only difference to Y being a muffin!

The return leg was most dissapointing. We were on A343 G-VAIR which was full and I had seat 21D. During the take off roll, my seat started reclining (and I wasn't pressing the button) this carried on throughout the climb, no matter how many times I returned the seat to 'upright'. For the rest of the flight I was resigned to a fully reclined seat (same happened in descent and landing) I felt sorry for the person behind me as with these PE seats reclined, as the seat in front of me was for most of the flight, the legroom is severely impeded and the use of the footstool was nigh on impossible.

Unfortunately the problems didn't end there, the headphones were handed out and didn't work, the IFE for both myself and my partner didn't work, this was reset and when it finally ordaned to work correctly, some channels were blank and you couldn't watch most of the TV channels as the picture was awfull and it was like listening to daleks as the sound was so distorted!

The crew (plastic again) weren't particularly helpful, but offerred us some chocolates as way of an apology.

Virgin and particularly Virgin Atlantic, in my opinion, obviously have a very strong brand, and the crew on the whole ham up to this, thinking they are the elite of the airline industry. However, beneath the brand, there is not a lot going for them from the 2 trips I have taken with VS. Very mediocre to say the least!

[Neil]

I suppose everyone is entilted to their opinion and it is clear you haven't had the best experiences with VS. Maybe you have been unlucky, but your comment about the crew is a little unfair. I have just taken a flight and had the best crew we have ever experienced on any airline in any class of travel and I know there are many more VS crew out there who ate equally as good, so I think generalising a whole companies crew on 2, not so great experiences is a little harsh.

How many trips do we need to take before being able to make generalisations about rapidly falling standards?

My comments are made on the basis of many trips across a wide range of airlines both Short and Long Haul, ranging from First Class on EK, business class and numerous trips in Y on other airines. My comments about the crew are based on comparison to crew on other airlines. I really believe that behind the Virgin 'mask', it really is a mediocre airline playing to its branding strength and the belief that Virgin (as with the other franchises) are superior to anything else, which in my opinion, it is not!

The whole world today is run by marketeers trying to get an individual to have an affinity with a brand. The service behind the brand has to stand up to scrutiny otherwise they have to rely on people's affinity remaining strong to the perceived brand.

Sorry to read that you haven't had great flights with VS, consistancy is a problem ALL airlines have not just VS, you only have to read on A.net that EK, BA SA to name a few.

I think a letter off to VS would be in order to explain the problems you had with the IFE, seat etc.

Welcome to V-Flyer.

I go to a club in Shoreditch called Plastic People and it's fun. I only wish the crew on your flight had been like that!

The reclining seat is a real bummer. I have had that happen on other airlines, and with VS UC suite in the early days, before the button guard was installed, sometimes it threatened to close upon me like a famished clam.

You have every right to your opinion. Please continue to share it here.

GJ

'"the most plastic crew I've witnessed on any airline.'

Ouch!
"

OK maybe the 'plastic' bit was a bit OTT and certainly didn't apply to every single crew member, so a shocking sweeping generalisation in hindsight! However, the worst offenders were pretty bad, bordering on patronising and as vain as they come.

As there seems to be a few cabin crew responding here, maybe you can enlighten me as to the service of dinner in PE on the return leg and logistically how it defied logic? The choice was either chicken or beef, one trolley contained just beef, whilst the other trolley on the other aisle had just chicken. Therefore for every one of the five rows in PE, meals were swapped across the centre seats at every row between the said cabin crew as unbelievably one side of the plane ordered a mixture of beef or chicken, as did the other side - why not set the trolleys up with half of each ??

[Scrooge]

A couple of things to point folks.

A person has decided to join our little group here, they have taken the time to write a full explanation of the events on two flights, not a five line rant, do you think we could not be so dismissive ?

We all know that the older IFE systems has issues, the biggest one being the headphone jacks not working.

More than one of our members has had a seat that refuses to stay upright.

Yes VS does have some crew that frankly we would never like to see again (I'm sure they are loved equally by their peers as well [ii]) as has already been pointed out, consistently good crews is something every airline, heck every business strives for, however it really is a goal that will never be attained.

The IFE is simply penny pinching and IMHO is the more annoying thing to go wrong, there is no reason that it shouldn't be fixed.

As has already been said, a quick letter to VS, a word on their facebook page wouldn't be a bad thing, though don't expect much other than a few thousand miles and a boiler plate sorry letter.

quote:Originally posted by Balders33
Therefore for every one of the five rows in PE, meals were swapped across the centre seats at every row between the said cabin crew as unbelievably one side of the plane ordered a mixture of beef or chicken, as did the other side - why not set the trolleys up with half of each ??


Why did the chicken cross the aisle? [:I]

Seriously, though, this seems like an onerous expectation for crew to have of pax...I wouldn't want some swine flu poster child handling my meal as they pass it along to the other side of the cabin! [V] I think you have a very valid question in this and it would be enlightening to hear from one of our valued crew members here as to whether this was standard -- although as a regular reader of TRs, I must say I have never heard of this happening before...and to be fair to crew, they don't cater the carts.

GJ

B33 - welcome to V-Flyer and thanks for the comments.

The only way we can influence VS and bring about any change for the better is to write and let them know!

But it is very important that we write as many letters of compliment as we do of complaint - particularly where crew are concerned. That way we achieve double the effect - showing the difference between the good and the 'plastic'! We also gain much more credibility by not just moaning about the bad.

There are some excellent crew in VS - this particularly shows when we get a really good FSM.
All specific compliments are included in personnel files - and are important to individual assessments.

I find it much more satisfying to write a good letter of compliment than to labour over a letter of complaint!
Crew do see these letters - and positive reinforcement can be much more effective in improving future performance.

Grinningjack - it was the 2 members of cabin crew on each aisle, passing the meals to one another across the centre seats of every row, not the pax.

Well that's dangerous. What if a plasticine pot of alleged chicken dropped in your lap due to that passing about?

GJ

[Darren Wheeler]

coq au vin [:0]

GJ
How about Plastic People when it was on Oxford St?
Now that was a good club.....
P

[Pete]

quote:Originally posted by Capt.Pag
How many trips do we need to take before being able to make generalisations about rapidly falling standards?


No need to make unsupported generalisations when we already collect the data and make it available in the ratings section. The beauty of that data is that the ratings are backed up by a verbose trip report, so don't suffer from the bingo-card survey effect. You can drill down to every one of those 1500+ flights rated on V-Flyer and read the detail of what the crew were like; if the IFE was up to scratch and whether the food was edible. We don't editorialise, and the data is absolutely live. You post a report & rating, it updates the charts instantly.

Current overall rating for the last three months is 86%, up from the all-time score of 83%. Neither rating is low though, so it sounds like recent flights are improving on already good performance for the majority.

'for the majority' is the key bit of that, however, as there will always be exceptions where customer service and standards sadly go out of the window. Even I've had those flights, and I'd suggest that if that was my first experience it would have coloured my judgement should I have given Virgin a second chance.

As Scrooge points out though, every opinion is encouraged, as that's the only way we can get an authentic picture of customer satisfaction. Please do post trip reports, and be completely honest in your ratings of the service you received. If there were a noticeable drop in the ratings on V-Flyer in any of the five key areas, I'm pretty sure Virgin would be very keen to act.

('As there seems to be a few cabin crew responding here, maybe you can enlighten me as to the service of dinner in PE on the return leg and logistically how it defied logic? The choice was either chicken or beef, one trolley contained just beef, whilst the other trolley on the other aisle had just chicken. Therefore for every one of the five rows in PE, meals were swapped across the centre seats at every row between the said cabin crew as unbelievably one side of the plane ordered a mixture of beef or chicken, as did the other side - why not set the trolleys up with half of each ?? ')

Hi Balders33, firstly can I say sorry you've had two bad experiences. As to the delivery of the meal service,if they went out with just chicken on one side and beef on the other then I can only agree with you that they must have been extremly 'plastic'. I have never known crew do this and it makes no sense at all, as any person with a tiny amount of sense will put some of each meal on each cart. And passing meals above passengers' heads is also a no no. As I was't there I can't really comment on why they did this, but it is very very strange! Please don't give up on us!

I don't want to sound as if I'm sticking up for said 'plastic' crew but unfortunately wherever you go in life there are going to be people who are completly up themselves and who care about noone but themselves. It is a shame that such people get such front line jobs, it really annoys me especially for the ones of us who do try!

quote:Originally posted by GrinningJackanapes


and to be fair to crew, they don't cater the carts.

GJ


You are right, the crew don't cater the carts but they do put the hot part of the meal onto/into the carts, which is what caused some problems on the flight in question.

Which ever crew member thought having a seperate chicken and beef cart would work should be shot. I've never ever come across it before, a five year old could of seen the potential pitfalls of splitting the meals in this fashion.

quote:Originally posted by ilikebluesmarties
quote:Originally posted by GrinningJackanapes


and to be fair to crew, they don't cater the carts.

GJ


You are right, the crew don't cater the carts but they do put the hot part of the meal onto/into the carts, which is what caused some problems on the flight in question.

Which ever crew member thought having a seperate chicken and beef cart would work should be shot. I've never ever come across it before, a five year old could of seen the potential pitfalls of splitting the meals in this fashion.


Thanks for the insight! [y] I actually did not know they loaded them...all along I thought the carts came loaded with trays and they were heated somehow. [:I]

GJ

quote:Originally posted by Pete
If there were a noticeable drop in the ratings on V-Flyer in any of the five key areas, I'm pretty sure Virgin would be very keen to act.

I'm not so sure. The problem is that trip reports on here are only representative of the sort of customers who fill in trip reports on forums like this. Consequently, the raw data from V-Flyer might actually be making the problem worse by not providing an entirely accurate representation, (that is, if Virgin are keen to act?). I hope doing a trip report does not dissuade people from writing to Virgin directly. That'll be a better way of letting them know they now have a problem. However, looking at the replies from other members it would seem that almost everything could now be called complimentary and therefore not part of the contract!!!
http://www.v-flyer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=31217
Talk about Virgin dropping the ball... their concern is tangible - Not

There is also the on-board survey.
OK, that is only done by a small percentage of the pax, but it will indicate where patterns emerge.

I would much prefer VS to also telephone a sample of passengers post-flight and talk about their experiences - the good & the bad.

It is difficult to always get the names of staff but VS can easily get these from your flight details - we need to communicate with VS about the good & the bad.