Happy new on-board service today

So we have been leaked that from today:
New service items (crockery, cutlery, menu) in UC (further changes from Spring 2012)
Slights tweaks to service in PE
Totally revamped service in Y

May the trip reports commence ... !!!

And do we actually think that VS will implement this all on schedule :w :w :w .

Looking forward to hearing all about it!

Good morning,

I'm Geoff, the Brand Copywriter at Virgin Atlantic. Here's the official version of what's happening from today.

Enjoy...

Our best ever Economy meal experience

Two years of thorough research, expert design and extensive onboard trialling have all led up to 1 November, when we unveil our innovative, new Virgin Atlantic Economy meal experience. Our goal? To make sure that everything we came up with made your journey better.

The result is our best ever meal experience. It's an innovative, exciting new take on dining that we’re very proud of. You can look forward to something that feels much more like what you’d experience on the ground, with loads of those perfectly considered surprises you’ve come to expect from Virgin Atlantic.

When the plane takes off, you’ll be handed our brand new menu. It’s packed full of things to whet your appetite.

On most flights, it’s then time for our drinks service, including the new Welcome Cocktail. A refreshing mix of fruit juices with or without vodka, it’s served in our fabulous new purple glass with a stylish, quirky, new swizzle stick. You can also choose from our usual wide selection of beers, wines, spirits and soft drinks too.

When we start serving your meal, you’ll not only notice that the tray is smaller, giving you more space on your tray table, but somehow we’ve managed to give you even more food. And it’s tastier too, because we’ve enhanced our selection of produce.

There’s another quite important difference. There’s no longer a dessert on your tray. One of our most exciting improvements is the fact we’ve separated everything into courses. The starter and main are served first. Then, after we’ve cleared your tray away, we serve a delicious dessert with coffee, tea, or, our new addition on night flights, hot chocolate. On our shorter night flights, you’ll still find dessert on your tray so you can maximise your sleep time.

On our day flights, while you’re watching a movie, you can look forward to a visit from our crew, with their stylish, new usherette trays packed full of ice creams.

And before we land, on our shorter flights, you’ll now be served our new deli box, filled with a cold traditional English High Tea or a delicious, energising breakfast, depending on the time of day.

Look out for exciting changes to our Upper Class meal experience coming soon.

Thank you for posting, where did you obtain this info?

Have I read that correctly, a welcome cocktail in Y and a menu for meal service? Very interesting!

Sounds like some innovative ideas in Y - how practical will it be to servce the meal in "courses" on a packed MCO 744?

Looking forward to seeing details of the changes in PE and UC.

Sounds like some innovative ideas in Y - how practical will it be to servce the meal in "courses" on a packed MCO 744?

Looking forward to seeing details of the changes in PE and UC.

Agree - it could take hours for the crew to effectively do 3 sweeps (drink, meal, dessert) through the 400-ish economy seats on those aircraft.

Well, it sounds great. But, as always (and especially with VS), the question will be: what's it like in reality?

[honey lamb]

Thank you for posting, where did you obtain this info?

Err, Cal, he said he was Brand Copywriter for VS and it's the official release, so I guess he was told about it from VS and wrote it .

Don't see the point in having menu. On both our PE flights a few weeks back the most popular choice ran out half way down the cabin. Having a menu raises higher expectations which Virgin seems to almost delight in disappointing and leads to more complaints.

Get the basics right before introducing enhancements v( To use one of my Mum's favourite expressions at times Virgin is all fur coat and no knickers!

[Neil]

Sounds like some innovative ideas in Y - how practical will it be to servce the meal in "courses" on a packed MCO 744?

Looking forward to seeing details of the changes in PE and UC.

Agree - it could take hours for the crew to effectively do 3 sweeps (drink, meal, dessert) through the 400-ish economy seats on those aircraft.

They have said the desert will be served with the tea/coffee run, so it isn't an additional duty, just means they will clear the main meal away before serving the tea/coffee.

Have I read that correctly, a welcome cocktail in Y and a menu for meal service? Very interesting!

It's called a welcome cocktail, but it says 'after take off', so it just another offering on the first drinks run, not a pre-take off drink like in W/J.

I like the sound of the service, and look forward to hearing more about the other cabins too now.

Hi,

Apologies Cal346, I edited the post to put in my title after you'd posted.

In response to some of your queries, the meal service has been extensively tested onboard, and timings are very similar to our previous meal experience, regardless of the aircraft or the number of passengers onboard.

We launched the service on our seasonal Cape Town flights recently, and feedback from our passengers has been excellent.

Cheers,

Geoff

[Neil]

Don't see the point in having menu. On both our PE flights a few weeks back the most popular choice ran out half way down the cabin. Having a menu raises higher expectations which Virgin seems to almost delight in disappointing and leads to more complaints.

Get the basics right before introducing enhancements v(

Unfortunately it is impossible and impractical for them to load one of every choice per pax, and therefore if every pax from the front half chooses the same option then those further back will have less choice.

It actually happened on our last flight and we had to pick something we wouldn't normally have done so, and it was fantastic, so by not having our first choice it actually worked better for us.

One of my favourite sayings is "you will never please all of the people all of the time", because it is true, but I am certain VS don't delight in things like this.

and VS have posted a video to their You Tube channel highlighting the new service.
LINK HERE

I hope that's not the copy being released to the press ... how many mistakes are there (or 'their' sic) in it, for example an entrée in the US is a main course, not a starter (and in France is a course between the starter and main course), confused, you could be?

Also, I'm befuddled by the testing, the Cape Town service only restarts today (doesn't it), so how can it have been tested? Or are my dates wrong ... ?|

[Neil]

Also, I'm befuddled by the testing, the Cape Town service only restarts today (doesn't it), so how can it have been tested? Or are my dates wrong ... ?|

It started on the 19th October, 3 x weekly.

Also, I'm befuddled by the testing, the Cape Town service only restarts today (doesn't it), so how can it have been tested? Or are my dates wrong ... ?|

It started on the 19th October, 3 x weekly.

I'm on the CPT run in UC on the 27th....I'll see if I can do a TR with a special emphasis on the meal service if no one else does it before me, although it will be my 1st. UC experience so I have nothing to compare it with.

Thank you for posting, where did you obtain this info?

Err, Cal, he said he was Brand Copywriter for VS and it's the official release, so I guess he was told about it from VS and wrote it .

LOL I thought I was going mad for a moment, but pleased to see Geoff has commented above to confirm that when I initially read the post it didn't include his title or details

Hi,

Apologies Cal346, I edited the post to put in my title after you'd posted.

In response to some of your queries, the meal service has been extensively tested onboard, and timings are very similar to our previous meal experience, regardless of the aircraft or the number of passengers onboard.

We launched the service on our seasonal Cape Town flights recently, and feedback from our passengers has been excellent.

Cheers,

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

Thanks very much for providing the additional information and posting.

Cal

Good morning,

I'm Geoff, the Brand Copywriter at Virgin Atlantic. Here's the official version of what's happening from today.

Enjoy...

When the plane takes off, you’ll be handed our brand new menu. It’s packed full of things to whet your appetite.

Consider my appetite "wheted"....

Consider my appetite "wheted"....

Be ready to have your whelm to be undered though !

Don't see the point in having menu. On both our PE flights a few weeks back the most popular choice ran out half way down the cabin. Having a menu raises higher expectations which Virgin seems to almost delight in disappointing and leads to more complaints.

Get the basics right before introducing enhancements v( To use one of my Mum's favourite expressions at times Virgin is all fur coat and no knickers!

Back in the day (1998-2001) the menu was a standard part of the Economy offering. Still have ours pasted into the scrapbooks..

[Neil]

Consider my appetite "wheted"....

Be ready to have your whelm to be undered though !

Lets give it a chance before we start bashing it.

People moan about the poor quality of food, so VS come up with something new and different and before the new service/menu has even had half a day inaction people are already waiting for it to fail v(

[preiffer]

I'm on the CPT run in UC on the 27th....I'll see if I can do a TR with a special emphasis on the meal service if no one else does it before me, although it will be my 1st. UC experience so I have nothing to compare it with.

Well, other than new crockery/different salt and pepper, you won't be seeing much difference in J - the major changes are in the economy cabin...

Just watched the Youtube video introducing the new service, it does look good and certainly a move in the right direction to close the gap between the actual service offered vs. the marketing commercials!

Pleased to see "real" CC used for the commercial. I recognise one of the female crew members who provided excellent service on one of my recent flights - showing that what is portrayed in the video is true a true reflection on service (IMHO from this specific CC).

Await the TR's.....!

As someone who regularly flies Economy (or Premium), I think this is fantastic.

I regularly keep hold of my desert past the point when they collect the trays - now I have one less thing to juggle.

For years, VS was different and innovative and a lot of the complaints on here over the past two years have been about the missing sparkle. Well they have tried something different and I really hope it works.