A tale of two flights...

I went back to Dubai for Christmas, down in VS Upper, back in BA Club. Gave a very interesting contrast!

I had real issues changing my outbound ticket with Virgin, that culminated in me being called (falsely) a liar by the Gold FC Team. Went to Facebook, Howard sorted that one for me, and got some miles in compensation. BA process of booking - and then changing - a ticket was flawless, very polite. One nil to BA.

Getting to the airport - normally would have used the car, BA don't have one, so even though on this flight I didn't use the car - one all.

Check in - long queue at VS Upper. After twenty minutes, I was sent upstairs to the Wing check in. BA - flawless, no queue, although to be fair the BA check in at DXB has less traffic than the VS one at T3. 2-1 BA.

BA lounge in DXB a helluva long way from the gate, so didn't use it. In any case, nothing beats the London Clubhouse! 2-2!

Boarding - BA boarded promptly, and in class order. Virgin at Heathrow - was told, and I quote - 'WHY are you in that lane? Are you Upper???' - when I said yes, I got tutted. Got to the front of the queue, was told my seat had been changed from one at the front, to one by the bar. Great. Told by staff that 'a silver card wanted a quieter seat'. When I pointed out I was 5 years Gold, I got a 'whatever. Do you want the seat or not?' 3-2 BA.

On the flight. BA seat was comfortable and private, greeted as Mr xxx - and I'm BA BLUE! Catering was pretty good. IFE not functioning at all. Virgin seat was less comfortable, catering again pretty good, but IFE was. Not addressed even as sir, let alone Mr xxx, and I'm FC Gold. Hmmm. A draw. Still 3-2 BA.

Crew - BA staff friendly and very apologetic about the IFE. Came around several times with drinks and nibbles. Virgin - one was good, rest completely hopeless - meal service fell apart, took ages. 4-2 BA.

Have to book two returns from LA on my miles. BA had several dates within a day or two of my required date, and offered me a partner flight on the day. Virgin had NOTHING from April through September, and didn't have a clue about how to search for partner flights. Hopeless. Another point to BA. 5-2 BA.

So VS v BA? Sadly the positions have reversed for me from where they were. I have had grumbles in the past about Virgin, but they were always better than BA. Not any more, so I am reviewing the travel budget this year.... Virgin is turning into much, much more style than substance, I fear. I had four returns with them in the six weeks before Christmas, two DXBs, a JNB and an EWR (I have a crazy job!) - and each flight left me feeling disappointed, a sensation I never had with Virgin until a year ago.

Thanks for this very interesting TR - surely VS have to take note of this and realise that even the most loyal customers are thinking the unthinkable.

I really hope so, Jacki, thanks for your comment. I used to look forward to flying Virgin - sadly, whatever has happened to them, it just feels like everyone else, and more sadly, worse than many of them...

I wish they would go back to how they once were...

thats very disappointing for such a ff

as they say...hard to gain a client ,easy to lose

Please tell me the VS crew didn't actually say "'whatever. Do you want the seat or not?'"!!! I hope you reported them? That tone is incredibly unprofessional IMO.

Sadly, MMOOLL2 they did. The guy behind me in the queue gave me his card, so I could use him as a witness, he was American and very shocked. Given the scrum at the gate, I didn't make an issue of it at the time; there was a family with kids (who hadn't been pre boarded) about three folks behind me, and I could see they just wanted to get on and get the kids settled for the night flight. I didn't get the names of the staff sadly, but I am sure that VS could find them if they wanted to.

I'm not sure it is worth making a fuss about tbh. All I am likely to get is a standard apology and perhaps 5,000 miles - to add to the nearly half a million I am having trouble spending It just adds to another Virgin experience...

It appears It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..

Definitely a very apt description. ii)

Thanks for posting this comparison. It is very indicative of how BA have been closing the service gap of late. As you said a year ago VS would be winning by a furlong.. now the race is becoming tighter.

Boarding staff.. were they the extremely moody BAA airport ones?? I have had run ins with them before.. it never ends well, even if you are polite and courteous they clearly hate their jobs and want to make everyone suffer.

The seat moving debarcle is fascinating.... they wanted a quieter seat and so were moved at the expense of another pax, and highlighted the reason because they are AG to an AU no less (.. unfortunate for the CC there if he/she was banking on you having no status with the airline so they could move their new 'friend'), and with the response being so rude as well ?| ?| there had to be more going on there. Definitely report the incident, maybe VS CS team can get to the bottom of it, hopefully a reason will emerge that is not the canned 5000 miles apology default.

Cheers for posting this 8D

You're welcome, Joeyc. Always hard to tell re the staff, but they were certainly in VS uniform. I was rather taken aback by the comment, as you might imagine, but as I said, the guy behind me heard it as well....

You are more than likely correct - staff doing a mate a favour, and got caught out. I did actually see the galley list that had been taped to the bar wall during the flight, and my original seat was noted as a Silver card holder; there were only two of us Golds, and four Silvers in Upper.

I think I will report it, not for the miles but to stop it happening. I'll let you know what happens in 28 days...

Thank you for a most interesting TR and comparison. It made me feel rather sad ! I suppose we should feel lucky that we at least experienced VS at its very best ..... I am stunned by the whatever !
Do let us know what happened when you reported it.
Hiljil

Told by staff that 'a silver card wanted a quieter seat'. When I pointed out I was 5 years Gold, I got a 'whatever. Do you want the seat or not?' 3-2 BA.

:0 :0 v(

Some of the things you identify are things that are inherently variable (e.g. length of check-in; competence of crew). But the exchange about the seat is just completely inexcusable.

As long as BA persist in serving premium economy meals in Club World they won't have my business.

(Yes I know they'll say it's the other way round, but whatever)

Your very interesting comparison almost exactly echoes my own - albeit, I'm nothing like as FF as you...

The epxerience varies so much dependent on the particular staff, that you need to look for trends, and in my case, the trend only really headed in one direction.

I think I'm in a minority, but I personally find the CW seat far more comfortable as well! It's actually the leg room I really like.

Moving away from VS was a lot like loosing an old friend, but an old friend that didn't feel loyal to me - and, at the end of the day, it's my money and I'll spend it my way.

- to add to the nearly half a million I am having trouble spending

oooo I could think of as few people here who could help you with that, dish out a few for upgrades etc and you could win 'most popular newcomer EVER' award

[preiffer]

I think I'm at 120TPs or so this year so far, and already BA are treating me better as a BA "Blue" member...

Your experience is not unique. VS, whatever has caused it, has lost the plot entirely. I now look back at Branson's books as sad tales of times gone by, not inspiring themes for the future. Shame - I guess some companies just can't keep up with their own hype.

This makes for rather ugly reading. At a mere 84 TPs for the year, I'm a bit behind some others on here, but if I ever got that 'whatever' scenario/response, it would quite probably push me very firmly in BAs direction.

Although to be honest, if they had a more flexible policy around extra children in lounges, I may well have gone that way already...

I don't think it matters how many TPs you have or indeed which cabin you are in. There are minimum acceptable standards of courtesy and service in any industry, and being told 'whatever' if you object to your seat being changed falls a long way short of them.

I never did get around to providing trip reports for the LA/SF trips I did in Upper last year, but suffice to say I was considering switching my 180K miles to 18K BA miles via the Hilton card.

In the end, I plan to burn them fast via an upgraded Trip and wait for the bargain reward seat sale with PE upgrade. But both of those flights were enough to make me bin their credit card and lower my expectation to a bus service.

it pains me (it honestly does) to admit, but i would have to say that in the last 1-2 years i have flown ba and virgin quite often, the former have got the edge, i have always been loyal to virgin and they have been my prefered carrier for many long haul flights over the last twenty or so years, i would certainly NOT say that virgin are a poor airline, i would say they have become a little less charismatic in their delivery of their product recently, and also slightly more detached from their customer care and attentive attitude, i used to so look forward to a virgin flight, nowadays not so, as they used to have that extra something i could never put my finger on.
some call it the feel good factor, x factor, sparkle, zing, call it what you will...
what ever is was, is in decline, which i think is regrettable, i am taking a return uc lgw/mco on monday and i will do an unbiased trip report telling exactly how it go's (so hope i dont get v-top)
virgin are a very good airline, they used to be superb in all aspects, i'm sure they will be again, i genuinely hope !!!

I posted last year on my first foray into the BA long haul world after many years vetoing them after many many bad experiences and I was very surprised by how much they had upped their game not just on what was provided but by the personable attitude of the crew. (Even to the extent of being offered the almost full bottle of wine they'd served as my preference during the meal but that was as was opened would of needed to of been binned) That said on BA short haul of which I'm a frequent user they are normally also very good too. Last year I suffered quite a few mediocre flights with VA both in UC and PE but also some very good ones.

[buns]

Thanks fr this comparison y) y)

The Gate Episode is quite frankly appalling v( VS need to sit up and take notice of why they are loosing high revenue, long standing passengers and make sure that attitudes are changed as a result

buns

I don't think it matters how many TPs you have or indeed which cabin you are in. There are minimum acceptable standards of courtesy and service in any industry, and being told 'whatever' if you object to your seat being changed falls a long way short of them.

Totally agree, I'd have found the gate behaviour or the seat-swap shambles totally unacceptable.

I'm not sure that FF status has anything to do with changing seats. I cannot imagine that VS would move an AU for an AG at the last minute. The crew was probably trying to help out a friend and didn't consult the chart which would have clearly showed the OP's status to be higher than the other passenger's.

Having said that, it's totally unacceptable and it once again shows the extent of VS' inconsistent service delivery if a supposedly valued customer comes away feeling cheated afterwards.

mmmm, this and the 'when is Grey Goose not Grey Goose?' post is worrying v(

I am really indebted to people for taking the time to pass on their thoughts - and, being honest, horrified. I was sort of hoping that people would tell me I was just unlucky, the one rotten apple amongst the ground crew etc, but it seems everyone is noticing a drop off in service at VS. What a crying shame. As I said, I used to look forward to my flights with VS, now it just feels like any other airline, and sadly not as good as many of those.

I have decided against complaining to VS about the gate incident. I just don't see the point, to be honest, I genuinely think that nothing would be done to improve the service for others, and I would get the perfunctory "we are sorry, but keep spending all your thousands of pounds with us" and a token 6,000 FC miles - which are proving almost impossible to use.

Let me share another tale with you. I'm getting married in April, in SFO. VS availability on the return flight, some six months ago, was very limited, and we booked a dummy date of 8 April - two seats in UC back from LAX. Have now been trying for months to move these to the 11 April - either flight, or SFO, or LAS, or the 12 April. No seats released. Have now booked on BA, for the 11 April from LAX - and am flying BA to rebuild my miles. It's a funny loyalty scheme that discourages loyalty! During my pursuit of the seats (and frankly, I would gladly change back to VS if they became available, since Avios have more value), amongst the suggestions I received from VS were "why don't you fly on different flights?" (that would go down well with the recently newly married Mrs S) and my favourite "why not get married in Lagos, we have loads of miles seats on that route". Hmmmm. It's still the west coast, I suppose, just the wrong continent....

A question from a newbie, if I may - do VS management read this site, or do comments ever get back to them?

Thanks again to all.

I think it's a great shame that you won't be passing on your comments - VS can and does take note. Equally, we should pass on comment where things are good.

A question from a newbie, if I may - do VS management read this site, or do comments ever get back to them?

Yes, many do, and some quite senior - written comments do get passed on too.