Small change, big improvement!

Hi All,

Although I've read the forum for years, I have hesitated to post until now. Yes, you've guessed it, I work for VS at Heathrow though all posts are my own.

From what I can make out, most posts seem to convey a sense of frustration that VS tries to do things right but some of the systems are seriously flawed. So I was thinking to start this thread about small things VS could change without major cost, but that would make a big difference to you travellers.

Some examples:

Make upgrade bids good value for money
Provide all staff with minimum annual courses on enhancing service
Make the miles redemption system easier to use
Allow check in staff to access flying club data and maybe facilitate miles upgrades
Give gold card holders Starwood/IHG/Hilton gold as standard

Any ideas?

Sorry guys whisky fuelled rant inbound :w

Welcome, welcome..

Hope we have entertained over the years

Ideas you say.. where to begin ??

On the Ground
Ticket Purchase - a website that allows you to book a flight and then scope out available upgrades and book that with miles from a FC account all online would be a great help - and not just to win a contest

Pricing - Definitely need to stop following in BAs shadow. We can tell on here when VS is about to have a sale purely on what BA are doing. Granted got to keep competitive, however when was the last time that VS started the sale as opposed to following on from someone else?

Reward Availability - a tricky one to improve at very little cost to the airline... it would mean taking revenue seats out although, how about a higher availability of reward seats for frequent flyers? Granted people need mileage in order to purchase the reward upgrades/seats, but a few extra on routes for current AU (and Ag, before I shoot myself in the foot ) may very well keep customer loyalty...... yep I can hear the pitch forks being sharpened :#

Website - try again, screw this whole gradual rollout thing - build the site, test and then release it.. Seek out those links that talk about product offerings of old and take them down, it only leads to confusion. Having a consistent booking engine would also be a god send, more often than not it switches between old and new and again could cause confusion. A sure fire way to get through to the older sections of the site is to log in to your FC account - an excellent message to send to FFs v(

Before your flight service call - some people get this call, some don't.. Calling all pax travelling on a daily basis is clearly off the cards, however is this not a great way to treat the AU pax (poss Ag if time allows) with a call to see if their travel arrangements could be made any easier. Especially follow up if there have been any probs during booking or if flights have been cancelled, delayed etc.. it is something that could take you guys a matter of minutes (I know they all add up..) but would def tick those boxes in the service column.

Check-in - as someone who passes through LHR a fair amount I have seen check in desk staff that are clearly having one of those days, and I thank my lucky stars there is a counter between us, and also those that have gone above and beyond the call of duty helping with bags, directions etc.. a smile and a small chat to welcome and comfort pax costs nothing and goes a VERY long way. Check-in desks across the locations could also benefit from this advice, ensuring any outsourced agency has your specs for how to treat pax and having someone there to push their enforcement could also be beneficial.

As to the FC data being available... do the FF numbers in each level not start with a specific set of numbers?? Not too hard to see and extrapolate whether AU or Ag - although I have never worked on one of the desks so don't know what they see. The ticketing desk next to UC check-in could also do with a new printer if memory serves

Clubhouse - got to say the LHR CH is brilliant. The best space to relax before a flight I could ask for. There are a few blips in service, but as someone to not take things on the chin they are usually quickly picked up and resolved. The CH idea (and not just another business lounge) is an amazing asset for you guys worldwide and usually makes me feel more at home... keep them coming y) y)

Boarding the Plane - nothing usually wrong with this from your guys perspective although a nice big smile and a welcome on board (or welcome back for FFs) as opposed to the following I have come across: takes ticket, "over there", gives ticket back ?| or simply "ticket please" - then nothing....

In the Air

This is going to vary massively by class you are travelling and the kind of service that is being looked for..... here is a big thought CONSISTENCY!!!! Sometimes you get nothing, sometimes you get the smiles the welcome aboard, thanks for flying, how can I help.. definitely a game of luck. If you are looking for ideas, take a gander at some recent TRs. You should be able to make a list as to what is good service and what is bad practice/illegal/cruel/human rights abuses (I am of course referring to my obsession with green tea on board ) Also please do welcome back any FF.. granted there may be many on board but make any CC aware of FF in their section and it can even be something as simple as a hello Mr/ Mrs XYZ, thanks for flying with us again.. as they are served their meal/drinks.. always will be well received and costs nothing y) y)

Quick question for yourself if I may.. your last example on the list:

Give gold card holders Starwood/IHG/Hilton gold as standard

How would this be free/low cost for you guys? No doubt a hell of a negotiation with the offering hotel in the hopes that FF stay with a particular chain each time....

I definitely appreciate the sentiment of increasing the benefits offered to the AU holders... perhaps a diff thread for that one to see what people can come up with

Wow I have gone on haven't I..... hope this helps. 8D

Welcome!

I like the idea of some sort of reciprocal status. Hilton would be nice... anything that gets me a free upgrade to the executive floor would probably tighten those golden handcuffs that VS have on me right now!

More reward availability during school hols - yes, always going to be tough there when you're competing against the relative J capacity that BA have to routes like the Caribbean, but a man can dream...

Immediate removal of all UCDS... ok I'm getting tired, and think I will go to bed. Maybe more realistic ideas to come later!

Welcome and thank you for being brave enough to post here.

I think like most people on here, the key is consistency. I would like to think that I would get broadly the same experience from VS and for it not to be hit and miss.

The follow up email thanking me for flying - sometimes I get it sometimes I don't.

Status recognition is important. While I understand that some may have done more than others to achieve said status, they still have that status all the same. I know that many will say that all pax should be treated equally, but I disagree. There must be a reward for our loyalty. If I as a customer bend over backwards (and many times I do) to fly your airline, I expect reciprocal treatment.

Now I'll go to a personal rant of mine. I live in Nigeria and after a few annoying mix ups by my travel agent, I decided to starty booking my flights myself. I tried to pay with my credit card but could not find that option. I sent an email and was told some crap about fraud. While I may understand that the country has a bad reputation, I also know that it is possible to effectively have checks against said fraud.

Where it gets even more annoying for me is that the Nigeria site still offers an option of Interswitch payment which is a payment platform which is more or less defunct. So how about them upgrading the payment system by allowing me to use my visa or mastercard debit card? Nope. They just stuck to the old system. So that I have to take a 1 hour drive to their ticket office to pay for my ticket after booking online. I'll tell you this for free, when I make my BA bookings for my travel within Europe, I have the option of paying with my credit card, debit card or paying local currency at a local branch of their bank and immediately getting my e-ticket printed out at the branch.

Surely there is a better way of doing things.

I would have thought that the easiest option would be like BA does is to put a note on the booking that says I must come to the airport with the card I used, and if it's someone else's the person should accompany me to the airport.

Here's another suggestion, how about in the Nigeria situation, making it so that I can only make the booking with a card registered to me. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Rant over. I'll probably post later on about other peeves.

Onboard upgrades for cash or miles after takeoff.

Swapping the annual reward on the black amex to a 2 -4 -1 like the BA Card

2 arms rests on the new upper class suite instead of 1 (in fact I'm considering not flying Virgin Upper again because of this - I still like PE, but it rules out certain work trips)

On the new upper class suite the pocket is too narrow to get you hand in , Rather than redesign the whole suite, how about plastic inserts to make it less deep to compensate.

Sell iPads and iPad mini on the duty free trolley

Announce the meal service in economy and consistently ask people to unrecline during it.

Have some spare 2nd mini bottles of water in upper.

Thank you all for being so welcoming and of course your excellent replies.

Most of the replies seem to have a strong relevance to the website, surely something which can be updated at relatively low cost.

Reciprocal hotel status seems difficult to price but other FFPs have it so I think it is still possible.

All check in staff are having training courses in the next few months to improve customer service.

While check in staff can see the FC number in the booking, and deduce the status, there is absolutely no way to check the miles or costs etc. This would not be a big cost, I think.

Lastly, just to add another suggestion, though it may still cost, BA give their flight managers ipads, to acknowledge status, arrange transfers etc, so why can't FSMs have a similar arrangement?

While obviously there is always something to improve, I still think that Virgin can provide a service that is outstanding, and I certainly try my best!

[Darren Wheeler]

Onboard upgrades for cash or miles after takeoff.

You can do cash upgrades onboard now, subject to availability. Just don't expect it to be cheap.

Some more suggestions, this time around luxury and Upper. The reason I originally fell in love with the VA brand over 10 years ago was that I found the experience exciting and it gave me experiences I never normally had. That doesn’t need to cost of a lot of money. A few onboard suggestions if I may…

Choice of Spirits… eg Gin. Gin’s popularity has grown massively in the last 10 years, but VA is still serving Bombay which is stable average Pub choice. At the very minimum upgrade to something like Millers or Tanquery, but if you really want to cause an impression choose something bespoke like Adnams or BBR no3 or Junipero. Something good, but a bit unusual. Even if you get through 2 bottles a flight that’s only £20 extra.

Finishing touches. Once again go luxury, fashionable, modern and bespoke, choose something like Paul Young chocolatier who is massively on the up at the moment to create a special chocolate that goes with after dinner coffee.

Similar themes…..

- a hummingbird bakery cupcake
- mash some fresh guacamole onboard at the bar and serve with a few nachos on the side
- have a themed cocktail on the menu – I hear meat cocktails are becoming super cool these days eg. Bacon Mary (yes, that’s a bloody mary with some crispy bacon in)

Also – how about a hot towel before breakfast on overnight flights.

Firstly a big welcome,

Since I have joined all members want is to see Virgin succeed , how they go about this has been underpinned on there staff, service and loyalty to customers.

I think after reading many posts on here the biggest fall down is consistency in all but a few areas and as you have mentioned shouldn't take to much effort to improve. If customers like ourselves and staff are seeing the flaws how come some senior management don't .

Again welcome it's great to see some staff members on here who show the same enthusiasm for Virgin as we do .

Some more suggestions, this time around luxury and Upper. The reason I originally fell in love with the VA brand over 10 years ago was that I found the experience exciting and it gave me experiences I never normally had. That doesn’t need to cost of a lot of money. A few onboard suggestions if I may…

Choice of Spirits… eg Gin. Gin’s popularity has grown massively in the last 10 years, but VA is still serving Bombay which is stable average Pub choice. At the very minimum upgrade to something like Millers or Tanquery, but if you really want to cause an impression choose something bespoke like Adnams or BBR no3 or Junipero. Something good, but a bit unusual. Even if you get through 2 bottles a flight that’s only £20 extra.

Finishing touches. Once again go luxury, fashionable, modern and bespoke, choose something like Paul Young chocolatier who is massively on the up at the moment to create a special chocolate that goes with after dinner coffee.

Similar themes…..

- a hummingbird bakery cupcake
- mash some fresh guacamole onboard at the bar and serve with a few nachos on the side
- have a themed cocktail on the menu – I hear meat cocktails are becoming super cool these days eg. Bacon Mary (yes, that’s a bloody mary with some crispy bacon in)

Also – how about a hot towel before breakfast on overnight flights.

no no no, far to sweet/sickly...IMO ,'The King's New Clothes' want a fantastic cup cake....try Mrs Sparrow's

Swapping the annual reward on the black amex to a 2 -4 -1 like the BA Card

Drop it, anything else from the current reward. It does nothing but provide annoyance to have one of these and knowing that its absolutely useless. Was one of the things which made me start a BA Amex, knowing that it had something useful at 10K.

Welcome on board, another staff members knowledge is always a useful insite

The title of his thread - small change, big improvement - read some of the huge posts here and on others "travel" forums and the general travelling publics biggest issue -

Seating assignments !

Don't move them unless its really, really, really, ................... really necessary !!

I bet half the complaints would stop over night.

"Simples"

David.

(Caveat to say it doesn't bother me )

Hello, this is my first post after enjoying reading numerous threads on here for the last year or so. I'm an infrequent flyer (one or twice a year long-haul) and usually always try and fly with Virgin.

Speaking from recent experience (last week), I'd add ticket price jumps just before booking on the VS website to the list of things to have another look at.

I am flying to Sydney in December and was determined to book Premium Economy so long as I could afford it. I went on Travelocity to do a quick comparison with a few airlines and was chuffed to see VS came out as one of the more affordable at £2150 return.

I do however prefer to book direct so an hour or so later I popped over to the VS site, put in the exact same dates, and the fare had jumped to £2850. Now I know airlines fares are somewhat of a mystery, and that they change frequently, but as there is only one flight a day with VS (and even on other airlines availability is limited due to not all having PE), and also this being a shed load of cash for me I panicked a little thinking I've blown it and should have booked via Travelocity when I saw it (even though it was only an hour ago!).

Without knowing if the VS price would come back down I headed over to Qantas, who had a PE fare for £2350 which I bought there and then.

I don't know why the VS fare jumped so much in price. I wonder if it was me querying their booking engine via Travelocity that triggered the rise when I then went to VS to book direct.

I also know they say on VS website front page that they'll match a cheaper price you see elsewhere but really that's a hassle (take and upload a screenshot, etc.) and I was worried they may say the fare I saw on Travelocity wasn't a like-for-like as the one the VS website showed me later (i.e more restricted, etc.) and they then wouldn't then match it - not knowing how good VS are at this I didn't want to risk it!

So I'm not really sure what the answer is to this (or how easy it would be to change). Maybe I should have phoned VS to book instead of online?

I'm a bit gutted not to be flying VS on this route. I've done it twice before in Economy with VS and both were great flights - but I've got to the point where I don't think I could do it again in Economy on any airline it being such a long flight! I also really rate PE on VS having done it once before to JFK. Still, I've never been on an A380 so my flight with Qantas should be fun.

[honey lamb]

Hello, this is my first post after enjoying reading numerous threads on here for the last year or so. I'm an infrequent flyer (one or twice a year long-haul) and usually always try and fly with Virgin.

Speaking from recent experience (last week), I'd add ticket price jumps just before booking on the VS website to the list of things to have another look at.

I am flying to Sydney in December and was determined to book Premium Economy so long as I could afford it. I went on Travelocity to do a quick comparison with a few airlines and was chuffed to see VS came out as one of the more affordable at £2150 return.

I do however prefer to book direct so an hour or so later I popped over to the VS site, put in the exact same dates, and the fare had jumped to £2850. Now I know airlines fares are somewhat of a mystery, and that they change frequently, but as there is only one flight a day with VS (and even on other airlines availability is limited due to not all having PE), and also this being a shed load of cash for me I panicked a little thinking I've blown it and should have booked via Travelocity when I saw it (even though it was only an hour ago!).

Without knowing if the VS price would come back down I headed over to Qantas, who had a PE fare for £2350 which I bought there and then.

I don't know why the VS fare jumped so much in price. I wonder if it was me querying their booking engine via Travelocity that triggered the rise when I then went to VS to book direct.

I also know they say on VS website front page that they'll match a cheaper price you see elsewhere but really that's a hassle (take and upload a screenshot, etc.) and I was worried they may say the fare I saw on Travelocity wasn't a like-for-like as the one the VS website showed me later (i.e more restricted, etc.) and they then wouldn't then match it - not knowing how good VS are at this I didn't want to risk it!

So I'm not really sure what the answer is to this (or how easy it would be to change). Maybe I should have phoned VS to book instead of online?

I'm a bit gutted not to be flying VS on this route. I've done it twice before in Economy with VS and both were great flights - but I've got to the point where I don't think I could do it again in Economy on any airline it being such a long flight! I also really rate PE on VS having done it once before to JFK. Still, I've never been on an A380 so my flight with Qantas should be fun.

Hi and welcome to V-Flyer.

There are several reasons why the price might have jumped prior to booking. First of all, when you search a fare it effectively creates a "block" for about twenty minutes to enable you to book it. If you leave the site and then return and the seats you were booking were the last at the lower fares then the site will show the next fare - or if several people were searching the same route with your dates they too would block the lowest fares. I remember spending a Sunday afternoon searching for a fare but there were none in the cheapest bucket. I looked again on the Monday and availability was wide open as everyone who had been searching on Sunday were now back at work )

Added to that sites such as Travelocity and Expedia have a certain allocation of seats in the cheaper fare buckets. They may still have some fares at those prices but VS may well have sold out.

The moral of the story is one frequently quoted here - if you see a price you are happy with, buy it.

Hi Honey Lamb and thanks for the reply and welcome.

I didn't realise sites like Travelocity have an allocation of cheaper fares. I do love V-Flyer - learn something new all the time! Good to know about the other reasons why the price may have jumped too.

And yes, that is a very good moral to remember. I do definitely prefer booking direct but next time I see a great price on another site I will grab it.

Hope I don't sound boring but my suggestion is just the usual,
consistancy please. And it would not cost one penny for ( some )
cabin crew to just think on that although its just another day in the office for them, other people have worked hard in their own office/workplace and looked forward to their trip with excitment for the best part of a year and a little smile and a bit of politeness can go a very very long way when they finally step on board. As opposed to a huge dissapointment if faced with grumpiness or disinterest, even on the homebound oo)

I just wish they would go back about five years, and remember just how good they were when I fell in love with them. I'm not sure how others feel, but when I started flying with them, they made me feel special - I can't put my finger on how, but they just did. I came off the flights thinking that I couldn't possibly have had a better flight with anyone.

My last few flights they have made me feel like a nuisance, an inconvenience,
When I complain, I can almost the sigh, the 'oh god, not him again', and the 'cut and paste' being applied to a standard 'sorry, we promise to be better next time, keep sending us your travel budget' letter. And I don't like complaining, I have better things to do - but equally I don't like having cause to complain ...

The fact that I can't put my finger on exactly why I feel like this now suggests that it's not a major change, just the whole feel has changed.

One thing that would be nice would be a little more proactivity from them, especially to frequent flyers. I have never, ever been contacted by anyone in VS in person regarding my travel; I can't keep Emirates off the phone

Look after your FFP members, VS, otherwise they will wander off...

I am a fairly regular flyer and I enjoy travelling on VS. I don't agree with the more pessimistic assessments of the airline, but there are a few things that niggle:

1. The website -- finish it! Build a better booking engine so everything can be done online, and integrate it with a decent seat reservation system so exit rows etc. can be allocated online too. Integrate ticketing with bookings so you don't have to wait 48 hours to get a new ticket and have your payment taken. Give the customer service agents a decent system so they don't have to work out fare differences by hand.

2. Fuel surcharges -- please fold them into the base fare. They have reached ridiculous levels and I think it is very hard to claim that they are pegged to the price of fuel.

3. Stop cutting those tiny little aspects of the service on-board that actually made you stand out from the rest. The savings are presumably paltry. Maybe cut your marketing budget a bit instead? i)

Get rid of that ridiculous carry-on limit of 6kg.

Welcome to the site. I hope your not too bombarded with suggestions
Mine is simple and has been mentioned already in one aspect: Consistency on the telephone would be just wonderful, why is it when you need help sometimes you get it, sometimes its totally different from the last person you spoke to and sometimes its like your asking for the moon!.
Oh and could it possibly be made easier to find an upgradable fare using FC miles and make it so that to then do so does not require a degree from Oxbridge!

Get rid of that ridiculous carry-on limit of 6kg.

That's a great shout SF y) I've just flown BA to RAK and had a 23kg carry on limit ^)
Meet somewhere in the middle VS :w :w

I would also like to see some additional benefits for Silver members. I think Au members definitely get what they deserve but Ag could do with a boost...maybe a number of free trips to the CH per year

[Neil]

Get rid of that ridiculous carry-on limit of 6kg.

I agree, 6kg is a tiny limit, I know it doesn't include laptops etc, but it is still quite a bit behind most other carriers.

Get rid of that ridiculous carry-on limit of 6kg.

I agree, 6kg is a tiny limit, I know it doesn't include laptops etc, but it is still quite a bit behind most other carriers.

+100%

We could do a week in Florida on hand luggage if it wasn't for this bonkers rule.

Has it ever been enforced then? I have never ever seen anyone telling me off at checkin or at boarding and on 100% of the flights i was on i way over it (atleast double the 6kg).

Biggest current gripes/hurrahs:

1. New UC seats (ugh) and service. Feels like being in a horse's straight stall, windows difficult to actually crane and see out of, too many stuffed into too small a space, harried crew trying to keep up, seriously diminished service (bar, passes down aisle with top ups, water, etc.), duty free limited (little useful as gifts on arrival) AND Not Much Fun. Good video system tho!

2. "Reward" seats? At just a little under the cost of a regular fare in Y, nearly that in PE and only "reasonable" in UC? How exactly is that reward? Why bother collecting miles, really?

3. Website--why NOT be able to log into FC directly? See seat/price /class differentials for each possibility?

4. Contests? VS rarely have these (love the V-Flyer Gold contest currently).

5. Keep on providing the safest planes aloft--bottom line.