To complain, or not to complain, that is the question....

Sorry to paraphrase the Bard....

In a quandary here about my son's recent flight to NY, booked using my miles and an Amex upgrade voucher to P/E.

Outbound he said that his seat and the one next to it was like a rocking horse (!) Then they gave him the wrong meal, but when they gave him the right one, he was half way through it and they tried to take it off him.

Inbound is where the quandary comes in.

I believe he mentioned the outbound issues at check-in, and when he went to board had found he had been upgraded to U/C - happy days

However, he was then told that as he was in the snooze zone there was no food for him, so he had to run off and get a quick baguette.

He was then told that rather than being woken for breakfast he could sleep through and go to the Revivals Lounge which is what he decided to do.

You know what is going next - he was denied access to Revivals Lounge based on him being an upgrade. They said he could buy entrance for £30, but that makes it a damn expensive breakfast!

So, in summary - a bad journey out, redeemed with an U/C upgrade coming back, but then spoilt again.

Worth a note to Crawley Towers? Seems churlish as he got the return upgrade, but on the other hand.....

I tend to think of it more as 'giving feedback' than of a complaint.

I would, what do you have to lose?

Op ups don't give access to clubhouse/arrivals, would the crew on board know he was an op up, or assumed he was a paying pax and therefore entitled to revivals access.

I'm with Marshy. I always think, VS, or indeed any good companies out there, would want me to be a happy customer. If there's something that made me less than satisfied, then I think they would want to know. If something wasn't perfect, I would usually write them a piece of feedback, to inform them, and not necessarily expecting anything in return. Then at least they have a chance to put it right and make you happy again.

It's definitely worth writing in.

Also, a couple of questions for fellow v-flyers:

a) Might they not have suggested to, or allowed, OP's son to eat at the bar in UC?

b) Since when has Revivals not been available for UC upgrades? I've used it plenty of times, having flown in G, or is this category of upgrade something totally different?

Good luck!

Don't think it was a G, he should have been in PE but was op upped on boarding to UC so wouldn't have revivals access

If I was that hungry, I would have eaten at the bar, or looked to see if there was a spare Meal in PE.

So when pax is "op-upped" at the boarding gate to UC, into what fare bucket is their ticket placed, or is just left in the original fare bucket?

And do G tickets actually entitle pax to Revivals, or have I been admitted solely because of my being FC Au?

The original fare bucket remains, just your seat number changes

Good to know, thanks @Penny_L.

I think I tend to agree with Nylon here.
Why did the CC or ground not staff explain that why in the snooze zone which equates to no meal being loaded he could sit at the bar and the CC would try to locate him a meal, even if it was the chips they put out alone with some snacks, rolls etc?? Seems very bad service for a UC pax, upgrade or not.
I remember a trip, must be 7 years ago, my in-laws were upgraded to join us in UC as we were flying to my wedding (fantastic bit of CS by VS there) but it was explained that they would may need to have thier PE meal. When it came to it there was spare and they stuffed themselves silly. Cannot understand why this was not the same

Thanks all.

NYLON - G's do get you into Revivals - I have done it myself.

I guess for us more frequent travellers the 'bar' option or the P/E meal we would have known about, but he has only been in U/C once before and that was with myself on a 'proper ticket' so it would not have occurred to him. He wasn't even aware there was a snooze zone.

He is 25 so big enough and ugly enough to fend for himself so I don't want anyone thinking he was some poor waif out of Oliver Twist, standing outside Revivals in rags

Personally, I fully understand the reason for being denied entry to the Revivals Lounge, but it is disappointing that he was actively encouraged (well, certainly given the option) by the CC. Probably a classic case of us V-Flyers knowing the 'rules' better than VS staff !

I think I will draft something on his behalf, but more as 'feedback' than a complaint.

Whether he was op-upped or not, he had paid an original fare and so there must have been PE food allocated for him?

Definitely worth a letter....seems like the CC took this as an opportunity to have an easy flight home. Poor customer service.

I would ask for a free upgrade for your son, to give the CC a chance to redeem themselves....you never know??

You can eat in snooze zone. Seems he wa misinformed. While not ideal it is possible

The catering is loaded to pax figure and includes those sat in snooze zone.

Normally crew say if you want to sleep
More you can eat in revivals of course if you want to eat breakfast onboArd in snooze then you can. Most business pax eat on board and head straight to the office.

I would send the feedback in so ground staff oub NY can be reminded of rules and cabin crew can also be reminded.

My two pennies worth.

I doubt the ground staff would suggest he could eat at the bar as they probably wouldn't get involved in that side of things.

Did your son mention to the situation to the crew serving him or did he just go by what they ground staff had said? I imagine that if he explained the situation to the crew about the upgrade but he wants to eat, they would have sat him at the bar or given him something in the snooze zone, as I'm guessing the flight was full which is why he was sat in the snooze zone anyway?!

Sounds like the ground staff could have communicated the situation to the crew slightly better so they were in the know and could have sorted something out.

The crew would offer revivals to all passengers but we'd just presume that everyone in upper class is entitled to enter the lounge so it's unfortunate that he was offered it but then refused entry, something to note on the feedback.

My two pennies worth.

I doubt the ground staff would suggest he could eat at the bar as they probably wouldn't get involved in that side of things.

Did your son mention to the situation to the crew serving him or did he just go by what they ground staff had said? I imagine that if he explained the situation to the crew about the upgrade but he wants to eat, they would have sat him at the bar or given him something in the snooze zone, as I'm guessing the flight was full which is why he was sat in the snooze zone anyway?!

Sounds like the ground staff could have communicated the situation to the crew slightly better so they were in the know and could have sorted something out.

The crew would offer revivals to all passengers but we'd just presume that everyone in upper class is entitled to enter the lounge so it's unfortunate that he was offered it but then refused entry, something to note on the feedback.

Thought this post sounded a bit defensive then spotted that Hunty88 had stated we'd just presume!

Was it you who refused him food and sent him to revivals Hunty?

I wouldn't say defensive I'd say offering a different view from the inside on what might have happened, as it does sound like there was a breakdown of communication somewhere along the line.

To be fair it probably was me as I'll do anything to fit an extra 20 mins in the bunk

There are times when I'm defensive, probably because I take some pride in what I do and I find it difficult to comprehend some of the things I read on the internet, but in this case I was simply offering a different view, and I didn't mean for my questions to come across as taking the defensive side, as we all know things aren't perfect all the time.

I wouldn't say defensive I'd say offering a different view from the inside on what might have happened, as it does sound like there was a breakdown of communication somewhere along the line.

To be fair it probably was me as I'll do anything to fit an extra 20 mins in the bunk

There are times when I'm defensive, probably because I take some pride in what I do and I find it difficult to comprehend some of the things I read on the internet, but in this case I was simply offering a different view, and I didn't mean for my questions to come across as taking the defensive side, as we all know things aren't perfect all the time.

Get a complaint in, the more people complain virgin might start listening.
They don't care about customers they just want your money

I had terrible upper a few weeks ago.
Wife's seat was broke and stuck in beyond upright position she was nearly doubled over on take off. Crew adjusted it manually with an Allen key once airborne. Her table also didn't work.
No choice of starter for either of us again!,

On return a family of about 6 got on with a baby that screamed for about 7 hours and a 7 year old that was running round the cabin.
And no choice of main meal, I ended getting a premium meal .

I just stayed up all night drinking.

I complained and got fobbed off with miles and some lame excuses.