Instant noodles axed but Virgin's business class 'meals' still snacks

Virgin seem to have a fetish for chickpeas (and no, 'barbecue roasted' doesn't make them taste any better).  It's all I've ever got on the MEL-LST evening flights for the last 2 years...

Virgin are going to need to get this all sorted ASAP. People are already watching and making up their minds on how they feel about Virgin 2.0 and whether it’s going to be an airline for them..

In administration during a global pandemic, we're lucky they're still in the air. Virgin 2.0 hasn't launched yet so lets not get ahead of ourselves. I'm sure most people will make up there minds once they let us know what their premium product will actually be.

Why would anyone voluntarily pay good money out of their own pocket to fly business class domestically at this time?!

The phrase mutton dressed as lamb comes to mind with Virgin under Bain ownership.

What a disgraceful standard of meal service being offered by VA.

I have a J Class booking to Perth and return from Brisbane  starting early Dec if the borders to WA is opened.

If the service I get is as stated in this article then it will most certainly be the last time I will fly VA!!!!

Let's hope it gets better throughout November but I would not like to be hanging in hope.

Looks like my swan song with VA is very likely.

What a bloody shame for what was once a really great Airline.

Shame on Bain but not un expected for such a bunch of predatory financiers.

Again, like others have said they are not out of administration, can people chill..and if your paying business to fly at this time when lounges arent open, service and interaction is limited, the only thing your actually paying for is greater comfort of the seat.

So how about make your decisons at a time when things sorta go back to normal..like when they announce their new offerings post Nov and whAts to come

@Rod H Likely you won't be flying to WA anyway - as if McGowan will open borders for eastern states for Dec. Christmas doesn't stop COVID and not will.he WA to stop his chances of remaining in power prior to election.

I actually prefer the 2 minute noodle than cracker dip! At least the 2 minute noodle can fill me up more. 

Just flew a rt BNE-DRW in VA J. 4 hours flight that's all you get. The return leg from DRW is especially bad as every food outlet in DRW is closed except a little coffee shop selling muffins and cakes. That 2 minute noodle was my lunch and dinner (departing 14:35 and arriving 19:05).

The seat actually isnt all that comfortable. The recline is minimal and no foot rest. For up to 2 hours is ok, anything more it's starting to get really uncomfortable. 

Can someone check to see what milk is being served? Is it A2 ????

@John Phelan that's one for the best comments Ive seen on here in a long time

Dan22.

I think you may have missed my point.

The article referred to meals served from Oct. 30th which is when they are OUT of administration.

According to the agreement Bain Capital will take full control of VA by Oct. 31st which means they have to take over on Oct 30th.

The article quotes VA as stating that the meals described are what will be served in J Class  from Oct 30th which means that its  what we will get from then on unless things change again.

No one  is disputing that until Oct 30th it will be a very meagre service indeed.

This whole border opening is becoming a political football with all of the Premiers looking after their own re election chances and to hell with the economy and the people.

We've still a while to go before I want to travel so maybe  the WA Premier will open the border to some safe states.

Common-sense does not seem to be a great attribute with a lot of Politicians , re election takes precedence.

Rod: just to clarify, while administrator Deloitte had long expected Virgin to exit administration at the end of October, that's now been pushed back to early November. 

Thanks David.

I did not read that anywhere.

That does make a difference to my post but does leave it open as to why VA have used the original takeover dates as the base for the article of what to expect for service from those dates. Why not leave it until the new date?

The whole thing is quite messy with snippets of info coming out all the time and some contradicting others.

Bain Capital must be aware of the concern of J class travellers so surely it's only reasonable that they let us know of their intentions.

It beggars belief to think that they don't already know exactly what they have planned.

Not a very good start for the new VA!!!

Can anyone at Virgin give a clear timeframe of when they may ,if, plan to return to long haul international flights or is not a viable proposition with Bain , are they looking at 2 yrs,3 yrs, just a question .

Once customer trust is lost, it'll take a very long time and a lot of money to restore.

Meanwhile all the ex-customers will by flying business on Qantas.

The longer Virgin take to fix this, the more likely they'll never recover.

Sadly people must realise that during our current troubles things are NOT as they were and currently Virgin is reassembling itself ,so people take a CHILL PILL. Look to a new dawn and wider horizon in the future 

Virgin pretty quickly need to outline their customer strategy eg, what classes are there going to be on the planes eg Business, Economy X and Economy or whatever new version they have, they also need to clearly spell out how they manage status and what the customer gets for each level. Also from the about comments on food - what is their catering strategy and lounge strategy , finishing off with letting us know what tampering they will be doing with points and status credits (assuming still relevant) 

By being vague on these issues, they will lose customers to the opposition who are already out there offering switching options. Put what they are going to do on the record quickly and let us decide whether to stay or go otherwise some including me will just go regardless. 

Goodster3.

It's all very well saying VA is reassembling itself but the new owners , Bain  must have a very good idea of what the new Airline will look like and the standard of service. They have had months now to work it out and the official take over is only a few weeks away and yet we have absolutely no idea of what it will be apart from the VA response in this  article which seems to be doubtful as to it's final outcome.

VA is losing Business Class passengers in droves at the moment because of this uncertainty and it's no good them saying that they need to have a low contact between staff and the passengers therefore pitiful meals when Qantas can give a full service and yet maintain the contact rules to a sufficient degree. I don't believe that handing out such a small service would  entail any more contact problems than a full service as  the F/A's still have to handle the meal even if it is smaller.

It would seem that Bain really don't care about J class but I just wish they would come out and say so so we can move to Qantas if they persist with the abysmal service being reported in this article.

One only has to look at the huge amount of negative posts in this forum alone to see that there is a lot of concern that does need to be addressed by Bain and VA new management!

The leprechaun must be laughing all the way to the bank as the Golden rainbow surely has landed on Qantas.

Rod H, fully agree with your comment, and like you would like someone from the Head Shed to come and tell us all what is happening, as like you ,the longer VA dither around they will  lose any and all traction will their customer base, as the will move to QANTAS, I would like them to give a heads up on International Long Haul , 1yr ,2 yr, 3 yr or not at  all. Thanks for the notes

The question is how much does pax want to stay “loyal” to VA, while paying a significant premium for a lesser product and knowing the new VA of 2021 will never be the same again (and likely not service at the previous standard of VA of 2019)

Usually it is the airlines who is trying to attract pax to stay loyal while some here seemed to be willing to stay loyal on the basis of what their current tier status is, with no certainty or transparency of what product Bain had planned eventually.

Not my problem, not my money, but just making an observation. 

Frankly there is already signs that QF will do some (downward) adjustment of service or reward (Platinum club call centre, points award and redemption downgrade with splitting of flexible tickets) so the troubles at VA is negatively affecting QF as well

XWu

The answer to your question is " not for very much longer at all " given the deafening silence from Bain and the dreadful excuse for a meal service proposed by VA Catering.

There's a finite limit to anyone's patience with VA and it's running out fast.

It's high time VA and Bain's Management took note of the disquiet and answered the concerns. I'm quite sure someone from Management will have read these post and report it to the top brass.

Or do they really give a stuff!!!!

Maybe not and we are wasting our time hoping for things to be better with VA.

We will yravel QF J/C until I hear positive VA feedback. Sounds horrid at present.

I think I may have found the answer to what we will get or more correctly will NOT get from VA's J class service in the coming weeks.

A few weeks ago I booked J class Brisbane- Perth return starting Dec 1st with a " Business Saver " fare of $2570, this was in anticipation of West Oz borders being open in Dec and a rush for seats occurring.

Just for curiosities sake I had a look at VA's J class fares today and they are the same price for all of Nov.

However-- On Dec 1st the " business Saver " fare drops by $400 each way , a total of $800.

This make me think that Bain actually take over on Dec 1st and have adjusted the fares according to the new standard of service the will offer  in J class.

So for $400 less I reckon we will get a very much reduced service , probably 1/2 a cup of noodles!!!!!

This really annoys me to think I have paid a premium price and only get a very much reduce service or so it would seem.

There's no way VA / Bain can drop the price by $400 each sector without a substantial reduction in service or at least that's how I see it.

One only reduces the price when the product cost less and that means less service.

What irks me is that VA wont even give me the difference as a travel credit even though I remained " loyal " to VA and decide to give them a go rather than QF.

Not looking forward to my flight like  I used to do for the many years I flew VA J class previously.

I was quite prepared to pay the higher price as long as I got good service and fully understand that the vastly reduce price will be reflected in standard of service.

If I had known this I would have booked QF and enjoyed the better service . At my age of 79 I am going to enjoy my twilight years flying in comfort but this flight doesn't look too promising.

Because of the covid -19 pandemic I had to take a punt and make this booking as there will be a huge rush once the West Oz borders reopen so wanted to secure a seat now.

Punt did not pay off!!!!!!

I am looking forward to my first flight since Feb 2020 and look forward to flying with Virgin Australia who, i am sure will continue with its Excellent, Friendly, Safe and Reliable Service. Good Luck to all Staff involved.