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#259179 by firsttimer
15 May 2009, 12:52
I just wanted to give some very brief feedback on my 2 very recent (I arrived home this morning lol) flights - VS15 and VS16.

I was really disappointed following my last Virgin flights in 2007, so much so I switched to the 'dark side', but then switched back again [:w]

From checking in, to boarding, to the actual flight - everything really was faultless. I have never had such fantastic flights and I will be providing full feedback to Virgin Customer Services as all the crew were absolute stars.

A nice touch at MCO, although there still is the separate baggage reclaim for PE/UC, they now remove the UC cases from the actual carousel - there's a separate UC sign and the cases are ready and waiting.

Also, at LGW, another nice touch, and certainly not there for my 2007 flights, we boarded from one of the gates not in the satellite terminal, the Virgin staff referred to it as a 'holding' gate - when we approached we found a long line snaking outside the gate as the gate was full to capacity, at the front of the line was a clear UC/PE priority boarding sign, so we bypassed the line and went straight onto the plane.

All in all I was very impressed with both LGW and MCO, and had 2 very enjoyable flights.
#715158 by Neil
15 May 2009, 12:59
Always good to hear a good experience, let's hope it continues.
#715160 by tontybear
15 May 2009, 13:20
Sounds fab

An email to customer services on the same basis might be appreciated by them !
#715172 by catsilversword
15 May 2009, 14:12
quote:Originally posted by firsttimer
I just wanted to give some very brief feedback on my 2 very recent (I arrived home this morning lol) flights - VS15 and VS16.

I was really disappointed following my last Virgin flights in 2007, so much so I switched to the 'dark side', but then switched back again [:w]

From checking in, to boarding, to the actual flight - everything really was faultless. I have never had such fantastic flights and I will be providing full feedback to Virgin Customer Services as all the crew were absolute stars.

A nice touch at MCO, although there still is the separate baggage reclaim for PE/UC, they now remove the UC cases from the actual carousel - there's a separate UC sign and the cases are ready and waiting.

Also, at LGW, another nice touch, and certainly not there for my 2007 flights, we boarded from one of the gates not in the satellite terminal, the Virgin staff referred to it as a 'holding' gate - when we approached we found a long line snaking outside the gate as the gate was full to capacity, at the front of the line was a clear UC/PE priority boarding sign, so we bypassed the line and went straight onto the plane.

All in all I was very impressed with both LGW and MCO, and had 2 very enjoyable flights.


I arived home Sunday morning on VS15 (in UC). As you rightly say, baggage handling at Mco was exemplary, bags were off really quickly. Coming back though, was a different story. We waited around 40 mins for our bags at Gatwick at which point most other passengers had got their bags and were gone. Is this down to baggage handlers? I don't know, but I thought UC and PE were supposed to get priority handling? Is this not so?

Additionally, I thought PE/UC pssengers pretty much got off the plane before econony - this has been my experience, whatever class I've been travelling in - but that didn't happen either!
#715177 by Scrooge
15 May 2009, 14:44
Baggage is in the hands of the airport and the baggage handlers, VS in reality have very little to do with it, LHR/LGW may be VS ramp rats, but MCO are not.

There was a post a while back that explained the whole baggage thing, do a quick search.
#715179 by ukcobra
15 May 2009, 14:55
My experience at LGW with priority baggage is that it did n't happen on the 2 recent occassions I landed back at LGW.

Mark
#715182 by flyerdavid
15 May 2009, 15:33
Whenever I have flown into LGW the baggage service has been slow slow slow every time. Shame on you BAA!
#715185 by firsttimer
15 May 2009, 15:49
Just to add, I was also really surprised at the 'priority' baggage reclaim at LGW this morning - landed at 8.45 am, through passport control and the luggage was already whizzing around the carousel waiting for us.
#715195 by AtlanticFlyer
15 May 2009, 16:42
quote:Originally posted by flyerdavid
Whenever I have flown into LGW the baggage service has been slow slow slow every time. Shame on you BAA!


Can't blame BAA I am afraid - nothing to do with them. Its the handling agent that's responsible for baggage. Virgin use Swissport at Gatwick.

If UC bags are repeatedly not turning up first, contact Virgin. I am sure it is part of the contract, so Virgin can take them to task - as much as one can with a handling agent...

AF
#715200 by slinky09
15 May 2009, 17:23
It's not just VS at LGW, I've frequently used BA and EK there and baggage is always slow ... I get much better at LHR with T3's ancient system (aka manual!).

Good to hear about all aspects of the VS flights though [y].
#715241 by kushty
16 May 2009, 11:06
It's strange though, I am hearing quite the opposite from other virgin passengers on an Orlando Villa owners forum saying that the service has declined. Complaints about food being the main one i.e poor quality, no cheese and biscuits. Also no drinks service after take off. I hope this is just a bad patch and that it is not permanent as a way to cut costs. Virgin's service in my opinion is what made it a great airline and it is no good trying to trade on past reputation.
#715245 by firsttimer
16 May 2009, 11:50
quote:Originally posted by kushty
It's strange though, I am hearing quite the opposite from other virgin passengers on an Orlando Villa owners forum saying that the service has declined. Complaints about food being the main one i.e poor quality, no cheese and biscuits. Also no drinks service after take off. I hope this is just a bad patch and that it is not permanent as a way to cut costs. Virgin's service in my opinion is what made it a great airline and it is no good trying to trade on past reputation.


I can only comment on the service standards for UC (from my perspective) and PE (from my parents perspective), we were all very very pleased with the service [y] Re. the food my parents are extremely fussy (and plain) eaters and they felt the PE food was very good, I'm gluten free so have gluten free meals and am therefore unable to comment on the actual UC food, apart from the cheese course which again was very pleasant.
#715247 by honey lamb
16 May 2009, 11:57
quote:Originally posted by kushty
It's strange though, I am hearing quite the opposite from other virgin passengers on an Orlando Villa owners forum saying that the service has declined. Complaints about food being the main one i.e poor quality, no cheese and biscuits. Also no drinks service after take off. I hope this is just a bad patch and that it is not permanent as a way to cut costs. Virgin's service in my opinion is what made it a great airline and it is no good trying to trade on past reputation.

kushty, you will see from this long thread that these cuts have been in place since the beginning of May.
#715248 by firsttimer
16 May 2009, 12:00
quote:Originally posted by honey lamb
quote:Originally posted by kushty
It's strange though, I am hearing quite the opposite from other virgin passengers on an Orlando Villa owners forum saying that the service has declined. Complaints about food being the main one i.e poor quality, no cheese and biscuits. Also no drinks service after take off. I hope this is just a bad patch and that it is not permanent as a way to cut costs. Virgin's service in my opinion is what made it a great airline and it is no good trying to trade on past reputation.

kushty, you will see from this long thread that these cuts have been in place since the beginning of May.


Oh dear, I feel rather embarrassed now for posting. I only arrived back in the UK yesterday and was so impressed with the service on both flights I felt I should post, I didn't read through all the posts that had been posted whilst I was away [:I]

However, again purely from my perspective based on my 2 flights, I really am very pleased with every aspect, it's a shame things are being cut back in other areas.
#715253 by honey lamb
16 May 2009, 14:44
firsttimer, please don't be embarrassed. You had an excellent flight with good service and you wanted to celebrate the fact. And so you should.

With regard to the cutbacks, remember that they are noticed by those who fly regularly (or read forums like these [:w]). For the first time or irregular traveller, these won't be noticed if the overall impression created by the crew is as good as you experienced regardless of class of travel
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