Upper Class Service Level's - last 12 months

Over in Trip Reports Sailor99 came up with an interesting ( and depressing ) statistic about Food & Drink ratings in Upper Class over the last 12 months, which prompted me to delve further and post them here.

Trip report thread here and Pix's previous Service Level Review from May here


I've only summarised Upper Class , but here's the stats....

12 Months to November 2005

Upper Class

Check In: 76% - down from 78%
Seats: 88% - up from 85%
Food & Drink: 57% - down from 77%
Entertainment: 65% - down from 74%
Cabin Crew: 80% - down from 88%

So, overall over 12 months the changes are as follows:

Check In: Down 2%
Seats: Up 3%
Food & Drink: Down 20%
Entertainment: Down 9%
Cabin Crew: Down 8%

For comparison, PE and Economy food rating for the last 3 months ( albeit with smaller number of ratings ), were 70% for PE (up 2%) and 75% for Economy (up 19%)

Good news for those eating outside of Upper Class it seems..... with Upper Class coming out below both of the other cabins by at least 13%.

Regards,

David.

Thanks David. I would hazard that small (<10%) variances in the Upper Class figures from one set of results to the next are not that significant and may represent things like increasing familiarity with V.Port and the general higher standards prevalent in IFE systems these days.

However, all the evidence (including my own tastebuds) points to a large reduction in the quality and variety of food in UC on VS.

BC

Yup, that doesn't look too promising - although as Blackcat said the competition is becoming fiercer.

Cheers,
VS045

Maybe I got lucky but I couldn't fault the food in UC coming out to Orlando last Saturday. Both Soup, and the Steak were excellent as were the snacks.

What would concern me is the different levels in service judging by my experience, (See trip report), and those of others which all seem to tell of varying levels of service.

Originally posted by BlackCat
Thanks David. I would hazard that small (<10%) variances in the Upper Class figures from one set of results to the next are not that significant and may represent things like increasing familiarity with V.Port and the general higher standards prevalent in IFE systems these days.

However, all the evidence (including my own tastebuds) points to a large reduction in the quality and variety of food in UC on VS.

BC

I think in the last analysis all of the UC changes were indeed below 10%, and agree that it is difficult to say this is significant. One of the main factors is that you have a widely different bunch of people scoring from one set of data to the next who are unlikely to be consistent with each other. However with the number of posters increasing you would expect this variability to reduce as it would be more averaged out.

However as you say BC, there is almost overwhelming experience of great variability and an overall reduction in VS UC food. And 20% appears to be a very significant figure to me. Remember that this score is from people who have taken the trouble to find this Virgin focused site, write a TR and post it. Many of them are regular VF visitors and have even parted with their hard earned to become a VF member. By my book that would tend to indicate that they probably have an affinity and predisposition to VS; in other words there is a good likelyhood that the sample is scewed in VS's favour - and still the score has dropped by 20%.[n]

I would repeat my comment for the TR thread that sporned this one; VS Lurkers - Hello!

This seems to be the theme in trip reports across a number of sites -Trip reports posted recently on Airliners and Airline Quality that I have read indicate the same. Food has gone way down hill and the service is not as good as it used to be.

One of the things I love about VS is their innovation. In most of the trip reports I have read recently most people are disappointed because VS is not perceived to be as innovative as they once were.

I am flying UCS in 5 week to LAX and will be able to judge how things are myself...even with these figures I can't wait!!

[fozzyo]

Hmmm, I follow these discussions with interest. I am an occasionaly V-Flyer and even more occasional UC flyer. In our recent UC flights (LHR->SFO and MCO->LGW) I have to say we had amazing flights - i know I am yet to post the TR's but i will!

The service in the whole cabin was flawless, the food was tasty and enjoyable and the whole experience fabulous. There were a few things I did notice - no flower on the bar, no small red cushions on the seats. But if it wasn't for this site I probably wouldn't have noticed the flower. The cushions possibly because i thought they were such a nice touch on my first UC trip.

How much of this downturn in service and quality is noticed by the occasionaly J pax and how much noticed by the regular? How has the menu on BA's J changed over the past few years? Is there a comparison that can be made?

Mat xxx

I'm a fairly regular (>10 segments a year) UC flyer and I have certainly seen the reduction in food quality (and the variable nature of the service too). Although I fly less frequently in Club World my experience is that the food on BA is consistently better.

BC

[Scrooge]

if you read the trip reports you will find a trend during the last 6 months that says UC food sucks,now if you read the TR's of poeple like Decker,The Banking Scot and Black Cat,you will find that these people do a lot of flying,on many airlines and are also mods on here,they are in a good postion to be able to judge how the food on VS stacks up against say the food on BA..

Originally posted by GrinningJackanapes
...even the Crayolas in the kid's fun pack...

What, you mean the bean counters haven't removed them yet? [B)]

Read the small print....

Crayolas for your colouring book not included. Deluxe Crayola tin available on p32 of Retail Therapy magazine, only £5.99. Pre-order required.



While the quality of the main meals was more than acceptable, and a clear improvement on the last menu cycle, the bean counting is definitely visible, from my last trip.

The chocolate selection (we went through an interesting transition from Mars Celebrations, through some Lily O'Briens, froo-froo Rococo truffles, Rococo chocolate pastilles, before settling on cheapo chocolate squares), fruit bowl, and amenity kit have clearly recieved some close attention from the bean counters.

Remember when you used to get nice chocolates on the side with your coffee? Those days seem to be long gone.

I'd love to see the "give with one hand, take away with the other" spreadsheet that someone at VS uses to try and balance all this out!

Cheers,
Mike

[Scrooge]

[ii]

BTW, I totally forgot. Talking to VS CS last night about something else. But got chatting to the person about UC food. "Oh! You look at v-flyer then" says she[:0] Interesting.

For me, and the reason for posting this thread, is that I would consider quality of the food on board to be a 'core' part of the Upper Class experience. That's not to say that I expect the finest gourmet food and wines, but it needs to be a standard of food expected for the cabin. Similarly I would class cabin service and the seat as core. I've not read a trip report yet where anyone had to write to VS because they had a bad massage ( anyone ever felt that way? )

Yes, from reading the Trip Reports the anecdotal evidence has been worrying. I've been reading the reports for quite a while and it seems only recently that words like 'inedible' have been coming up. At the same time, many people have found things to be just fine. Yet the fact that, as was pointed out, lots of gold frequent travellers on here have noticed a downward trend would show that it's not just a few one off cases or ( heaven forbid ) BA moles posting make-believe reports

I've just looked back at trip reports from last year and come across wonderful reports saying things like "I'd strongly recommend the tomato soup, lamb pie (yum!), and incredible cheese cake", "dim sum selection and lamb fillets both superb.", "The food was some of the best I have ever had on an aircraft and I normally fly 1st Class on BA and SIA! The highlight was a steak which was genuinely rare and literally melted in the mouth.","beef steak which was truly excellent", "fillet steak from freedom, have to say it was the best bit(very good sized fillet cooked to pink perfection) of steak I have ever had in the air outstanding."- a very enthusing selective ( focusing on steak and lamb! ) few but they're easy to find if you look. Looking at recent reports it's been difficult to find such sentiments.

Getting back to my original point, bad food on board makes a memorable flight for the wrong reasons. The suite is great but does not override issues in any other area. I hope it's not the case that VS have just been banking on the suite alone carrying all the success into the future, especially with BA's planned improvements to their cabins.

Regards,

David.

[ChuckC]

David,
Thank you for expressing your sentiments. The Forum is definitely top-heavy with people who are VS enthusiasts, one might say even "cheerleaders" on occasion. But ... we are not apologists, and when service levels, or food (aye, have we talked about the food!) or anything else in the VS experience is not of "top marks" quality, then it's time to speak up. Your comments are appreciated, no doubt, as evidenced by the input of Mike Smashing, Jetwet1 and Sailor99, three of our highly respected members.

Thanks again. - Chuck

[preiffer]

OK - You'll notice that this entire thread has been significantly cut back (and cleaned up).

If anyone needs a copy of any deleted content, please PM me and I'll forward it on. Otherwise, can we please keep the thread at least marginally on-topic?


Thanks.