UC suite & menu

We've just come back from Havana in UC and I can definitely say that's the worst menu and food I've ever had in a premium cabin.

Starters were a choice of thai prawn salad (way too spicy to be edible by almost anyone - wife hated it, I thought it was ok but too hot and I love vindaloos), or soup which I didn't have but was apparently ok.

Mains courses - pork terderloin (apparently ok but massive and hence unappealing), teriyaki vegitarian noodles (awful really really really awful - god I can't begin to tell you how much I hated it), or Salmon (no idea but based on the rest was probably not good either.

Cheeses - were excellent. Good selection of biscuits too. Hard really to get that wrong though!

Deserts - half pineapple with white fruit mush on top - not bad actually - unfair it was good to be honest. Would have preferred the ice cream for safety but by that stage they'd run out..... 14 in the full cabin, saw only 3 others have the ice cream - how on earth can they run out. Can't they nick it from the cheap seats????

Snacks during flight - dried slices of banana, nuts and a few chocolates - all of which ran out. Thought they were joking but they weren't.

Wine - great choice, didn't run dry even though we (all the adults in the Cabin x 7) drunk at the bar for hours. (Apparently only 6 air masks at the bar so one at a time we had to take it in turns to be left out of the fun!)

Breakfast, good choices availble but I had the eggs benedict in pastry - NO!!!!! Terrible.

Virgin have to be kiddin with that menu. How on earth is that UC food and choice.

In terms of the suites, we flew UC return to Antigua last year (not suites) and thought that was really good. But I have to say that the suites are incredible. Simply another level up again. What a sociable environment, what a bed, everything about it. I actually think I could forgive them the food! In fact I sat opposite my wife at 39000 feet on her guest seat, shared terrible food but looked out on a setting sun and loved every second of it. Should have been looking at her I know!

Only upside was that I paid 6 x £399 at the airport for an upgrade from PE instead of the £650 each offered by VH in the UK.

Do you reckon virgin know the foods that bad???????

[Scrooge]

one would hope they would be getting the idea by now

[fozzyo]

Originally posted by jetwet1
one would hope they would be getting the idea by now

Don't forget to write in to claim your 10,000 miles "compensation".

Foz xxx

With that menu, I'd have the soup, tenderloin and the ice cream (if available lol)

It's obvious Virgin have put most of their money and energy into the suites, and I do agree the suites + V:Port certainly makes up for the less than fabulous food.

Could this one have been so terrible because they have trouble onloading enough quality/quantity from Cuban port of call (a country not exactly known for having lots of the best of everything?)...

Not an excuse, but perhaps a reason???

BD

That particular flight/Cuba may well have been part of the issue with the food, because there was a clear problem with loading and getting the plane ready - we took off about an hour or so late and it was obvious they were struggling to get the flight ready.

No excuse though - when I paid for the upgrade at the Virgin Cuban ticket office (impossible to find by the way!) the girl there never mentioned the option to paying less for a half service in UC. At the end of the day you pay a premium you expect a premium - and all told I'd have to say that the new menu (irrespective of what it tastes like) reads a whole lot like an ecconomy menu except tipped onto a plate.

Unfortunately it wont stop me flying UC again, just annoyed I guess.

Simon - glad that experience won't stop you ... you'll see many posts on here about food quality and I strongly recommend you feedback to Virgin. At some point someone somewhere has got to get a grip on this issue.

Mind you, your comment about the cheese being difficult to get wrong ... you'd be surprised at how many do. Don't for example expect a good cheese selection on American!

[fozzyo]

Well at least you had food on your flight. Reading Metro this morning there was a dispute of some sort at Gate Gourmet and five hundred staff sacked, which resulted in 41 long haul flights going without any food on board other then drinks and some snacks.

I haven't flown UC for nearly a year so can't speak from any experience on the quality of the food - only the impression i get from those who have reported back. But, as mentioned, the food is only a part of the UC package. We don't had over our hard earned cash just for the better food. Its about service, suites, club-houses, revivals, etc too. And of course if nothing in the UC menu takes your fancy you can always request an ecomony meal.

Foz xxx

Maybe I have high expectations but I really donÕt believe the seats should Òmake upÓ for the disappointing menu/food quality. I think paying for access to a business class cabin entitles you to the following (minimum) expectations Ð no matter what the airline:

¥ Lounge access Ð food and drink available in an atmosphere that is quiet and unlike the departure area (otherwise whatÕs the point?)
Â¥ A decent comfortable business class seat with extra leg room and a personal TV
¥ Excellent (and I do mean excellent) menu and wine list Ð all of which is available as a first choice
Â¥ Courteous and unobtrusive service throughout the flight
Â¥ A revivals lounge

I can live without the gimmicks of a bar or a massage but I think the above is the least any business class passenger should expect to receive for a ticket that usually costs £ks more that economy.

I donÕt want to pay between £1500 - £3000 for a plane ticket if all of the requirements above are optional!

rant over...

The food isn't horrendous though, it is not like they are giving you chicken tikka in a plastic container with a sealed plastic cup of water.

The food is what you would receive in a mid-range bistro in outer London...at 39000 feet, it ain't that bad!

[fozzyo]

I'm actually quite looking forward to my next UC flight for the whole excitement of being in Upper Class and to see for myself what the food is really like.

Foz xxx

Don't forget to write in to claim your 10,000 miles "compensation".

I hope that the point of making a complaint is to support higher standards in future - would hate for people to believe that it's all about miles. The one and only time I have complained about something I was more than surprised to be given some miles as compensation.

Similarly, I hope people once in a while write to VA to compliment them when things are good. Not just about staff though of course they can be the fulcrum of a good/bad experience. It's something I remind myself to do on occassion but probably not enough. What's the old saying, when something's bad we tell 10 people but when something's good only 1 ...

Sorry Fozzyo, don't mean to pick on you in particular about this but would be concerned across a number of threads that a certain type of complaint has a miles price tag associated with it (and realise that the point you were making was more about the stock nature of the reply than that!).

[fozzyo]

No need to apologise, I should have put in a [:o)] at the end - was more ment as a comment on how the issues with UC food are currently being handled.

I completely agree with you though, after my sole UC flight experience to date I made a point of sending VS an mail through the website saying how much I enjoyed it and how it exceeded me expectations.

Infact I don't think I have ever really had cause to make any form of complaint to Virgin during my times flying with them, they ahve always been outstanding in terms of product and service. Which is one of the main factors I continue to fly with them.

Foz xxx

[Decker]

Isn't it the case that the ownership of cattle on Cuba is illegal as it erodes the topsoil - hence the predominance of pig? So a beef option might be problematic

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by s0436
The food isn't horrendous though, it is not like they are giving you chicken tikka in a plastic container with a sealed plastic cup of water.

I've had that meal and it wasn't bad !!!

I started flying VS as a good alternative to BA on the LHR-LAX route,found them to be above BA in so many ways.

Now it looks like NZ will be my next choice as they will have the suites[y]
a nice clubhouse at LAX[y]
great food[y][y]
and I can still earn miles on VS with them [y]

You guys are begining to worry me about the food.

I am off to SFO in Sept on the first trip in UCS that I have actually paid for. I do hope the VS customer service are listing. UCS is a great product but I would hate to see its overall standard diminished by bad food

Hoping for a great flight

Graham

Lets all be completely honest here. We all probably paid around £2k for each ticket or got an upgrade/miles which we could have traded for the equivalent. So we expect something bloody fantastic. Nothing short - for God's sake that a heck of a lot of money for 10 hours. The suites are.......... quite simply they alone are worth the experience. Sitting at a bar, great atmosphere, 39000 feet, great wine, great bed, perfect staff. Does it get any better. Nope.

The food is poor, very poor. There's simply no need for it to be that bad. I could have taken a cold Big Mac on the plane and been less dissappointed but if the girl at the ticket desk had said to me look Simon it's going to be brilliant, just I have to warn you the food is awful. And sorry, I've just put the price up by £100 I'd actually have been even happier. Expectations and all that I guess. Had my expectations not been so high (dictated by the price) then I'd have been fairly happy that I didn't enjoy what I ordered, and probably no worse than that.

My suggestion with the food is to take advantage of the "freedom" side of things. I.e. say youre not hungry yet, wait and see what other order, what their food looks like and then pick. If there's a couple of fatties in the front few rows ordering all the ice-cream then just adjust your strategy accordingly to make sure you don't miss out on the essentials!!!!

In fact when I ordered breakfast I was so irritated by the food by then that I said to the cabin crew that if I have the eggs benedict and I hate it then can I have a bacon snadwich. The response was "of course".