V-Flyer

Hmmm!

I've been crew for VS and many airlines and are now ground staff - i would like to see a bit more about check-in and gates on these fab trip reports - it's not all about the crew you know!

Flying Virgin is meant to be about the whole experience!

Ground staff is by far the harder job - some acknowledgement (either grumbles or compliments!) would be interesting!!


{edited - preiffer :

1) Moved from Trip Reports section - please only use that area for the posting of TR's, rather than discussion threads

2) Have not edited the final paragraph, but can we please accept that EVERYONE involved in getting a plane from A to B works very hard, before getting tied up in an argument over who puts the most effort in...?}

Hey Lipstick and welcome to V-Flyer! I am sure people will start to do that more. Would it be for you to file a trip report from a cabin crew view? I know I would find it were interesting

First of all welcome to the site,I understand where your coming from,the problem is that with any luck the ground staff,at least check-in will only have to deal with a pax for a couple of minutes,where as in the in flight staff get stuck with us from 6-12 hrs hence a more detailed reoprt on them.

thanks again for posting.

The ground staff played quite a part in my last TR. Albeit not a particularly good part [:0][}:)]. As JetWet says, it's hard for Ground Staff to distinguish themselves in the 5 minute exposure. But next TR I'm sure we'll all try to keep this in mind!

ive always found the vs check in staff very polite and professional[^]

I will be sure to mention the ground staff in my next TR, as its a fair comment.

Might not be so gratifying though, my general experience is
1) going out = usually good
2) coming back = usually "pants"

Staff vs contracted out hmmmm there's a surprise [:?][:w]

Originally posted by jetwet1
First of all welcome to the site,I understand where your coming from,the problem is that with any luck the ground staff,at least check-in will only have to deal with a pax for a couple of minutes,where as in the in flight staff get stuck with us from 6-12 hrs hence a more detailed reoprt on them.

This is a common mistake. Having done both jobs, i'd like to know who thinks crew spend 14 hours with the same pax?? It's probably the same amount of time as ground staff - when i was crew you'd probably only spend 5-10 mins with 99.9% of pax on board in Y and W - that's giving them the meals/drinks/duty free runs etc.

I just think if you're going to write about the VS experience - mention it all!

ooh lipstick your so forceful[:o)] Ok we will mention it.

This is a common mistake. Having done both jobs, i'd like to know who thinks crew spend 14 hours with the same pax?? It's probably the same amount of time as ground staff - when i was crew you'd probably only spend 5-10 mins with 99.9% of pax on board in Y and W - that's giving them the meals/drinks/duty free runs etc.

I just think if you're going to write about the VS experience - mention it all!

True, but as a passenger, especially in UC or PE, you get to see a lot of your Crew, even if they are busy with other passengers, when you only see the groundstaff briefly.

Possible exception here is SFO where many of the V-Flyers are known to the staff there. The staff there are fab, from check-in to Clubhouse, and all had a good chat to Richard and I when we were there in Jan, asking 'where the rest were' after a good load of us descended on SFO for the social in November.

Whatever crew i have for a flight, i tend to chat to them and have more interaction with them than the groundstaff, but it doesnt mean they are any less or more important to my flying.

Also, as Decker pounted out, a lot of the US groundstaff are contracted, and have not alwyas provided the same level of service as their UK counterparts, and i have seen this myself where they do not necessarily know things about VS, such as priority luggage, Au perks, etc.

But, credit where due. Groundstaff keep the whole operation in motion and i, along with many others, will make more of a point of including their actioms in my trip reports and comments.

Thanks for taking the time to look at the site and the TRs, and of course for posting lipstick. I think your groundcrew perspective input into the site will be valued. I always marvel that I get my bags checked in, they disappear into a void along with a million other bags, and then reappear at the other end (causing a sign of relief from me). Combine all this with the right crew on the right aircraft, along with the right food, the pre-ordered duty free, and of course the pax, all security checked - frankly I am always amazed when we leave. To be fair, many of the TRS do mention some of the ground staff - mainly the ones that meet the pax of course such as securicor (generally get a good rating), Check in (UK ones get good generally), and security (queues seem to come up alot, I'm not sure why;)). However I am sure we can do better!

I have to agree with previous posters though that the difference between employed UK VS crew [y] and contract staff elsewhere [n] is huge.

Originally posted by easygoingeezer
ooh lipstick your so forceful[:o)] Ok we will mention it.

Oh yeah? You like it like that?

Hi Lipstick,

For the record I've never had anything but good service from Check In or other Groundstaff (except once in LA, but not VS).

Miopyk

Hi Lipstick - I understand you want to hear more about the entire experience and we do indeed 'rate' check in which is slightly different to mentioning our experience of ground staff.

Others have mentioned this is possibly because, while we may not directly have contact with flight crew for up to 12 hours, we do see them a lot of the time and make judgements about how they handle us and other passengers. Do you include check-in, customer relations and club house and more in your comment?

I agree with you that ground staff have a hard time, if a passenger has a problem it's usually where it is first experienced (arguably?) and fielding the good and the bad is a skill and requires diplomacy, patience and more. From recollection however many people do comment though I'm not sure it's in proportion to the entire journey or experience.

I'll certainly try to do so more