I survived the Alitalia five - on facebook

Yes they are young and immature for doing this. Maybe thats the problem. There is a lot to be said for older more mature cabin crew that some of the US airlines use.
They are more used to dealing with problems that may arise during flights with passengers as they have more experience and empathy.
At the end of the day cabin crew are ultimately there for our safety so in the event of a serious incident I know I would plump for experience over some immature, panicky 20 year old anytime. Which would you prefer?[:?]

Can i say i don't really post he - more of a lurker lol

But i was alerted to this on the Disab - i'm shocked - angry - disgusted. I've been in touch with Virgin head office they are dealing with the matter.


jj....

The comment on one of the photos about buying safety exam papers is worrying too[:0]

Now down to 52 members. I think the brown stuff is starting to hit the fan.

Originally posted by Jeffers555
Now down to 52 members. I think the brown stuff is starting to hit the fan.

'Be afraid, Be very afraid'

[Neil]

The group/page has now gone. Wonder if it has been removed by whoever started it or upon request by Virgin!

Lucky i made copies of it - i wonder if Mr WALSH would like a copy ??

edit of Originally posted by Neil
The group/page has now gone. Wonder if it has been removed by whoever started it or upon request instructions by Virgin!

Hehe. Fun while it lasted, watching these people write out their own marching orders, probably.

While it's easy to tar all them with the 'troublemaker' brush, and some give that rowdy impression, others may well be nice enough people, but carried along on a wave of silliness and peer pressure (like the alleged positioning crew bar rabble).

Turn this on it's head for a moment... some crew are clearly embarrassed by some of the ongoing issues that are alledged to exist on these aircraft (I've never flown on any of them, so I wouldn't know), and some of the wall posts elude to that.

That should ring warning bells in VS management, as well as the fact that some chose to write this stuff on facebook - maybe they are blue in the face of writing up cabin defects only to see them go unrepaired?

Anyway, if anyone wants to bitch about rubbish VS aircraft, surely they should be talking about long retired CAT/RUM (aka CRAP and SCUM)? [;)]

These kids, they don't realise how good they have it... (cue Hovis advert music), even if the loo signs are in Italian.

Mike

Hi Mike thanks for replying and i agree most staff are great at there job.

Its just not the aircraft although there must be a lot of problems with these 5 aircraft and maybe virgin will do something about it - calling passengers Chav's isn't on - at the end of the day i'm paying that stupid kids wages !!

Well if i ever see any of them i'll be having a few words with them about Chav's !!


PS - Keep up the good work Mike !!

[Scrooge]

Please remember, this was the work off 57 people, out of the thousands that work for VS, I would be more than happy to place a wager on there being a meeting in HR soon where a few facts of life are explain to some former employees.

Originally posted by Jeffers555
Yes they are young and immature for doing this. Maybe thats the problem. There is a lot to be said for older more mature cabin crew that some of the US airlines use.
They are more used to dealing with problems that may arise during flights with passengers as they have more experience and empathy.
At the end of the day cabin crew are ultimately there for our safety so in the event of a serious incident I know I would plump for experience over some immature, panicky 20 year old anytime. Which would you prefer?[:?]

Just wanted to stick out my chest and say 'Hey!' here.
I'm a 20 year old member of crew and I would never have joined a site like that. I don't think US airlines are used to dealing with problems anymore than us. I was on a Delta flight the other day where we had to divert and the crew handled it the same way a Virgin crew would have. I myself (at only age 20) have personally dealt with a stroke, an epileptic child, an old woman with a busted head, a drunk passenger physically attacking myself and an FSM, and numerous smaller incidents. Now in the event of a serious incident I doubt I would be immature and panicky. However, that US Flight Attendant has probably never dealt with a SERIOUS incident either. We have all been trained to the same standard and just because the older gals and boys have poured more tea than us younger ones does not mean they could deal with a major incident better than us.

I know the above post was not meant offensively and I did not really take it so. I just wanted to state my case [:D]

[Scrooge]

Please folk, let's not get into a fight between crew and pax, I am pretty sure that the majority of the crew on here are as horrified as us pax at the actions of a very small minority of their co-workers today.

Originally posted by Scrooge
Please remember, this was the work off 57 people, out of the thousands that work for VS, I would be more than happy to place a wager on there being a meeting in HR soon where a few facts of life are explain to some former employees.

Dave,
Not even 57. Only 20 or so actually posted comment - and some of them removed posts when they realised they were public.
Of the 20, we know some issues to be true - how many times have dirty cabins been mentioned on here? How many times have we mentioned the IFE?
The number of really unacceptable posts, such as on safety or disparaging passengers (again how often do we complain?), could be counted on one hand.

There is no way that we should allow this to be regarded as typical of all VS staff - but we should recognise that some staff do feel upset at what they see as falling standards - just as we do on this forum.
We hide behind anonymity - their mistake was showing their names and faces - and being led into an emotive issue on a public forum.

Some of these issues have been raised on internal forums - where they should be - but it is at least partially understandable if some become frustrated that there is little progress - again I could mention frustrations highlighted on V-Flyer by many of us!

The page has now gone - lets hope that it may be left to die - but with some (not just those most at fault) having learned a little.

[Nottingham Nick]

Well said, Scrooge and Bill. [y][y]

Nick

[Scrooge]

Bill, I 100% agree with you, however when you (meaning the posters, not yourself) start calling the pax chav's then you are done, you have lost, that is my point, I am not arguing with them when it comes to the cabins not being clean etc..though the post about an aircraft having an engine changed did speak volumes to me.

Where's my outrage?

GJ

A rather speedy reply received from VS :

Many thanks for your e mail. We had been made aware of some maliciouscomments made on a social networking site by a small number of our staff and we have started an immediate disciplinary investigation. We do not tolerate any criticism of our customers, or our industry-leading safety standards and we are taking this matter very seriously.

We operate one of the youngest fleets in the industry. The five Boeing747s based at Gatwick are among the newest 747s flying worldwide andwere acquired by Virgin Atlantic brand new from Boeing in 2001. Safety is our top priority and we operate our fleet of aircraft in strict compliance with all manufacturers' and safety authorities recommendations and regulations. We are proud of our rigorous andstringent maintenance regime, which involves routine engine changes, to ensure that all aircraft are performing safely and efficiently. In addition we maintain very high standards of hygiene onboard our aircraft which are cleaned following each flight, as well a sdeep-cleaned on a regular basis.

Our customers have confirmed our high standards. Passenger surveys carried out every day onboard our Gatwick flights between September 2007 and August 2008 show 93% of passengers would fly Virgin Atlantic again and 93% would recommend Virgin Atlantic to others. 87% of passengers rated the service as excellent or good. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us and giving us the chance to reassure you.

[Nottingham Nick]

Thanks for posting that, flying fox. [y][y]

Nice to get such a swift response. I wonder how many times it has been sent out today? [:)]

Nick

Originally posted by Nottingham Nick
Thanks for posting that, flying fox. [y][y]

Nice to get such a swift response. I wonder how many times it has been sent out today? [:)]

Nick

A fair few time I expect Nick - I got the very same Email this afternoon.

HG

I haven't had my response yet![?]

[Nottingham Nick]

It has also appeared on the VS Facebook page, as well. [:D]

[Pete]

I have received an official response from Virgin Atlantic regarding the Facebook page, and (although it is nearly identical to the response flying fox posted), I'm pasting it here for completeness, and at the request of Virgin Atlantic

Dear Customers,

Virgin Atlantic has been made aware of some malicious comments that have
been made on a social networking site by a small number of its staff. The
airline has started an immediate disciplinary investigation. We do not
tolerate any criticism of our passengers or industry-leading safety
standards and we are taking this matter very seriously.

We operate one of the youngest fleets in the industry. The five Boeing
747s based at Gatwick are among the newest 747s flying worldwide and were
acquired by Virgin Atlantic brand new from Boeing in 2001. Safety is our
top priority and we operate our fleet of aircraft in strict compliance with
all manufacturers' and safety authorities' recommendations and regulations.
We are proud of our rigorous and stringent maintenance regime, which
involves routine engine changes, to ensure that all aircraft are performing
safely and efficiently.

Virgin Atlantic can reassure passengers that it maintains very high
standards of hygiene onboard its aircraft and that aircraft are cleaned
following each flight, as well deep-cleaned on a regular basis.

Passengers travelling on our Gatwick flights confirm the high standards on
these services. Passenger surveys carried out every day onboard Gatwick
flights between September 2007 and August 2008 show 93% of passengers would
fly Virgin Atlantic again and 93% would recommend Virgin Atlantic to
others. 87% of passengers rated the service as excellent or good.

We appreciate and thank our customers for taking the time to contact us.

Virgin Atlantic.

Thanks flyingfox - i'll hand out the blindfolds to the silly staff who posted on that blog !!



jj..

[Neil]

Glad Virgin have taken this seriously and acted fast to customers who brought it to their attention and hopefully no serious harm will have been caused by it. Staff really do need to be aware how the smallest negative remarks/jokse could quickly become a major PR disaster for their company.

Neil