oh Dear! Virgin really are losing it!

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

As you know, I have been quite a supporter of Virgin Atlantic, but even I have reached my limit.

We have a lot of accrued miles with VS, being gold card members for quite a few years now. We have been increasingly unhappy with the reduction in quality of service culminating in the abysmal "Scrooge packs" being given out as ameinity kits these days and the awful medditerannean food choice this autumn.

Today I did some checking for flights for December (336 days were up on Sunday)

VS LGW-MCO for the three of us in UC is £3,854.60 Z class, Miles plus money a laughable £3,708.60 plus 15,000 miles each
BA is LGW-MCO £3,829.90

Virgin holidays fly drive wanted £4,000 plus they could not at this moment gaurantee UC seats

So i had a look at Continental from BHX to EWR and then EWR to MCO, coming out in business First at £3,810.00

Contacted Flying club to check rewards situation to be told "No rewards upgrades from PE to UC now available, people ring on the exact 336 day to book and they are all gone"

What absolute rubbish! I have access to flight checking info and no seats have yet been booked in UC on EITHER leg!

Tries to offer us MAN, tell him no way as why should we pay UC prices for us then not have access to a airport lounge due to little 'uns age, penalising the whole family.

With BHX, no hotel requirement the night before and journey down to LGW, yes, no Virgin clubhouse, but the flight takes off at 9am, so not a problem, and no flat beds, but as we will get a taxi back home from BHX that's not a problem either.

So, its bye bye from me Virgin. :-(

 

[jen_uk]

Never thought I would see you write that!!

My last Virgin flights were pretty rubbish.

 

[wayneg]

Another here not happy with their service, food this last year has been terrible. exactly the same menu both outbound and In. Had Chicken pasta, the pasta was mush, when we returned last week it took them 2 hours 30 mins before they came round with a drink, which was with the meal, usually we are offered one within an hour of boarding with pretzels.
I wanted to use points and money for August so I started looking from 336 days out. checked 3 or 4 times a day everyday. All the dates around were there but not returning Bank holiday 27th Aug to Man. Eventually they released them on Xmas morning.
You will probably get what you want but I have found they dont offer a lot of dates from 336 days now, they wait. Especially if it is a peak travel date you want.

 

[Pootle]

I read the thread title and screen name twice before I believed it!

If it's any consolation (and it won't be ...) I tried to book a free companion flight in business class with BA to Vancouver or Calgary at 11 months out - nothing available on the dates I wanted and only in First Class even then. I ended up with flights to Seattle and will drive up to Canada. Have had a few free Amex flights with BA over the years and have never had any trouble before - maybe they are both tightening up on perks?

Ironically I got us a black (paid £115) Virgin Amex card because my son is getting married in Las Vegas next year where Virgin fly direct, unlike BA. I thought I might be able to get a good deal with them using either free companion flight or miles plus money. I can already see this might be a short-lived relationship from what I have seen of the MPM discounts - not worth the effort, especially if you buy your tickets when they have one of their offers on We'll see.

 

[Kevin Stringer]

I've never had any real issues with Virgin's service, but I do believe that they are tightening up on all the rewards flights. There do not seem to be so many or at such good rates (M&M).

They will have to be VERY careful about this. I know there are many people that fly with Virgin simply for the deals they can get from being regular customers. If they alienate these people they could find them using other carriers.

Kev

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

When we fly to Boston in March it will categorically by our last Virgin flight, and we've travelled extensively with them.

I'm afraid this goes to the same for Virgin Hols who could not organise the proverbial whatsit in a brewery.

I really won't bore with our dealings with Virgin last year and this (many problems before we've even left this year and the only reason we're giving them another try is because we have over £700 worth of credit vouchers in compensation for the debacle last Easter), and the sad but bottom line is - they really couldn't give a monkey's.

For every one of us who are fed up with them and letting our feet do the walking, there is someone to replace us who thinks they will be good. We used to love flying VA, it was always superb service, no matter if we travelled PE, UC or in economy.

I'm just keeping everything crossed that we actually get tickets after the shambles between VH and VA with our booking this year

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

The really daft thing is that they are quite happily pizzing off their premium paying passengers and don't seem to be that bothered.
Richard needs to take the airline out of the hands of the accountants and make it what attracted us to the airline in the first place

 

[Laurafoster]

We flew out with Virgin for our wedding and actually had a pretty good flight - although the plane was over half empty so that probably helped.

However i really have issues with the Flying Club miles - can never get what i want and money plus miles fares are not great savings! I did have a Virgin card but now am cancelling it - its AmEx so not as widely accepted and the miles are pretty useless!

 

[julieannbabe]

oh no - i am meant to flying with them next month!

 

[wayneg]

Dont worry if you are flying with them, more people have concerns with their frequent flyers program than their service, I just wish they would add another £5/ticket and give us decent food or remove the food for economy passengers then I know to take a good packed meal.
Personally I am happy with Points and money, ok I had to wait and watch until they released what I wanted but got them eventually.
Just been to LA paid £375 full price was £600approx
Next Orlando flights
Easter £291 Full price £550 approx
August £533 Full price £800 approx.

So points have saved me about £2,250 for 3 of us on 3 flights. All 3 flights are School holiday dates so very happy especially Easter at £291.

Edit, another plus for Virgin, when we missed our flight to LA they put us on the next one 3 hours later with no fuss and no charge. Could not fault how they handled it.

They still have thousands of happy flyers, they could just do better. Virgin used to be market leaders infront of other airlines but not anymore.

 

[carolfoy]

Wow! Obi - I'm another one who never thought I'd see you say that. I totally agree that their frequent flyer programmes are getting less and less worth it. I've seen the gradual decline of BA over the years, their service is now abysmal and their frequent fliers seem to get less and less value for money. I really hope Virgin make an effort to pull themselves out of a similair downward spiral.
Now that charter flights are getting better in terms of reliability, service and on board comfort and amenities these schedules should up their game but they are all resting on their laurels a bit too much!
I think it pays to shop around for good deals with any airline whenever you want to travel.

 

[angel659]

Hi

When we flew with VA we had an excellent flight inbound and outbound. I loved it. We flew economy. I would have no hesitation in using them again. We dont really collect air miles anyway.

We are using BA for NYC this year. This will be another experience. I really wished we could of flown with VA. I loved them so much the food was great. We had chicken pasta and it was really nice. Best plane food we have ever had. I so impressed. After flying with Britannia, My Travel, JMC and Thomas Cook Airlines. VA was excellent.

 

[sandshal]

Rather than "Defender of the Dark Side" I honestly thought you were "The Defender of VA" and to be honest it had crossed my mind from time to time that you might even be Mr B!

Virgin offer a service and I will be flying with them this Oct, purely because M&M was my cheapest option at time of booking, however, I still do not believe the "hype" thats associated with Virgin - frankly - IMHO they've always been just averaage.

 

[DisneyJo]

I've been saving my miles to upgrade the 4 of us from E to PE. My BIL who flys loads said that I could do that but each flight only allows 3 PE upgrades per flight so what do we do put the kids at the back whilst we're in PE? I think the whole thing is a bit of a con as it means no family of 4 or more can get the rewards! Also we had a really rude stewardess last flight too!

 

[sandshal]

We booked 4 x PE miles plus money fares for Oct 2007, not sure about upgrades though.

 

[jen_uk]

oh no - i am meant to flying with them next month!

Dont worry they are still a great airline, its just that their service used to be miles above everyone elses and now they are losing that special something. The good baggage allowance, check in at DTD etc still make it worth flying with them unless you can find someone loads cheaper.

 

[Queenie]

Keeping my fingers crossed after reading all this! We're booked to fly with them for the first time this Oct as they were the only carrier we could find offering decent non-stop flights to Las Vegas and back home from Orlando. Going economy so no worries over upgrades.

Can someone point me in the direction of menus if they're available online or let me know what kind of food they serve in economy?

 

[Netty]

heres a bit of info for you Sophie

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/whatsonboard/economy/index.jsp

we flew with them last august for the first time and found them alright

 

[wayneg]

The good baggage allowance, check in at DTD etc still make it worth flying with them unless you can find someone loads cheaper.

Baggage allowance not as good though now, they slashed it from 32kg/bag to 23kg. still enough but means we now have to take 3 or 4 cases where we could take 2 at 32kg. and a small bag.

Food last week was coice of Chicken pasta, Beef stew or a vegi dish, think it was mushroom lasagne but not sure. I had beef stew last Oct and it was tough, chicken this time and the pasta was just digusting mush.

 

[UKDEB]

As I've said many time before, I've got no emotional attachment to Virgin: we use them because we always seem to manage to get some sort of worthwhile deal (be it M+M, Companion or Reward). Every trip we consider other carriers, but it eventually boils down to price. If there comes a time when I can't get a deal, I'll gladly try someone else. Having said that, the only real competition is BA (in that it's the only other scheduled airline which will get me directly from the UK). Even taking into account Virgin's appalling record surrounding delays, I'm not sure that I'd feel confident switching to BA at the moment - they seem to be willing to cancel flights for any number of reasons.

Thanks to a mistake by Virgin when we booked the flights for last October, I won't retain my Flying Club Silver status this year (the first time for as long as I can remember). Matt and I try to keep our miles at a similar level, so he booked a Companion flight for me on one leg and I booked one for him on the other (costing us 15,000 miles each for PE). Whilst Virgin deducted the miles from my account, they booked Matt on a full fare and me on a Companion for both legs. Because Companion flights don't earn miles or tier points, he now has loads more miles than me and I don't have sufficient tier points to retain Silver. I've sent several emails, but I'm getting absolutely nowhere. Even though Silver Flying Club status in itself isn't that big a deal in terms of benefits, the whole thing has really annoyed me and I suspect it might be the beginning of a move away from Virgin for us.