Virgin Blue Airlines
| Favourite: | 0% say it is one of their favourite businesses. |
| Value: | 20% say they get great value for money here. |
| Service: | 20% say the customer service is something special. |
Reviews
Has officially joined the ranks of mediocrity
I love Branson, having read all his books, and I really want to like Virgin Blue. After all, who doesn't love the underdog clawing against the big bad companies? But Virgin Blue has *become* the big bad company. I am tearing my hair out! The issue: I changed my flight for work and am trying to get a receipt for the $208.50 change fee, so I can put it in with my corporate expenses. I have called four times. Each time, I wait on the phone for 10-15 minutes listening to horrible elevator music. Then, FINALLY, someone who barely speaks English picks up the phone. I say, sweetly, I need to get a copy of the receipt/tax invoice emailed to me. They try emailing it. Doesn't come through. Doesn't come through to the other 3 email addresses that I give them. Hang up, maybe it will come through later...but NO, so have to call back and repeat. Can't get a fax from them. They say they put it in snail-mail a week ago, but nothing has shown up. They don't keep records of my email addresses, so I have to give each one, every SINGLE time, spelling it out..."no, that's M like Marzipan, like my name, you dufus!" Anyway, have spent hours trying to sort this out, and the last guy just said, "Well, call back later, it just isn't working." So I am going to have to eat this fee because I can't expense without the receipt. How hard is it to get someone a receipt?! Seriously. The incompetency is appalling. Customers unite!
They used to be somebody
"Dropping the ball from 39,000 feet" - I couldn't agree more. Virgin used to be excellent - friendly, efficient and on-time. Now it is jaded, late and unhelpful. Also doing everything possible to alienate the business travellers it is notionally trying to attract. 2 quick anecdotes:
1. Gate staff not issuing me with a boarding pass at the gate despite having only carry-on luggage and numerous other passengers visibly boarding at the time. Stated rationale: "if we gave you a boarding pass, everyone would do this". Wrong, and dumb, given they made we wait an hour unnecessarily and the earlier flight left with a useless empty seat.They then tried to charge a $50 change fee, a decision which will cost them a lot more than that.
2. A couple of weeks later arriving at the airport for a 7am flight to be told it had been cancelled. The reason given was "the plane didn't come in last night". I asked why they didn't tell me before I left for the airport - they said "we didn't know until this morning". I replied "but the plane didn't come in last night, so you knew last night, right?" Blank faces.
3. For their next trick, they offered me the 10am flight as the earliest alternative. I observed that I needed to be in Brisbane at 10am, hence booking myself on the 7am flight originally. They reiterated that the 10am flight was the next available. Again I remarked that if 10am was a suitable flight, I WOULD HAVE BOOKED MYSELF ON IT THE FIRST TIME. I suggested they put me on a Qantas flight instead. They said "we don't offer that". I left and booked on QF myself, and had my client (their biggest business customer) send them the bill.
In short, Virgin has lost it, and I won't be going back in a hurry.
Dropping the ball from 39,000 feet
Stuck in an airport... again... thanks Virgin Blue!
Travelling for work is a chore and delays and frustrations are part of the game, however this was taken to an ugly extreme recently for me when a 5pm hop from Brisbane to Sydney, courtesy of Virgin Blue, turned into an overnight stay and a painful consumer experience. This was compounded three weeks later when another Virgin Blue flight was cancelled on me, leaving me again stuck in Brisbane airport. These two particularly unpleasant trips, on a base of consistently delayed Virgin Blue flights due to sunny day “bad weather”, has this disgruntled traveller changing loyalties.
So what is going on? Perhaps the new CEO is quietly reducing costs or maybe the fleet is short a couple of planes, but I haven’t experienced this kind of consistently unreliable air travel since visiting China, and I think China Air has since cleaned up its act. Until recently I was a supporter of Virgin Blue because of what used to be an efficient, albeit no frills, service. But things have apparently changed.
So be warned all you fellow grumpy time sensitive travellers, paying that little extra for Qantas is probably worth it at the moment. Travel well!
There are better airlines but few hit their promises better than Virgin Blue
Qantas has a better product than Virgin Blue (food on board, free tv, drinks) but Virgin delivers on their promises more justifying more stars. There are better airlines but few hit their promises better than Virgin Blue, by that I mean they delivery what they tell you they will. Planes are boarded and exited quickly, staff smile, fare rules are clear and enforced and on air experiences are consistently solid. Qantas have better seats and food but charge more and under deliver.
Deceptive online payment system
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