I can't compare Virgin with any other airline flying long haul, but apart from the food, which I thought wasn't up to scratch, I cannot fault them.
I booked my seats on the phone talking to a very helpful young woman when I was arranging the chauffeur pick-up point, and I thought these would be the seats for the entire journey, I never thought about passengers getting off or booking to get on in Hong Kong.

When we checked in at Heathrow, we were given the seats I had chosen to Hong Kong, but two seats from Hong Kong to Sydney were at opposite ends of the cabin.
At Heathrow they said "Don't worry about it, there's been some mix-up and it will be sorted in Hong Kong", and I thought " yeh, I bet it will be", with little hope that it would be, but as we were directed to the transit lounge in HK we were issued with two new boarding cards which were the same seat numbers, so we stayed in the same seat throughout, and it wasn't just us, there was a table full of new boarding cards being given out to the passengers.
Coming back there were no problems, we had the same seats I had booked all through the journey.

Sanji

If I'm going to be cynical, Sanji.. I think that the problem is that the holiday/flights were booked with another company... It's not the first time that VA have messed me up, that's why I always pay the "Flight component" very early to get the locater and sort seats/meals early...but it seems that if you don't book directly with VA then you're classed as "second class" and they can (and do) mess you about...

Just MHO (and experience on more than one occasion)

ATB,J.

Think i will keep my eyes on my seat requests then :-) -- my booking is after the 1st April though.

Just back from a return trip to Barbados to and from Gatwick.

Service was much better than the previous years. More attentitive staff and I guess that we were lucky enough to have the newer 747s with the seatback entertainment system that is on demand rather than on the loop that is usually dished out on the Gatwick route.

The new economy service is not all as described. The "welcome cocktail" is a little misleading as it isn't served until a good hour into the flight, rather than served once seated (like they have in premium economy and upper class). The meal is as before with the difference being that the desert is served seperatarely.

On the way back, the new service didn't materialise and it was reverted back to the old. Pehaps this was because the flight was only just over 7 hours and it being overnight.

But as said, a much improved service than previously and long may it continue

Mark

Welcome back Mark, hope you had a good holiday.

The new economy service is not all as described. The "welcome cocktail" is a little misleading as it isn't served until a good hour into the flight, rather than served once seated (like they have in premium economy and upper class).

Funny you should mention the above because I was talking about this on another forum recently. Well the original question was about not being able to get/buy a bottle of water if you're sat in your seat and the plane is delayed and still on the tarmac......so, I did a bit of delving.

From what I was able to gather and it took some searching, the metal containers which hold all the drinks (and the other items they sell onboard) they are sealed both before take-off and before landing, and this is to avoid the airline paying the VAT/import/export tax to the country of departure and arrival, on those items which are subject to tax collection.
So, going back to the water question, the reason why they won't break the seal for a bottle of water costing £1.50, is because the airline would be liable to pay the tax on the entire container, which depending how it has been stocked /loaded may contain spirits, jewellery & perfumes, and anything else they flog, (all subject to various tax levels), and whilst it may not sound a lot, if you mulitply that with the amount of flights and the number of containers opened, it will amount to a considerable amount for the airlines to pay out within a financial year.

Then we come to my experience of being offered either orange juice or champagne in upper class (a bottle of water was already next to my seat) on boarding at Heathrow/HK/ Sydney/HK.
Well I suspect it comes down to the loading factor and how the containers have been stocked. Orange juice/water will not be subject to the tax levels of spirits and champagne, and where champagne is offered, the tax on champagne has already been pre-paid by the airline ( possibly via some generous deal) and is incorporated into the price charged for the seat.

Finally (I know I go on a bit) the reason why the drinks trolley does not appear until about an hour into the flight, is because they cannot open the containers and break the seal until the aircraft is in International airspace, just in case the plane has to return to the point of departure for whatever reason, and thus liable to pay the tax on the entire stock.

So, yep, you will be offered champagne in upper class as soon as you step onto the aircraft, but you have paid (dearly) for the privilege.

Sanji

Thanks for that info. Sanji. I have often wondered why they won't give out drinks when you are sitting on the plane (sat for 3 hours once for endless de- icings) especially as I knew that when taking a number of business class flights I was offered a drink as soon as I took my seat.

I guess I could have looked it up it myself, happy to let you research it though.

There is also another, more simpler explanation before you get in to all of the above. Once passengers are onboard the aircraft, it's assumed the aircraft is ready to go. The serving of drinks etc takes time, and crew are more involved in securing the aircraft for take off and safety in the cabin. Once passengers are seated, this can be at any time so it's not practicle or safe to be concentrating on drinks from trollies. The last thing you need is for crew to be serving drinks when you have push-back clearance and are ready for take-off, delaying the aircraft. That's the primary reason, although the above and other factors does come in to it as well.

Darren

I can't remember which airline it was, but it was an American one such as American Airlines or United, and we were each given a bottle of water as we boarded.

luci

luci HT Mod wrote:

and we were each given a bottle of water as we boarded.

Thomas Cook used to do that on some long haul inbound sectors, it was left on seats.

Darren

Darren.
I think it also comes down the good old 'elf and safety rules' and evacuation, and not having a trolley blocking the aisles, (I'm actually thinking of the tragic events of Manchester here) and the drinks served in Upper Class is via a very attractive trolley dolly having the drinks already poured and placed onto a tray, and offfered this way to the passengers, a bottle of water was already in the holder next to my seat, so again I will say it is down to the loading factor.
I also forgot to mention, although not specific to Virgin and this thread. My previous post will also explain why they run out of items on the return leg.

Again from what I was able to gather, the airlines stock the containers based on the sales, so if they sell 10 fluffy teddy bears on a flight between Manchester and Malaga, they will know this is a popular item and stock accordingly.
On the return leg because they don't open/re-stock the containers to avoid the tax (and in this example to the Spanish) and all the teddy bears have been sold apart from maybe 2 on the outbound flight, this is the reason why they'll only have 2 teddy bears to sell on the inbound flight or a limited number of anything else they flog.

Sanji

Some interesting things being discussed and it all makes sense why the "welcome drink" is not being served once you board or once you are seated.

Perhaps Virgin should stop using that term. Having flown premium economy with Thomson a number of times we were given a "real" welcome drink, that is in the seat before take off.

Not a real problem, but I can imagine some may be disappointed as they were expecting something that is not as advertised. And that is something that Virgin in the past has been very good at.

Mark

Judith wrote:

I guess I could have looked it up it myself, happy to let you research it though. :tup

Hi Judith...cheeky!
TBH, it took me ages and ages to find the information, it wasn't something that Mr Google jumped out and said 'look here'.
I did save the link, but I've had my computer upgraded since, and low and behold, can you believe it that everything seems to be there in my very long list of 'favourites' except this link...
And I'm not going searching for it again, so you'll just have to take my word, that is what I read, and if I remember correctly, it was on some 'official' import/export site.

The question was asked because a lady wasn't feeling too well after an hour sat in her seat, and simply wanted to hand over £1.50 to a member of the cabin crew for her to go and get a bottle of water out of the containers, the plane was going nowhere, it had been grounded because of a technical fault, and she and other passengers could see the mechanics working on the fault.
Of course I appreciate that the mechanics could have fixed the fault 2 seconds after she requested the water, and the aircraft would want to go, and if they could serve one person, they run the risk of a plane load of passengers requesting water, but the lady asking the question thought it would have taken no trouble to go and get a bottle of water, until I explained about the tax issue.

Sanji
Oops, sorry going a bit off topic here. well maybe not as it applies to all airlines including Virgin.

Just to update on my previous posts...

We arrived at Gatwick for the twilight check-in... they were able to give us upper deck seats!!

Coming home, once again they were able to put us upstairs as the flight wasn't full...
So, a happy ending for this one...

ATB,J.

And how was Cuba? Where were you staying this time?

SM

sanji wrote:

I can't compare Virgin with any other airline flying long haul, but apart from the food, which I thought wasn't up to scratch, I cannot fault them.

Just had my son phone me from London, he landed at 5 am this morning from Hong Kong, he's spending a few days in the Capital and coming up to Yorkshire on Thursday, so naturally I asked him "how was the flight in premiun economy".?
I never said a word to him about how disappointed I (we) had been with the food, because it would appear very ungrateful after he'd paid for our trip to Oz last December.
He said the menu looked nice, (yes it does) but the food was awful and he was well disappointed.
He flys all over Asia using various airlines, so he's probably had more airline food in a few months, than most of us have in a lifetime.
He wasn't a happy bunny, I can tell you.

Sanji

This may have been ask before, when will the 747 be phased out we fly to mco 29/11/12 via man vs75 long way off i know

thanks

welshy0151,

It'll be a while before 747's are phased out. MAN-MCO-MAN (VS075/6) are operated by Airbus A330-300 (they have been since March).

Darren

Thanks Darren

Hi all,

Booked a Caribbean cruise with Celebrity for April 2012. Booked a fly cruise package and the flights are with Virgin to Miami.
Paid the balance of the cruise last week and asked for the flight locator number so i could pre book seats.
Celebrity said to get my locator number they would have to pay the balance of my flight earlier then normal and that i would be liable for cancellation charges from the time they paid Virgin. I had to email to except this which i did straight away as i wanted to get the seats booked.

I phoned again today and was given the flight locator number but told i still would not be able to book seats until about 6 weeks before travel. Have tried logging on the website with the number provided but to no avail.

Hope someone can help with some info

Thanks