Virgin Australia Passenger Reviews and Virgin Australia Customer Trip Reports

Travelled Abu Dhabi to Sydney 13-14 July. Boeing 777 - economy seating row 38. First international flight with Virgin Aust as a co-partner with Etihad (main booking). Very pleasantly surprised by this airline. Aircraft left from Abu-Dhabi, very clean and well maintained, cabin crew were excellent, very polite and attentive, in flight entertainment very high standard with wide selection. Food quality and service very good, experienced friendly staff. Seating whilst not exceptionally comfortable over a 14/15 hour flight provided more leg room than all our previous economy flights and was much better than average. Comfortable flight with air-conditioning kept on and not turned down as experienced on other services, Some on board snacks available, everyone provided with small bottle of water at start of flight and water readily available at galley station. Toilets well maintained. I will endeavour when planning future trips to use this carrier and strongly recommend the service. Superior to Etihad and Air Berlin.

We recently booked a trip from NZ to Bali, stopping in Perth. Virgin Australia rescheduled our flights on more than one occasion before our departure date. Two of our flights were cancelled when we arrived at the airport for check-in. VA ground crew were very unhelpful in rescheduling us onto suitable flights - the first cancellation resulted in us being overnighted in Brisbane - not only had our accommodation not been arranged when we got to Brisbane but we were also sent to the wrong hotel. For the second cancellation I could not accept the flights they had rescheduled us on, we had already had an overnight flight, I was travelling on my own with two children and VA wanted to fly me to Melbourne for a 8.5 hr stopover at the airport before arriving back in Auckland at midnight. Ground crew were less than helpful. I asked to be rescheduled on an early morning flight the next day from Brisbane so that the children could at least shower and rest - VA did this but I had to organise my own accommodation I was given now food vouchers for substantial amount of additional time I spent at airports. I will never fly VA again.

Flight to Denpasar - DJ4153 - 3 June 2012. This flight was a nightmare - the plane was not suitable for an international flight - it had only one narrow aisle and two toilets for approx 240 passengers. The queue to the toilets was half way up the plane and the food trolley couldn't get down. Catering was a disaster - they ran out of everything and many missed out. There was no TV or videos on the flight - great when there were so many families with young children. There were many aggrieved passengers! We were very disappointed with Virgin and I wouldn't fly to Bali with them again.

Flew to Melbourne on their A330. Revamped cabin, clean and tidy. Mood lighting was a nice touch, seat ok. Free IFE - a good selection. cabin crew were nice and friendly - attentive and present. Overall a comfortable flight - highly recommend and would use again in the future.

Travelled MEL-LAX, LAX-SYD recently in seats 11A and 11C both ways. Seats were of reasonable comfort but after a while we both had achy hips due to the firmness of the seats. Found the check-in staff in Melbourne very friendly but in LAX staff were disinterested. Flight crew on both legs were attentive. Planes were in excellent condition and seemed new. Meals were adequate and we found them to be of good quality. We were happy with having had paid the extra for premium economy and would recommend it to others.

My husband, children and I recently flew from Australia to Abu Dhabi (changing over to Etihad to continue to Paris). We were all greatly disappointed with the service V Australia gave. Not only were the lady's rude and unhelpful, they mixed up the kids meals and simply didn't give them any. I had to chase down a vegetarian meal even though it was also confirmed on my ticket. The movies were old so the kids were bored. They have nothing available in between meals to snack on even to purchase. What a disappointment!

BNE-PER-SYD in J class. It's the staff that make this airline. All staff from check in to cabin crew were fantastic. First leg 737. Seats are fine but not great - no footrest is annoying. Food was fine, a little plain but still tasty. Dig-E players are ok but entertainment difficult to hear with poor quality headphones supplied. Wine offerings great. Return leg A330. Apparently one of the "older" planes with the old style seat. That said it was very comfortable, the best I've been in for a while and more than adequate for a 3 hour flight. Food was excellent - 3 great courses plus cheese. Loved the way they brought the desserts and cheeses out along with the dessert wines and liqueurs. IFE fine, not in demand but good choice with noise cancelling headphones. Cabin manager came up at end of flight to see how it was.

My family (including my husband and 2 young children) were due to fly from Queenstown to Sydney at 4.15pm on Wednesday 20 June 2012. This flight was cancelled at the last minute and we were informed there would be no further international flights out of Queenstown until Saturday. We were instead offered a bus to Christchurch. Informed the bus would drop us off at approx. 1am at Christchurch airport. We were further informed that no accommodation would be provided and the airport would be closed at that time. Thus if we took the bus offering, we would have to wait outside until the airport, in the tundra that is Christchurch in winter, until it opened at 4am (ie sleep on the tarmac) or we would somehow have to find our own accommodation at extremely short notice with no transportation options available at this time of night! When I voiced my concerns to a Virgin representative - the response I received was “Its always hard travelling with children, now, would you like to take the bus?” Ended up driving 6 hrs to Christchurch and having to go back to Sydney via Brisbane. The whole episode took over 24 hours!

On a recent flight Melbourne to Cairns there was no inflight entertainment. The seats had no screens. I was lucky to have some music on my iphone to kill time. I do expect no entertainment when they put on an Embraer - but not a 737-800 on a 3 hour plus flight. I must say that the trip arrived 25 minutes early.

SYD-LAX premium economy on 777-300ER. Priority check-in and boarding and express card for immigration. Once on-board, offered welcome drink of either champagne or orange juice. Headphones not working but replaced promptly by apologetic stewardess. Shortly after takeoff, our orders were taken for lunch and breakfast. Drinks served individually with nuts. Both lunch and breakfast were standard economy class food - which was a bit disappointing (Qantas PE is a step above in this respect). The seat was good - the extra width and leg room really makes a difference on a 14 hour flight. Only downside is the seat is a bit firm which can get slightly uncomfortable. The service was very good - two dedicated cabin staff for PE. Overall, a good experience and will certainly fly with VA again.

Was my first experience of flying Virgin Australia long haul from Sydney to Manchester via Abu Dhabi. The Virgin leg of the trip, despite being the longest was definitely the most enjoyable. Cabin crew friendly and attentive, a good choice of food as well. The entertainment on offer was modern, a great choice and best of all was available gate to gate. Seat comfort as well was better than most comparable economy class seats as well.

CNS-MEL-PER. Both flights departed pretty much on time, with arrival early in both cases. 737-800 ex Cairns was clean and appeared well maintained, despite still being in the old colours. Legroom tight, but that is flying these days. No entertainment. Staff friendly enough and efficient in what they had to do. A330-200 ex Melbourne was clean and very fresh inside. Mood lighting very pleasant. Lots of entertainment choices without charge. Once again, staff efficient and seemed happy to serve. The Virgin New York Sandwich was very good and probably better value than buying at the airport. Only downside is that snacks and soft drinks on board are a bit pricey for the amount you get.

BNE to LAX Return. Flight there was delayed but was explained to us we would arrive early at LAX and have to sit in plane so happy with this. Flight there was great with good food and entertainment. Disappointing on return leg when asked for an emergency exit row and was told it was $150USD. I declined only to find 3 of these seats were given to a couple with a baby about 4 weeks old. I doubt they paid an extra $450. They then proceeded to stand up and take photos of the baby on an Iphone while we taxied down runway and to even make a call on said Iphone as we took off. Crew did not say anything to them. Same couple then spent whole flight walking the aisles of the plane holding baby up like a trophy while seatbelt light on. Again, cabin crew never said a thing.

Cairns-Brisbane. Check in staff as well as on board attendants were very approachable and friendly. Flight left five minutes late but arrived on time. Unlike other low cost competitors, they hand out free tea, coffee and water. If the price was the same, I would book with this airline over other Australian domestic airlines.