VIRGIN BLUE  Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

PAGE 1 2 3 4

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  8 February 2010 by Chris Fox   (Australia)

Karratha-Perth on E190. Nice clean aircraft, and the 2+2 seating is a great change from the comparatively squeezy 3+3 that Qantas run to Karratha on their 737's. Always friendly crew and wide selection on their menu, where you buy what you want. Great value for money, and excellent to see more flights coming on a route where Qantas enjoyed a monopoly for many years.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  29 January 2010 by S Campbell   (Australia)

DRW-BNE-DRW and DRW-PER-DRW several times per month. Crew friendly, food not much on offer out of DRW as they do not have catering contracts there. Ground staff in Darwin pleasant and quick.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  25 January 2010 by Y Ren   (Australia)

BNE-CBR-BNE in Y class, new Embraer 190. I like the 2+2 seating. Lounge at BNE and CBR are great - nice food, free drinks and nice coffee. Wireless internet at BNE not working. Flight was okay both ways - captain and first officer only spoke before landing. Cabin crews start selling drinks and food before the seat belt sign turned off, very different practice. I am not sure how to compare Virgin with Qantas. Virgin is better than most budget airlines but still lack of services than full service airlines like Qantas. Use Virgin again if the price is much cheaper than Qantas.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  7 January 2010 by R Quint   (Australia)

Melbourne to Sydney on new Embraer 170; very clean as you would expect, and 2x2 seating gave plenty of room. Noticably quicker to board and disembark than a 737, and leather seats are far more pleasant than the dirty cloth seats on Tiger. Online check-in and no queue for bag drop made for fuss-free departure and on-time arrival. Staff were well presented, efficient and bright. Very hard to fault for $100; streets ahead of comparative low cost operators out of Europe and North America.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  3 January 2010 by K Pardoe   (Australia)

TSV-CNS-TSV E170. Flights good, crews friendly. Flight up arrived 15 minutes early, checked in on-line, no hold baggage both ways. Flight back pushed back over 5 minutes early, arrived 17 minutes early but then had to wait on apron until gate available so made up no time.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  30 December 2009 : by S Bott   (UK)

MEL-BNE. There were some cleanliness issues, but journey was good for the price and FAs did their job well. IFE in a 737-800 is brilliant, even for a 2 hour flight; but, it was a shame that no channels were free – even if one or two were free to watch, it would convince me to pick VB over Jetstar anytime.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  16 December 2009 : by R Moore   (Australia)

SYD-MEL return, flying with 2 children by myself, I was really looked after by the Virgin staff from check in to landing. Nothing too much trouble for the staff, very friendly and helpful.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  10 December 2009 : by C Tudehope   (Australia)

Sydney to Melbourne and return during a sale where fares were only $30 each way! The crew were friendly and polite on both flights. The only problem I could find in flying with Virgin Blue on the Sydney-Melbourne route is the lack of food outlets in the airport terminal at Melbourne. Other than that, good value for money.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  8 December 2009 : by Maurice McGahey   (Australia)

Beware when booking cheap Virgin Blue flights over the internet - I was one of five passengers affected by this. You have to get your tickets from the "Service Desk". In Brisbane at least for early morning flights, the Service Desk opens late and the ensuing long queue ensures that the last people to leap into the line will miss their flight. Their are two computer terminals on the Service Desk but they will only assign one operator. If you try to go straight to a check in desk the operator will send you straight back to the service desk and he/she will be backed up by the supervisor. Don't be a duffas and arrive in time to pick up your ticket. Arriving early doesn't really help either as the service desk doesn't open any earlier to cater for a large volume of internet booking travellers. Grab a place at the beginning of the line, do not give away a place to anyone pleading that they are going to miss their flight, and generally act like grumpy cattle. If you do have to inhabit the "end of the line" steal yourself for the experience of being told that you will not be receiving a refund as you should have been at the check in desk a half hour before boarding call. As QANTAS are the eventual beneficiary of Virgin Blue's mismanagement (waiting for a QANTAS flight as I type) and my Velocity card is about to be relegated to the bin I wonder whether the Virgin board members have bought QANTAS shares.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  4 December 2009 : by Daniel Kong   (Australia)

SYD-BNE-CNS on 737-800. Check in staff friendly and personalise the service before you fly. Early morning flight to Brisbane was not full and had a row to myself, but flight from BNE to CNS was fully booked. Transit in BNE only half an hour. Despite that, impressed with the ontime performance, efficiency and politeness of crew. Crew show that they do enjoy their job even though you choose not to purchase anything. Live-2-air was available but not sure if necessary on flights less than 2 hours, but the inflight information is a nice extra. I would recommend Virgin Blue on this route as it offers a product tailored to all passengers.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  30 November 2009 : by Tony Locantro   (Australia)

PER to ADL both flights on E190. The E190's have no IFE, and since the flights are less than 3 hours there are no hot meals served. Best advice would be to take an Ipod and go for the sandwiches. Both flights on time and in fact boarding so efficient it was a wait until the scheduled departure time. Staff were happy, helpful with energy and this level of service is a brand model that would take some beating. E190's are nice, new planes with 2x2 seating. Why would anyone fly business class elsewhere when you can pay a little more for the Blue Zone and even with food/drinks included the saving is massive. Wonderful airline and I hope they can maintain this standard.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  23 November 2009 : by Colin Pay   (UK)

CNS-SYD. Very good product Much better than most European low-cost airlines I have flown with.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  5 November 2009 : by Michael Little   (Australia)

Darwin - Melbourne B737-800. Very smooth flight, everything worked like clockwork and the snacks and drinks were reasonable value for money. I was one of the first to check in and was offered an exit row seat with lots of extra legroom (but no recline) at no extra cost.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  4 November 2009 : by Ross Petersen   (Australia)

Booked economy class for wife, daughter and myself to Newcastle. Plane left MEL nearly on time, about 7.00 am, but when we reached Newcastle found that an enormous dust storm had reduced visibility to almost zero. The pilot had one go at landing, couldn't see anything so took us on to the Gold Coast. We landed there and had to queue for new travel arrangements, and were booked on a flight to Sydney late in the afternoon (no scheduled flights from the Gold Coast to Newcastle). We were told a coach would meet the plane and take us up to Newcastle by road. The dust storm had followed us up the coast and closed the Gold Coast airport for most of the day. VB had given us $6 vouchers each for food and drink, which didn't even cover lunch. We thought that we had little chance of getting out that day, but the airport did clear enough for us to leave about 6.30pm. Nobody had told the VB staff in Sydney that Newcastle bound passengers were to lob in on them expecting a coach to Newcastle. Sydney airport itself had been badly disrupted by the dust, and no coach could be found at the last minute. VB put us up in a hotel for the night (Marriot) and arranged the coach for the next morning. All in all it was one of those days from hell for the airline staff, due to circumstances completely out of their control. VB really did all that you could expect and their staff (particularly the lady on the ground in Sydney who had to organise things and liaise with the passengers) were fantastic.

VIRGIN BLUE customer review :  28 October 2009 : by Tony Locantro   (Australia)

PER to CNB via MEL. Both flights on 737-700 and the only surprise was that on the leg to MEL there was no inflight entertainment. Everything about the flights worked and I cannot recommend enough paying a little extra for the blue zone seating. Virgin Blue's main asset apart from their young fleet and on-time performance would be their staff who bring back some of the enjoyment of flying. With the cost savings and extra leg room you do not feel bad paying an extra $25-$30 for breakfast and some decent coffee.