Virgin Australia

✅ Trip Verified | Sydney to Ballina. Unbelievably poor customer service and no contingency planning from Virgin. 10am flight to Ballina cancelled. No notification until we arrived at Sydney airport after having checked our car in long term parking. Text message arrived at 8.05am said nothing about a cancellation, just a link with a booking to Coolangatta boarding at 3.40pm and a link to a further flight booking to Ballina. Only realised the flight had been cancelled when we checked the Departures sign at the airport. First day of school holidays so absolute bedlam at check in and no alternative flight options as only one other flight per day and it was fully booked. Upon making enquiries at bag drop we discovered that the airline knew the flight was cancelled at 3.30am due to engineering problems but didn’t advise passengers until after 8am. Followed up with Ticketing after dropping bags in at 9.30am only to be told that the only option was 4pm flight to Collongatta and that there was a further error - connecting flight to Ballina on our boarding pass was not actually a flight but a 90 minute bus ride from Coolangatta to Ballina. We were expecting to arrive in Byron Bay at 12 noon, will now be arriving around 8pm tonight. Supposed to pick up rental car at Ballina at 11.30am. Have had to make alternate arrangements as Ballina rental car desk closes at 4pm and we will not be arriving now till 7.15pm. Virgin Ticketing were unable to explain why there was no contingency plane available across entire Virgin fleet and why the shuttles from Gold Coast were only organised to leave at 3 hourly intervals when people inconvenienced were arriving on a hourly basis into that airport. The only compensation offered by Virgin for the 6 hour we will now spend at the airport was a single meal voucher worth $16. Totally unacceptable response. You need a fleet contingency plan for situations like this.

✅ Trip Verified | Denpasar Bali to Brisbane. Virgin Australia is worst airline I’ve ever travelled on. $1000 for two one way flights from DPS To BNE! The staff were so rude, miserable unapproachable staff. The flight was absolutely freezing with no blankets or pillows. 3 hours into the flight around 20 people were coughing, including myself and partner. We live in the UK and currently on our honeymoon. My husband is now ill in bed and our honeymoon is ruined.

✅ Trip Verified | Gold Coast to Melbourne. We arrived at Gold Coast airport 90 minutes prior to our flight’s scheduled departure. After dropping our bags off we saw that the flight was delayed 15 minutes. We took kids to toilet and then gave them some lunch. The departure gate was in the middle of a food court. There was no overhead electrical board above the gate to indicate when boarding would commence. Around 40 minutes before the new departure time we wandered over to a bookstore a few metres away. Around 10 minutes later we heard a boarding call for our flight. Having 2 young kids, I raced them to the toilet before boarding, because plane toilets are so awkward with little ones. There was another announcement around 2 minutes after the first, saying it was the final call. My daughter was still in the toilet, so we waited for her, listening out in case they paged us. They paged another family but not us. We got to the gate 10minutes after the first call at the latest and were told we were disembarked and that we had to go out and speak to the ticket desk. We could see the plane and we must have only been a couple of minutes behind the last passenger but the lady refused to let us board, despite us explaining why we were a couple of minutes late. We raced out to the front of the airport and were told we could board the next flight but would have to buy new tickets (for $1000) or wait 6 hours for a flight that would cost us $760. The staff showed absolutely no sympathy and made no effort to help us. It would have cost them nothing to let us board the next flight for free. All 3 of the staff members we dealt with, were also quite rude saying that all 140 of the other passengers had managed to board and why should we be any different? One asked us sarcastically why if we had arrived 90 minutes prior to the flight, we had chosen to take the kids to the toilet just before boarding. There was no humanity in the way they treated us. I don’t recommend flying Virgin Australia and will certainly never fly them again. They’re cheap but there needs to be more flexibility and training on how to treat customers and meet their needs.

✅ Trip Verified | Brisbane to Perth. Boarding good. Non-priority passengers who tried to board when only priority members called were stopped. In flight service was average. Courteous stewardess when she was serving. Will not proactively check with passengers though. An economy class passenger was allowed into business class to use the toilet and he ended up chatting with the stewardess for a long time. I had to use the call button for someone to clear my plates. Seat not comfortable. Boeing 737 business class seats are not comfortable for flights across the country. Food was vry good. Menu seems to be the same for a calendar month, but high quality. Entertainment a limited selection. Virgin Australia recently updated its entertainment app, which is not very responsive. Previous app was more stable.

✅ Trip Verified | Perth to Brisbane. Great inflight service. The steward was ready to help, and proactively checks to see if you require more sparkling water. Food was tasty and in generous portions. The cheese platter never fails to impress. Entertainment is average but it does get updated on a regular basis. I was given a tablet with parental lock activated. No cabin wifi unfortunately. The seats as usual are a disappointment. The recline of Virgin Australia 737s is unimpressive and uncomfortable for long haul flights across Australia. I can see its place for shorter flights across cities on the East coast but not across the country. I only fly Virgin Australia business for work but with its unimpressive recline, I dont think it is worth paying 3x to 4x more on business class just for a bit more food and legroom.

✅ Trip Verified | Adelaide to Auckland via Melbourne. The baggage handlers are extremely rough. They ripped 2 of our bags and they arrive on the conveyor belt with a small amount of plastic wrap to keep them together. Another 'trolley dolly' suitcase was very broken, they plastic handles were ripped open and almost removed from the suitcase itself. The Virgin baggage policy requires all receipts and a JP to sight and sign all information. Our suitcase had travelled the world several times over 5 years and never been damaged, we also do not have the receipt. I will never fly Virgin again.

✅ Trip Verified | Small 8 seat business section felt secluded and quiet. Flight attendants great on both flights. Friendly and very generous with drinks and snacks. Our attendant on the flight back to Perth gave us extra snacks for when we got home as we had a very long connection in Brisbane and total trip was 24hrs. Velocity lounge in Brisbane was a good spot to kill the hours waiting for our next flight. Food and drinks were good and as business class customers could spend the 7 hours there. Food and drinks on flights were amazing, particularly the 3 course dinner on Brisbane-Perth segment. The cheese was delicious! The one major downside were the seats on the 737. Limited recline and very firm. My partner who has a bad back has been in a lot of pain since we got home.

✅ Trip Verified | Having missed our connecting Virgin flight out of Brisbane to Canberra for a one night stay (family reunion at a cousin's 40th birthday celebrations), we faced a 7 hour wait before being able to continue to Canberra. This would be enough to steal the jam out of anyone's donut! However, a lovely Virgin employee tried to get us onto other flights and did her level best to make our enforced stay at Brisbane Airport more comfortable. My wife and I really appreciated all that the Virgin staff did to assist us. Top notch.

✅ Trip Verified | Adelaide to Perth. Luggage damage. I flew out with a new luggage piece - got to Adelaide - luggage all good. Return journey back to Perth, landed in Perth with a busted support bar between wheels - made it difficult to wheel. In getting home noticed that a item inside was also damaged - packed the curlers very well - with all heavy jackets. But this must have been hit hard to not only break the bar but what was inside. Oh and virgin said no. It could have happened anywhere. Never fly Virgin again - they suggested I should have had private insurance !

✅ Trip Verified | Christchurch to Brisbane. Not impressed. Arrived at airport with 3 hours to spare and once arrived saw that our plane was delayed by 1 hour 45 mins. Already annoyed, we moved to departure lounge to await boarding for the new scheduled time and delayed once again. I still don’t even see a plane. Asked a crew member and they said due to sickness they had to fly 2 staff from Auckland. We are still waiting over 2 hours late and counting. If I could give you any advise please inform your customers and keep us updated. Everyone is sitting here wondering what is going on and not one person has offered an explanation, I had to come up and ask myself. I can hear other people around me complaining about the same thing! Keep us updated, we have plans and a life too.