Virgin Australia

✅ Verified Review | Los Angeles to Melbourne via Sydney. LAX though is a nightmare but thats not their fault. Though you do check in at terminal three and then have to go outside to TBIT to go through security. You get use of the Etihad lounge when you fly business which is great. Meals onboard were ok but not a stand out. Seats are very comfortable as is the bed. No wifi offered on board and they should probably look into this. I'd flown with Etihad, Icelandair, Air Berlin and American and it was offered on all flights. We were late leaving and late landing and then sat on the tarmac for half an hour and missed our connection. Bags were off pretty quickly so we got to the transfer desk before it got really busy. We were due to fly business to Melbourne but the flights were full for three hours so elected to fly economy rather than wait and will get refunded. Transfer to domestic unlike Qantas is via the road rather than air side so you need to go through security again. Would be nicer if you could just get dropped airside at domestic. The cabin crew are what make the difference and having just flown with American Airlines the difference was marked.

✅ Verified Review | I flew with Virgin last week from Gold Coast to Sydney and the service we received was absolutely horrible. Our flight was cancelled due to poor weather, there was no communication to passengers till after the time that the flight was due to take off. The ground crew did not offer any support or information. Not one staff member could tell us what was happening, we were just instructed to collect our bags and wait. Lack of communication, rude staff and no service at all - I advised one of the ground crew that I was tired and just wanted to find out what was going on and her response was - "I'm tired too". She was getting paid to be there - I was not. She was even asking passengers to say please when requesting a flight the following day. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

✅ Verified Review | Brisbane to Townsville with Virgin Australia. Seating on this aircraft had seen better days. They were pretty dirty as well as the magazine and the safety card. The flight attendants were extremely friendly but didn't really do anything to stop the screaming kids in the row in front. Meal was good - peanuts. Overall, this airline is good but there is a lot of room for improvement.

✅ Verified Review | Caught the 9:15pm Virgin Australia flight from Auckland to Brisbane. Was a 45 min delayed flight but still managed to get there on time. Good customer service from the Cabin Crew and food presentation was awesome. Would have been better if there were tv screens on all seats and inflight entertainment via our own portable device is good.

✅ Verified Review | Apia, Samoa to Auckland. Virgin Australia has first two rows on the Boeing 737 in Business Class. The seats for so-called short international flights are comfortable, but no big recline. The food choice was rather limited but nice presentation and crew tried to accommodate my wishes. Entertainment with sort of I-pad was okay with good choice of new films. The crew was very friendly and efficient, quite a treat compared with Air New Zealand service on the same routing.

✅ Verified Review | Travelled with Virgin Australia from Sydney to London via Abu Dhabi, with the AUH-LHR route being operated by Etihad Airways. Now, the flight operated by Virgin Australia was extremely comfortable. Their B777-300ER has recently been "renovated," and the economy cabin features very comfortable seats that recline with ease, and quite far back. Virgin Australia have put in a lot of effort as to customer experience. As it was a long haul flight, a little travel pack was provided. Where many other airlines don't provide this, or when they do, it's in a cheap feeling plastic bag, Virgin provided a nicely made zip-lock bag, which I feel is better, as it can be used for more things, and lasts longer. The actual items in the bag were of a higher quality too - the eye mask was very good, and blocked out all of the light, and fit my face quite snugly. The earplugs were also very good, and blocked out the majority of the noise in the cabin. As for the flight experience, it was an overnight, and sleep quality was surprisingly good for economy class. The seats recline quite far back, and the cabin also has ambient lighting to enhance sleep. As for the meals, I ordered the gluten free meal as I suffer from coeliac disease, and it was of good quality. As for the codeshare, I cannot say the same thing. There is a discrepancy with the code share when ordering special meals that mean that all non Virgin flights operated flights don't have the special meal on board (meaning I was not given food for 24 hours from London to Sydney, or from Abu Dhabi to London, as they were all operated by Etihad). However, I can safely say that the Virgin flight was possible the best flight I've done from Sydney to London (I fly that route quite a lot)

✅ Verified Review | Sydney to Los Angeles, connecting to New York JFK with Delta. When I checked in the Virgin staff told me that there was a new product available for purchase that delivered extra legroom but as my flight wasn’t at capacity she could allocate me one of these seats gratis. She then took a card with a map of LAX and drew the route I would need to take to make my transfer to Delta at LAX. This was an excellent example of customer service strategy. The inflight service was up to standard, food excellent with vegetarian options and vegan/gluten free meals available on request prior to the flight. The inflight entertainment offers a decent amount of TV shows, movies and albums, however no news channels is upheld here. It’s bizarre to me that they can’t provide one news program, even if it is slightly out of date. Current affairs programming would also be very welcome. There was an issue with the headphone jack disengaging on a frequent basis and I needed to jiggle it to find the sweet spot to permit the sound to flow through, but this was minor. The Delta transfer at was a different story. The food consisted of crackers, nuts and not a piece of fruit but rather a slice of fruit. The Delta plane was in a dishevelled state, with wet toilet paper and paper towel on the floor and sink of the rest room. Codeshares are complex deals and I’m sure both carriers benefit from this partnership, but from a service continuity perspective the alliance with Delta is detrimental to Virgin Australia. It’s the only major flaw in what is otherwise an outstanding product. I need to make mention of the Virgin Australia twitter team who attend to all my enquiries within an hour of me tweeting. This makes life so much easier when you’re on the go and don’t have time to make a call or a formal online enquiry.

Flew from Hobart to Brisbane on Boxing day. Flight was running 30 mins late and no apology was given. Seat did not recline much and food was extremely over priced. For inflight entertainment you have to download an app. Flight attendants didn't seam to care about customer service. I only flew Virgin because thy were the only airline that flew direct from Hobart to Brisbane direct. Next time I fly I'll probably fly Qantas.

I have noticed a continual decline both in service and the product offering on Virgin in recent years. On my most recent flight to Brisbane, check-in in Los Angeles was easy (despite the odd process of checking in at the Delta terminal then walking across to Tom Bradley to go through security) however the airline ignored my seat request. On the plane, staff were standoffish and appeared disinterested. Cabin staff used to be the highlight of flying Virgin for me. One male flight attendant made a habit of thumping my shoulder any time he had a question to ask me. Food was an absolute joke. Likening it to fast food would be rich. The choice of entertainment wasn't particularly broad and definitely nothing compared to Qantas or even Delta. The only positive was the seat which felt roomier than other airlines.

✅ Verified Review | Sydney to Perth return. My experience with Virgin Australia was terrible. I booked a points redemption to visit my family in Perth. The flight over was delayed twice after I arrived at the airport (announcement said it was due to cascading delays much earlier that day but with no pre-advice before going to the airport). Then the flight was cancelled. I waited at Kingsford Smith airport almost 7 hrs. My daughter in-law died unexpectedly the next day and her funeral was set for the day I was to return to Sydney. I called Virgin (waiting 30 mins to speak to a person) and I was told their were no seats available on flights late that day or on the next day. I explained the situation and also mentioned the delay coming over but they were unaccommodating. I looked on line and Virgin were selling economy class seats on later flights for that day. I called back with another long wait to speak to a person but again was told they could do nothing. They told me that they had cancelled my return flight. I had not explicitly asked them to do this but I had said that I would have to try Qantas or Jetstar when they said they could not change my flight. The call centre staff I spoke to had good English but they were English as a second language speakers and that could be why they interpreted my comment as a cancellation but even so that was another point of extremely poor customer service. I will not fly Virgin again. I booked my flight home with Qantas even though Virgin had seats available.