Virgin Australia

BNE to Phuket Business class. My partner and I have flown this route with V 3 times in 12 months and been in Business Class Row 5 (very private single Business VIP row with own partition for privacy) and Premium Economy. We both hold Silver so we are supporters of the Virgin group but not fanatics. IF the new CEO wants to drag V group into a full service carrier then the Business Class service training must be improved. The cabin is fine seats pretty good but bit narrow food actually reasonable too (unlike other reviewers I thought it compared OK). But the cabin crew are treating the Business cabin as an extension of Economy. We had to press the call button 3 times on one occasion. Very little close attention to passenger wishes or pre-empting them we felt the crew were controlling the cabin to suit their work flow rather than serve us. The work related noise the crew make the whole night is appalling. I suggest they train up Business crew only. Yes you can get cheaper Business seats on V Australia but then don’t call it Business Class or raise the standard and price.

Sydney - Phuket return in Business. The business class is competitively priced and you get what you pay for. Cabin crew a bit hit and miss ranging from very over familiar to the lacking any interest at all. Seats were flat bed but skinny and the entertainment was fair but limited. Food was the real disappointment when compared to other business class. I think you can compare as equal to business class Korean Air China Air etc but it in no way compares to the catering on airlines such as Qantas or Singapore. If a special fare on V Australia came my way I would travel again but all in all I think it would be hard decision to travel V Australia business if I could even get a premium economy seat on a premium airline with a better timetable.

SYD-LAX and LAX-MEL. Outbound service just OK. Entertainment system froze and it took almost two hours to get it working again. Attendants were apologetic and tried their best to fix the situation but seemed very harried and stressed. Three hours of non-stop turbulance made it very hard to sleep. Food was poor. I loved the entertainment system (Once it started working). B777 great cabin design and nice mood lighting. Inbound flight was much better. Left on time friendly staff landed early. Very pleased with this flight. Food was still not great though.

MEL-HKT Economy class. Packed flight. Plane layout design colour sceme etc is modern fun and unusual. Staff young enthusiastic but slow with everything. IFE excellent - new release movies and entire series of TV shows. First meal service slow but great food - modern Australian with Italian influences. V Australian doesn't really seem to know where it fits or what it wants to be (they are cancelling all HKT and JHN services next month) but they represent value for money and a fresh approach to long-haul flights.

Phuket to Melbourne seat 5K Business. Crew (almost all female) were trying hard and much improved on earlier flights but a bit folksy over familiar and lacking sophistication. I do not appreciate being addressed as "love" "darling" and similar monikers. PA announcements mostly unnecessary and disturbing. We do not need to be informed that the crew are "fabulous." (They're not.) Beverage service and selection good. Serving soft nuts and dried fruit with drinks was not a good start. Food service average to poor. In fact every aspect of the food selection and presentation needs a review. It was very disappointing. IFE excellent and the noise cancelling head phones are my new favourite toy. They're amazing. The seat narrow and a bit hard for sleeping. The 2x3x2 configuration not popular. Overall disappointing but fair value. Finally can we be left alone to sleep as long as possible? Why wake us (prior arrangement for no breakfast) until absolutely necessary?

Economy Class LAX-SYD-CHC returning CHC->MEL-SYD-LAX. Our original flight was changed three times prior to departure date due to changes in their schedule .Chaos at LAX departure gate. Noisy crowded unable to hear announcements. Were not told that we needed an Australian visa to pass though their airports! Found this out at the check-in counter and were sent to a computer to apply and pay a fee then back in line to check-in. Very inconvenient. Would have been nice to know in advance that we needed to check-in and get boarding passes and go through security at each airport. Our connections were only about an hour and it was very stressful running to catch each flight. Pacific Blue and Virgin Blue flights were less than comfortable. V Australia was OK but food was pretty sad and they left our trays on for over 45 mins. Only the great entertainment system saved the 13 hour flights from being unbearable.

Economy class MEL-LAX and LAX-BNE. Outbound flight was OK without being brilliant. Seats get a bit hard after a couple of hours. Seat pitch good compared to Virgin Atlantic. Meals were reasonable for Economy. IFE very good probably the best part of the flight. We were not impressed with the departure lounge at LAX very cramped. All things considered V Australia represents reasonable value for money without being a wonderful flying experience.

Great price business class LAX to Brisbane. No online option during booking to select seat. Discovered I was required to call to reserve a seat. Got last and worst seat left. Rude staff at LAX for check in able to share lounge. Seats narrow and hard for a bed. United airlines seats much more comfortable for sitting and sleeping. Superior selection of electronic entertainment mitigated other factors. Returned with window seat 2 across much better than the 3 across between a snorer and insomniac.

I flew Christmas 2010 Economy MEL-LAX. Given that the flight was on Christmas day they were generous enough to offer us a small present. The only negative aspects on this flight were the food and the seat. The food was horrible. The seat cushioning was too hard. After 2 hours it became incredibly uncomfortable and unbearable to sit down. Walking around the cabin and applying cushions temporarily eased the pain but it was too hard for a 14 hour flight.

Business Class SYD LAX via BNE. Amazing service and great aircraft. Connecting through BNE is a pain especially with the direct service from SYD but not a hassle and the earlier arrival time at LAX worked better for me. Great value for money I would fly them over Qantas United or Delta on the same route.