Virgin Australia

VA 867 20th May 2014. VA 898 30th May 2014. Flying VA from Melb to Sydney we were treated as people with kindness beyond expected staff from managers to check in to wheelchair and luggage assistance to meals. They deserve the award for compassion care and efficiency.

Travelled ADL-MEL-AKL on 5/6/14. Flight was late leaving Adelaide we had to run to our next gate after passport control we were the last people on the flight. We did not get our exit row seats which had been paid for at time of booking staff were miserable food average our luggage did not arrive until 27 hours later. Very poor service we will not travel with this airline again.

Perth-Sydney-Perth. They didn't even provide a pillow and a blanket for these flights unlike Qantas who provided a pillow and blanket. The complimentary food from Perth to SYD was not that good there was just quiche and a muffin. When flying back to Perth the flight attendant saw me with lots of luggage but didn't manage to help me. I would fly Qantas next time.

Brisbane-Sydney-Brisbane in the last week. Great service all round including opportunity to check luggage 3 hours before flights. Delay with return flight fully explained by the cockpit.( no fault of Virgin). Cabin crew friendly and professional both ways and ground staff excellent.

BNE-ADL checked in 90 mins before flight time my eldest son was row 13 my youngest son row 14 and myself row 22. They did manage to get me sitting next to my eldest prior to takeoff. What's with the rope across business class? Two crew members for the whole of economy serving a choice of tea coffee juice or water. No food provided $7 for dreadful beer $4 for chips. Last time with VA.

LAX to Brisbane last week. Fantastic service. Great crew comfort and meals were great. Boeing 777 presented in a beautiful clean and well fitted out. I will never fly Qantas to the USA again. Virgin offer a fantastic service at a much cheaper price.

MEL-BNE and MEL-SYD return. All flights pretty well on time. Priority boarding a bonus for frequent flyers and lounges in all airports were excellent. All flights in economy and served a snack with tea coffee water or juice. WiFi streaming for entertainment is a bonus though when you fly a lot the choice is somewhat limited. SYD-MEL leg arrived at airport 2 hours before flight and was offered a seat on a flight just about to depart which made life a lot easier. Check in staff very good and efficient. Cabin crew pleasant on all fights and they seem to enjoy their work.

I recently had a trip booked and paid for with this airline from Rockhampton to Brisbane. We had plenty of time to get from Rockhampton to Brisbane for our connecting flight to Bangkok. The afternoon before our planned flight Virgin sent a TEXT message stating our flight was changed with no further details provided. When I called Virgin I discovered they had placed us on a much much later flight meaning we would miss our flight to Bangkok by several hours. Virgin made no attempt to rectify this issue. I then had to drive 8 hours to Brisbane and was initially told I would not receive a refund! After over 2 weeks the airline finally contacted me back and told me I was lucky to receive a refund and it would take up to 12 weeks to process this. It has been over 3 weeks since the flight was cancelled (by Virgin) and I am still yet to receive a refund for this flight. Virgin customer service is the worst I have ever come across - their attitude towards customer satisfaction is disgraceful.

Beware of this airlines baggage fee practices! Their on line policy states that you may "pay a higher rate" if. You don't purchase an extra bag in advance. What they actually mean is 120 AUD versus 48. They also tried to charge us an extra 120 AUD on top of the 120 because one bag was 2KG overweight. 2KG - until we brought a manager in and told him this was outrageous. We were traveling to Fiji from Brisbane with scuba gear a common practice. I don't mind paying extra bag fees per se only the way they tried to triple them in a deceptive manner at the gate. Beyond that the food was the worst I've had in a long time the food service disorganized and the scheduled departure 20 minutes late with no alert or explanation.

OOL-SYD-OOL on B737-800. Virgin lounge at Gold Coast was very busy. Usual selection of food & drinks available. Lounge in Sydney very spacious and not busy. The premium entry facility at Sydney is brilliant. So convenient if you only have carry- on. Priority boarding was a breeze. Seats on board are standard domestic business class seats and comfortable for a short flight. The stand out for this airline is the staff. The attendants serving in the business class cabin on both legs were excellent. Good to see the quality of the food has improved since our last flight.