Virgin Australia

Booked connecting flights MEL-SYD-OOL and OOL-ADL-MEL with 3-4 hour stopovers in Sydney and Adelaide via Virgins website as flights were actually cheaper than direct non-stop. Had plans to do things in Sydney and Adelaide. Trip was a disaster! At check-in in Melbourne was given another persons boarding pass despite girl checking my ID. Baggage labelled with other passengers name. I had to point error out and girl attempted to get bag retrieved. Promised it had been fixed. Luckily other passenger also going to Gold Coast as on arrival bag not on carousel. Found it at baggage services still with other passengers name on it. Meant I spent 45 minutes waiting for bag. Flight to Sydney delayed nearly an hour by fog but no delay information. No entertainment on any flight and food very poor! Has anybody actually been on a Virgin aircraft that has their mysterious entertainment system? A very small cold chicken pasta salad with a revolting chocolate mousse is not what I would call a Gourmet meal as Virgin describes it. Email then sent to my home address whilst away rebooking my flight home as direct at different time with arrival into Melbourne 5 hours before connecting bus home to regional Victoria. No phone call despite Virgin having my mobile number. Had to ring them to get flights changed. Would not put me back on flights I had booked and very insistent I flew on flight they wanted me to! Ended up being rebooked on flight via Sydney but still had to wait over 2 hours for bus. No way would they offer any compensation such as an upgrade to business class. Made to feel that it was all my fault. Sorry Virgin but you have a long way to go in Customer Service!

SYD-MEL Economy. One of the worst experiences I have had. Had a death in the family and needed an earlier flight home. Got to the airport 3 hours before my flight and explained the situation. I was happy to pay any $$ difference whatever it costs to get an earlier flight. They rudely refused. They sent me to the virgin lounge to see if they could help me. They looked me up and down and realised I was a Red member only so told me sorry can't help you. I found someone else at the departure area who told me I have to call the call centre to change my flight. Here I was on hold for 25 minutes trying to get through to a Philippine call centre while I had 4 Virgin ground crew watching me and no one could change my flight. Virgin might be great in the air but their ground services are hopeless. Australia needs a full service airline that cares about its customers and offers value for money.

Had two economy seats booked on flight VA519 from Sydney to Gold Coast. After check in went to departure lounge and waited almost 4 hours before being advised that the flight was cancelled. We were told 4 conflicting reasons by Virgin staff why the flight was cancelled. Lies lies and more lies. We were to attend a wedding in Byron Bay I was due that Friday afternoon. Virgin gave us 2 choices an 8pm flight to Brisbane or a 9.10am flight the next day to GC and no apology. We took the 9.10am flight and arrived in Byron Bay at midday. Please note Virgin Australia is completely unreliable totally irresponsible and care nothing for their clients.

Flew MEL-ADL ADL-SYD SYD-AYQ SYD-AUH. Domestic legs: the ground staff were polite and willing to help planes were pretty new seats comfortable flights on time. Flight attendants were ok. If the price is right then they are value for money. International leg: ground staff just ok they totally lacked of knowledge on why they could check our bags only to Rome and not Florence. In the air it is a mixed bag the hard product in economy is one of the best and our 14hrs flight to Abu Dhabi was nice food was ok they even had 3 options they give you a bottle of water which you can refill throughout the flight. The flight attendants/stewards ranged from very cheery to downright rude.

MEK-SYD return MEL-SYD 737-800 SYD-MEL Embraer 190. Arrived at airport well within time for flight and was offered a seat on an earlier flight which suited me as I only had carry-on luggage. Seated in Row 3 aisle and was offered newspaper and a tablet after take-off. Service was very good and was offered tea coffee or water from the trolley. Flight landed on time in Sydney and we were given a thorough rundown by the captain of our arrival and what views those near a window could expect. A nice touch! Return to Melbourne on a 190 love these aircraft with their 2x2 seats. Again arrived at Sydney airport early and without even asking was offered an earlier flight with an aisle seat which I accepted. With no luggage I then used the Premium Entry at Sydney airport and breezed through security in time for a quick coffee prior to boarding. Seated in Row 4. Service was great and crew very efficient.

On 9th of September I flew on VA942 between Brisbane and Sydney. On a Boeing 737-8FE with the BSI. This was my first and last time flying VA I was expecting the premium product like that of Qantas that VA had been advertising. I was severely disappointed. Upon check-in I discovered that VA charges extra for checked luggage. Since VA consider themselves a premium airline I expected them to offer an all inclusive fare. Everything went downhill from the moment I boarded the aircraft the staff were rude and condescending towards me I was not offered the complementary Tea Coffee of water the steward pushed the trolley straight passed my row. Overall I was severely disappointed in the product of Virgin Australia.

The check-in was fast the check-in staff were so polite. I was in Business and my bag was 28kg I couldn't carry it properly so the check-in lady picked it up for me. Since we were in the curve side entrance we got direct access to the lounge and it was beautiful. The drinks and food were excellent. Onboard the flight attendant was doing many jobs but as soon as I walked on she said 'Hello' with a smile! After take off I was instantly served delicious food and an orange-juice. I bought my laptop on-board with me and I used the WiFi service. The aircraft was modern and we had a beautiful new VA livery. This was a 2.5 hour flight from TSV to SYD.

Travelled from Sydney to Cairns aboard a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. I was in seat 30A which is probably the worst seat in the cabin. It's the last row of seating in front of the toilets and offers no recline whatsoever. Three hours is a long time to be seated upright in a very narrow seat. But what I couldn't believe was that for whatever reason there was absolutely no in-flight entertainment. There is an app that you download to your smartphone so presumably one can watch TV programs or movies. But that was not available for some reason. The only reason I booked Virgin to Cairns was because my last Virgin flight on this sector I watched a movie on an individual seat back TV screen which Qantas did not have at the time as they still used a mainline cabin screen where everybody watched the one film at the same time. So stuck in a cramped seat with no recline no inflight entertainment a poor choice of food that I had to pay an exorbitant amount for ($10 for a revolting chicken and mayo sandwich) and cabin service that was more about keeping the herd in order rather than delivering something resembling customer service. I refuse to be spoken to so rudely by a girl half my age just because she's wearing a uniform. So needless to say will probably never fly Virgin on long sectors again in case the events of this flight are repeated. Travelled Qantas on the return sector and couldn't fault a thing!

My wife and I travelled Sydney to Abu Dhabi in Premium Economy seating. Perfect service but food was terrible. Was offered a cocktail pie with gravy - so much for better standard of meal. Good wine service even though the bubbly served when we got on was the cheapest they could find. We booked this fare through a travel agent we were informed 3 weeks before our departure that we would be downgraded to economy as Virgin aircraft was being removed that day for service. Etihad service food wise much better but might use Qantas or Cathay Pacific.

Regularly fly the Newcastle - Melbourne route amongst others. Seats comfortable staff friendly new IFE system using iPhone or iPad works well - I hope they keep the content updated. Don't really order much food or drink on the plane but the free water is appreciated. I agree with the previous reviewer's sentiments about only having one flight a day - Jetstar has 3 on this route; I detest flying Jetstar so the addition of more flights would be very welcomed by the community here. I have found tickets to be comparable if not cheaper to Jetstar for incomparable service.