Virgin Australia

MEL-BNE front row of economy due Platinum status and was offered breakfast wrap with coffee. Arrived in Brisbane on time and baggage delivered promptly. On return decided to use upgrade and allocated seat 1D for return. Dedicated crew for business passengers welcomed onboard by name and offered juice or water prior to take off. Once underway the service was terrific. Onboard snack was either a warm tart with salad or smoked salmon with fresh fruit. Coffee and tea also offered and water runs wre regular. The entertainment is via tablet - however the earplugs provided aren't up to scratch. Hard to hear the movie and spent some time trying to adjust the earplugs.

Flew ADL-MEL-Gold Coast last weekend Gold Coast-SYD-ADL on the way home. Virgin you need to work on your connecting flights - booked online so I assumed I would have enough time. On the way there 15min delay was assured by flight attendants that I'd have time to make it to the gate - wrong I sprinted from one terminal to the other and they told me the gate had shut. Young lady at the gate got me a flight first thing the next morning and arranged accommodation. On the way back there was a 5min delay and the only reason I made my connecting flight was that the gate was the next one down. Apart from that - seats are a bit rigid but not too bad didn't buy any food or drink.

ATR 72 TSV-CNS. Very nice interior of aircraft but seat was feeling uncomfortable at the end of the 50 minute trip. Was served a snack and choice of cold drinks including water juice beer or wine. Never had anything like that on Virgin Blue.

We travelled on several flights from Sydney to Cairns to Ayers Rock to Melbourne in March 2013. All flights were pretty much on time planes were quite clean and cabin staff pleasant. Drinks and snacks were well served. We booked extra legroom on all these flights and being by the wing exits these also had the advantage of no recline intrusion from the seats in front. Check ins were good and one admin error on one leg was dealt with without a drama. Prices were OK and we'd gladly travel Virgin Australia again.

MEL-ADL-MEL. Quick trip to Adelaide from Melbourne. Embraer 190 on MEL-ADL leg. Great aircraft and staff were terrific. Flight left on time and landed 5 mins early. Flight back to Melbourne was half full and ended up in aisle seat with no one next to me. Again staff were great and served an excellent breakfast with fruit and nuts fresh milk and an apple. Virgin lounge in Adelaide very good with pancakes and juice with fresh fruit.

Travelled with VA as the final leg of an Etihad booked return flight between Sydney and Dublin. The difference between the Etihad flights and the VA flight is immense! Upon boarding the staff are cheery relaxed and friendly. All of your amenities a blanket and a bottle of water are waiting at your seat and they immediately walk through the cabin before take off asking if anyone needed anything else. The plane was comfortable nicely lit temperature was fine food was delicious and the staff passed through the cabin regularly with drinks. There was a small snacks section at the rear of the cabin with plentiful snacks drinks and a water tap. The entertainment system wasn't as vast as Etihad's in terms of choice but everything else about the flight was so pleasant that it really didn't matter. Highly recommend Virgin Australia and the only shame is that they have partnered with Etihad and I will absolutely not fly with Etihad again.

VA813 MEL-SYD 2 April 2013 early morning flight. I was quite impressed with the refurbished Virgin Australia terminal in MEL's T3. My seats were accidentally mixed up during check-in and only 3 check-in counters were available even though there was a substantial queue. I went to the service desk and the friendly gentleman there was happy to switch my seats back with no hassle. The boarding process was smooth and organized and the flight departed on time. Complimentary drinks were provided and the FAs were generous in offering refills to passengers. No personal screens or IFE but I didn't mind since it was a short flight. Overall a pleasant experience will definitely fly VA again in the future.

BNE-SYD-DPS. Flight from Brisbane to Sydney 45 minutes late no one at Virgin transfer desk to assist us had to run to make connection in nick of time. SYD-DPS freezing cabin and no blankets (a very uncomfortable 6 hour flight as a consequence). Food (for which you had to pay) terrible choice between 3 items. Ended up paying $40 for very poor snacks and drinks for two. If you are going to operate as the lowest of the low-cost airlines then please at least be low-cost! No inflight entertainment of any kind as this is 'considered a domestic flight' one of the cabin crew told me. Seats narrow and poor legroom.

Flew MEL-SYD return in Feb. Comfortable seats but nothing else would make me want to fly this airline again. Similar airfare to QF without the food. A budget airline masquerading as a full-service airline.

Premium economy on 02/16/2013 and returned on 03/06/2013. LAX to Brisbane outbound and coming back from Sydney to LAX on board 777. Pros: Newer fleet of planes and onboard entertainment system has a good amount of selection. Ambient lighting inside cabin in nice. Planes are clean. Noise cancelling head phones are effective. Cons: The seat cushions in premium economy even after their recent redesign a few months ago are terrible. My traveling partner and I could not find a comfortable position as the bottom seat cushion have padding that is very hard that does not have any give. I could not sleep inbound or outbound on these overnight flights. On our return flight we purchased some air filled cushions at the airport to try and help the situation but the design on the seat is so poor they helped very little. Food service is the same as economy. Food quality was poor. Inconsistent on-board bag policy. We knew about weight restrictions for checked baggage and followed accordingly. However on our return flight we were asked to placed our on-board luggage on the scale. I have never had another airline weigh our overhead carry-on bags. Service is mediocre. One round of drinks a meal flight attendants walk down the aisles for a glass of wine snack then another meal. No other drinks offered by the flight attendants besides port/brandy at night. The snack bar is just filled with a couple bottles of white/red wine no premium liquors and chips/cookie/popcorn/pretzel bags.