Virgin Australia Business Class - Meals, Menus & Service

[moa999]

Dinnner Service SYD-OOL on DJ540.
Had asked to move to earlier flight whilst still at gate but denied, had finished first beer in lounge before it departed.
Impressive load factor on a Sun Night of 7/8.

CSM greeted with a "This is a short flight tonight. You won't need an entertainment unit will you". A few still taken!
Choices were a lamb with couscous or a vegetarian pasta.
The lamb looked and smelt great, unfortunately the meat was tough and a let down
Two reds on board a Westwood Shiraz Cab Merlot (unheard of) and a West Cape Howe Shiraz ($15 at DM and ok)

 

[Intra]

Flew BNE -> SYD in J on Friday; I remember doing J nearly 2 years ago on the same route, and I kinda liked it back then... atleast I had something to watch... and a menu to look at!? Load back then was 2 (Me & someone else), had about 6 this time around (The rest of the flights that afternoon were booked out! Apparently...?), so service wasn't as personal...

It was only an hour flight though too... Bleh, all good; Maybe do BNE -> MEL soon in J... Meal was alright; Can't remember what they called it, but I'd rather that than the salad

 

[lobo76]

Flew MEL-SYD J return on the weekend. This was my first J class flight and my first visit to The Lounge. The Melbourne Lounge is very nice and there was a nice selection of hot and cold foods. I made myself a nice turkey sandwich and grabbed a beer

Flight out, evening I flew ahead by 15 mins. Got the warning about catering not being guaranteed. Got the preflight mocktail. Only 3 in J and I was pleasantly surprised to get offered a J meal (I checked with the CSR to make sure I wasn't stealing someone elses first ). Coq au vin or Sweet Potato Daal, I chose the chicken. It was nice but not great, basically comparable with a long haul Y meal. Had a glass of the Pinot which really nice and was given a healthy top-up after dinner. The service was excellent with the CSR being very attentive and delightful all the way through. Got the IFE tablet and used the Virgin supplied headphones, it was a lot better than I expected and I was able to hear just fine.

Lunchtime return flight and I flew ahead by 1 hour. Same warning on the catering but this time except this time we had 6/8 and the chap beside me was also a fly ahead, so no J meal for us. My neighbor didn't seem to take the news as well as I did inquiring if he could get a proper meal. Perhaps he knew what we were in storefor. The Luke Mangan curried rice salad was handed to us (no offer of choice from the Y menu) and it was truly awful. I had one mouthful of that and then put it aside. The service on the return was very much economy with bigger seats in general, with very little attention from the cabin crew. A bit disappointing but it was a short flight and comfortable so can't complain too much.

 

[Ewing]

On Saturday morning I flew SYD-OOL. Breakfast was a pretty decent frittata thing with sausage and baked beans, side fruit salad and a croissant (there was also a vegetarian option):



Certainly put the QF breakfast catering I had the week before (SYD-MEL) to shame.

 

[dandandan]

QF 860 in virgin thread? or DJ540 possibly? seems like the same flight I was on.

Dinnner Service SYD-OOL on QF860.
Had asked to move to earlier flight whilst still at gate but denied, had finished first beer in lounge before it departed.
Impressive load factor on a Sun Night of 7/8.

CSM greeted with a "This is a short flight tonight. You won't need an entertainment unit will you". A few still taken!
Choices were a lamb with couscous or a vegetarian pasta.
The lamb looked and smelt great, unfortunately the meat was tough and a let down
Two reds on board a Westwood Shiraz Cab Merlot (unheard of) and a West Cape Howe Shiraz ($15 at DM and ok)

View attachment 10619

 

[lobo76]

QF 860 in virgin thread? or DJ540 possibly? seems like the same flight I was on.

Unless QF borrowed Luke Mangan for the day

 

[moa999]

DJ540 indeed.. corrected.

 

[dandandan]

I was on the 6.05pm Sunday night service, OOL-SYD DJ540 and had that same meal as pictured, it was very, very average in my opinion and my wife got the very, very, very ordinary Vegetarian Pasta (3 very's for that one!). Writing this now the New Yorker sandwich would have been a lot better, even a baked bean toasty!. Meals I have had on the LCC Air Asia are far superior, that is not exaggerating either, their meals are quite tasty especially their Nasi Lamak. What happened to the new meals that Luke Mangan had made up a few months ago that someone posted pictures of, or posted his tweet, or whatever it was. Is this is the result, if so it's really time to get rid of him as I cannot see how is performing. Serving up lettuce in a bowl by itself is pretty poor form, who just eats lettuce by itself with no tomato or other vegetables etc?. Whilst I ate it with the dressing as I was hungry and we decided to make the dinner service our dinner for the night, even a budget coleslaw would be 100 times better. Maybe food and wine is not JB's strong point as nothing seems to be happening except on the Perth services. The Sunday night CSM service was however excellent and of a high standard. As it was a 7/8 load and the CSM used the cart to hand out the meals which meant the service was around 15-20 minutes quicker than my Friday night flight with an 8/8 load where the CSM hand delivered each meal. Friday night's service was good as well but I think handing out each meal separately flustered the CSM and detracted from the overall service a bit. On a short flight using the cart is the only way to go I think. The CSM on Sunday night offered numerous refills of wine and water without us having to ask, nothing seemed to be a problem. Discussing the use of the cart with the CSM, they mentioned it is supposed to be used when more than 3 passengers and I agree with them. The CSM also said only one of each wine is loaded, which is a shame as the West Cape Howe Shiraz West Cape Howe Wines : Award winning winery in Mount Barker, Australia - Details of the wine was clearly better than the Watershed Shiraz Blend http://watershedwines.com.au/index.php?age=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=108&category_id=9&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=41 however both are pretty cheap for a business class product and better quality could be had for the same or not much more money if that is all they want to spend on wine. Is Mangan the Sommelier too? for example you can get this years Jimmy Watson trophy winner, the 2011 Best's Great Western Bin 1 Shiraz for around $21 a bottle or even the Mount Langi Cliff Edge Shiraz for around $20, not to mention many others and even or Champagne or Sparkling would be welcomed. At the moment I think J is lacking in the food and drink department and the footrest department. Wrapping up, if you are paying the full price and not using points upgrade, the paid price point on short flights is not really warranted besides the extra space you get.


QUOTE=lobo76;704095]Unless QF borrowed Luke Mangan for the day [/QUOTE]

 

[dandandan]

Were you seated front left, sorry if my child disrupted you too much, he wasn't too bad for that time of the night though.

 

[KCMil]

Really disspointing to hear about the feeling on the wine. The somilier is Bill McMahon, a very respected and highly regarded man in the wine industry with a big history. Hope you have fed this back directly to VA as feedback to crew doesn't seem to be getting much done. Seems VA need to get it first hand from travellers not via their crew. They prob don't take the second hand info as seriously.

 

[KCMil]

I strongly encourage you to feed that back as that is not the appropriate introduction. It should be offered not discouraged. Sounds to be the sort of CS who hasn't made the transition to J class very well at all...

 

[dandandan]

There was nothing wrong with the West Cape Howe Shiraz but I think they could do better and even promote the wines better on the flight.

Really disspointing to hear about the feeling on the wine. The somilier is Bill McMahon, a very respected and highly regarded man in the wine industry with a big history. Hope you have fed this back directly to VA as feedback to crew doesn't seem to be getting much done. Seems VA need to get it first hand from travellers not via their crew. They prob don't take the second hand info as seriously.

 

[lobo76]

Is there supposed to be a menu for J on all flights?
Being my first time in J (and on a short run) I had no idea what my options were with regard to food and beverage, it'd be nice to know what wines and beers are available at least.

 

[Jousams]

Is there supposed to be a menu for J on all flights?
Being my first time in J (and on a short run) I had no idea what my options were with regard to food and beverage, it'd be nice to know what wines and beers are available at least.

A menu with "cheese platter" as the only meal option would be far to embarrassing.

However a drink menu would be effective.


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

 

[smit0847]

Flew MEL-SYD J return on the weekend. This was my first J class flight and my first visit to The Lounge.

Flight out, evening I flew ahead by 15 mins. Got the warning about catering not being guaranteed.

Why on earth would you fly ahead on your first ever J flight with the distinct possibility of missing out on dinner just to save 15 minutes?!?!?

 

[lobo76]

Why on earth would you fly ahead on your first ever J flight with the distinct possibility of missing out on dinner just to save 15 minutes?!?!?

I was trying to get to a gig and wanted to catch the support band!
In hindsight I wouldn't have been too upset to miss the very oily chicken with potato cubes and a bowl of lettuce, and I'd had a nice sanga from the lounge anyways

I have to say it worked out for the best as the flight left a little early, the duration was lower too (56 mins) AND the cabin crew were REALLY awesome, who know what the next flight was like... my first experience of customer service in J was top notch, even if the meal wasn't.

 

[JessicaTam]

I have read (most of) this thread with interest, and will be taking my virgin Virgin J flight on Wednesday, MEL-BNE. Flight leaves at noon so I am looking forward to what they will offer for lunch. I will report back from my (usually QF) perspective.

 

[Globetrotter]

Flew J BNE/HTI yesterday in J. Love the new aircraft and seats. Wouldn't know about the J food - they didn't have any due to 'issues with the new catering company', however we were able to choose anything we wanted from the Y trolley. Service was good but could do with some refining.

Following up on my previous post. On the flight home the FA offered us chicken curry or "some vegetable thing" his words not mine. I opted for the vegetable thing as I didn't feel like curry and partner asked for a Luke Mangan sarnie from the Y trolley. The vegetable salad was cold and looked atroshous so I opted to eat nothing. Luke needs to go back to cooking school and Virgin need to stop serving up dog food. The end.

 

[KCMil]

Well, that is supposed to be the skill of the Cabin Supervisor who "sells" the menu. Eg. Presenting an option of a Vegetable thing is nothing short of laziness on the CS's part. And a thorough knowledge of the wines on offer, vineyard, variety and vintage and of course the recommended accompaniment to the meals being offered. Again, so many say item A is delicious and others say item A is inedible. I suspect that from what I've experienced it comes down to the care taken to cook the meal. If you bang it in for 20 min and ignore it, you come back to dried out rice and charcoal crusted dishes! Other CS's take time to monitor dish and remove when just at optimum point. I guess it's just a problem with Human Nature.....I still say a significant number of Virgin CS's have not been able or willing to make the transition from LCC to current Ops. Sad really, it could be such an amazing product.

 

[lobo76]

Following up on my previous post. On the flight home the FA offered us chicken curry or "some vegetable thing" his words not mine. I opted for the vegetable thing as I didn't feel like curry and partner asked for a Luke Mangan sarnie from the Y trolley. The vegetable salad was cold and looked atroshous so I opted to eat nothing. Luke needs to go back to cooking school and Virgin need to stop serving up dog food. The end.

Was that a rice and vege salad with loads of raisins in it? If so you were right to pass on it :-X