Virgin America Elevate - FA would not open FC wine

On flight 945 today from LAX to SFO in the FC cabin, the FA refused to open the catered wine and insisted on serving coach screw-top mini bottle!! I asked why and he said that he did not want to waste the wine since it would not all be consumed on the short flight. I told him that I was unhappy with that decision and he said "too bad".

I thought VX would be a superior flight experience; guess I was wrong today! Has anyone ever heard of that happening on other flights?

I have never experienced a situation like that on VX. Although it's not earth-shattering, I would compose an email to customer relations and explain the situation. That "too bad" remark is not something I would expect from a VX FA.

In my experience the quality of the wine for purchase in Coach on VX is much better than what they serve for free in First Class...the First Class wines are, for the most part, really cheap and pretty bad. I would bet that in this case you actually ended up with the better wine.

I have never experienced a situation like that on VX. Although it's not earth-shattering, I would compose an email to customer relations and explain the situation. That "too bad" remark is not something I would expect from a VX FA.

Me neither. I've flown on a couple of dozen VX flights and have never seen an FA with anything less than a friendly and helpful attitude. I hope the OP will pass this on to VX customer service. Not opening the wine isn't such a big deal in my mind, but that "too bad" line runs so contrary to the VX corporate culture.

DFW to LAX in First, I asked for red wine for my pre-departure beverage.
After serving the other 2 F passengers, I sat empty handed while the flight boarded. The FA finally stopped by to say the cork on the red was dried out, so he was waiting for some extra bottles to be brought from the back (???).
I did indeed see an FA come from the back a few minutes later with some full sized wine bottles in hand.
After about 10 minutes, as the door was being closed, I was served my beverage, with the explanation that it was a coach wine. It was downright nasty.

Inflight, I again asked for red wine.
I was told that all the bottles had the dried cork problem. They were afraid that trying to open them would cause the cork to break/crumble into the bottle. I mentioned (as I was the only one of the 3 F passengers drinking red wine) that cork pieces were acceptable given the circumstances. "We can't do that". No other explanation was given. I switched to white wine even though I don't care for Chardonnay.

Towards the end of the flight, I noticed the passenger in the aisle across from me switch from cocktails to wine. Red wine. From a full sized bottle :(
I've no idea and I didn't want to ask.

Steve

After about 10 minutes, as the door was being closed, I was served my beverage, with the explanation that it was a coach wine. It was downright nasty.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, if you thought the coach wine was nasty, the first class wine is even worse (I suspect because VX is not getting incremental revenue for it). Most people can't tell the differences between these wines, so they get away with serving crappy wines, but there are some people who do appreciate the difference. The only US airline that serves decent (passable) wines in domestic F is AA, IMHO.

I use VX because it has domestic west-east-west non-stops for a reasonable price to places I need to go. The upgrade system is entertaining and my experience at gaming it has been so-far-so-good. I would not consider the F service attitude-free by any stretch, but to be honest given the competition I'm just happy that the aircraft is clean, reasonably comfortable, and I've yet to spend a flight listening to the FA's leaning on the sink complaining about the company or the customers. But there's always the next flight.

If anything, I think the FA's and GA's on this airline are almost *too* nice. I flew SFO-SJD a couple of weeks ago in F. On each flight, FC boarding was announced and about half of coach stormed the gate and nobody was turned away. The FC loo was trashed halfway through each flight, because although the FA announced that people should use the lavs in their cabins, it wasn't enforced.

Boarding the flight home was a bloodbath (okay I exagerate a little). Again, dozens of coach passengers stormed the gate when FC boarding was announced, and were allowed on. I decided not to let everyone cut in front of me this time, so was one of the first people seated in F. I sat and watched as coach passengers walked on, stored their luggage in the F bins and the FA (who did not offer pre-flight beverages in F) watched. Pillows, blankets and water bottles were snatched from the as yet unoccupied F seats, and I caught the FA's eye as if to say, "Really? You're just going to stand there and watch this?" And she did, sheepishly.

At least two F passengers who boarded after I did had to swim upstream halfway into coach to find a place to store their bags, again, as the FA just looked on helplessly not offering to assist.

I don't mean to sound too harsh because, yes, I love flying Virgin America in F, gotta love the seats and the FAs are, well, sweet, and offer friendly service. But they've got to step up their training of the FAs and GAs so they won't be so timid and ineffectual in cases of pax shenanigans.

If anything, I think the FA's and GA's on this airline are almost *too* nice. I flew SFO-SJD a couple of weeks ago in F. On each flight, FC boarding was announced and about half of coach stormed the gate and nobody was turned away. The FC loo was trashed halfway through each flight, because although the FA announced that people should use the lavs in their cabins, it wasn't enforced.

Boarding the flight home was a bloodbath (okay I exagerate a little). Again, dozens of coach passengers stormed the gate when FC boarding was announced, and were allowed on. I decided not to let everyone cut in front of me this time, so was one of the first people seated in F. I sat and watched as coach passengers walked on, stored their luggage in the F bins and the FA (who did not offer pre-flight beverages in F) watched. Pillows, blankets and water bottles were snatched from the as yet unoccupied F seats, and I caught the FA's eye as if to say, "Really? You're just going to stand there and watch this?" And she did, sheepishly.

At least two F passengers who boarded after I did had to swim upstream halfway into coach to find a place to store their bags, again, as the FA just looked on helplessly not offering to assist.

I don't mean to sound too harsh because, yes, I love flying Virgin America in F, gotta love the seats and the FAs are, well, sweet, and offer friendly service. But they've got to step up their training of the FAs and GAs so they won't be so timid and ineffectual in cases of pax shenanigans.

I would not call this "too nice". I would call this not doing their jobs. Y pax putting baggage in F bins is discussed quite frequently in TravelBuzz!. I would just take them out and put them in the aisle in coach.

On flight 945 today from LAX to SFO in the FC cabin, the FA refused to open the catered wine and insisted on serving coach screw-top mini bottle!! I asked why and he said that he did not want to waste the wine since it would not all be consumed on the short flight. I told him that I was unhappy with that decision and he said "too bad".

I thought VX would be a superior flight experience; guess I was wrong today! Has anyone ever heard of that happening on other flights?

1. Whether or not the whole bottle gets consumed is not the FA's problem, your a customer, and you paid to have that wine. (nasty wine or not, if you want it, it should be offered to you)

2. "Too bad"???? who says that to a customer, especially in a priority cabin?? I'm not by any means saying you were, but even if you had been rude about it, this FA is supposed to provide customer service.... There are better ways of handling any situation than saying "too bad"!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, if you thought the coach wine was nasty, the first class wine is even worse ...

To each his own.
While the First Class wines may not be premium selections, they (IMHO) do exceed those offered in Coach.

I mentioned that for this flight, being I was outright denied the FC red, I switched to the the FC white, even though I don't care for Chardonnay. I found this bottled Chardonnay much better than the sour red "coach" wine which was served to me prior to departure.

Steve

To each his own.
While the First Class wines may not be premium selections, they (IMHO) do exceed those offered in Coach.

I mentioned that for this flight, being I was outright denied the FC red, I switched to the the FC white, even though I don't care for Chardonnay. I found this bottled Chardonnay much better than the sour red "coach" wine which was served to me prior to departure.

Steve

I don't begrudge you your preferences -- everyone has their own tastes. But if you look at price as a proxy for quality, most of the time the coach wines, if you were to buy them in a liquor store, are more expensive than the comparable first class wines. I just checked the VX site for what they are serving now and found this to be the case for the red wine -- ~$10/bottle for the coach wine, $8-9 for the first class wine. I could not find the white they are currently serving in coach so couldn't do the comparison there.

I called the customer service number and they credited me back the $70 upgrade charge. I am gals to hear that my experience was the exception. The fx twitter person was useless in getting resolution. However, a call to cust service was efficient.