Virgin Australia Velocity - WP experience on EY as a DJ Plat

Flew SYD-AUH-CAI return in EY F recently. I generally fly BA F to CAI and was interested in comparing QF/BA and EY.

Summary of comparison

NZ lounge in SYD is appalling, no separate F area. The dragon fits the term perfectly.
EY make the call in the lounge for J and F pax last - a very smart move.
Boarding is via the forward door which I find strange given that on all other sectors they disembarked everyone from the second door so that J pax got off before F pax.
The hard product is superb. The privacy afforded by the doors is incredible and the lack of overhead lockers gives an overwhelming sense of space.
Service simply cannot be compared to QF or BA. I had to ask for Bolly from the Sky Chef, ask again, and it still took 20 mins. No Arab coffee and dates offered ex SYD (was on the return)
I was never greeted by name once.
The SkyChef concept taken from Gulf Air (Most EY staff in SYD and in head office are ex Gulf Air) is simply a concept. The food looks good but lacks taste. I much prefer QF/BA J catering than this F experience.
EY make cocktails :) Strawberry Daiquiris, Mojitos etc.
The staff seem incredibly junior, undertrained and nervous. On 3 sectors I had water spilt on me (EY staff fly to and from CAI on the same day which would make them incredibly tired).
The EY F Lounge at AUH T3's open kitchen, service and spa were all incredible. QF SYD F Lounge is still much superior, but I never saw more than 3 other pax when we were there.
To enter the boarding areas in AUH requires a security check, and you to scan your bp. This brings all pax into a tiny holding area and boarding is a mess, although there is priority boarding for premium pax.

Overall connections to the Arab World are much easier with EY, and the price is very very good, your just need to set your service expectations appropriately.

Thanks for sharing.

Did you book this as VA codeshare flight or with EY themselves?

You should post this in EY's forum also.

Cross posting isn't allowed! Booked with EY flight numbers due to the fare through AMEX, but thought it would be useful for Australian based FT'ers.

NZ lounge in SYD is appalling, no separate F area. The dragon fits the term perfectly.


Interesting,

IMHO NZ lounge in SYD is fantastic (agree - no F-class section though, but EK lounge doesn't have the F section, either) and I only had positive experiences with Lounge Reps (aka 'Dragons').

Of the times I've been there, the NZ lounge is nowhere near appalling. It wasn't fantastic either, but the staff was always friendly. They do like to chat with each other and with customers though. Perhaps you'd them on a bad day...?

While I accept the NZ lounge is also the lounge for other airlines that do offer F, NZ itself doesn't offer F, so I don't know if it's reasonable to blame NZ for the lack of a F section. Perhaps the airlines that offer F should build their own F lounges?

My issue with the NZ lounge was that two areas on opposing sides were cordoned off. Not once during the two hours were plates or glasses collected from any of the tables. Two or three couples were forced to sit around the same tables which seemed rather awkward.

Everyone on our EY flight kept asking about whether we were boarding and the dragon kept barking "I already said I would make an announcement!" The confusion happened because EY board premium pax at final call, but the dragon did not inform pax of this so once the boarding began she fielded questions from almost every pax. Could have been easily avoided.