385thBG
Sep 12, 09, 6:13 am
My husband returned from a one week trip to England the other day. It was his first overseas trip on VS and the two flights could not have been more different, hence the title, Tale of Two Virgins.
He departed VS 22 IAD-LHR on September 2 flying on Varga Girl (340-600). At just over 6’ tall and seated in economy he was fairly appalled at the leg room which was made significantly worse by the fellow in front of him who, as soon as possible and without looking, slammed back his seat in recline and left it that way for the rest of the trip. This meant not only bruised knees, but my husband could not see a good portion of the video screen nor could he get out of his seat (to be fair, he didn’t bother). While he had planned to get some sleep on the flight, the second nightmare of the journey was about to begin. An African woman flying with a number of young children decided that it was not her business to mind the children. They evidently scampered back and forth over the tops of the seats (empty row in front of them), were loud, ran up and down the aisles, pushed the buttons on AVOD so repeatedly that they put it out of commission for a time, and generally made the entire journey unsupportable for those around them. What was more unfortunate from my husband’s point of view is that the crew never once made any attempt to ask the woman to control her children so that others on this overnight flight might get some rest (evidently the crew did not provide much in the way of any service on this flight—playing least in sight). My husband and his seatmate evidently looked over numerous times (since they obviously got no sleep) expecting this woman would get the hint to bring her children under control, but she just glared back at them. To add insult to injury, as they disembarked from the plane, the African woman made a loud comment to her children. “There go the miserable people.” No kidding. So that was tale of Virgin I. My husband was not a happy camper and was already planning never to fly VS again.
The tale of Virgin II could not have been more different. Luckily, on his return flight, Sept 10, he was in economy on VS21 but luckily on the only 340-300 (Rainbow Lady) with AVOD and the new Y seats which provide lumbar control. He was much more comfortable in this seat and said the crew was simply outstanding, coming up and down the aisles all throughout the flight with drink service, candies, and asking if they could do anything to make the flight more pleasant if anyone in the cabin so much as raised their head. Even the captain made an announcement near the end of the flight mentioning the outstanding cabin crew. From my husband’s point of view, he felt as though he had flown two different airlines. The second flight restored his faith in the ability of VS to provide a good product and top service.
He did have two small complaints – at LHR, he spent more than 45 minutes in the bag drop line while other lines moved greater speed. He and other passengers in the line complained to two different supervisors about the slowness of the girl at the desk. What should have been a relatively speedy process was not. Turns out the girl was not just checking bags but also changing tickets, looking for new seats, etc. The first supervisor checked with girl and came back to say there was no problem! The second supervisor finally began moving folks out of the slow line into other faster moving ones. Unfortunately, my husband was not one of them because by this time he was next in line to be served so she told him to stay put. Too bad the guy in front of him was one of the ones wanting all the changes to his ticket, seating, etc. V. frustrating. Of course, my husband did better than my son who flew VS from LHR in August and waited two hours in line for a bag drop. Luckily, they both showed up 3 hours in advance of the flights. Please Virgin make the bag drop line for Bag Drops only! As for the final small complaint, it wasn’t Virgin’s fault that his seatmate, though very nice and quiet, was part of the great unwashed.
I fly the same route in a few weeks so we will see how my experience compares.
He departed VS 22 IAD-LHR on September 2 flying on Varga Girl (340-600). At just over 6’ tall and seated in economy he was fairly appalled at the leg room which was made significantly worse by the fellow in front of him who, as soon as possible and without looking, slammed back his seat in recline and left it that way for the rest of the trip. This meant not only bruised knees, but my husband could not see a good portion of the video screen nor could he get out of his seat (to be fair, he didn’t bother). While he had planned to get some sleep on the flight, the second nightmare of the journey was about to begin. An African woman flying with a number of young children decided that it was not her business to mind the children. They evidently scampered back and forth over the tops of the seats (empty row in front of them), were loud, ran up and down the aisles, pushed the buttons on AVOD so repeatedly that they put it out of commission for a time, and generally made the entire journey unsupportable for those around them. What was more unfortunate from my husband’s point of view is that the crew never once made any attempt to ask the woman to control her children so that others on this overnight flight might get some rest (evidently the crew did not provide much in the way of any service on this flight—playing least in sight). My husband and his seatmate evidently looked over numerous times (since they obviously got no sleep) expecting this woman would get the hint to bring her children under control, but she just glared back at them. To add insult to injury, as they disembarked from the plane, the African woman made a loud comment to her children. “There go the miserable people.” No kidding. So that was tale of Virgin I. My husband was not a happy camper and was already planning never to fly VS again.
The tale of Virgin II could not have been more different. Luckily, on his return flight, Sept 10, he was in economy on VS21 but luckily on the only 340-300 (Rainbow Lady) with AVOD and the new Y seats which provide lumbar control. He was much more comfortable in this seat and said the crew was simply outstanding, coming up and down the aisles all throughout the flight with drink service, candies, and asking if they could do anything to make the flight more pleasant if anyone in the cabin so much as raised their head. Even the captain made an announcement near the end of the flight mentioning the outstanding cabin crew. From my husband’s point of view, he felt as though he had flown two different airlines. The second flight restored his faith in the ability of VS to provide a good product and top service.
He did have two small complaints – at LHR, he spent more than 45 minutes in the bag drop line while other lines moved greater speed. He and other passengers in the line complained to two different supervisors about the slowness of the girl at the desk. What should have been a relatively speedy process was not. Turns out the girl was not just checking bags but also changing tickets, looking for new seats, etc. The first supervisor checked with girl and came back to say there was no problem! The second supervisor finally began moving folks out of the slow line into other faster moving ones. Unfortunately, my husband was not one of them because by this time he was next in line to be served so she told him to stay put. Too bad the guy in front of him was one of the ones wanting all the changes to his ticket, seating, etc. V. frustrating. Of course, my husband did better than my son who flew VS from LHR in August and waited two hours in line for a bag drop. Luckily, they both showed up 3 hours in advance of the flights. Please Virgin make the bag drop line for Bag Drops only! As for the final small complaint, it wasn’t Virgin’s fault that his seatmate, though very nice and quiet, was part of the great unwashed.
I fly the same route in a few weeks so we will see how my experience compares.