Location: Newport Beach, California, USA (Recently of San Francisco)
Programs: UA-1P,SPG-Gold,Marriott-Silver
Posts: 10,334
Quote:
Originally Posted by SFO 1K
It seems like the OP is more concerned about the recline of his/her seat than the IFE. Surely you've had inop/non-reclining seats on other carriers before, no?
I once had an inop recline seat in F on a 2 hour UA flight. They gave me an SWU that I used to upgrade a transpac flight: relative value of the compensation to me, approximately $3,000.
A $25 (or even $50) voucher for a completely inoperative F seat? I don't think so.
Programs: AA Executive Platinum 1.5 MM, Hyatt Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 88
I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience Raindeer. Not to excuse the bad attitude you received on board and at LAS, but based on my dozen round trips on VX so far I feel you just hit the VX team on a bad day. Here is what my experience has been.
I have been on the A319 that is not finished 3 times now in first class. Each time VX has sent me an email a few days ahead and let me know about the situation. Also once on board the crew has reclined the seats manually for each passenger that wanted it. The teams I have had on these flights have tried to over compensate with service for the lack of IFE and non powered seats. Granted these have all been short hops (SFO - LAX and SFO - LAS) so I didn't really miss the IFE and power ports.
I discovered the extent of the problem only after I was onboard. We were told, as we boarded, of the IFE problem. The fact that all the seats were completely inoperable was only apparant once we were seated. Had I known prior to boarding, I would have happily downgraded.
You really like to beat a dead horse !! You flew and you got from A to B.
If the amenities were more important than the actual transportation, why didn't you get up and walked out of the plane to request a downgrade to the GA then and there?
I wonder how many of you would have survived a Wells Fargo carriage ride !
You really like to beat a dead horse !! You flew and you got from A to B.
If the amenities were more important than the actual transportation, why didn't you get up and walked out of the plane to request a downgrade to the GA then and there?
I wonder how many of you would have survived a Wells Fargo carriage ride !
--J
VX is heavily promoting a service it clearly has no intention of delivering. This has nothing to do with getting from A to B or Wells Fargo carriage rides.
Programs: UA M+ 1K/1MM, VX eleVAte, HHonors Diamond, SPG Gold, Hertz 5 Star
Posts: 2,234
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjque
VX is heavily promoting a service it clearly has no intention of delivering. This has nothing to do with getting from A to B or Wells Fargo carriage rides.
Oh please. They have ONE aircraft in the fleet in this predicament, every other plane is fully configured. That hardly qualifies as "no intention of delivering". I'm sure they'd rather take the plane and outfit it at the earliest opportunity, but it would be nice to get a configured aircraft put on this plane's schedule first and then take it out of service.
I would think people would be happy to have their transportation rather than have their flight cancelled and removed from the schedule because their plane had no IFE.
As was posted earlier, they are making an effort to communicate with all the pax a few days ahead of the flight, to let them know about the situation.
Oh please. They have ONE aircraft in the fleet in this predicament, every other plane is fully configured. That hardly qualifies as "no intention of delivering". I'm sure they'd rather take the plane and outfit it at the earliest opportunity, but it would be nice to get a configured aircraft put on this plane's schedule first and then take it out of service.
I would think people would be happy to have their transportation rather than have their flight cancelled and removed from the schedule because their plane had no IFE.
As was posted earlier, they are making an effort to communicate with all the pax a few days ahead of the flight, to let them know about the situation.
It isn't like there are a few inop seats out there that will be repaired in a day or two. This is an entire aircraft that VX has sent out with inop IFE and F seats, and VX's entire sales pitch revolves around how its product is so much better than the competition (in this case, UA, WN and US). VX needs to let people know before they buy that they are not going to get the amenities that VX has promoted in an effort to get them NOT to choose their regular carrier.
VX is heavily promoting a service it clearly has no intention of delivering. This has nothing to do with getting from A to B or Wells Fargo carriage rides.
How can you prove VX had no intentions of delivery the advertised service? They were proactive and notified the passengers about the limitations of the A/C.
I would think people would be happy to have their transportation rather than have their flight cancelled and removed from the schedule because their plane had no IFE.
....
You and I may be one of the few in this fora that has the priorities straight.
How can you prove VX had no intentions of delivery the advertised service? They were proactive and notified the passengers about the limitations of the A/C.
--J
Why do I need to prove it? It's obvious given that they have put an entire aircraft into service without the amenities that VX uses to get people not to book with UA.
I think I could care less if the IFE was inoperable when I'm hopping from LAX to SFO. Infact, I've never had the opportunity to use the IFE on all my flights on this particular route. 1 hour flight and to complain about IFE not being available? C'mon!
Well, in my situation, I was NEVER notified ahead of time that my flight would have inoperable seats and IFE. VX had my e-mail (they sent me an e-mail a day out notifying me of online check-in) and my phone number. So, to those who say they are notifying ALL, you need to qualify that.
If I wanted just transportation from A to B, I would just fly coach. In fact, if I wanted just transportation from A to B, I would never care about things like branding, amenities, seats, service, loyalty schemes, and, instead, just shop for coach tickets based SOLELY on price. Instead, I do care about all that stuff, and, as such, I tend to be a lot less sensitive to price. For those of you who are being so defensive of VX, you should take a step back and understand that I am exactly the kind of customer they are targeting. In fact, I think I am exactly the sort of customer most carriers want (probably not Airtran or Southwest, though....)
Just five minutes on VX's website would show you that VX is not just offereing transportation. They are attempting to establish a brand based on cool tech, cool seats, and a cool vibe. They whiffed on all three with me when I flew, and I feel they did so in an underhanded manner. They should have never built a schedule around planes that aren't up to their brand standards.
Again, we can all agree to disagree. I feel that Virgin defrauded me, and, as I result, I will now not only avoid them like the plague but I will be emphatic in telling everyone about my experience.
My conversational abilities are not the subject at hand. And the issue isn't just a lack of IFE. I wasn't planning on watching much TV. Though, considering my dead laptop battery, the lack of working in-seat power DID jam me up. And, if you read the whole thread, you'd see that it was a combination of no IFE, no in seat power, a non-working seat (i.e., no recline), and a non-responsive-to-snarley attitude when this was all brought up. And...I bought a first class seat, NOT a coach seat (nor, even, an upgraded coach seat.)
I fly ~150K miles a year, and issues sometimes arise. I understand that. When I bring these problems to the attention of the airline in question, the problem is almost always solved to my satisfaction. When I brought the problem to the attention of VX, I was told to pound sand. It is offensive and unacceptable.
Programs: HH Silver, US Silver, CO Nonepass, AS Non-MVP
Posts: 4,805
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raindeer
My conversational abilities are not the subject at hand. And the issue isn't just a lack of IFE. I wasn't planning on watching much TV. Though, considering my dead laptop battery, the lack of working in-seat power DID jam me up. And, if you read the whole thread, you'd see that it was a combination of no IFE, no in seat power, a non-working seat (i.e., no recline), and a non-responsive-to-snarley attitude when this was all brought up. And...I bought a first class seat, NOT a coach seat (nor, even, an upgraded coach seat.)
I fly ~150K miles a year, and issues sometimes arise. I understand that. When I bring these problems to the attention of the airline in question, the problem is almost always solved to my satisfaction. When I brought the problem to the attention of VX, I was told to pound sand. It is offensive and unacceptable.
I hope that you file a complaint with the gov't. At least VX's complaint rate will take a hit. In addition, you can contact your state's attorney general.
Programs: UA M+ 1K/1MM, VX eleVAte, HHonors Diamond, SPG Gold, Hertz 5 Star
Posts: 2,234
Here's a thread on airliners.net that speaks to this same item (Dark A319).
It contains a variety of viewpoints, but the general theme is that IFE isn't part of the Contract of Carriage and anything the airline does to compensate you for being on the "Dark" plane is a courtesy.
So, you are telling me that, if you paid $10K for a 1st class seat on UA, and the seat was broken such that it would not recline into the flat bed you had been promised, you would just chalk it up to, "I paid for transportation, and that's what I got"? No way....
Coach was $44, 1st was $199. I bought a 1st Class seat. TRANSPORTATION, on this flight, cost $44. I paid an extra $155 for the 1st class experience. This isn't just about IFE, as you keep saying. This is about a seat that did not recline. The contract of carriage is irrelevant, because I have no plans on suing VX. However, given their brand promise and the way they market themselves, that they are purposely flying a "dark" A319 could certainly lead to a pretty nasty class action if someone had the chutzpah to get one started.
VX is heavily promoting a service it clearly has no intention of delivering. This has nothing to do with getting from A to B or Wells Fargo carriage rides.
