Boarding

At around 6:30pm we were told in the lounge via the public address system that our inbound aircraft was delayed by approximately two hours so we were “welcomed with warmth” to stay in the lounge until it is time for boarding. I can recall from my bad memory it was around 8:30 that we actually headed to the gate to board. We were among the last people to be scanned in.

Below is the shot of the aircraft that will be ferrying us from Sydney:





On-Board service

Upon we were welcomed to our seats at 1A and 1C, there was an elaborate display of Virgin Australia tissue laden setup of water bottles and little pouches (which later contained headphones) and a plastic bag which contained some amenities; of course all of these was on the small seat on 1B which has a tray table similar to that of the Club Europe confirmation in British Airways.

During taxi and ascent, due to the close approximation of the two cabin crew which were on door responsibility duty they started to chat to me and my partner. From this chat I have learnt the following facts:

• They were originally from Virgin Atlantic (Long Haul crew). They were on a 1 year exchange programme.
• The reason for the delay was technical from the previous sector (Fiji as far as I can recall).

There was a bit of a delay to starting the service as it was very turbulent on our ascent but on a three and a bit hour flight this wasn’t a problem.

We were thankful to have purchased a Premium Economy ticket as the food and beverage was all inclusive in the ticket. We were both drinking quite a lot and I certainly eat a lot. That is me being in holiday mode. I have to say I was quite surprised when I worked out how much we would have spent if we had drinks and eaten the way we have on-board when travelling in Economy.

This is taken from the menu which can be seen here (http://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en...nal-short-haul)

• 1 Luke Mangan Gourmet Beef Pie 1 x 10 AUD
• 1 Luke Mangan Vegetarian Pie 1 x 10 AUD
• 8 Gins 8 x 7 AUD
• 16 Tonics 16 x 3 AUD
• 1 Pepsi 1 x 3 AUD

Total of 127 AUD

Before I get comments of why we drank so much gin and tonic; on board we only had a total of 4 gin mini-bottles between us. The purser / CSD kindly gave us a “small stash” to take with us to the hotel which I was very surprised of.

The beef pie, while looking like a complete disaster, was actually quite tasty and was not filled with fatty pieces of meat. This was a plus.

The cabin crew were very attentive and very responsive despite being tired doing international short-hauls before our flight. We were making jokes in galley which were very inappropriate for other customers. They kept telling us that we should not be shy to request any more food if we wanted to. Frankly I was pretty stuffed by this point but was very thirsty indeed.

Below are some of the pictures on board:









The obligatory leg room shot for seat 1A on board Boeing 737-800.



As part of the service, you can also rent one of the personal video player which is feature below. They are free for Premium Economy passengers and Economy passengers have to pay $15 to rent for them for the duration of the flight. There was a small selection on the device enough for a 3 hour and a bit flight but any longer then it will not be feasible. There was also an interesting document regarding the Boeing 777.