virgin atlantic staff travel telephone ticketing timewaster

[bigflaps_stn]

am so fed up with virgin atlantic staff travel!!! the endless waiting on those god forsaken telephone queues!! have never had the phone answered in under 45 minutes!! like many of my fellow colleagues i am seriously getting really fed up with this i know they say staff travel is a perk but this ridiculous you cant even use the small amount of perks you do have left in atlantic!!
do other airlines staff have the same experiences and PROBLEMS with their staff travel department!!?? after all i know virgin atlantic staff travel does make a profit every year was told it made 4million last year so theres no real reason for them not to be efficent!!!

we might get 7 free tickets a year here at virgin but you would better off going full fared passenger after your phone bill comes in!!

looking forward to other crews opinions on there staff travel non-rev experiences

[sukigirl]

I dont disagree with you bigflaps, we are on hold for a long time. but i see a torrent of abuse on the horizon coming from other pruners who dont even have staff travel, or definately not one as good as ours, in their company. So be prepared.
I suppose the reason is that despite what anyone else thinks staff travel doesnt make the company lots of money, how could it? we are only covering airport taxes in our ticket. Therefore they dont pay a lot of staff manning the phones, it makes sense really. Personally i think its worth being on hold for that long if it means i can take someone to a great destination with me and they can stay in the hotel for free with the possibility of an upgrades onboard both ways. I do think we are lucky in this respect.

[Seaton Approach]

For us, getting the tickets is the EASY bit!

Log on, either at work or from home, request what you need to request, and if it's an e-ticket you have it in your Inbox almost immediately (paper ones can be collected or delivered to your pigeon hole within a day or two), and the cost is deducted directly from your salary. :ok:

The REAL problems come when you get into things like refunds - someone please tell me why it takes WEEKS longer to get a refund on an e-ticket as opposed to a paper one?!???? :confused:

And the other thing which REALLY f:mad: cks me off about my lot... How the little f:mad: ckers at the staff travel counter will keep you waiting right up until close-out because of an alleged payload restriction on a flight which is only 46% full!!!!!!

Just a different breed on a power trip methinks.... :E

[sinala1]

we are only covering airport taxes in our ticket
And fuel surcharges... and I hate to think what the cost is of the phone calls to staff travel - its a premium number!!! Check out the Qantas staff travel thread in D & G - interesting reading...

(not meaning to sound ungrateful.............)

[Hostee]

I suppose the reason is that despite what anyone else thinks staff travel doesnt make the company lots of money, how could it?
Hahaha.... sorry... but the company i fly for, the Staff Travel made a profit last year... a HUGE profit!!


And the other thing which REALLY f cks me off about my lot... How the little f ckers at the staff travel counter will keep you waiting right up until close-out because of an alleged payload restriction on a flight which is only 46% full!!!!!!
Ooh i know all about this!! I remember once i was at the Staff Travel check-in, waited for an hour, and then they said Nope, sorry, no seats. I picked up my bags, walked away, got a lil upset (i was desperate to get home) and suddenly they called me back. A miracle! They somehow found a seat! Power trippers!!! GRRR!
Its been known to happpen if you try and check in wearing denim jeans, you'll be turned away!!!

we might get 7 free tickets a year here at virgin but you would better off going full fared passenger after your phone bill comes in!!
I'm jealous.... we get 1 free ticket a year (don't get me wrong, i am grateful for that one ticket!)
Also, you can't register boyfriends/girlfriends/mates in your travel benefits list!
I believe at other airlines you can list a certain number of travel partners? Whether they be relatives or not?

[Rollingthunder]

Unlimited passes here. Dedicated web-site for arrangements - takes about 4 minutes. ticketless - all you need is the booking reference code.

[sukigirl]

I have to admit i wasnt making a well informed statement about staff travel not making money, its because i cant see how they make 4 mill a year if all we are paying for is taxes and fuel surcharges.
Things may be getting better though, it only took me 17 mins to get through yesterday, but maybe they were just having a good day.
I so aggree with seaton though cos i dont understand why you have to wait 6-8 weeks for a refund.

[Virgin Boi]

Guys - a tip!

Dont phone the premium rate number to get through to staff travel, phone the office and get put through!

[Virgin82]

Get over it. am sure life is much worse for people. If thats your only moan think yourself lucky.

It is a local call cost not a premium rate.

Happy landings x

[No comment]

Or just fax your form in?

I got my reply (and e-ticket) the next day and this was only last week. In fact, just about to fax another one down for next week!!!

[flyblue]

i see a torrent of abuse on the horizon coming from other pruners who dont even have staff travel
Not at all, no torrent of abuse will be tolerated. If someone feels offended because they have no staff travel, or not as good as yours, they are free to 1)read another thread instead 2) change company and move to one with better staff travel 3)post about how glad they are that someone is lucky enough to have staff travel.

[virgincrew99]

tried getting a ticket today was on the phone for an hour!! bit of a nightmare really we should really be able to book our own virgin tickets for standby over the intranet/internet makes sence and it would free up the telephone ticketing lines a bit so staff could order tickets for use on other airlines!!

come on virgin staff travel get with the times get internet based ticketing for staff standby even our lovely friends over at easyjet have had it for a long time!

[Leezyjet]

How the little f ckers at the staff travel counter will keep you waiting right up until close-out because of an alleged payload restriction on a flight which is only 46% full!!!!!!

Ever thought that a/c carry more than just pax and bags which might be the reason that it's weight restricted.

Yes those cardboard boxes actually contribute more to your wages than a 30 quid standby ticket.

Just for info we nearly lost a £3million cargo contract because the Capt offloaded ALL the cargo to get his wife and the rest of the crew companions on the flight - all on £30 tickets. Do you know how disheartening that is for the people who are behind the scenes working hard trying to pull that business in to help pay ALL our wages ?.

Ooh i know all about this!! I remember once i was at the Staff Travel check-in, waited for an hour, and then they said Nope, sorry, no seats. I picked up my bags, walked away, got a lil upset (i was desperate to get home) and suddenly they called me back. A miracle! They somehow found a seat! Power trippers!!! GRRR!

Ever thought that someone might have been offloaded for some reason and that is why the seat freed up - or maybe the seat was marked as u/s but they managed to get it fixed ?. There could be numerous reasons that you would never know about - don't just see it for the "black and white" you make it our to be.


For all of you thinking the ground staff are on power trips - get over yourselves. We are all on the same side. We DO NOT leave people behind just because we are on "power trips". Try actually being nice to the people on the desks - you might be suprised to hear this, but we take more cr@p from staff pax on £30 tickets than full fare C pax on £5K tickets !!!. We are not out to make your life difficult - remember we have company rules and regs to work on the ground to just as you do on the a/c. It is not nice leaving people behind - we don't just do it for fun.

Rant over.

Oh and the staff travel tel no. is not a premium rate - it's a standard national rate number the same as the one you dial into head office.

:)

[r.s]

Out of interest, if you're working a trip with say a three day layover, can you use one of your free flights for a friend or family member, and then spend your layover partying and then another flight for them to fly back with you while you work?

:confused:

Also, do Virgin Atlantic crew still wear hats?:ok:

[FLYING_HOSTIE]

We never wore hats!

[Railgun]

Its been known to happpen if you try and check in wearing denim jeans, you'll be turned away!!!

That has been known before. If you work for the same airline (not the one in this disgussion) as me then part of the staff travel regulations is to come dressed smartly. Some would consider jeans not to be smart enough.

[wirgin blew]

Virgin Blue has a great staff travel website. Its just a shame you can't access it from home (intranet only).

bigflaps I would get the computer people from VA to come over on an exchange and see how its done at VB.

[Boofers]

You know that you can email your staff travel requests in aswell? Just look at the iFly website and you'll see it under 'staff travel' on the verb section:ok:

[AS-2107]

..And failing that, why not just go in and see them face 2 face! They're always more than happy to assist whenever I see them!