"Why is it wrong to get a pax to do the safety demo? Was there an oral briefing done by a crewmember whilst the pax was up doing the actions?"
The safety demo is one important part of a F/A's safety duties. I don't know if it's the same at Virgin, but doing the safety demo is the time when all crew are to demonstrate the correct operation of emergency equipment such as seatbelts, oxygen masks etc, if i was a nervous passenger/first time flyer and i wasn't too sure how the oxygen masks worked etc, i wouldn't feel very comfortable in watching a fellow passenger fumble their way through it, not even sure themselves and because Virgin don't have tv screens to be able to watch this if you can't quite see the F/A, it doesn't make it any easier. Also another point, when doing the safety demo, this is the time when all crew are supposed to be looking at all the pax to see which ABP's they would use in the event of an emergency and which one's would be able to assist in their area and with other passengers. I highly doubt that this particular F/A when she was on the cart selling food was thinking about which people would be able to assist her.
I took two flights with Virgin, both with different crew, both with the same jokes. Wasn't even funny the first time.
You're correct, there is a market for Virgin Blue out there, it's called being a low cost carrier and getting people from A to B as cheap as possible. I can guarantee you if you ask the average jo why would you fly Virgin Blue, they'd say "because it's cheap", not because the crew tell great jokes.
The amount of passengers that we get flying with us that say at the end of the flight "Thank God we're flying with Qantas and not Virgin!" isn't as uncommon as you may think. Or the amount of people surprised that they don't have to pay for their headsets (this isn't due to price as a couple of times i and family have looked on the web and the DJ and QF fares have have only been a difference of sometimes $10!) .
I had an English passenger on a flight to Singapore with his family who said that he came over with BA and they were ok, but he'd rather fly with Qantas than BA and then his family stayed in Perth while he flew to Melbourne for work with Qantas, again great and then he said for some reason his company booked him to fly back to Perth with Virgin Blue, his only comment was "never again!"
yes, i agree, every airline/company has bad apples. Qantas has some really grumpy people that shouldn't be flying anymore and then Virgin have people that don't do what they were employed to do or be like either. As you said, everyone has different opinions and different things attract different markets and that is what keeps it all interesting. I definately think competition is healthy and keeps each other on their toes. It's just my opinion and that of my family, that Virgin isn't for us.
EI-CFC,
"Wrong side of the world for a start... "
Have you ever flown Virgin Blue? If not, you're commenting why???
Also, you can't compare Virgin Blue to Virgin Atlantic, yes they may have the same kind of ethos, yet they are completely different. Virgin Atlantic is a full service international airline with a completely different product flying on completely different aircraft. Virgin Blue is a low cost, domestic airline with a very limited product flying again on completely different, one class aircraft.
Oz