I have to agree with Sonique, I flew Virgin Blue from Sydney to Brisbane earlier in the year and also think that their antics on board border on compromising safety and the image we are trying to create with the public - most of us - that we are professionals.
1) Once all the passengers were sat down we were told we were going to Darwin instead of Brisbane as a joke!
2) The safety demonstration was given in the tone of a children's bedtime story.
3) We were told that the cabin lights were going to be dimmed for our "pleasure", then once we were told about this we were then asked to see if we could find our reading lights and switch them on. The cabin sidewalls were then turned off with the ceiling lights left on. (so what was the point!)
4)During taxi the Supervisor was getting the pax to shout out for which footie team they prefered in either SYD or BNE - so much for silent reviews eh?
5) during the bumpy approach into Brisbane the cabin crew were more interested in giving an aerobics instruction and singing their training class song down the PA than securing the cabin and getting themselves sat down.
Whilst I agree flying should be fun it should not compromise safety.
It did appear to me that Virgin Blue were obviously recruiting a bunch of under 30 dolly bimbos who were doing nothing to improve the profession's image with the general public. They were however very friendly and caring to the customers during the flight.
I'm pleased that Virgin Blue are bringing down fares in Australia (it's otherwise expensive even by our standards), but please raise your standards in terms of cabin safety and professionalism as some of you you are doing the rest of us in the industry a dis-service.
Incidentally Virgin are also the only UK airline with an entry age upper limit in the early 30s, and most of them are either blonde or brunette with the male cabin crew seldom getting a look in on any of the publicity - I rest my case on Richard's recruitment policies, and no I've not ever wanted to work for them.