Agreed, I recently left Virgin and things have taken a turn for the worse. The middle management are a waste of space, clueless and wasting resources and the inflight product is just plain embarrassing now. The crew being recruited now are generally of a much lower standard than those that were hired in the past. The economy product is saved only by it's in-flight entertainment, and that only really applies to the Heathrow fleet which has vPort, Gatwick is dreadful. The new premium economy is reasonable, but it will take a long time for it to be rolled out across the fleet and Upper is just appalling now. The seat is the only saving grace, the food is poor, the wine and champagne is dreadful and if you're using Gatwick the story only gets worse. The only outstanding elements remaining are the Club House at LHR and the limo service. Now the IFBTs are going it will to become even more of a joke. People will vote with their feet and something needs to be done quickly. Unattentive crew, poor meals and bad service are destroying what was once and airline that led in it's field. I can see them starting to charge for alcohol in the coming year.
The crew are now poorly treated, Richard's letter and now the removal of the IFBTs are making everyone feel undervalued. I'm glad I left and am now working in the flight deck.
In stark contrast I flew the new BA Club World the other day and it was exceptional, even flying through T5 was a positive experience for me! Yes, the crew may have been a bit older, but they were superb and took a great deal of time to introduce themselves to me individually and have an engaging conversation. There is no comparison. Which is sad, because I had always hoped to return to VS in the RHS but now my ambitions have changed and I want to go to BA.
Here's hoping something is done quickly to reverse the downturn, there are some wonderful people at Virgin and they don't deserve the crap they have to endure for delivering a substandard product.