"It makes the company look a bit 'Low Cost'. Quite an appropriate image for them in my opinion. My last flight with them was hopefully my last Virgin flight ever. Awful service"
Are you refering to your last flight as an F/O with Virgin Atlantic? Since departing you have never been able to resist the opportunity to use these forums to spread a little vitriol Virgin`s way. It`s been a few years now, maybe it`s time to relax and just let it go...
No. I enjoyed my last flight working for them. I'm refering to my last passenger flight. I live in a city served by VS and frequently took flights with them back to the UK when we had to travel full fare. Over the years we have noticed a steady drop in the standard of service. The last flight we took was about a year ago on the way back from London and it was one of the worst long haul flights in my memory. We checked in at LHR at one of the automatic points, got referrred to the desk as there was a problem with our booking (not of our making) where we received a less than friendly reception. On board, the food was inedible and the service indifferent. In between services, the cabin crew were nowhere to be found and getting a drink, even water was self service from the galley. And the new seats are very uncomfortable with less pich than before. We vowed it would be our last flight with VS unless there was no other choice.
I know from speaking with my friends in VS that Flight Deck Crew morale is at rock bottom and this seems to be endemic throughout the company. I met a friend off the VS flight a few months ago. He was travelling on a SUBLO J ticket, but had to travel in Y. He had been in VS as a Captain for over 20 years and also a manager, he said he was shocked to find out how bad things have become. We both agreed that VS was heading towards the low cost standard.
Hence my comment.
It used to be a great service, I was very happy to fly with them as a passenger in the past. But now they are my last choice between LHR and HKG.
As for the 'Vitriol', I won't give it a rest. VS used to be the best airline in the UK to work for. That changed after 9/11 and the way the pilot workforce was treated then was apalling. The memory of that will never fade, and as something similar happened in the latest round of redundancies - the bad feeling is still there. When someone comes on these forums all starry eyed at the thought of working for VS, they need to be remined that it is an airline like any other and will hire and fire as soon as the wind changes.