What's up with VA lately

[RodH]

I have had several of my family suffer quite severe disruptions over the last week with flights from BNE
On Friday flight from BNE to Christchurch went U/S and was cancelled , family re-routed via Melbourne with a 9 hr. transit before setting of to Christchurch.
Last Sat. night the A330 went U/S and the flight to Perth was cancelled , passengers put up in the Soffitel. Next morning check in computers went down and chaos followed .
Yesterday A330 flight to Perth over 1hr late leaving.
There seems to be a lot of these things occurring lately according to the " posts per page " on VA's facebook.
Is there a worsening problem within VA or is it just one of those things that does happen?
It does look like it's quite common but maybe that's just the way Airlines are running these days having to face heavy traffic and lack of sufficient facilities.


:confused::confused:

[Wedcue]

Did a bit of googling:

http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/files/BITRE_OTP_Report_April_2014.pdf

Shows Virgin is the 2nd last for time performance
Shows Virgin has the 2nd highest % of flight cancellations.
This is comparing all 7 domestic operations.

Things not so rosey? More capital raising will be needed soon I think.

[Servo]

If you believe the official information passed on, then everything is just peachy.

The more things change, the more they stay the same :{

[t_cas]

I thought the Saturday night BNE PER was a 737 service.

[The Golden Rivet]

XFA and XFB p.o.s

[PoppaJo]

Those two old ex EK A330s are going end if this year.

[fruitloop]

" lack of sufficient facilities".
Got it in one.......

[The Golden Rivet]

Sooner the better!!

[RAD_ALT_ALIVE]

Hmmmm...I wonder where they're going to go.

[Eastwest Loco]

Sounds fairly normal to me.

Passengers have been re-accommodated with delays in some cases and in others at decent hotels.

Aeroplanes break - and in this day and age airlines can't afford to carry operational spares.

This sort of stuff is becoming more visible because of Facebook, Twitter and the like but has been there for years.

All airlines make themselves a potential victim of computer failure these days as nobody seems able to pull out a manual load and trim sheet and a seat sticker sheet but to have people able to do this would require training and for people to take responsibility which would cost all of the airlines money.

Aint gonna happen!

Virgin is no better or worse than QF but at least both still take the ball and take care of passengers when something goes U/S.

Best all

EWL

[Judd]

Is there a worsening problem within VA or is it just one of those things that does happen?


Heard on the grapevine several weeks back a whole bunch of FA's suddenly called in sick over a space of an hour. Continued industrial problem, maybe?

[Servo]

Not only the cabin crew Judd, but morale within flight crew ranks is pretty low as well. All managements fault. There is the usual personalities running flight ops, questionable decisions and appointments as well as the use of fear and intimidation from EVERY level.

Court case should be soon.

Will be interesting to see how much spin is put on the employee survey results :E

[zim2uk]

Flight deck morale low? Really? I don't know what fleet the previous poster is on but I've seen no evidence of this, granted progression has stopped and commands are possibly over a decade away but it's still a pretty good lifestyle on VA domestic. However I encourage all those ahead of me on the pilot list with 'low morale' to vote with their feet..... :} I'm sure The Middle East would love to have you....

[benjam]

I agree with zim2uk.

All good as far as I can see/hear.

[34R]

Not sure about your flight deck Servo but mine have been fine!

[Vis 10k Plus]

Agree totally with the previous 3 posters.

[Dehavillanddriver]

Servo I thought flight ops has had a fairly major change in people over the last year or so.

What questionable appointments and decisions do you mean?

It is interesting to see how different people perceive things differently.

[porch monkey]

I think servo is referring to the previous management, who were embroiled in some fairly outrageous goings on. he is correct in that it isn't over yet. Not all of the personalities involved have fallen on their swords yet. As far as morale, I can't agree with his statement. Keeping in mind tho, that we aren't in the honeymoon period anymore either......

[Dragun]

I would say morale in the flight deck is excellent. People rarely complain more often verbalise how happy they are in the job!

[Berealgetreal]

AND you get a discount at the Apple store. Coool..

[ccrew]

VA's CEO has made it very clear he wants a high turn over of crew. Morale is at the lowest it has ever been, and the company is not interested in fixing it. Why are flights being canned? crewing... crew are going sick, they are going fatigued, they are quitting at a higher rate than ever before.

I wonder if they will even publish the People Survey results, it will be that bad.

[Falling Leaf]

By 'crew', you are obviously referring to cabin crew.

[RodH]

Is VA giving up the fight with Qantas out of BNE on the Perth service ? It seems to be the case as 3 out of 4 direct flights from BNE. are now B737 and nearly all PER-BNE flights are B737 and the only A330 flight to Perth is late in the evening , not much good to business men!!
VA's facebook page has a lot of very disgruntled passenger comments about the down grading of service from a wide body to a narrow body. This is particularly the case in Business Class. The poor old B737 is not a patch on the A330 for passenger comfort and when one considers that QF have around 5 flights/day with wide body aircraft why would anyone bother to fly VA on a narrow body when there is the option of a wide body with QF.
VA's response on the facebook page to Post section is that the downgrade is due to demand so it seems that VA is suffering a bit.
It's quite a shame if that's the case as it's a great Airline to fly with but when one looks at the options it's not real good for VA.
If you want to go to Perth on a wide body with VA during the day then one has to go via Sydney or Melbourne. Some might say its a bit of a whinge but when one is paying good money to fly Business Class one should expect better service that is available on a wide body aircraft. Of course the other option is to fly QF but that would be a drastic move on my part in my opinion.
:(:(:{:{

[1A_Please]

the downgrade is due to demand so it seems that VA is suffering a bit.
Both QF and VA have suffered poor loads on their A332 services between BNE and PER. QF have scheduled 763s on this route a number of times and it looks like VA have also realised that the A332 is too much plane for the route. The 738 is a bit of a come-down from the A332 in J class but it isn't much different from the J class on QF's 763s or domestic A332s.

Hopefully this is a sign that there is a bit of common sense returning to both airlines after the stupid capacity wars of the past 18 months.

[Transition Layer]

The late Qantas flight BNE-PER (ironically numbered QF767) is now operated by a 737 on a number of days, midweek included. Qantas is definitely not an exclusive wide body operator on the route either anymore.

With the Sky Interior set-up used almost exclusively on this route, the product offering isn't too bad when compared with the 330.

[puff]

What do you do, run it empty because the opposition is? JQ pulled out because of poor loads....we have a massive overcapacity in the market in Australia on some routes that aren't sustainable - look at the bottom line of all the operators in Australia, the only winner currently is the public.

[CAR42ZE]

Also, don't forget on VAs side that both the 2 original A330s are out, aren't they? One already gone, the other in Tulla for off-lease work did I hear? That would affect their ability to spread the A330s around to the less profitable routes even if they wanted to...

[INeedTheFull90]

These things happen. Didn't QF make passengers sleep on the floor in LAX last week due to a tech fault and a 24 hour delay. That's on top of the watergate flight the month earlier.

[Square Bear]

INeedTheFull90

Nice attempt at deflection, but some of us are here as the title is.. "What's up with VA lately".

Why not start your own thread if you want to promote another agenda.

[Berealgetreal]

The poor old B737 is not a patch on the A330 for passenger comfort


Poor old 73 puts food on the table for about 8000 people and probably for the entire QF group.

[RodH]

That may well be the case but it does not change the fact that the A330 is far better than the B737 for passenger comfort. I am not disputing that the B737 or indeed the A320 are both great aeroplanes and fulfill an important role in Airlines but one can hardly compare them with an A330 that is fitted with new style seats.
If you were paying the same dollar to fly to Perth in Business Class which one would you choose given the opportunity???
I very much doubt it would be the B737.
As was mentioned earlier perhaps part of the reason for downgrading the flights to a B737 is the fact that one or two of the older leased A330's are no longer in service and VA no longer have the capacity to use an A330.
Maybe the A330 will come back more regularly on this route when VA get their latest new A330's.
Until then if I want to fly to Perth with VA during the day it's via Sydney which I am doing in Oct.
It's my choice !!
;);)

[puff]

Amazing how spoilt the public are in Australia - over in the US you are flat out to find anyone doing transcon's in widebodies anymore, all with no meals as well, least the airlines in the USA are making money, for now at least

[porch monkey]

There won't be any more A 330's added, Rod. The fleet will stay at 6, where it is now. However, there may, (or may not) be an interesting development around Friday next.....:eek:

[Blutack]

VA doesn't have an electronic means of collecting park brake release times. It is up to the crew to relay their times. 99% of the time the crew say "off blocks on time". It's not an accurate system in a LCC environment.

[Hugh Jarse]

Incorrect.

Most of the fleet are ACARS equipped. This number is increasing as new fleet units arrive :E

[ad-astra]

Blueback you seem to be THE authority on what happens at Virgin Australia.

Not!

From my experience crews advise an accurate OBT.

In any case your accurate off blocks times that you are so concerned about can just as easily be corrupted by releasing that pesky park brake at the scheduled departure time with the ACARS celebrating another on time departure.

How about we keep to the facts.