Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Other Aircrew Forums > Cabin Crew
Reload this Page >

Just GOT Virgin!!

Wikiposts
Search
Cabin Crew Where professional flight attendants discuss matters that affect our jobs & lives.

Just GOT Virgin!!

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 10th May 2002, 10:18
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: The South
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Smile Just GOT Virgin!!

Well I finally got the Job of my dreams this morning after hearing from Virgin at last. Had my interview 3 weeks ago so I really thought I hadn't got it, but in my case 3rd time lucky! Just wanted to say thanks for all the responses to my posts about interviews etc it really did help in the end. I also hope that to all those who may have not been quite so fortunate it just proves that determination is the key element try-try again and you will get there in the end! Hope to see you out on the line soon in my new "silver dream machine" and happy/safe flying to everyone else! BYE!!
theunknown is offline  
Old 10th May 2002, 11:25
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: AKL
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Talking

CONGRATULATIONS!! Well done for you to taste rejection twice and keep persevering! I bet success will be even more sweeter!

I'm waiting on tenterhooks for Emirates to call me, having been successful in getting thru to the final interview in their selection process. Last interview didn't go that well, but I'm trying to keep my chin up! Another 3-4 weeks to wait though! ARGH!

Anyway, hope you don't disappear from the forum! Congrats again!
koru_kid is offline  
Old 10th May 2002, 12:40
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Sydney
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Congrats on your job. While Dj is the topics can anyone tell me what staff travel benefits they get?
stewardess007 is offline  
Old 10th May 2002, 12:50
  #4 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Guys its always great to hear good news like this for all you that dont get in first attempt keep trying had 36 interviews for BA and never gave up just kept on at it.

Good luck to you all and happy flying



Gotta-FOnow is offline  
Old 10th May 2002, 19:46
  #5 (permalink)  

Wicked Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: I-
Posts: 575
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Congratulations theunknown
Xenia is offline  
Old 10th May 2002, 19:51
  #6 (permalink)  
Moderator
 
Join Date: Feb 1998
Location: Europe
Posts: 3,051
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Welcome to the World of the Weird and Wonderfuls theunknown!
Well done, here's wishing you a long and happy career!
f40
flapsforty is offline  
Old 10th May 2002, 21:17
  #7 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: N.Ireland
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thumbs up Congratulations!

Congratulations on the Virgin job - you must be over the moon!! Good for you! Unfortunately I got a rejection letter from them yesterday but it was my first attempt with Virgin and I'm pleased to have got so far. I just received a Britannia contract this morning so that will be good experience for my next attempt with VS!

Hope to hear all about your experiences!
Good Luck! ENJOY!

Lou xx
AtlanticAngel is offline  
Old 10th May 2002, 22:08
  #8 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: LHR
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Congratulations on the job.

I am trying to persuade my girlfriend to keep trying even though I dont understand, at all, how thier recruitment works.

She has had 6 interviews and has been accepted to the final stage 5 times but still with no success.

I just dont understand.

Any advice?

Last edited by The - Elite; 10th May 2002 at 23:12.
The - Elite is offline  
Old 11th May 2002, 05:25
  #9 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: perth
Posts: 59
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Well done. It must be a fantastic feeling. I had my first group interview with DJ in Perth on Teusday had a ball , fantastic bunch of people in my group. No matter what happens I enjoyed the expeirence.
Hope to see you in the sky's one day.
kjay is offline  
Old 13th May 2002, 04:30
  #10 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Sydney
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Congrats on getting virgin mate, hope your dancing shoes are ready!

Koru_kid...I'm also waiting to hear back from emirates...it's been 5 weeks for me now...
Email me and compare stories!

Cheers
jackiechan is offline  
Old 15th May 2002, 05:35
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: the milkyway galaxy
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
i just got my rejection letter.. oh well persistence pays off just as the 'theunknow' says, ill just have to reapply in another 6 months!!!!
flightbunny is offline  
Old 15th May 2002, 10:41
  #12 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: perth
Posts: 59
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I too just got my rejection letter. So its back to the drawing board for me. Australian Airlines is next.
kjay is offline  
Old 16th May 2002, 18:25
  #13 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: BN
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Exclamation Re: Just GOT Virgin!!

Hi There!

So Sorry to hear you got into Virgin! Having work on the 'Silver Dream Machine' for three years now, I can tell you it's not all that it's cracked up to be.

Where do i begin?

So you think you are going to be working for a great company now! Forget it! Virgin has to be the most hated company i know! They work you to the bone and all that for a pathetic wage. Unless you live with daddy and he can pay for your bills then maybe you will be one of the lucky few to be able to spend your allowances downroute. Everyone has to save there allowances just to be able to afford a way of life! So be ready for miserible trips away with crew that are so pissed off and frustrated with their wage and being broke!
Lets suppose you want to use your concessions to take a desserved holiday! If you are lucky to get on a flight on standby and not get upgraded even though there are spaces in upper class, you have to contend with Horrible bitter cabin crew that hate you coz you are travelling for free and they have to serve you! You are made to feel like you shouldn't be there and dare you ask for anything more than a glass of water!
Coz you see there is this 'back stabbing' type of enviroment in Virgin. Everyone is out for their own! So much sucking up to Pursers and IFSs just to get ahead and be Fasttracked! It is very rare you fly with someone who is genuine and nice! They are false and fake and are not one bit interested in you but just gossip about you! They form opinions about you even if they have never met you.
Management in Virgin are just promoted Cabin crew that haven't a clue about management of personal affairs! If you get into difficulties at home, you get the feeling that they just don't care! You can never get through to your assigned line manager coz they are always away on holiday.
I could go on and on but my advise to you is to dump your contract with them and get a better job! There is nothing about this job that could be described as 'Dream Job'! It's a nightmare!
But i guess you have to find it out for yourself! Maybe after a while it will all make sence but by which time it maybe too late!

I wish you all the best and GOOD LUCK coz you are going to need it!
padder is offline  
Old 16th May 2002, 22:07
  #14 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Obviously "the unknown" you will soon be able to make up your own mind however my advice would be to ignore the bitter and twisted comments above. Whenever you get good news there is always somebody waiting to try and spoilt it for you.

I've worked for Virgin for five years and if it was half as bad as "padder" is saying then I would have left a long time ago. Morale is lower than usual at the moment because there was no pay rise this year.

I don't live with daddy and I've got a mortgage as have many of my colleagues. I certainly do not spend all of my time downroute in my hotel room watching every penny of my allowances. I have had many fantastic trips with genuine people and have established some great friendships.

I've used my staff travel on many occasions and have always been upgraded to Premium Economy or Upper Class when there is space available. The crew cannot possibly treat you any differently as a staff passenger because the revenue passengers would notice.

There is not a backstabbing environment. As you will find in every company there are a small minority who are self centred. Let's face it not everybody gets on with everybody however "false and fake gossips" are very few and far between.

My Crew Line Manager has been very helpful and supportive.

"Padder" if you are really as unhappy with the job as you sound then LEAVE. It's as simple as that.
High as a Kite is offline  
Old 17th May 2002, 05:30
  #15 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: London
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I've been at Virgin over 5 years and I have to agree with Padder, quite spot on actually!

I am part time, so use the job for my own purposes, mainly to get a free trip to Abercrombie and Fitch each month! Certainly not for the money! I couldn't do 6 flights a month, it was torture, and part time got me a life!

Virgin isn't a career, that's for sure and it designed mainly around a few years of fun in your early twenties, then they want you out!
However, the fun has been hard to come by these last couple of years.

High as a Kite, well done on the mortgage, it's no easy task when the salary of IFS, the highest rank you can achieve in Virgin, pays not much more than 17,000 pounds. And that can take 8 years!
Wait till you retire and see the pension! There basically isn't one, another way they design the job just for the young. It has long been a standing joke in the Industry how poorly paid and treated Virgin crew are, and it's true. I mean if Airtours are paid more, it must be bad!

Also High as a Kite, you cannot deny that the general opinion amongst most crew is that the Crew Line Manager position is an overpaid joke. I have many experiences of not being able to contact them due to 'training days', which means they are in Barbados!

When you do speak to them, it is only when they want to give you a hard time or find a reason not to pay you your pittance! They are no use when it comes to your own personal problems.

Also, you cannot deny that many groundstaff do all possible to find an excuse not to onload you on standby flights, or at least be EXTREMELY rude. And as Padder says, is it worth being upgraded as I too have experienced the cold end of the Upper Class service. There are also numerous memos on having to behave, as if we wouldn't! It's like being back at school.

The many friends that you mention are probably the crew from that best trip ever that you did and then they can't even remember your name by the next time you fly together, instead refering to you as 'darlin' until they get a sneak at your name badge! It's quite funny really. Don't tell me you haven't exchanged numbers and never heard from them again? Virgin is too big and impersonal to have good friends.

The crewing and rostering department are another famous joke, friends in BA stand back and laugh at the stories that they hear.
For the unknown, you won't have to stay in your room when you do a 20hour Cape Town night stop as it isn't worth saving the 30 quid that they pay you for the nightmare!

Turning up for your nice trip to Hong Kong will all go wrong when you have to hide under desks from the check in girls who will order you to go to Lagos or somwhere else you definitely DIDN'T pack for or take tablets for!

I have just returned from Hong Kong, one of the mose exciting cities in the world. The crew all went to bed, to save their allowances to go shopping at the markets! Padder is spot on again.

I have taken friends from BA on trips, had them sit in Economy and the crew are so bitchy to them. On a recent flight from LA, the IFS briefed the crew to watch out for some BA crew on holiday. "I want NO messing from them in 56 D E F and G" Why are they like that? BA crew are so nice to staff when we fly with them. We were told that the IFS would sort them out if they stepped out of line. They were the nicest passengers you could wish for, yet were treated like leppers!

I don't understand some of the things that go on in VIrgin. Padder is quite right about backstabbing and creeping to get fast tracked. It's awful. If your face fits, you do OK. If not, the HUGE turnover of crew is testament to all that Padder said!

Ask yourself why they are recruiting now after laying off 600 crew 7 months ago. Because people don't want to come back and the rest are so fed up that many are leaving. Good luck anyway! There is only one way to find out, as the many that leave Virgin will tell you!
dickyflys is offline  
Old 17th May 2002, 10:09
  #16 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: London
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Funnily enough, after writing my reply, I read in the Daily Mirror that the cabin crew union within Virgin Atlantic, Cabin Crew 89, is planning Industrial action within the company, mentioning the reason as "Pay freezes <since day 1 of the company if you ask me!>, Working conditions and age discrimination"

There are no annual pay increments to promote loyalty, and pay rises when they have occured have bearly managed to match inflation.

Oh I forgot! Our Christmas presents! Yes I knew there was a reason we worked for Branson! He sent us a nice Virgin Mobile phone, to make more money out of us! I gave up with mine, as with every Virgin product <the Upper Class seat/PLANK> It's all about looking good and a LOT of hype and spin! They don't work!
dickyflys is offline  
Old 17th May 2002, 12:27
  #17 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: BN
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
High as a Kite!

Dear me! Five years! Congratulations for sticking it out for that long! Did you get a Virgin desk clock for your lengthy years service last Christmas? Oh No, you only get that if you have been here for more than 10 years! I can't wait? Can you?

No really I can't wait, so i'm off to better things! I don't have to take the advise from someone who sounds like they are on drugs! I'm leaving because i have changed since i've worked for this crap company! I have become bitter and i admit it! My reply may have sounded bitter but that's how much hatred i feel for Virgin!

It interests me that you call yourself after G-VPUF as in Puff!?

I'm giving my advise to 'the Unknown'! I think it's a good start you decided to name yourself the unknown coz get used to it! That's all you become in Virgin... Unknown and uncared for! If you had any sence you would go and work for a proper company like BA! Dickyflys, at least i know we work for the same company! High as a kite must be on drugs! Virgin will only make you bitter, wind you up and frustrate you and make you seriously Broke!!! Get a new job!!!!!!

I am! And it's a career with benefits to die for! Literally!

Stay sane!
padder is offline  
Old 17th May 2002, 17:46
  #18 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
No, I'm not on drugs! I've had jobs in the past that I've hated with companies who are uncaring. Believe me, if I thought Virgin was like that I would have left a long time ago.

Everybody is told about the pay when offered the job. If they consider it too low then the solution is simple - do not sign the contract. Then the job can be offered to somebody who does want it.

Good luck to you Padder with your new career. The grass is always greener on the other side (or so many people think). Perhaps you will now earn enough to purchase some of those drugs that you seem so obsessed about....................
High as a Kite is offline  
Old 17th May 2002, 18:11
  #19 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
dickflys - I stand by my original comments. Just to clarify a few things:-

Six flights a month is not torture.

I am not in my twenties (early or otherwise) and neither are a lot of the people I work with.

The friends I have made are from a number of excellent trips I have done over the years. I speak to them and see them regularly out of work. I can honestly say that I've never had the experience of exchanging numbers from someone and not hearing from them again.

So many people see BA as the promised land and hold it up as a shining example. You mention that BA crew have a good laugh when they hear about our Crewing and Rostering. They get TWO trip requests a year compared to our TWELVE and most months they have to do a back-to-back. It takes years and years and years to get any seniority within rank. If people believe that BA is so wonderful and Virgin is so awful then why not hold out for that job offer from BA in the first place??
High as a Kite is offline  
Old 18th May 2002, 04:27
  #20 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Greece...
Age: 52
Posts: 151
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Don't want to break your debate but I NEVER READ PPRUNERS COMMENTS/COMPLAINS ABT WORKING FOR VIRGIN BLUE HERE IN OZ... Virgin in the UK might be another story...

Just wanted to mention that.


Mrs. FJ
FloatJockey is offline  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.