[brissyflyer]

Originally Posted by munitalP

To add insult to injury, FERAL Blue want $20.00 from me to update my preferences on the velocity website

I have 2 flights booked for the near future on FERAL, these I promise will be the last


Mr!

Out of interest I had a look and there is a $20 charge IF you opt for your statement to be mailed to you instead of emailed.

So the way I see it if you change your preference to paper statements then yes you will be charged $20.

[jso]

Hmm. Two thoughts. Background: I am biased strongly in Virgin's favour for any domestic travel so I will keep it short to avoid a major flame war.

Every time I have asked or paid for an exit row I was always asked "In the unlikely event of an emergency are you willing and able blah, blah, blah" at the check in. I could not get my ticket with out going through a verbal confirmation.

I am not 100% but I do believe virgin blue did upgrade gold passengers to premium economy on a flight from PQQ to SYD on an e170. Although I have no proof they were gold and not just randomly selected. I would suggest VB will not upgrade after the door is closed due to their over the top safety policy (eg no phones because we will be refueling in 15 minutes time and they must track everyone seat number).

I will say that QantasLink exceeds VB for service, but haven't been impressed flying stock standard domestic qantas.

[thegurio]

IME I find there to be not much difference between QF and DJ with the exception that DJ's staff are generally younger. I have never had an issue with anything and everything has always been easy to do. This is with the experience of about 15 - 20 flights a year on them. I always get what i want and like has been said earlier, i dont expect much as i dont pay much. With QF, as far as im concerned, I pay a premium and therefore expect better standard of service which i really dont get. But like antything, its what makes a market place and im than happy to keep flying them.

[Sunstar320]

Do they always seat parents with kiddies down towards the back, because of baby change table facilites???

and...when doing online checkin I was on at the first available minute, yet 80% of the plane was already selected. Is this how it all works on Virgin?? Id rather pay for a seat selecter thanks, which is another reason I stick to my ever favourite JQ...

[ishkaban]

Originally Posted by jso

I am not 100% but I do believe virgin blue did upgrade gold passengers to premium economy on a flight from PQQ to SYD on an e170. Although I have no proof they were gold and not just randomly selected. I would suggest VB will not upgrade after the door is closed due to their over the top safety policy (eg no phones because we will be refueling in 15 minutes time and they must track everyone seat number).

In the e jets the only difference between the regular seats and PE seats is the actual leather seats, they do not expand like the the 737 seats, so I guess its not a "true" upgrade if it was one

my understanding of VB's strict refuelling policy is that apart from the possible chance of mobile electronic interference with fuel, eg fire, ignition etc, in general, passengers are asked to switch off electronic equipment as VB refuel while passengers are onboard. I believe J* & QF refuel while a/c is empty.

I am also of the understanding that on the 737 800's while refuelling is taking place upon boarding, that a crew member must be in the overwing area in case of an emergency, and to operate overwing exits

[Mal]

Originally Posted by ishkaban

I believe J* & QF refuel while a/c is empty.

Nah, both Qantas and Jetstar will re-fuel when passengers are onboard, but it's not their preference. Two examples from my travels:

QF - Turnaround and landing at airport. More fuel needed. Passengers advised to unlatch seat belts while fuelling occurs.
JQ - More fuel needed due to possible fog near destination. Passengers onboard while more fuel added. Can't recall if seatbelts were requested to be on or off.

[ishkaban]

def makes sense to have the seat belt unfastened, just incase you need to get off in a hurry!!

[oz_mark]

Originally Posted by Mal

Nah, both Qantas and Jetstar will re-fuel when passengers are onboard, but it's not their preference. Two examples from my travels:

QF - Turnaround and landing at airport. More fuel needed. Passengers advised to unlatch seat belts while fuelling occurs.
JQ - More fuel needed due to possible fog near destination. Passengers onboard while more fuel added. Can't recall if seatbelts were requested to be on or off.

Certainly when QF have taken on more fuel ("to increase our options when we get to Perth") its always been unlatched seatbelts

[munitalP]

As the OP, I should have pointed out that the flight to Newcastle was booked ultra last minute - it was not a cheap flight, in fact was the fully flexi fare FERAL Blue offers. I wonder what the difference in cost to PE would have been.

To the comment about checking my BP for seat allocation when I got issued the BP, I didn't. In hindsight, the eye candy didn't mention the emergency exit procedure and that should have heightened my awareness of not having the exit row.

I guess that comes with being complacent with getting BP's with the volume of flights I do a year. I normally don't fly in exit rows, if in Y I have forward isle seating whenever I fly. Row 5, 6 or 7 doesn't worry me so I don't make a point of checking (or low 20's on a 76) - it just always happens... (well 97-98% of the time anyway)

This airline is a cheap nasty bunch of metal flying in the Australian airspace, who have pilots who seem to be in training, FA's so inexperienced they don't have the ability to deal with minor issues - God help anyone in a real emergency and a service that lacks in every respect that I would fail to call it a service.

Mr!

[serfty]

Originally Posted by munitalP

As the OP, ...

Go on - tell us what you really think!