Credit where credit is due I reckon. When Virgin Blue first started I was an immediate “swapper” from QANTAS as I also did when Virgin Mobile came out as well as Virgin Money. You may well glean from this I am a fan of Sir Dicky, and you’d be right. I love the flair, bon vivant-yness, enthusiasm and all that stuff that makes up the successes. And hey, he gave Mike Oldfield his break; what’s not to like?

I can say the same for Lord Alan Sugar, and the Dragon’s Den team too just quietly.

The Virgin brand lost its sparkle over time as their telecommunications division became patchy in service, and the interest rates of the credit card side tended toward uncompetitive. Virgin Blue I kept using for short haul Sydney-Melb flights, but for my more regular Perth-Sydney-Perth jaunts, QANTAS came back into favour initially as they had the quicker 747s and then simply as my frequent flyer points grew, I could afford to do the Biz Class thing (once you have experienced Business Class, you NEVER want to go back).

However today, I am being flown to Sydney on Virgin Australia courtesy of the nice Mr Canon and I have been put in the Premium Economy section – seat 3F to be exact. As I have normally been put on QANTAS, I am guessing this was a failsafe due to the recent staff lock out thing, as Canon is having a super-secret-squirrel launch tomorrow of something I am not aware as yet, and therefore as a world famous tech journo and publisher (joke folks) they require my presence.

And I have almost been turned back to Virgin. There is another 90 minutes left in the flight and so far my experiences are:

Airport Lounge: So-so. Only one person on the desk and had to wait 5 minutes while the passenger in front of me had a flight changed. Noisy workers vacuuming and hammering behind a curtain 5 minutes away. Food selection a bit ordinary, and getting a self-serve coffee a bit of a mystery (there is no self-serve coffee. There is a machine behind the unattended bar. This was 10:30am. And only one service person in sight who kept disappearing into the bowels behind a wall.

Wireless access fine

PA announcements muffled and unintelligible. I guessed that as my flight was boarding at 10:50, that might be a good time to go to the gate. I was right. If I had waited to hear an announcement, problems I fear would have followed.

Initial welcome on board was pretty standard fare, except everyone called me “Mr Hag-U-Ee”. Whilst I accept it is not that common a name, The Hague in Holland is sort of well known, and this IS an airline. Complimentary champagne, juice or water (sparkling or still) at sit down was appreciated.

Seating. Brilliant. Nothing more to be said.

Menu. All the food on the menu was available but the complete wine list was not. Only 3 out of around 8 wines were offered. Still, the Chalkers Crossing Sauvignon Blanc was not a bad drop. I had the grilled Ocean Trout and it was a bit dry, but quite palatable indeed. The side salad was just a mixture of lettuces with some sort of poky vinaigrette, but again quite palatable. I was offered the cheese board, but declined (“for the moment thanks”) but was never asked again, the only really blot in the service really.

Service. If Sir Richard himself had been on board, I don’t reckon it could have been any better - excepting the above comment- he wasn’t, there were only three of us in Premium Economy/Business. I suppose he MIGHT on occasion be in cattle class …..  A complimentary Bvlgari bag was offered with toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm, moisturiser and ‘le perfume’. Noice.  Tip: Business is the front row and the only difference is the centre row has only 2 seats not 3.

Entertainment: This was a brand new Airbus A330 and there were seat back screens, but looking at the program, it is very limited compared to QANTAS. No headsets were offered and there is no seat power or USB power (that I could find anyway), so make sure your laptop etc is fully powered and good for, in my case, 4 hours over and 5 hours back. I use an HP Mininote 5103 and it was fine.

Verdict?

Not yet. When I get my bags off, I’ll make up my final mind. So far though, it is certainly comparable to QANTAS in the air, if not better but ground service, especially in the Business Lounge left a little to be desired. I am flying back (sadly) in cattle, so it will be interesting to see what that brings in comparison.

Postscript: From landing to getting the bags was 40 minutes, so not quite up to par there …. Getting a taxi at Sydney airport domestic is a whole other story however. Simply horrible 40 mins +

By David Hague

David is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He lives at Sydney's Avalon Beaches nearly on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety, fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com