Our Virgin Boeing 737-800 plane on the tarmac at Coolangatta Airport on the Gold Coast
Excited to be spending a few days at the Gold Coast with our eldest daughter on her Birthday, we booked our flights with Virgin who were offering departure times that best suited us along with reasonable prices.
Airline and Flight #
Virgin Australia| VA 1695
Aircraft
Boeing 737-800
Departing Airport and Terminal
Canberra Airport | Domestic Terminal
One of the pieces of art installed inside the Canberra Airport
Standing in front of an old Lockheed Hudson Bomber inside the Canberra Airport
Scheduled Departure Date and Time
Friday 3rd August | 8:50pm
Flying Time
1hr 30mins
Luggage Allowance
Checked Luggage
For passengers with no Velocity membership or just the basic Velocity membership (Red), one piece of luggage weighing no more than 23kg is allowed free of charge. Measurements must not exceed a total linear dimension (length + width + height) of 140cm (55 inches).
Carry on
All passengers flying domestic are permitted 7kg of carry-on luggage plus one personal item. Carry-on luggage can be two pieces (48cm long x 34cm wide x 23cm deep) with total linear dimensions of 105cm. Or it can be one small bag plus a suit pack or garment bag. Personal items include those items such as slim laptops, handbags, umbrellas, overcoats etc.
Fun Facts
- Virgin Australia was awarded Best Airline and Best Airline Staff in Australia/Pacific at the 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards and 13th in the World Top Airline list.
- VA are the only airline to offer WiFi for all Trans-Tasman flights
- The airline is based in Bowen Hills, Brisbane Queensland
- Virgin Australia was known as Virgin Blue and started off as a low-cost carrier
- VA is not part of either of the three airline alliances but has it’s own frequent flyer program called Velocity.
Website
Virgin Australia’s website can be found at VirginAustralia.com. I actually didn’t book flights through the website as I found cheaper ones on Skyscanner. This led me to Bestjet.com.
Check-in
Check-in for domestic flights can be done in either of the two following ways:
Online
- via desktop, tablet or mobile devices using VA’s online check-in portal
- check-in opens 48 hours prior to scheduled flight departure and closes 45 minutes prior to departure
At the Airport
- by using the self check-in kiosk (located at airports in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Gold Coast). Just enter your 6 letter boarding reference and your flight details will be brought up. You can select your seats if you haven’t done so already as well as print off your boarding passes and bag tags.
- If you are connecting to an international flight, travelling in a large group or requiring additional assistance then check-in should be completed no less than 60 minutes prior to your scheduled departure time.
You must check in at the counter if you have a connecting international flight, have special needs or are travelling in a large group
Check-in using one of the self-service kiosks also allows you to select your seat and print off boarding passes and bag tags
Seating
I thought the seats looked quite attractive with their dark grey leather and the alternating light grey, maroon and purple head rests. There are 176 seats in a 3-3 configuration with 138 Economy seats, 30 Economy X or Premium Economy seats and 8 Business class seats. We were seated in row 10 of 30.
Seat pitch in Economy was 76 cm (30 inches) whilst seat width was 43 cm (17 inches). There is 10 cm (4 inches) of recline. Leg room was OK for the short flight whilst the seats were quite narrow. The head rests felt too far forward making the seats rather uncomfortable. There were no footrests on this plane and no pillows, headphones or blankets although these could be purchased on longer flights.
As the flight was delayed coming in, there was limited time to clean the aircraft and as a result, our trays were not the cleanest.
The leather seats had adjustable head and arm rests and looked quite smart
There wasn’t a lot to see out the window as it was dark and raining
The tray table and seat pocket were pretty standard
Cabin Comfort
The narrow seats and the head rests which came too far forward made the flight a bit uncomfortable.
The usual lights and fan above your head if you want the reading light on or some air on you
The headrests came too far forward actually making the seats rather uncomfortable
In-flight Entertainment
Electronic Devices
Mobile phones can be used when embarking and disembarking using the aerobridge and whilst on the plane until the last door is closed. Then mobile devices must be switched to flight mode.
Power
There were no power outlets on board this flight.
Reading Material
Voyeur is Virgin Australia’s magazine which is found in the seat pocket in front and can also be downloaded and viewed from your device. There is also a copy of the menu and the safety card.
A copy of the menu, safety card and Virgin’s inflight magazine can be found in the seat pocket in front of you
WiFi
You can access WiFi through your device after ensuring it has been put into flight mode. Connect to the VirginAustralia network and launch your browser. If it doesn’t connect automatically, type in airborne.gogoinflight.com. You can then choose the package that suits you.
Entertainment System
Complimentary in-flight entertainment is provided on board the flight for you to download on your own device prior to the flight. It allows access to hundreds of hours of movies, TV shows and music. There are no screens on board the flight.
Catering
Menus
I thought the menus on board our Virgin flight were attractive and contained a range of mostly healthy items to eat and drink in addition to alcoholic beverages and items like blankets and ear buds. All items in the menu you had to pay for although there was a complimentary snack and drink handed out too.
The menus were attractive and contained a range of snacks and beverages along with their price
Cookies and beverages for sale
Some of the food, drink and other options on the menu
More snacks and drinks to choose from
Food/Drinks
About half an hour into the flight, tea, coffee, orange juice and water was served along with a snack from the Delectable Dairy. This pack included a few dried apricots, a few walnuts, three squares of cheese and three cracker biscuits. As we had already eaten dinner, I found this to be a most suitable supper.
Virgin cabin crew handed out a complimentary snack and drinks
I enjoyed this healthy and tasty snack on our one and a half hour flight
Restrooms
There were two restrooms located at the rear of the plane and one at the front for Business class passengers. The restrooms were small and it appeared the sink may have been a bit blocked in the one I checked out. Apart from hand soap there were no other amenities aside from the usual toilet paper, tissues, paper towel etc.
Not a lot of space inside the restrooms of the VIrgin 737-800
Blocked sink inside the restroom on Virgin
The toilet inside the restroom
Service
I don’t know if it was because it was late at night or the flight had been delayed but the cabin crew didn’t appear overly happy or full of enthusiasm. The service with handing out drinks and snacks was fast and efficient.
Pros
- The price was more affordable than the other full service carrier
- A complimentary snack and non-alcoholic drinks were served
- In-flight entertainment was available to watch on your own device
Cons
- The flight was delayed due to the plane coming in being delayed. This meant we didn’t land until 11pm.
- No screens for watching movies or TV
- Seats were quite uncomfortable
Conclusion
For such a short flight, I figure factors such as cost and departure times become more important than seat comfort or the size of the snack. It was annoying the flight was delayed but it was raining hard so the weather may have contributed to it. I would fly Virgin again if the price was right and the times suited me better.