Sad to be leaving, we made our way to Coolangatta Airport for our flight home.  The weather had been perfect on our trip so we didn’t mind that whilst we were inside the airport waiting to board our flight, it started raining.  Due to the strong winds in Melbourne and Sydney some flights had been delayed, but fortunately our flight left just ten minutes later than scheduled.

Airline and Flight #

Virgin Australia| VA 536

Aircraft

Boeing 737-800

Departing Airport and Terminal

Coolangatta Airport | Terminal 1

Scheduled Departure Date and Time

Monday 6th August | 5:05pm

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.

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 27 of 29.

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.

Cabin Comfort

The narrow seats and the head rests which came too far forward made the flight a bit 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.

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 tiny complimentary snack and drink handed out too.

 

Food/Drinks

Because it was between the hours of 5pm and 7pm, complimentary beer and wine was served in addition to soft drinks, tea and coffee and a small snack.  I was happy to have a Ginger Beer however I was disappointed in the size of the snack.  The soy mix was tasty but not enough to sustain you on on 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 the one I checked out smelt and had a wet floor from the previous flight. The sink looked like it could have been blocked too as there was water sitting in it.  Apart from hand soap there were no other amenities aside from the usual toilet paper, tissues, paper towel etc.

Service

The staff appeared friendly enough but I would have liked more care taken with the cleanliness of the aircraft before we boarded.  I also would have liked something a bit more substantial to eat than what we were given.

Pros

• The price was more affordable than the other full service carrier
• A complimentary snack and drinks were served including beer and wine which is served on flights between 5pm and 7pm.
• In-flight entertainment was available to watch on your own device
• Despite leaving ten minutes late and the pilot being instructed to remain in a holding pattern prior to landing, the plane landed less than ten minutes late.

Cons

• The snack could have been bigger
• No screens for watching movies or TV
• Seats were quite uncomfortable
• Tray tables weren’t cleaned properly from the previous flight
• The restroom on this flight wasn’t the cleanest
• This flight did not go all the way through to our final destination

Conclusion

Unfortunately this flight was not a direct one so we needed to change planes in Sydney which made the journey home longer.  Better attention could be paid to cleanliness and a more substantial snack would be appreciated.  In saying that, the price was better than the other full-service carrier, the plane left on time and the staff were friendly.  I would fly VIrgin again if the prices were notably cheaper than Qantas.