Virgin won't go all the way!

Bob_the_Saver

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13863341

Nobjocki

Doesn't surprise me.

The days of Virgin pitching themselves as a fun and cooler alternative to staid old BA are long gone.

And the levels of service started declining at about the same time Branson lost interest in the airline and became a dope-head on Necker.

Australasian and Arab airlines have long since caught up and passed Virgin, BA and any American airline you'd care to mention for long haul standards of service.

johnnyroper

Nobjocki wrote: »

Doesn't surprise me.

The days of Virgin pitching themselves as a fun and cooler alternative to staid old BA are long gone.

And the levels of service started declining at about the same time Branson lost interest in the airline and became a dope-head on Necker.

Australasian and Arab airlines have long since caught up and passed Virgin, BA and any American airline you'd care to mention for long haul standards of service.

does not surprise me either i have been flying virgin for many years and the level of service/quality has drastically declined in recent years,especially on leisure routes out of LGW.Last march LGW-MCO was no better than charter in my opinion.
There has been major cost cutting normally they "run out" of alcoholic drinks within 2 hours of leaving the gate.
Probably why Singapore want out of VS?

As you say arab and asian carriers offer best service these days,although i found the American LHR-JFK service to be very good last year on the 777 fleet.

bagand96

With all due respect, I doubt the 97% of Virgin pilots that have voted to strike, did so because service levels in the passenger cabin have fallen!

johnnyroper

bagand96 wrote: »

With all due respect, I doubt the 97% of Virgin pilots that have voted to strike, did so because service levels in the passenger cabin have fallen!

With all due respect I am intelligent enough to know that!!
I was merely pointing out the major cost cutting going on at VS part of which is the pilots having pay freeze and then poor rise offers.

Nobjocki

bagand96 wrote: »

With all due respect, I doubt the 97% of Virgin pilots that have voted to strike, did so because service levels in the passenger cabin have fallen!

No, but it's indicative of the same institutionalised arrogance we saw at BA which seeped through the company and down through the type of service its staff gave to customers.

Do Virgin pilots - who earn up to £110,000 a year for actually very little time behind the controls of a plane - really expect any sympathy for refusing an above-inflation 4% pay rise at a time when many people are losing their jobs or suffering a drastic reduction in their standard of living ?

I'd also be really interested to know about their free travel perks and generous time off in layovers at nice hotels in exotic places.

Thess people are living in cloud cuckoo land.

mancini601

I understand that sometimes any worker may feel the need to stand up and be counted. However, that said, when it impacts the airline AND the traveller, I find that abhorent.

I save all year to take my family away on holiday and then 3 weeks before we go, we see all this upset just like those people affected by the BA fiasco.

I've looked into getting flights with another airline, but they want a minimum £2500 for us. I cannot afford that having already given a similar sum to Virgin for our travel with them. You can't even choose a different airline now as no strike dates have been officially called, so Virgin will not allow transfers to other airlines. It p*ss*s me off.

Take action on the airline if you must but don't screw the holidays of innocent people who have saved and saved for their few precious days/weeks away from work themselves.

We bought the entire holiday through Virgin Holidays, so we're 'all in' so to speak...Flights, Hotels, Transfers etc.

We have flown Virgin loyally for the last few years. Not sure I'd do it again and would probably look to move to Emirates or similar.

I don't get paid as much as I should either. Maybe I should go on strike? Oh wait!! I can't. I'm self employed so don't get paid if I'm not working!!!!!

Nobjocki

mancini601 wrote: »

I understand that sometimes any worker may feel the need to stand up and be counted. However, that said, when it impacts the airline AND the traveller, I find that abhorent.

I save all year to take my family away on holiday and then 3 weeks before we go, we see all this upset just like those people affected by the BA fiasco.

I've looked into getting flights with another airline, but they want a minimum £2500 for us. I cannot afford that having already given a similar sum to Virgin for our travel with them. You can't even choose a different airline now as no strike dates have been officially called, so Virgin will not allow transfers to other airlines. It p*ss*s me off.

Take action on the airline if you must but don't screw the holidays of innocent people who have saved and saved for their few precious days/weeks away from work themselves.

We bought the entire holiday through Virgin Holidays, so we're 'all in' so to speak...Flights, Hotels, Transfers etc.

We have flown Virgin loyally for the last few years. Not sure I'd do it again and would probably look to move to Emirates or similar.

I don't get paid as much as I should either. Maybe I should go on strike? Oh wait!! I can't. I'm self employed so don't get paid if I'm not working!!!!!

I understand you anger and frustration but, if it's any consolation, I don't think there are many people who think this strike will actually go ahead.

It's a union bargaining weapon, Virgin are unlikely to want the bad publicity of a strike and the pilots themselves are probably not that serious as the money they'd lose on strike would far outweigh any increase in salary.

They just want to get their well-paid snouts in the trough for a few more scraps.

bagand96

Its always an emotive subject when anyone in aviation threatens a strike, as you have said, its people's hard earned holidays that are at stake.

That said, they have the right to strike if they feel they are being wronged. Yes pilots are well payed, far above the national average. But, like a lot of jobs, their pay reward is based on the job that they do. Its a different airline I know, but the guys that dumped a Boeing 777 just short of the runway at Heathrow 3 years ago were worth of penny of what BA were paying them.

Any industrial dispute is a vastly complex issue., Its far more "I want more than 4%". Thats how it will be reported in the press, "Virgin stike over 4% offer" but its not the full story. Virgin crew have traditionally not earned quite as much as counterparts at other major airlines, they have had pay freezes through the recession, there have been redundancies at the airline, and they feel they have done their bit to help the company, and the company have basically taken liberties with that. I suspect this is a true story for many an employee in all sorts of different industries around the Uk/Europe/The world.

... and the pilots themselves are probably not that serious...

Really? A 94% turnout with 97% backing strike tells the real story. Pilots aren't stupid or greedy, they know the situation with the country and the recession. Even the most hardline Unions struggle to get majorities like that, and BALPA is far from being hardline and/or militant.

And yes, it is very easy to stand back and be pragmatic about it when my holiday isn't at risk, but I did have BA tickets booked last summer, so i do know where worried posters are coming from.

All that said, I doubt it will get to a strike. Virgin/Branson won't want it either and realistically they will know where the business stands with its employees.

And no, i'm not a pilot, or Virgin employee

Nobjocki

bagand96 wrote: »

Its always an emotive subject when anyone in aviation threatens a strike, as you have said, its people's hard earned holidays that are at stake.

That said, they have the right to strike if they feel they are being wronged. Yes pilots are well payed, far above the national average. But, like a lot of jobs, their pay reward is based on the job that they do. Its a different airline I know, but the guys that dumped a Boeing 777 just short of the runway at Heathrow 3 years ago were worth of penny of what BA were paying them.

Any industrial dispute is a vastly complex issue., Its far more "I want more than 4%". Thats how it will be reported in the press, "Virgin stike over 4% offer" but its not the full story. Virgin crew have traditionally not earned quite as much as counterparts at other major airlines, they have had pay freezes through the recession, there have been redundancies at the airline, and they feel they have done their bit to help the company, and the company have basically taken liberties with that. I suspect this is a true story for many an employee in all sorts of different industries around the Uk/Europe/The world.



Really? A 94% turnout with 97% backing strike tells the real story. Pilots aren't stupid or greedy, they know the situation with the country and the recession. Even the most hardline Unions struggle to get majorities like that, and BALPA is far from being hardline and/or militant.

And yes, it is very easy to stand back and be pragmatic about it when my holiday isn't at risk, but I did have BA tickets booked last summer, so i do know where worried posters are coming from.

All that said, I doubt it will get to a strike. Virgin/Branson won't want it either and realistically they will know where the business stands with its employees.

And no, i'm not a pilot, or Virgin employee

Go figure.

kelloggs36

When I booked our Virgin flights, we had researched and found that BA were a bit cheaper, but as they had the reputation of striking rather a lot recently, we decided that it was worth paying a bit more to ensure that we actually got our holiday and didn't get caught out in any strike. Doh! How ironic!