VAustralia

[SANZOZ]

Well I will personally never fly with them again. I had no issues with the air hostesses and the plane itself, but I have an 11 week old baby and I was on the flight that got delayed on the Saturday until the next day (kinda difficult when you have a little one that you have to prepare things for). When I asked them if I would definitely have a bassinet they said yes. We made sure we were the first ones there to check in the next day and somehow ALL the bassinets had already been taken! They gave us a seat between us but it made the trip back very uncomfortable because we had to worry about whether he would roll off the seat all the time. Perhaps the experience was not made any more pleasant by the fact that we stood at the check in counter for one and a half hours because my son has a temporary passport issued by home affairs and they screwed up the passport number which meant he couldnt be checked in.

But Ja... Richard Branson can keep his airline. I will still go to his gym though.

[Avatar]

We are thinking of booking VAustralia. How have recent trips been? Thanks!

[Aktief55+]

We are thinking of booking VAustralia. How have recent trips been? Thanks!

Hallo daar Tree,

Ek het Maart / April Brisbane toe en terug gevlieg met VAustralia en was hoogs beindruk. Die kajuitpersoneel was baie vriendelik, hulpvaardig en hul bediening was puik. Beenspasie is beslis beter as ander lugrederye. My man het weer by hulle bespreek vir September!

Aktief55+

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Dankie vir die antwoord, Aktief55+.

I hate flying and want to make sure we get there safely and smoothly. We are on our way soon!

[Serendipity]

We are thinking of booking VAustralia. How have recent trips been? Thanks!

We landed on the 14th April in MEL - Had a really smooth and generally great flight.

Service was really good considering the amount we paid.

I see some people have had bad experiences but i dont believe this is or will be the norm.

Would we fly with them again - YES WITHOUT A DOUBT!

[Dedrei]

We are also flying with them in July, visiting the family in CT and then Lanique gets to meet her oumas and the rest of the family!! So excited, only 7.5 weeks to go....

[dions]

Flew from Sydney to Jhb. Was 2 hours to Melbourne, then disembark, embark and 16 hours to Jhb. That part was a little harrowing. However, once we were underway the plane was superb. High ceilings so you don't feel so cramped. Plenty of movies plus games to keep me occupied on the trip. Good service. Efficient. Good price. I'd happily fly them again.

[JacquesV]

Flew from Sydney to Jhb. Was 2 hours to Melbourne, then disembark, embark and 16 hours to Jhb. That part was a little harrowing. However, once we were underway the plane was superb. High ceilings so you don't feel so cramped. Plenty of movies plus games to keep me occupied on the trip. Good service. Efficient. Good price. I'd happily fly them again.

Do you know if it's possible to charge your phone/laptop via usb or the likes on flight?

[Kit]

Anyone flown via Melbourne to Brisbane & back (without staying over)?

The time between landing + departing both ways is very short... on the way back from Brisbane via Melbourne there's only 1hr 15mins, which doesn't allow much leeway if the Bne-Melb flight is delayed or if you get lost in Melb airport (is this likely?)... is this cause for concern? If the gates close 1hr before the flight, 15mins is very short!!

Surely they wouldn't offer flights like that (connecting, booked via their website) if people would miss them? How long does immigration/etc take?

Our times are:

20:30 Johannesburg -> 17:30 Melbourne

19:00 Melbourne-> 21:10 Brisbane

and

06:00 Brisbane -> 08:30 Melbourne

09:45 Melbourne -> 17:45 Johannesburg

Am I just stressing for nothing?

Their website says this about flying via Melbourne (link: http://www.vaustralia.co.za/before-you-fly...ions/index.htm)

Arriving into Australia on V Australia and connecting onto Virgin Blue.

Arriving off V Australia into Melbourne with a domestic connection onto Virgin Blue:

Guests are required to collect their bags off the carousel and then clear Customs and Quarantine. After entering the arrivals hall, guests should then turn right and make their way upstairs to the first floor. Guests will then need to check-in for their domestic flight at the Virgin Blue check-in area. ** The International and Domestic terminals are connected.

Checking in with Virgin Blue and connecting onto V Australia

Domestic check-in connecting through Melbourne:

Guests check-in at the domestic port, where their bags will be checked through to their final V Australia destination. They will also receive a transfer wallet, which contains a map of the transfer port. Upon arriving in Melbourne, guests should head to the V Australia check-in, which is located at the International check-in area. This is where guests will receive their boarding pass for their V Australia flight. ** The Domestic and International terminals are connected.

[dions]

Do you know if it's possible to charge your phone/laptop via usb or the likes on flight?

Did't see anything to do that.

[SHANEB]

Just flown with Virgin Blue and VAustralia from Townsville to Gold Coast to Sydney to Melbourne to JHB and then Kulula Jhb to King Shaka and then back the same way except via Brisbane instead of the Gold Coast. Service with Virgin was exellent with min delays etc. Kulula left a little to be desired, ran late both times, very old planes, aircon not working on return flight but as usual a good sense of humor from crew. Would definatly fly again with VAustralia and Virgin Blue, all in all 8 flights and no real problems, thats pretty good.

Pretty sure you can recharge inflight on the VAustralia flights.

[Dedrei]

Hi Kit

We are flying the same, just to SA. Where you arrive, is just a short walk up the stairs to checkin (this is Bris- Melb) at Melb for the international leg. They book your luggage straight through you don't collect it, think it is different coing into Melb onto Brisbane. Virgin flights are on time 95% of the time, and V Aus will wait for you if they notice some passengers aren't there because that flight is a bit delayed. Don't worry about, you'll be fine.

[Dedrei]

Jacques, every economy seat has a usb port, not a power point.

[JacquesV]

Jacques, every economy seat has a usb port, not a power point.

BRILLIANT!!!! Then I can charge my iphone and laptop

[Riekie]

Qantas and Virgin were both rated umong the best in the world at the 2010 skytrax World Airline Awards! Qantas is in the top 10 (nr 7) and received the award for the BEST premium economy class. Virgin was rated the BEST low cost airline in tha Asia Pacific Region. 200 Airlines over the world were rated - more info at www.worldairlineawards.com

[Avatar]

The VAustralia flight Joburg to Melbourne was great! The plane looks very new, and no funny noises. Entertainment is great. Food is good. The plane is lit up inside in a series of colours, with music playing when you come in to land, making for an interesting experience. Great value for money! Would definitely fly with them again.

[Kit]

Hey all - have to give details of our experiences last week. We booked on the V Australia website, so the flights are the ones we selected from the ones they offered as connecting. Sorry if this is a bit long but hopefully the details can give someone else some idea of what to expect. Longpost is long, srsly!

Outward journey:

Flew 1time to Jhb (+-2pm flight from CT to Jhb), had a nice relaxing 4hrs there (we checked in 2hrs before the flight, there was a queue but no hassles).

We booked VA16 and VA351 (the 7pm flight from Melbourne to Brisbane - I recommend booking the later (8pm) flight from Melbourne to Brisbane! Hope I have the flight number right)

The VAus plane trip was enjoyable (yes, they do have USB port on every seat), landed in Melbourne on time, the only trouble was collecting our bag* (it took ages for our bag to come through), and customs/quarantine took their sweet time, so instead of having a 'leisurely' 1.5hrs to go from VAus to Virgin Blue, we had 20mins. We had to ask a groundstaff member for help, they made us queue-jump at check-in to get to our 7pm flight (this was at 6:35pm) as there are a whole stack of Virgin Blue flights to various destinations all being checked in at once at that time. Had we stayed in that queue without asking for help, we would have only got to the front by the time our plane would have landed in Brisbane already! Then, after running through the airport, we had to queue-jump again at the security checkpoint as the same stack of flights departing for various destinations were all being security-checked at the same time. We ran like mad and THANKfully our plane to Brisbane was delayed due to a faulty walkway-tube (those things that they park against the plane so you enter from the upper level and don't have to climb stairs).

Virgin Blue flight to Brisbane was fine - nothing I can think of to remark on it. Comfy enough, not too cramped.

Homeflight:

Virgin Blue flight from Brisbane to Melbourne (6am - the only one the VAustralia online booking system gives as a connecting flight): we got there super-early, were able to check-in no hassles, but unfortunately unable to check-in for our Melbourne flight there. We got to Melbourne at an ok time, but again had to RUN like headless chickens to get to the check-in and security-check. 1.5hrs is just NOT enough time between local/international flights. At the security-checkpoint, they had a man with microphone giving talkshow-style information about what you have to throw away (liquids over 100ml, etc), which after standing in the queue for 20mins made me and hubby feel completely and utterly worn out from adrenaline - somewhat like being in the Hyperama on JOLLYTROLLEY days with Hypermania and constant noise.

Our flight VA15 was also fine, comfortable - can't think of anything to remark other than the fact that our flight left over 1hr late, and the pilots made up the time so well that we were maybe 5mins later than expected arriving in Jhb. A godsend, considering the fact we'd booked the last Mango flight of the day (7:15pm).

Again we had to run like mad things in JHB totally confused trying to find domestic departures, so we raced to the gate, only to find we weren't the latest people to get there and there was no rush. The Mango flight was an ordeal after having spent over 15hrs in transit already, and it was so flippin' cramped.

All in all, I recommend VAustralia for the price, but I wouldn't recommend it until they sort out their flights times so that you have more time between connecting flights - 1.5hrs is not enough, even if the planes supposedly wait for you (or are miraculously delayed in your favour). If you are able to, and really can't spare the money to go with another airline, take only handluggage... but even that didn't help us on our way back to SA!

* I was incredibly pissed off in Melbourne to find that some WORTHLESS SLUG of an ACSA/ORTIA employee had damaged my bag's zipper, in order to steal 3 PEPPERMINT CRISPS which were, along with some other sweets, intended as gifts for our friend who moved to Aus in March. For heavens' sake, WTF? They even ripped the ziploc bag they were in - I'd put the chocolates together with jellytots, jellytots packets being notorious for leaking sugar - so everything in my bag was covered in sugar. Seriously, a chocolate... grow the hell up and buy your own! And SERIOUSLY, who rips a ziploc?? *headdesk*

[JackieO]

We flew one way JNB - MEL - BNE

We were told if we were first in line at the airpoirt we were 100% guranteed a bassinet for the baby. We were about 4th / 5th, and then they refused to give us one, even though it was on our booking.

The ground staff at Or Tambo were pathetic and absolutely uninterested in doing anything to asssist. Total attitude problem through and through. We mentioned it to the air hostess on board and even she said they are useless.

Once on the plane it was a fantastic experience. Comfortable seats, and with 2 toddlers really not the nightmare flight I imagined at all.

[Queensland Girl]

Just a question- as it is a long haul flight and I am ALWAYs cold

- any blankets and pillows provided?

[JackieO]

Just a question- as it is a long haul flight and I am ALWAYs cold

- any blankets and pillows provided?

Yip!

[Queensland Girl]

Thanks Jackie

[Superkruz]

my son & his girlfriend flew bne-mel-jhb-mel-bne in june/july and thoroughly enjoyed it. they especially loved the inflight entertainment on offer.

[Kit]

My only MAJOR gripe with them: THEIR CALL CENTRE SUCKS BIG TIME!!!