VIRGIN BLUE - some advice

**salvadordillon** · 16-03-2010, 10:55 PM

Hello, has anyone flown with Virgin Blue? We will be coming from London to Hong Kong then onto Sydney with Virgin Atlantic then onto Adelaide.....with Virgin Blue....

Any advice regarding luggage or general experience, thanks

**foxychick** · 17-03-2010, 02:05 AM

just remember to be aware that if you have booked your flights indepently, check your luggage allowance is adequate on the virgin blue sector.

**steph&neil** · 17-03-2010, 02:11 AM

Hi we have flown with them a couple of time & they are pretty good, luggage allowance is defiantly worth checking! allowance is 20kg & they are strict on this, pre book extra weight if ness as it is half the price when booked in advance & doesnt matter how many pieces! - remember to join their rewards program as you collect points for free which can be used for other flights & gifts - worth it if you are going to travel interstate for holidays as you collect points on hotels as well as flight!
You will have to buy snacks & drinks on board, but after a long well fed trip I am sure this wont be needed as it is a short flight! have a safe trip!!! steph

**cliffy** · 17-03-2010, 03:08 AM

Just make sure you leave plenty of time to connect as Sydney Airport is horrendous.
We have flow several times with Virgin, no problems at all, except they did run short of some stuff on the menu, but if you aren't able to eat, it is only a short flight to Adelaide

**Anne B** · 17-03-2010, 07:15 AM

Just to repeat what others have said, check your baggage allowance and hand baggage allowance. We did something similar to you and flew from London to Brisbane, had a holiday on the Gold Coast, then flew Jetstar (the Qantas budget airline) down to Adelaide. They actually had a more generous hand baggage allowance than Singapore Airlines! Jetstar were fine, have also flown with Virgin Blue and had no problems. They had tv screens that you could pay for with your credit card if you wanted to watch tv. It's like all budget airlines, you take a chance - I've always had excellent flights with Ryanair but you do hear some horror stories.

**Pommy99** · 17-03-2010, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by steph&neil

Hi we have flown with them a couple of time & they are pretty good, luggage allowance is defiantly worth checking! allowance is 20kg & they are strict on this, pre book extra weight if ness as it is half the price when booked in advance & doesnt matter how many pieces! - remember to join their rewards program as you collect points for free which can be used for other flights & gifts - worth it if you are going to travel interstate for holidays as you collect points on hotels as well as flight!
You will have to buy snacks & drinks on board, but after a long well fed trip I am sure this wont be needed as it is a short flight! have a safe trip!!! steph

Virgin 23 kg I think !!

Does anyone know if you can pre pay to up that limit before you fly ie NOT at the airport.?

**Diane** · 17-03-2010, 10:27 AM

We did the same route when we went back to the UK for a holiday couple of years ago. Mainly for the Velocity Points!!!

Just one tip - if your international flight happens to be delayed (as ours was) and you get into Sydney too late for your connecting flight (as we did) and they book you onto one in about five hours time (as they did for us) you can hop on a train into the centre of Sydney and do a harbour cruise to pass the time (as we did!)

Sydney Airport itself is incredibly boring, nothing to do there except (as they suggested to us) "watch the planes landing and taking off", but if you can see a bit of Sydney while you're there, it's a beautiful city.

**Pommy99** · 17-03-2010, 11:27 AM

Virgin 23 kg I think !!

Does anyone know if you can pre pay to up that limit before you fly ie NOT at the airport.?

**Pommy99** · 17-03-2010, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by Pommy99

Virgin 23 kg I think !!

Does anyone know if you can pre pay to up that limit before you fly ie NOT at the airport.?

Dhhhhhhhhh let me try to write that question in a way a human can understand (sorry)....

Does anyone know if I can prepay to have more than a 23kg baggage allowance before my date of travel??:)

**suziewozie** · 19-03-2010, 06:55 AM

We flew with Virgin Atlantic from Adelaide to Heathrow in January. We had to go via Sydney as VA does not go direct from here. They organised the domestic flight to Sydney and once we had checked our luggage in at Adelaide we did not see it again until we arrived at Heathrow. Coming back we had an extra case weighing 18kg !!!( thanks to our family and friends that gave us presents for our daughters birthday later this month, oh and of course the supplys of chocolate and a few Easter Eggs) and while waiting to check our luggage in there was signs clearly stating that if you are over the limit then you will be charged. At this stage I was starting to feel ill at the thought of a rather large bill for all the extra weight. VA staff were very helpful at Heathrow because I was having problems with the online service not accepting our new passports and Visa and again they clarified that there is always a charge for extra luggage, even though I tried pleeding with them. Anyway, when checking in our luggage the member of staff on duty made us weight our hand luggage which was over the 7kg and we had to unload items into our main luggage. He did not mention the fact that we had 3 cases and that we were well over our limit so when he handed me our boarding cards we swiftly and calmly walked away. Yes I know that I was very lucky to get away with it.
When we arrived at Sydney we had to collect all our cases due to Customs and Immigration regulations and then had to go to the VB check in desk. Again there was signs clearly stating any excess lugaage will be charged for but I think because we had flown VA they again did not mention it.
Virigin Atlantic offered us a great service on all their flights, the entertainment was good, so was the food which you can prebook and all the cabin staff were friendly and helpful. Overall I rate them very highly, easily on par with Singapore and would definately flight with them again. They also came out alot cheaper than Singapore Airlines.