Short review
Note: 3 is average
Lounge: 3.5/5 (Virgin Australia Lounge in Brisbane Domestic Airport) – A spacious lounge with fast Wi-Fi
Seat: 3/5 – Standard business class short-haul recliner seat in a narrow-body aircraft
Entertainment: 3/5 – Bring your own device, which is their norm; reasonable choices of movies
Service: 1/5 – Good service by the staff, but the flight was delayed for 2 hours
Food and beverages: 4/5 – Delicious dish and great drink options for such a short flight
Pros:
- Enjoyable dish on board for a short flight
Cons:
- 2-hour delay due to mechanical problem
Long review
My family and I arrived at the airport around 1.5 hours before the flight. We checked in through one of the self-service check-in kiosks, which is the norm for domestic flights in Australia. We then used the business class lane to drop our luggage. The process was fairly quick and easy.
After passing the usual security check, we went directly to the Virgin Australia Lounge. I could use our boarding passes to access the lounge through the self-service kiosk. The lounge was pleasantly large, certainly larger than the one in Sydney when I visited it previously. We found comfortable seats around a coffee table and started to enjoy their food and drinks. The dishes were reasonable. They had salad, cheese and crackers, bread, pasta, and pancakes. The drink options were excellent, providing a wide range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
Soon it was time for boarding. Everything was still on time at this stage. We settled on our seats, which were typical business-class recliner seats on a narrow-body aircraft. The leathered seats were organised in, again, a typical 2-2 configuration. Welcome drinks were offered, in which I ordered a glass of champagne. A flight attendant also took our dish orders. They had two options; one was a vegetable dish and the other was a chicken teriyaki dish. I obviously chose the chicken dish. The flight attendant then tried to close the plane door, but she was unable to do so after attempting a number of times. Soon, the pilot also got involved and it seems that he also could not close the door properly. Given that I sat on row 1, I could watch the drama in front of me. Eventually, the dreaded announcement came, requesting all the passengers to disembark.
We went back to the lounge and waited there. More dishes were made available fortunately. Looking at the flight information screen, the flight was originally scheduled to leave in about 30 minutes. However, this time was pushed back repeatedly until around 2 hours. We were then requested to board the plane again. They changed the gate to a further one. After we boarded the plane, I noticed that they actually changed the plane as well. The same crew also greeted us. The same process followed, including welcome drink, which I declined. I also kept my original order of chicken teriyaki dish. Fortunately, this time they managed to close the plane door.
The food and drink were served soon after we reached the cruising altitude. The chicken teriyaki dish was tasty, although some of the rice was a bit hard. I also ordered orange juice for my drink. Overall, the dining experience was agreeable.
I spent the remaining time chatting to the passenger next to me. I could have used my phone to check the entertainment that they had, but I was not really in the mood to do so. In all the Virgin flights, the entertainment can be accessed through your own device. I perhaps prefer an entertainment system which is integrated with the seat. However, nearly everyone has their own devices nowadays, so I understand why Virgin Australia chose this option. The benefit of this system is that you can watch a movie once you enter the plane until you leave, i.e., from gate to gate.
The remaining flight was uneventful. We arrived safely in Sydney, albeit 2 hours late.
