Things Virgin Australia Does & Doesn’t Do Well

[Haplo]

I was in Sydney lounge yesterday, the food offering was awful.

 

[Layslow]

Just on the fly-ahead. Have tried to use it a number of times travelling business - and they have always been completely booked out for the rest of the day. With such limited supply of seats, its a nice concept, though not one they (readily) deliver on...

 

[simmomelb]

Just on the fly-ahead. Have tried to use it a number of times travelling business - and they have always been completely booked out for the rest of the day. With such limited supply of seats, its a nice concept, though not one they (readily) deliver on...

Fly Ahead will always be better when in Economy.
Although one business seat is available now, for example, MEL to SYD at 10am for today for some lucky person.

Definitely not booked out for the rest of the day, normally (Depending on the route, of course)
MEL to SYD today currently has business available on 5 flights still.

 

[kyle]

I was on MEL-SYD Sunday afternoon and no wifi and no entertainment, nothing. But cabin manager Sam was enthusiastic. So well done to her.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Fly Ahead will always be better when in Economy. Most of their seats last minute, and weekdays will be close to impossible in J.
Although one is available now, for example, MEL to SYD at 10am for today for some lucky person.

Definitely not booked out for the rest of the day, normally (Depending on the route, of course)
MEL to SYD today currently has business available on 5 flights still.

Fly ahead was always ok for for me travelling M-Thu between MEL-SYD. You could ring up first thing in the morning, so there were usually seats available.

 

[clifford]

One thing VA definitely does better than QF is the lounge at OOL.

I really don't know where to begin. For starters, there's a lovely view vs the dungeon. Next, the VA staff have an unforced smile, and then the VA food/drink is far superior. Try self-pour wine in the Qantas lounge (you won't get it). Try a decent pale ale (you won't get it).

What are Qantas thinking? Yes, I know they have so few flights so they don't need to bother. OK.

 

[AIRwin]

What are Qantas thinking? Yes, I know they have so few flights so they don't need to bother. OK.

QF will be launching an international flight out of OOL next year:

H

Thread 'Qantas adds OOL-AKL and SYD-AKL-APW'

Dec 8, 2025

Two new Qantas routes to/from New Zealand have been announced.

• Gold Coast to Auckland
• Sydney to Apia, Samoa via Auckland

Both routes will operate 3 times a week on the 737 and commence 16 June 2026.

Source: https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/m...ternational-flying-back-to-gold-coast?print=1

• Harrison_133
• Replies: 32
• Forum: Qantas | Frequent Flyer

• 

 

[moa999]

One thing VA definitely does better than QF is the lounge at OOL.

Agree that VA has the prime position, but on my (admittedly small number) experiences the QF lounge has been perfectly Ok. The OOL VA lounge often seems to have better catering than SYD and MEL however

The hours that impact those travelling on JQ are a bit penny pinching from QF however.

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

VA SYD and MEL lounges often don't seem to have much protein on the menu.

 

[AIRwin]

VA SYD and MEL lounges often don't seem to have much protein on the menu.

It may not look it but I was pleasantly surprised the green curry was full of chicken pieces recently in the MEL lounge:

 

[ChrisFlyer]

"Last decade, Virgin was the first airline to bring lie-flat Business Class seats to trans-continental flights in Australia."

Depending on how we define lie-flat, VA's first A330 flight with The Business was in August 2015, while Qantas Business Suite launched in December 2014. VA spent so long talking about what they were going to do before actually doing it, that Qantas fast tracked a new seat and beat them by the better part of a year. JB was ever salty about that. They did have the old 2-2-2 angled seats before that (similar to SQ's own A330 J at the time), and A330 recliners before that (ex Emirates, if I recall).

Anyway, I've done a lot of VA flying but struggle to consistently access the advertised benefits. When I was recently Plat, free WiFi didn't work half the time (system would reject my name and seat, entered correctly). I've had to argue with staff about Fly Ahead who insisted that it was only for flex fares. I've had to chase and chase to get the partner status memberships activated, because it doesn't happen on its own.

But, I got to the point that VA let me down one too many times in ways other airlines never have, and I just decided to stop rewarding that with future bookings, except as a last resort. Exception, the Doha flights, but that's really Qatar anyway, let's be honest.

 

[Daveller]

Most of the author’s comments I agree!

It was so easy to move up to the Gold level but I was not invited to go to most of the partners lounges around the world.

 

[Obzerva]

Things Virgin don't do well: codeshares.

Inconsistencies in how long it can take some newer routes to actually get a VA number.

Codeshare pricing sometimes being very uncompetitive
Seating on codeshare flights being unavailable

and yet making changes to Velocity to require a certain % of VA flights.
If they fixed the fundamentals on codeshares then chances are more people would consider booking a VA number, there is so little incentive at the moment, VA are virtually acting against themselves.

 

[WilsonM]

Things Virgin don't do well: codeshares.

Inconsistencies in how long it can take some newer routes to actually get a VA number.

Codeshare pricing sometimes being very uncompetitive
Seating on codeshare flights being unavailable

and yet making changes to Velocity to require a certain % of VA flights.
If they fixed the fundamentals on codeshares then chances are more people would consider booking a VA number, there is so little incentive at the moment, VA are virtually acting against themselves.

No disagreeing with your point, VA codeshares suck. But I also don't think many other airlines do codeshares well from a PaxEx POV (codeshares that are in the same alliance tend to be a lot better IME)

 

[kyle]

I would add loading limited food in Business.
In my experience Row 1 is always served first and often Row 2 doesn't get a choice. It's the vegetarian leftovers only.
You could argue that this reduces waste but it's not the experience that was paid for.

I think it differs by flight. On my most recent flight, four pax already chose the same dish, and it was offered again to the next pax.

 

[2APlease]

I think it differs by flight. On my most recent flight, four pax already chose the same dish, and it was offered again to the next pax.

Good to hear. I'll see what happens on my 19 Jan26 VA J flight.

 

[twinaisle]

I think it differs by flight. On my most recent flight, four pax already chose the same dish, and it was offered again to the next pax.

Loading is 5/3

The veg with protein is actually really nice on VA. Sometimes better than the 5 protein.