Article: Is Qantas’ 737 Business Class Worth $200 More than Virgin?

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/qantas-737-business-worth-more/

Is Qantas’ 737 Business Class Worth $200 More than Virgin? is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Is Qantas' 737 Business Class Worth $200 More than Virgin?

Domestic Qantas Business airfares are consistently priced around $200 higher than Virgin Australia. Is Qantas just greedy, or does the market truly value Qantas' product more highly?

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[CaptJCool]

If you look at it slowly as what do I get for the ticket

Pre-journey
Lounge
On-board experience
The Afterglow

Then QF have a better overall offering for the leisure traveller who does not have status and receives lounge entry, priority baggage and boarding group

For the business traveller, QF is exclusivity, reliability, familiarity and comfort and the lounge haven for networking and the “I’m not paying out of my own pocket for the ticket” and thus “free points and credits”

These QF prices are still expensive - wasn’t that long ago the startup price point was around $850

 

[luckypierre]

The price variation is of course route dependant. QF doesn’t fly ADL -OOL direct , one star JQ does. Recent price checks for ADL-OOL return for 2026. QF via MEL or SYD approx $1100 J each way and VA approx $410 J each way. The decision on this one is cut and dry.

 

[Forg]

People actually pay for domestic J?
I just assumed everyone sitting there were just on free upgrades due to having lots of status from international travel!

 

[DejaBrew]

I just assumed everyone sitting there were just on free upgrades due to having lots of status from international travel!

Most of them are no doubt Qantas courtesy upgrades as part of their recent charm offensive....

 

[MediumToast]

Virgin would probably win for the BNE PER route. Everytime I upgrade to business for that flight Qantas seems to reliably run their oldest, coughtiest 737 just for me.

 

[RooFlyer]

From the article

So, why is Qantas domestic Business Class consistently more expensive than on Virgin Australia – even though Qantas has 50% more Business seats to sell on each flight? Is Qantas just being greedy,

Of course they are. They know all those QFF lemmings members will part with their hard-earned for those shiny Qantas Points. Wheeee! Free points!

What the article found was exactly what I found yesterday pricing HBA-SYD - abt $350 Vs abt $550. Who would pay $200 to use the uber-coughpy HBA QP and get an ungarnished pie on board? Lots, obviously. Pretty witless.

 

[jase05]

People actually pay for domestic J?
I just assumed everyone sitting there were just on free upgrades due to having lots of status from international travel!

We only fly J domestic for leisure unless it’s somewhere regional that only has Y config.
We attend a lot of football in Melbourne and rugby in Sydney as well as having parents interstate. We choose BFOD and VA nearly always wins on price and often quite substantially

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is Qantas’ 737 Business Class Worth $200 More than Virgin? is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

On *paper* they can be made to look like quite similar products.

In reality they’re significantly different.

If the $200 isnt going to make a big difference to your bottom line, yes, the price is worth it.

 

[CaptJCool]

Well
We seem to be running into a Quandry here

It’s clear a chunk of AFF flies on $ flights while others only fly J on points while others fly on Other Peoples Money

I was in the second camp while JASA were a thing, don’t run a business and only had $300 a week to spend while with obligations of home loans, child support and taxes plus super contributions none of which count towards points club and getting to LTG meant I’m disinterested in “chasing the points” in a program (where 16 million members are chasing so few J/F awards to/from Europe)

I did a decent amount of employer sponsored domestic travel PLUS a professional allowance which I could negatively gear to attend relevant overseas conferences (and receive income tax refunds)

now on super have a pile of cash to spend because all those have disappeared plus the freedom to travel at whim without need to work. That does come with problems of late notice reward tics appear to be available in mid/late January and just after school holiday periods (like now & October) usually while the business people are out of the office. These periods do exist
Plus QF did significantly reduce J advance pricing on J a couple of years ago.

 

[SYD]

Of course they are. They know all those QFF lemmings members will part with their hard-earned for those shiny Qantas Points. Wheeee! Free points!

Well, easy SCs earn compared with VA going forward is probably more relevant moving forward?

I think I’ll have my first ever paid QF J domestic flight in Jan and that’s because it’s SYD-MEL-DEL! Just happens to come with a double helping of SCs.

 

[willclan]

Virgin would probably win for the BNE PER route. Everytime I upgrade to business for that flight Qantas seems to reliably run their oldest, coughtiest 737 just for me.

Interesting that on our recent MEL -PER flight that the VA 737 Business Cabin did not even have the dreaded shower curtain! No separation from Economy and it really made it look bad compared to the QF cabin on return.

 

[Forg]

Interesting that on our recent MEL -PER flight that the VA 737 Business Cabin did not even have the dreaded shower curtain! No separation from Economy and it really made it look bad compared to the QF cabin on return.

The article that launched this thread surprised me in a VA way ... flew up to Ballina last Friday then back on Sunday, specifically chose one of the rearmost rows on the 738 in the hope they were still using the rear doors, and because Yay They Were I didn't see the seats up the pointy end. I COULD however see the cabin above all the heads, and assumed it must have been Y all the way to the front, as I didn't see any division of any sort, not even a slight colour-scheme change (where did I see that picture? An example of EuroBusiness where the wall panels were a different colour-scheme maybe?)

Now you made me think about it, I DO have a recollection of the announcement about dunnies - they DID say that only the rear ones were available to Y.

 

[Layslow]

Will give kudos to VA for having a nicer lounge at the Gold Coast Airport than the cupboard that is currently the Qantas Club there. But that is where any points go to Virgin, as the lounge I frequent the most - Sydney - is nothing short of a holding pen for animals.

 

[justinbrett]

I would hazard a guess a sizeable chunk of J pax are on intl itineraries

 

[MELso]

Betteridge's law of headlines strikes again...

 

[fletty]

Have paid for many J fares on VA because sometimes they're only marginally more expensive than Y tickets.

I've only paid for J on QF when there's a DSC that lines up with forward travel.

Value wise I think VA is a winner because the hard product is often the same or nicer. In terms of the overall experience I prefer QF.

WP in rows 4-6 is good enough for me otherwise

 

[dvb2000]

in 2 words... Chairman's Lounge.
or bribery & corruption...

totally related to Politician, Public servant and Executive capture.

 

[nowmedia]

If I’m paying it’s VA often because of their fly forward perk. QF would rather chop an arm off than put me on an earlier flight.

 

[Layslow]

in 2 words... Chairman's Lounge.
or bribery & corruption...

totally related to Politician, Public servant and Executive capture.

Not quite. The current CEO said the airline's resiliance is in part due to dominating the self-retiree market who have the cash to pay for better seats and service and less fickle to the changing economy.