Comparison QF and VA TransTasman Business Class

[ozflier]

Apologies in advance if I have erred in submitting this discussion in both QFF and VA forums.

I thought readers may be interested in comparing these 2 airlines J class during flights in the same week.

I won't go into any fancy analysis but suffice to say,
QF was used on the sector BNE-Queenstown and VA in reverse.

Both check in processes and boarding was really quite similar and no complaints.
However, things changed when I entered the cabin.

QR offers of choices of pre take off drinks ( I had the French Champagne despite it being a 0930 departure - a very drinkable )
VA offered water or orange juice ( for a 1235 departure) I asked for wine - no!

The QF seat had a footrest and good recline.
VA had neither - actually the seat felt quite stiff.

Post take off drink - QF offered more champagne , nil by VA until the meal service.

Entertainment -
QF back of the seat in front screen - good choice of movies .
VA offered an ipad looking device , minimal choice of movies . No adjustment for brightness - so poor viewing when windows open.

Meals
QF despite a breakfast flight , a surprising choice on offer - muesli, fruit salad , beef roll, bacon and eggs - very tasty.
VA had 2 offers
- a braised beef with various small and differently coloured pea or corn shaped things in some kind of insipid sauce - I had this - not too impressive after paying $1200 for the one way flight .
- a salad no fish to accompany or chicken

Maybe I would have been offered one of these "celebrity chef" type offerings on Qantas so hard to compare -
but why can't Virgin offer a piece of steak , Caesar salad , NZ lamb etc?

Meal Drinks
QF had no cabernet sauvignon but the Shiraz was good
VA ,of course no sparkling, but their Cab Sav not bad.

Over all , I am not the greatest devotee of Qantas but they certainly have come in front from my point of view.
I got the impression that VA rows 1 and 2 are still being treated as if they were in the old Premium Economy whereas Qantas staff actually looked after as a premium travellers who paid a premium price and deserved special treatment.

Virgin would have to improve their value for money or substantially discount their fare ( say to 70% of QFs ) before I would give them another go!

 

[Jack_OC]

I have flown AKL-MEL in J with both airlines relatively recently - VA on a free upgrade from a flexi fare (Platinum benefit) and QF on points. Both of my flights were late afternoon departures, so pretty easy to directly compare.

I agree with your assessment - VA was pretty disappointing. I was expecting a proper meal, but the main course was more akin to a starter - some kind of salad IIRC. Drinks service was disappointing - like in your example, there was no pre-departure booze, and on two occasions after "dinner", a crew member tried to clear my empty glass away without asking if I wanted anything more. The first time when I asked for another glass of wine I got an apologetic "yes of course sir", but the second time it was more of an "oh, ok ....". And just to be clear, I hadn't had a whole lot to drink, so it's not like this was an RSA situation! Also, I was the only person in J on that flight, so I thought a bit of pro-active service shouldn't have been out of the question! At the end of the day, I got the upgrade for free, so I kind of took the view that I couldn't expect too much, but if I had paid >$1,000 I would have been very unhappy.

Nothing particularly sticks out about the QF flight, except that I was generally happy with everything, and I remember commenting to my wife that the food was really good.

One aspect where VA (or NZ) potentially comes out ahead is lounge access at AKL - I wasn't QF Platinum at the time, and the QF J lounge at AKL isn't anything to write home about. It was also extremely busy at the time (a common occurrence, I believe). The new Koru lounge at AKL is much better. That said, for QF Platinums there is F lounge access in AKL, which I have not yet experienced.

 

[kermatu]

One thing to note is QF J pax (and certainly WPs and above) can access the Emirates lounge out of Auckland if it's an afternoon flight. Far better than QF lounges.

I haven't flown VA Trans tasman. I have always been happy with QF - most flights are operated by a subsidiary (JetConnect) which has NZ crew and the service is very good. More flights are now Aussie crewed, particularly the A330 services between Auckland and Sydney.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Without exception I've found the Jetconnect crew to be great. Got to know a lot of them over the last couple of years and they're a good crew to fly with.

 

[Jack_OC]

One thing to note is QF J pax (and certainly WPs and above) can access the Emirates lounge out of Auckland if it's an afternoon flight. Far better than QF lounges.

In theory yes, in practice not necessarily:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....er-program/akl-ek-lounge-denial-qf-83353.html

 

[BD1959]

Not a comparison, but a data point.

SYD-WLG this week in QF J.

Offered water, juice, sparkling (not sure if champagne or not) on departure, pre-dinner drinks - ordered the G&T.

Dinner was a choice of small plates and large, followed by sweet. I didn't have the small plate - person next to me had the soup, but there was (by appearance) a salmon salad.

There was a prawn noodle dish listed but said to be unavailable - not sure if this had "sold out" prior to getting to me. I had the roast chicken - very nice - followed by cheese & biscuits.

A glass of the very agreeable NZ Pinot Noir with dinner, my table was cleared when I went to the bathroom but no problem getting another glass on return.

Great Jetconnect crew (as usual).

Regards,

BD

 

[kermatu]

In theory yes, in practice not necessarily:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....er-program/akl-ek-lounge-denial-qf-83353.html

4 visits in the past 3 weeks and entry granted every time. Flying QF only. A few others also allowed entry. Lounge is much more relaxed with EK419 being discontinued and remaining flights a bit better staggered. They are expanding soon too so that could help even more.