Have a new job - need help picking QF or VA

[VulpesVulpes]

Hello everyone! Been lurking for quite some time but first post.

I have recently got a new job and will be flying lots.

I have both VA and QF memberships for the little trips I do but if I stick to one I should be gold by year end (I have been told by my new boss).

I will be BNE based and will commute mostly to SYD with the odd trip to Cairns, Melbourne, Darwin, Canberra and Wagga Wagga.

I have the advantage that I will be staring fresh with whoever I choose - but I am not sure which one to go with.

I have been told that the QF lounge is nicer but harder to maintain the gold status once I have it. I also am reading the VA perks are better for domestic (where I am working). It seems the the BNE-SYD is a minimum points leg which means that QF is earning more points (800 over 425) and I want the best points earner (but I don't know what is better value for points redemption value either). When I've saved the points I want to use them for international travel to Europe and I've been told QF can be better than this.

Any knowledge and help would be awesome!

Thanks!

 

[markis10]

First thing to mention is the fact that points are not equal on each program. You need to look at how your work books flights, for instance are they short notice flexi fares, as Virgin earn points domestically on a per dollar basis with no minimum points guarantee. You mentioned 425 for Virgin in your points comparison, that's assuming an airfare is $80 in Virgins case, which for corporate travel will be relatively rare.

The other thing to look at is of course the burn rates, and there is significant difference here, with Virgin not featuring the fuel surcharges Qantas has, that can make a big difference.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hello everyone! Been lurking for quite some time but first post.

I have recently got a new job and will be flying lots.

I have both VA and QF memberships for the little trips I do but if I stick to one I should be gold by year end (I have been told by my new boss).

I will be BNE based and will commute mostly to SYD with the odd trip to Cairns, Melbourne, Darwin, Canberra and Wagga Wagga.

I have the advantage that I will be staring fresh with whoever I choose - but I am not sure which one to go with.

I have been told that the QF lounge is nicer but harder to maintain the gold status once I have it. I also am reading the VA perks are better for domestic (where I am working). It seems the the BNE-SYD is a minimum points leg which means that QF is earning more points (800 over 425) and I want the best points earner (but I don't know what is better value for points redemption value either). When I've saved the points I want to use them for international travel to Europe and I've been told QF can be better than this.

Any knowledge and help would be awesome!

Thanks!

Rule number 1: Don't believe everything your boss tells you. Some may not be as savvy as they think they are when it comes to advice on earning points/SCs so I'd wait & seen how things pan out with work trips once you've done a few flights & you'll soon get a good idea of of whether gold membership can be sustained.

Not sure if your personal circumstances & whether family pooling is an option for you but only VA offer this facility so Gold status would be much easier to maintain with them as multiple family members can pool into a single account. Note than all family members pooling points must reside at the same address.

A lot of companies these days have a BFOD policy (best fare of the day) which means you don't have the luxury of choosing which airline you'll be flying as the decision will be made for you.

It's always a good idea to assume that work will never enter your frequent flyer number into the booking so you'll need to do this yourself once you have the airline booking reference so you can then add the ffn plus allocate your seating etc.

Good luck with your new job & happy flying. Don't forget to keep us updated with your progess & welcome to AFF!

 

[opusman]

If you go with QF be prepared for your benefits to be enhanced away over the coming years.

 

[eastwest101]

Agree with markis10's comments, and also to re-iterate that if you do actually have control over whether you fly QF or VA (and from the look of your destinations it seems that either will be possible) you will earn status credits that contribute to your status on either Qantas or Virgin. With most of your flying being east coast I would say that you would get to VA Gold much quicker and easier than QF Gold. Remember that QFF Gold is 700SC's and considering most of your flights look to earn either 10 or 15SC then that could be in the order of 45-70 economy class flights per year, check if you are really really going to be flying that much.

In either case - the Gold and above status levels are really where you start to see the free lounge entry and other status benefits like better seat selection and increased luggage allowance.

When you say you will be flying 'a lot' - what does that mean - on average twice a week? Daily, or only twice a month? And most importantly - are your flights all booked months in advance or the day before? This will most likely affect which fare classes you would be travelling on. I'll just assume you will be flying economy class for most of these flights.

There is another thread which covers similar ground to yours here - although that person is starting their own business so also has to consider how they could possibly use credit cards to build up a stash of VFF or QFF points. Your case is still sort of the same - even if you are just funelling your own spend through a credit card it all adds up.

At the moment VA generally has lower 'copayment fees' or 'fuel fines' for redeeming points into flights, Qantas often has very high fuel fines with less availibility however (at the moment) still has other OneWorld alliance partners (British Airways, Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, Iberia) with more reasonable fuel fines and availibility. The Velocity scheme is a bit of a mixed bag depending on which partner you want to redeem or fly on (Ethiad, Delta, Air NZ and Singapore Airlines), it has a limited international network outside Australia so relies on its partners a fair bit - such as EY and SQ. Velocity does have family pooling, which if you have a family, can get you status credits a bit quicker and is one advantage of velocity.

At the moment the only thing keeping the QFF scheme alive is access and membership to the OneWorld alliance, if they left that - they'd be dead. The Velocity scheme is a bit of a 'jury still out' verdict for some people, again, if Velicity/Vigrin joined their owners alliance (StarAlliance) then you would expect its popularity to increase.

 

[Mwenenzi]

VulpesVulpes Welcome to AFF

What are you long term objectives from a freq flyer program?
Do you know the companies travel policy, if it has one?
Wiil you be subject to BFOD and/or restrictions on booking class? [You may end up on Jetstar !]

A similar thread here: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ocity/qantas-ff-vs-virgin-velocity-60787.html