If Virgin had...

[Oneworldplus2]

Hello All,

First post, here it goes....

Just wanted to asked a question among all you frequent flyers out there.
If Virgin Blue points counted towards Star Alliance (instead of Velocity), provided a meal (like Qantas) and had better lounges around Australia (and entry like Oneworld, but on the Star Alliance network), would you consider changing to Virgin?

I have spoken to alot of people (overseas) and they say that the Star Alliance network compared to One World rocks and that the burn rate on some airlines kicks Qantas big time.
Just a simple question....
I am Qantas Silver, getting corprate QP in the next few days though. Always falling just short of Gold too.

 

[straitman]

Hello All,

First post, here it goes....

Just wanted to asked a question among all you frequent flyers out there.
If Virgin Blue points counted towards Star Alliance (instead of Velocity), provided a meal (like Qantas) and had better lounges around Australia (and entry like Oneworld, but on the Star Alliance network), would you consider changing to Virgin?

I have spoken to alot of people (overseas) and they say that the Star Alliance network compared to One World rocks and that the burn rate on some airlines kicks Qantas big time.
Just a simple question....
I am Qantas Silver, getting corprate QP in the next few days though. Always falling just short of Gold too.

Too many hypotheticals in there to be realistic from my perspective.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

I just feel that Qantas has a strangle hold on the Australian market, that's all.
If Virgin Blue had a scheme where points were able to be used on the Star Allaince network, provided a meal during the flight and had decent lounges, would you move to Virgin? Simple...

 

[Travel Guru]

I'd have to disagree on your requirement for better lounges, from my experience, and that of others on here, DJ's lounges are alot better than the joke that is the current day QP.

Other than that, my list would be limited to Priority checkin and priority baggage for lounge members; I honestly couldn't care if they did a meal, i'd be happy with those two and consider swapping so i'm at least not relegated to pleb while I build up DJ status.

TG

 

[thegurio]

As a member of Velocity a bit of a moot point, however, what i would like to see is...

• Point upgrades to Premium Economy
• Free meals on PE - lets face it, if its at a premium (which it is quite a bit) i think a $15 meal is on the cards, even if it is a "set menu"
• Like oneworldplus2 already said, entry internationally to other *alliance lounges.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Sorry, my fault here. l meant to say, MORE Virgin domestic lounges accross Oz and if points were counted on the *alliance network. I am all for competition and am loyal to Qantas (as we don't really have a choice at the moment). If a flight from Sydney to Brisbane costs the same with Qantas of Virgin, l'll go Qantas because of the meal and the points on OneWorld.

 

[Keith009]

I've come to realise that *A has more award availability than oneworld does. Doing a search for SQ F and LH F awards MEL-SIN-FRA/LHR I can find SQ 744 F seats on ANY day I wanted in Sept, LH a bit harder as they have only 1 daily out of SIN but nonetheless still a breeze. With oneworld I've had to do a fair bit of adjustments to my itinerary in Feb 09 whilst trying to find F on LHR-MEL as early as March.

I disagree with the network argument - *A is virtually non existent in South America. So oneworld will still be 'more global' than *A even if Virgin joins the latter by virtue of having a presence in all 6 continents, and contrary to popular perception oneworld does exist in Africa - Com Air.

Also notice that a lot of the *A partners actually replicate each other rather than complement. From an industry stand point this can't be a good thing.

After having flown both alliances I have also come to appreciate that oneworld is superior to *A on both quality and cohesiveness.

Sure *A has beauties like SQ and NZ, but they also have some truly appalling ones that make the likes of IB seem like a god send.

oneworld has completed interline eticketing between all partners since 2005, and barring the small minority who travel on itineraries of >16 segments oops: ), you're almost guaranteed an eticket with oneworld. I don't believe *A has finished interline eticketing arrangements - my Dad recently had to get a paper ticket on a LH/LX/UA/AC itinerary even though it was well under 16 segments. I've also seen simple LH/TG itineraries issued as paper as late as last year (no 'difficult' airports involved).

The communication channels also seem to be better between oneworld carriers. Every carrier has an official oneworld liaisons that they can turn to as a channel of communication between partners. OTOH whenever I've run into problems with a multi carrier itinerary on *A which requires the intervention of a carrier other than the one which issued the ticket, the response will always be along the lines of "we've done everything correctly and it's not our problem" or "no sorry there is no way we can talk to them" or "oops we can't even see your ticket as it's not issued by us and we can't be bothered as it's not our problem."

And don't even get me started on booking a RTW with a *A carrier....

Finally and most importantly - the ability to gain access to Flounges alliance wide with OW Emerald status is unparalleled.

So nope other than merrily burning my Diamond Club miles I'm happy where I am with oneworld.

 

[ANstar]

I think both Velocity and QF are pretty inflated programs for points burning... BUT.... velocity would be more appealing if they were alligned with Star or Skyteam.

I do a lot of international travel and enjoy access to the lounges when flying Oneworld carriers.... now if I had (which I dont) Velocity status, none of their partners would even recognise it.... so unfortuantely - no switch from QF.Oneworld here.

 

[stuartfaz]

Hello All,

First post, here it goes....

Just wanted to asked a question among all you frequent flyers out there.
If Virgin Blue points counted towards Star Alliance (instead of Velocity), provided a meal (like Qantas) and had better lounges around Australia (and entry like Oneworld, but on the Star Alliance network), would you consider changing to Virgin?

I have spoken to alot of people (overseas) and they say that the Star Alliance network compared to One World rocks and that the burn rate on some airlines kicks Qantas big time.
Just a simple question....
I am Qantas Silver, getting corprate QP in the next few days though. Always falling just short of Gold too.

As a relatively loyal DJ flyer my vote may not be impartial but here goes:

A Star Alliance/Virgin Blue tie-up will always be a wish for most FF's. As previously stated though, DJ and affiliates joining Star would lead to some unwanted duplication with NZ and UA.

If DJ join Skyteam I think it would be a bonus for them and for flyers. That'd provide Skyteam with a quality Oceania network as well as a AUS-USA service (and a convenient link to NW, who already have agreements in place with VAA.) It's an option I think (or hope ) would be appealing to Virgin.

As for their current service, you won't see a full meal service on DJ. One of the things they pride themselves on is this New World Carrier stuff, and having the full service goes against that somewhat.

Agreed on the point that their Premium Economy offering needs improvement. It's currently overpriced for what it is, and to be fair they don't need to do that much to make it really appealing. I'd suggest:

• Lower the fare to Corporate Plus level (Corp Plus fares seem redundant with the new offering anyway)
• Offer a meal service - could be as simple as a $10-15 voucher for each customer. Bung it on the end of the DJ boarding docket like a petrol voucher and you're set.
• Offer priority service - Not too hard to do priority boarding/baggage and it'd be a pretty attractive add on for Y+ and status members.
• Advertise it more - Apart from the DJ website I have not seen one ad for premium economy. No wonder they're not selling any.

International Lounge Access would be dependent on VA schedules, but some kind of access to Velocity members on international routes would be great. I've heard rumours that VA premium customers and Velocity members will have access to the VS lounge (along with VX customers) once their ops begin. It's a good start, but if a bigger tie-in is possible then bring it on .

I agree that the VLounges are very good already, but it would bee good for them to have a presence at all major ports (no lounge at PER especially could see them disadvantaged in a perfect market for premium economy.)

So there's my 2 cents. Virgin for Skyteam, a cheaper Y+ with food and priority service, and greater access to their very nice lounges.

 

[NYCguy]

Hello All,

First post, here it goes....

Just wanted to asked a question among all you frequent flyers out there.
If Virgin Blue points counted towards Star Alliance (instead of Velocity), provided a meal (like Qantas) and had better lounges around Australia (and entry like Oneworld, but on the Star Alliance network), would you consider changing to Virgin?

Hmmm....

Short answer is no with a but...

Long answer yes, with a maybe.

 

[opusman]

I might if they had a proper J class. I hate sitting up the back

 

[JohnK]

I am quite happy with QF and Oneworld but I would seriously consider using DJ more often if they joined *Alliance or even Skyteam and offered a few more benefits than what they are providing at the moment....

 

[thegurio]

I guess you could say i'm a loyal DJ customer too but that is only because they are the most cost effective. What i was saying with regards to food was only in PE - not every other seat. I understand in this day and age margins are quite slim and i would prefer a good safety record to a pathetic muffin and awful coffee. What i am saying, along the lines of Stuartfaz, is provide one with PE as it seems silly to pay at the top of the tree and then have to fork out again...

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Cool, thanks for the responses. Very interesting.

l have flown with Korean Air only once and only when l looked at there website did l even hear of Skyteam. Guess we will have to wait and see about the new V Airline starting up soon.

I also agree with the Premium ecomony about a meal. If you already paying top $$, wouldn't a meal be included. But, safety does come first as "thegurio" pointed out.

Cheers

 

[ANstar]

Skyteam are ok... I think DJ would slot more into that alliance than STAR.

 

[browski]

I think Velocity is on the right track with its Air partners - Emirates, Malaysian, Virgin Atlantic, Hawaiin, V Australia and SkyWest

The first 2 have huge networks and if you go to their interactive map https://www.velocityrewards.com.au/content/routeMap
it is a surprisingly comprehensive.

They probably just need 2 or 3 more partners (for my travel), like Ethiopian and/or Aeroflot (now that they have had the biggest comeback makeover since John Farnham! see YouTube - AEROFLOT - Russian Airlines)

If they could join Skyteam without losing these existing partners then that would be ideal.

Just have to remember to have the overseas check-in staff enter DJ in front of the Velocity number because none of them have heard of virginblue - otherwise they enter it as VS and you spend 3 months fighting for missing points.

 

[Flying Fox]

Hello All,

First post, here it goes....

Just wanted to asked a question among all you frequent flyers out there.
If Virgin Blue points counted towards Star Alliance (instead of Velocity), provided a meal (like Qantas) and had better lounges around Australia (and entry like Oneworld, but on the Star Alliance network), would you consider changing to Virgin?

I have spoken to alot of people (overseas) and they say that the Star Alliance network compared to One World rocks and that the burn rate on some airlines kicks Qantas big time.
Just a simple question....
I am Qantas Silver, getting corprate QP in the next few days though. Always falling just short of Gold too.

Sounds like you are asking if VB was like Ansett would people here change? I think that a lot of people would given that AN had pretty good market share.

Personally I miss AN and lost lots of points after their demise so I would probably consider them.

 

[Fluid-Flyer]

Personally I miss AN and lost lots of points after their demise so I would probably consider them.

East meets West, with 2008's version of Ansett - picture taken from the former Golden Whinge in Melbourne a few days ago!