The change from QF to DJ

[josh84]

Hi All,

I am not sure if there is another thread for this, so I apologise if there is.

I have a question regarding the status match the Virgin offered last year. I took up this offer and they matched my WP status. I flew with them only a couple of times (mainly to use the free upgrades) and found that they had greatly improved from the "old" Virgin, however, I remained loyal to Qantas and found it very hard to break from them and have retained my status again.

The more i fly with Qantas however, the more I am becoming less happy with the way that I am treated as a supposed "loyal frequent flyer" and the service that they offer. I got back from LHR yesterday, and that flight was the final nail for me, and I honestly think I am ready to change, however, I dont want to do this if Virgin ends up being the same as Qantas. I have noticed a massive downturn with Qantas in the last month, prior to that, I honestly thought they were improving. To make the point more, I left feedback online for Qantas and the auto response said "we currently have a large number of items to respond too" (or something to the effect.

My question is, did anyone else take up the status match and move all their business to Virgin? If so, are you happy that you have and do you find that they appreciate your business more than what Qantas appear too, or have both airlines become complacent with their higher tier frequent flyers.

Thanks in advance for your advice, as I really dont know what to do.

 

[lovestotravel]

I did move most of my domestic flights to Virgin, but now have about a 60/40 share with the majority being Virgin.

I have already retained Plat for March next year, and earning any more SCs at the moment is just a waste, they really need a lifetime Gold/Plat target. Mainly due to this I am working towards lifetime Silver and then Gold with Qantas!

It all really comes down to the crew, so it's much of a muchness really. However, I find that Qantas crew are much more professional overall than Virgin, and alot less sloppy.

As for email response times, even as a Plat with Virgin, it's taking around 10-15 days to get a reply, which as a high-tier member is not good enough. Also ringing Virgin lately (5 times in the past 2 weeks) has always been met with a 10-30 min wait, and even once being told they were too busy and that they would call me back..

While they did call me back I don't wish to play phone tag!

 

[AaronBradford]

As for email response times, even as a Plat with Virgin, it's taking around 10-15 days to get a reply ...

Strange. When I've e-mailed [email protected] the last few times I've had replies within 24-48 hours. Not always to my liking, but they were received nonetheless.

 

[TonyHancock]

I have transferred about 25% of my travel to DJ which, last year, equated to 1500+ SC's. I'm just not convinced by the international side of the business. So I try to use DJ for domestic travel. My experiences have been pretty good. The staff I talk to certainly give me the impression that they care about my business. Perhaps the most impressive thing is the desire to improve. I have met lounge managers who want to know how they can make things better. The A330's to PER are excellent and I enjoy the J product on the 737's.

As for QF it doesn't really improve when you get to P1, you still get the generic answers "Your feedback has been forwarded to management for their attention" Code for "That is the last you'll hear about this and we don't really care that you have not had a good experience."