Things Virgin Australia Does & Doesn’t Do Well

[Wing Nut]

Son and I did MEL CBR last Monday arvo, no issues. Carry on made security quick, boarding was efficient. Crew were great with a quick whip around the cabin with the drinks cart. The red was decent. Internet was a dead set rort but given the flight was 45 min, can easily live without it. Wouldn't do this for a longer flight but short hops, Virgin's just fine

 

[engbren]

Other than that, you seem to be extolling the virues of QFF over Velocity. I find it slightly more nuanced, but you're on the right track...

Both programs have their benefits. Velocity works well for me for my corporate travel - I fly frequently enough (roughly a return flight every 2-3 weeks), with most of my travel domestic economy. I am constrained by a corporate policy which is enforced somewhat strictly. I enjoy the status benefits like priority boarding and lounge access that gold has to offer.

With some effort, I could work my corporate booking system to find Qantas flights that meet the policy but the harsh reality is that I don’t fly often enough with the right class of fares to gain status with Qantas from my corporate travel alone and I don’t value the status enough to do a status run. My recent flights have been enough to tick over the retain but in the past I’ve been a bit light and family pooling and flybuys SC earns combined with the lower hurdles to attain/retain has meant Velocity makes it easier to attain/retain gold status.

When international travel is on the cards, Velocity previously delivered good lounge access (I can recall accessing The House in SYD when flying Hawaiian airlines and being treated to à la carte dining, the Air NZ lounge complete with its hot dog stand on SIA trips in the as well as a nice lounge in LAX and when travelling on the Virgin 777 in economy as a gold I routinely was given an exit row seat as well as some nice chocolates from business or premium). Lounge access has worsened for international trips since then and VA no longer flys long haul to the USA. As I am no longer travelling internationally for business, this degraded lounge access isn’t so much an issue for me.