Thinking of making the switch...

[greenfish]

Back on track for the OP, at the moment Virgin doesn't have the global alliance to compete with Oneworld. If you mostly fly long haul, Virgin's network is quite piecemeal and inconsistent.

If you mostly fly long haul, there are some clear benefits to Qantas (even if you mostly use Oneworld partners to fill in the gaps in the QF network).

 

[Moopere]

Yep Virgin are going to get stuck soon, and I think their 2nd half profit explains this..

They have invested lots of $$ and now charge the same or more than Qantas in many cases...

Seats don't sell so they have sale fares, bonus points offers and other specials to try to fill seats

Overall they charge a high-price but have a mixed level of service

Yikes! But QF are the king of inconsistent service.. surely? I find DJ to be quite consistent. They pretty much serve whats printed on the box. QF on the other hand seem to serve Schrödinger service in a fancy looking box. Fancy box or not, you never know whether your priority boarding, bags; QP lounge entry(*), service or onboard food is alive or dead until you experience it

[Edit: * = QP membersip international lounge entry]

 

[Muzfly]

My original posting re changing to Virgin came about because my travel is mostly long haul o/s. Over the past twelve months or so its become harder and harder to stay with QF & Oneworld for both reasons of cost and routing. Another consideration is that I am currently sitting on a million plus milage points and am expecting sooner or later QF to really tighten up on how they can be used thus devaluing their worth. So much so that I am using them up as fast as I can.

So I guess my point is that for European, China and US flights is, in the opinion of you out there, QF/Oneworld better than Virgin & their partners at this point?

 

[JohnK]

I am getting confused with all the analogies and can't decide whether I want a fine madam or a not so well made up tart. Which is cheaper in the long run?

A better analogy might be that Qantas are a fine dining restaurant, and Virgin is a local pub.

Only problem is that all the fine dining restaurants are going bankrupt and local pubs are doing a roaring trade.

The local pub may be doing a roaring trade but it is giving away the food at sometimes less than half the price. Not sure they can continue to do a roaring trade once the food is back at normal prices.

 

[straitman]

Quite frankly I think most of the analogies suck and those using them have their feet firmly in one camp or the other so they are also largely irrelevant :!:

 

[greenfish]

So I guess my point is that for European, China and US flights is, in the opinion of you out there, QF/Oneworld better than Virgin & their partners at this point?

European flights - Etihad / Singapore for access without going via LHR is great. However no internal Europe options. To Europe - DJ wins, within QF wins
China flights - VS to HKG vs the immense Cathay network. QF Win
USA - QF A380 v DL / DJ - Personal preference - is DFW useful to you direct from Syd? Virgin America + DL probably better than AA?

If most of your flying is long-haul I'd stick with one of the global alliances, either Oneworld or Star Alliance. There are too many holes in the Virgin partner network and reciprocal benefits - e.g. lounge access.

 

[Fruitcake]

However no internal Europe options.

To be fair, that will change once VS launches LHR-MAN

 

[lovestotravel]

Yikes! But QF are the king of inconsistent service.. surely? I find DJ to be quite consistent. They pretty much serve whats printed on the box. QF on the other hand seem to serve Schrödinger service in a fancy looking box. Fancy box or not, you never know whether your priority boarding, bags; QP lounge entry(*), service or onboard food is alive or dead until you experience it

[Edit: * = QP membersip international lounge entry]

For the normal traveler (likely none of us on here)

Qantas will pretty much always gives you some sort of in-flight entertainment
Qantas will always gives you some sort of food/drink
Qantas always includes a baggage allowance

On Virgin it's all over the place, well except for baggage which you always need to pay (for most people who don't travel much)

 

[Ausbt]

Qantas is the girl who has been around the block, you have probably ridden her a lot and enjoyed every moment of it.

Virgin is the girl you marry

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Virgin is the girl you marry

Marriage is an institution........nobody wants to remain in an institution!

(edit.....said with tongue firmly in cheek!)

 

[quark]

Qantas is the girl who has been around the block, you have probably ridden her a lot and enjoyed every moment of it.

Virgin is the girl you marry

What an enlightened view of women. Be still my beating heart (rolls eyes)....

 

[Simo]

I went to NAN last week and no lounge access with Virgin coming home from NAN.

Now there is a Air NZ lounge but not open as they have no flights at that time when flight was leaving.

I hated paying FJ$50 for a few bit and pieces from the shop in the airport, which would have been free in the lounge.

 

[Moopere]

I went to NAN last week and no lounge access with Virgin coming home from NAN.

Now there is a Air NZ lounge but not open as they have no flights at that time when flight was leaving.

I hated paying FJ$50 for a few bit and pieces from the shop in the airport, which would have been free in the lounge.

Yes - that would annoy me as well. Its the problem with the rag-tag collection of partners rather than an alliance. I'm pretty sensitive to this and though I am enjoying DJ domestic I am at the same time pretty wary of VA/DJ long/short haul

 

[Fruitcake]

I went to NAN last week and no lounge access with Virgin coming home from NAN.

Now there is a Air NZ lounge but not open as they have no flights at that time when flight was leaving.

I hated paying FJ$50 for a few bit and pieces from the shop in the airport, which would have been free in the lounge.

Unfortunately you would not have had access anyway, even had the lounge been open. Apparently it was a condition of competition regulator approval of the NZ/DJ alliance, to help maintain competition on the Pacific Islands where NZ and DJ are the dominant carriers. (Trans-tasman they have plenty of other competition).

 

[Simo]

Yes - that would annoy me as well. Its the problem with the rag-tag collection of partners rather than an alliance. I'm pretty sensitive to this and though I am enjoying DJ domestic I am at the same time pretty wary of VA/DJ long/short haul

VA's web site is not clear on a lot of things especially partner lounges and also partner airlines as well.

QF's web site is there products and to most degrees it is all correct.

 

[drewbles]

Qantas is the girl who has been around the block, you have probably ridden her a lot and enjoyed every moment of it.

Virgin is the girl you marry

Ahh but do you really want to fly an airline that's never 'been all the way' before either?

Something for you to ponder

 

[dajop]

To be fair, that will change once VS launches LHR-MAN

So does that make MAN the intra-European hub for VA partners. With access to London (VS) AND Munich (SQ) :!:

 

[Ausbt]

Ahh but do you really want to fly an airline that's never 'been all the way' before either?

Something for you to ponder

...these days I'll take a ride with anyone who'll have me

 

[Major]

My original posting re changing to Virgin came about because my travel is mostly long haul o/s. Over the past twelve months or so its become harder and harder to stay with QF & Oneworld for both reasons of cost and routing. Another consideration is that I am currently sitting on a million plus milage points and am expecting sooner or later QF to really tighten up on how they can be used thus devaluing their worth. So much so that I am using them up as fast as I can.

So I guess my point is that for European, China and US flights is, in the opinion of you out there, QF/Oneworld better than Virgin & their partners at this point?

If most of your travel is long haul then will SQ and EY take you to your destinations? If so then I would dip my toe and have a foot in each camp.

 

[SuzieQ68]

So throwing my two bits worth in, from my perspective (as a DJ Gold), I'm more than happy to stay with DJ and their partner airlines (esp SQ & Etihad) as, for the most part, I'm able to travel to the domestic & overseas destinations I need to get to (and earn status credits & points). Internationally though, the east coast to Asia still needs work as Etihad don't fly in/out of Brisbane every day and, although SQ do, there's no direct flights into countries such as Thailand or Vietnam (you have to go via Singapore). I believe there was also some regulatory requirements in relation to the relationship between DJ, EY & SQ which makes things a bit harder as well in terms of routing - hopefully this will eventually be sorted out. The other factor in Asia is that although you can travel on an SQ flight to areas within Asia (from Singapore), many of the regional flights (ie Chiang Mai) are operated by SilkAir which don't allow DJ customers to accrue status credits & points or even access the SQ lounges. Disappointing. Domestically, there are still destinations I'd like to be able to get to out of the Gold Coast without having to fly via a major capital city, but since Brisbane is just up the road, it's not a deal breaker, just wishful thinking. I haven't flown QF for years (once they left the Gold Coast, I left them), however I actually quite like the DJ product and, albeit slowly, they appear to be making more and more of an effort to improve the quality. I'd like to think that they will continue to listen to the feedback their customers are providing and build a stronger regional & international partner network so that wherever a DJ customer wishes to travel to, they can get there relatively easily. I think the signs are good, in my humble opinion, but only time will tell.