VA's Audience Demographic

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

I'm this demographic too. I refuse to fly coughstar and when I look for flights, I compare Virgin and Qantas. Virgin is almost always cheaper. And it's usually the Choice Fare for me. I'm too old to struggle with putting my small wheelie bag in the overhead storage bins. No one pays for my flights but me.

Whilst I'm also in the same demo (i.e. Jetstar is a "no") I'm finding that the gap between QF & VA in Y is becoming less and less when it's a Choice fare vs. the standard QF Y fare.

 

[RooFlyer]

Interesting read, relevant here, if you can jump the paywall

‘I’m embarrassed to tell you’: The secrets of an elite status frequent flyer

The 57-year-old [Dale Brittain] from Ivanhoe in Melbourne’s north runs a marketing agency and also works as head of commercial for an automotive events company based on the Gold Coast.

But in the last 12 months, Brittain says his credits have been accumulated in a much less glamorous way: flying domestically in economy on Virgin.

Since re-emerging from insolvency in 2020, Virgin has centred its Velocity frequent-flyer business on travellers like Brittain. The simplified airline has eschewed long-haul international flying in favour of the lucrative domestic market, where Qantas and Virgin dominate, targeting small and medium-sized enterprises less willing to spend on Qantas’ premium fares.

Brittain already has Lifetime Gold status on Qantas and shifted his loyalty to Virgin after what he describes as an “unfortunate experience” with the Flying Kangaroo.

And in October, when Virgin launched its own lifetime status equivalent, Forever Gold, Brittain was an inaugural member.

Despite Virgin’s network limitations, Brittain says he’s satisfied with the scheduling.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere that I can’t get to on a regular basis with Virgin,” he says. “I’m generally not flying regionally that much. It’s mostly in the capital cities.”

He won’t fly Jetstar – Qantas’ budget subsidiary – even though they ply the same route between Melbourne and the Gold Coast, after another bad experience.

“I still fly Qantas, but it’s more if Virgin is full or it’s a last-minute thing,” he says, noting that he now chooses the cheapest international flights rather than being driven to acquire more status credits or enjoy the perks of lounges and priority boarding.

 

[eastwest101]

Interesting read, relevant here, if you can jump the paywall

‘I’m embarrassed to tell you’: The secrets of an elite status frequent flyer

That might be a fairly common or typical user experience for VA from the extracts presented - what works for them, as long as they don't want to fly anywhere regional in Australia or international, then VA is a viable option for those types of passengers. I note that this flyer has QF Gold to fall back on, though. I wonder if they would be so sanguine about their choices if they didn't have QF Gold status/benefits to fall back on.....