Virgin Blue or Jet star?

[dajop]

Just interested to see what others think.

 

[oz_mark]

can't see them giving points, but it would be a nice differentiator between the two products

 

[QF WP]

They won't be giving any benefits linked to Qantas, just like Australian Airlines. We MAY be able to redeem on them, but not earn.

 

[oz_mark]

There were reports in December that Jetstar would "participate" in its parents Frequent Flyer scheme, which I assumed would be the same participation that Australian has (i.e. redemption).

From a marketing perspective I would think it would be a good incentive to award points (and/or SC's) but I don't see this happening. It looks like they are going to compete solely on cost.

 

[drron]

Living on the Sunshine Coast it looks as though our choice will only be jetstar or virgin blue.I have no doubt that QF points will not be earned on jetstar.Even if you could redeem QF points on jetstar it would be very poor value compared to business class awards to USA that I use.
That means that it will be entirely on price which one I use.But Mr. Dixon because Qantas have so thoroughly pissed me off over the last few years if jetstars fares are the same as virgin blue I would rather stick my knees under my armpits and go virgin than use jetstar. :wink:

 

[Neil]

JETSTAR - Branson's Best Friend

I love a conspiracy theory. Here's mine...

Just when we were all getting used to cheap air fares (thanks in total to Sir Dicky), it was time we started looking around for something even better. It's human nature. Branson's brain-child was to start his own discount competitor, offer a poor product/service from the website onwards and sit back and wait for all the unfaithful to come running back promising they will never leave him again!

Well, thankfully for Virgin, Qantas did all that for them with Jetstar. What a waste of time, money and hope. All Jetstar had to do was copy the Virgin success formula. They couldn't even do that right!!!

Sorry, Richard, I will never leave you again.

Will you ever forgive me?!

 

[straitman]

Just interested to see what others think.

Maybe another choice. What would you prefer to do :?: ie I'd prefer to fly QF all the time however there are real life considerations to make.

 

[rormad]

From today's (2/6/04) Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/01/1086058855447.html

Don't be late (ie less than 30 minutes early) for your Jetstar flight!!

If you wanted to guarantee people getting p@#$ed off with an airline try cancelling their tickets with no refund when they arrive 29 minutes before their flight. I can understand this if the tickets were the $50 variety but Vermin will clean up on this point. They'd better run on time! Funny though the people flying Jetstar would not be as concerned with punctuality of flights as business travellers.

What QF needs is a competitor for the business traveller! Decent meals and service so we get something decent back in QF!

 

[sully]

I voted for neither as I would rather stay with Qantas and enjoy all the relevant perks. I do have a concern that QF's policies may irk some people though and so they should be more flexible. In the past few weeks I have had to go to MEL on short notice. The price differential between QF and DJ has been quite staggering and so it is hard to justify the latter. Also, if a QF flight is booked on one of the lower fares there is no flexibility to alter flights. If I get to the airport in time for a previous flight and there is room on it why can't I travel on that earlier flight? Very annoying.

Re Jeststar, how are they going to react to an injury arising from the push and shove of people trying to get a preferred seat? This idea of no seat allocations is ridiculous.

Thankfully I won't fly on them to MEL at least given that my office is East of the city. The fare would be >$100.

I also note re Jetstar that a number of the cabbies who drive up from Avalon aren't familiar with MEL and actually ask for directions!!

 

[dajop]

Re Jeststar, how are they going to react to an injury arising from the push and shove of people trying to get a preferred seat? This idea of no seat allocations is ridiculous.
.........
I also note re Jetstar that a number of the cabbies who drive up from Avalon aren't familiar with MEL and actually ask for directions!!

On the first point, I flew with with JQ on a day trip down to HBA on Saturday (from MEL) - purely on impulse after scoring some 2 for 1 fares. The boarding process was (surprisingly!) relatively orderly but with a definite sense of urgency, the key was sitting close to the boarding gates so you were first in the line. [note though both flights had <50 pax so it will be interesting to see what happens when the flight is full]

Also there is a logical reason for 30 min cutoff - check in at front was by flight (ie different queue for each flight) & the guy who checked us in out front closed off the flight, I assume at 30mins, then walked all the way down to Gate 10 to give the pax log the flight crew and helped them mark off pax (MANUALLY) as we boarded (weird!). Wonder if they'll get computers & bar code readers at the gates to make this process more efficient.

Oh, on your second point re cabbies who drive up from Avalon not being familiar with MEL - so what? Many of the cabbies you get at tulla aren't that familiar with MEL either :wink: and as for SYD .......

And as for the overall experience, if they removed a couple of rows of seats, offered connexions & awarded QF Status credits, I'd be happy to fly them routinely rather than just opportunistically.

 

[swissbignose]

Funny though the people flying Jetstar would not be as concerned with punctuality of flights as business travellers.

Funnily enough, Jetstar are not looking to benefit the passengers with their punctuality. They're looking for quick turn-arounds, to get the planes back in the air. More sectors flown by less planes. That makes sense.

Stuff the late passengers. If you want to fly Jetstar, that you should be ready to board 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Having said that though, forcing people to checkin 30 minutes before, won't guarantee that they'll turn up at the boarding gate on time. Perhaps there should be an additional condition that says if you miss your "boarding sequence" call, you don't get to board!

 

[rormad]

I voted for neither as I would rather stay with Qantas and enjoy all the relevant perks. I do have a concern that QF's policies may irk some people though and so they should be more flexible. In the past few weeks I have had to go to MEL on short notice. The price differential between QF and DJ has been quite staggering and so it is hard to justify the latter. Also, if a QF flight is booked on one of the lower fares there is no flexibility to alter flights. If I get to the airport in time for a previous flight and there is room on it why can't I travel on that earlier flight? Very annoying.

Good point. I have found lately that my company seems to be booking super inflexible fares (that aren't all that cheap really) and I can't change planes if I'm early for love or money. They have a $33 fee for changing but you have to do that 24 hours in advance. If you miss it goodbye ticket. I'm sure that's not how it used to be. It would have been rare for me to travel on a fully flexible fare but on many occasions I finished early and grabbed an earlier flight no probs. Also often made the early connection at BNE when I flew in from TSV en route to SYD - changed on the run just a few months ago. Now I could donate my first born and they wouldn't let me change! What's happened?