Latest news

Qantas to Fly Boeing 787 to Johannesburg

Qantas plans to replace the Boeing 747 with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on the Sydney-Johannesburg route from 28 March 2021, ending months of speculation about the future of the route and Qantas’ Boeing 747 fleet. Qantas has just released its flight schedules for travel beyond 28 March 2021, which marks the beginning of the IATA 2021 … Continued

20 May 2020 Qantas

Qatar Airways Status Match for Velocity Members

Qatar Airways Privilege Club is offering a status match to top-tier members of the Virgin Australia Velocity program. The offer is also available to frequent flyers with Emirates, Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines and South African Airways. If you’re eligible for the Qatar Airways Privilege Club status match, you’ll receive 12 months of complimentary … Continued

18 May 2020 Qatar Airways

Court: Airlines Can’t Charge More to Rebook Cancelled Flights

If you’ve had a flight cancelled due to COVID-19, you may have had to change your travel dates or ended up with a credit voucher to use towards a future trip. Unfortunately, these travel credit vouchers come with their own limitations. As well as limited expiry dates, one common complaint has been that the voucher … Continued

18 May 2020 Planning & Booking

Velocity Reinstates Limited Domestic Flight Redemptions

It’s once again possible to redeem Velocity points for Virgin Australia flights, almost four weeks after redemptions were temporarily paused due to Virgin Australia entering voluntary administration. Both Velocity Reward Seat and Any Seat bookings are now available. But it’s not all good news… Before you get too excited, redemptions are now only possible on … Continued

17 May 2020 Points Inspiration Virgin Australia

Qatar Airways’ Generous New Rebooking Policy

At the moment, most airlines are being more generous in allowing free changes. They need to, in order to encourage customers to continue booking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some airlines are offering to waive change fees once, for example, while still charging any fare difference that may apply. Emirates is going a step further, allowing … Continued

17 May 2020 Qatar Airways

Podcast #36: Behind the Virgin Australia Cockpit Door

As Virgin Australia’s voluntary administration process continues, frequent flyers with travel credits or Velocity points are getting nervous. But what’s it like for the airline’s pilots whose jobs are on the line? Chris Bournelis is a Boeing 737 First Officer for Virgin Australia. You may know him as AviatorInsight, a regular contributor to AFF’s Ask … Continued

16 May 2020 AFF on Air Podcast

Behind the Virgin Australia Cockpit Door – AIR036

  Chris Bournelis (a.k.a. AviatorInsight) is a Boeing 737 First Officer for Virgin Australia. As the voluntary administration process continues and many flights remain grounded, Chris joins Matt in this episode of AFF on AIR to talk about life behind the cockpit door.   Episode contents: 0:56 – Fortnightly news round-up 12:42 – Maximising frequent … Continued

16 May 2020 AFF on Air (blubrry)

Emirates, Etihad Resume Flights to Australia

Emirates and Etihad Airways are both resuming commercial passenger flights to and from Australia. Qatar Airways, meanwhile, is also making a return to Brisbane in May 2020. Etihad Airways flights from Melbourne to London From today, Etihad will operate one flight per week from Melbourne to London via Abu Dhabi. The flight will operate on … Continued

15 May 2020 Emirates

Woolworths Rewards is Coming to Tasmania

EXCLUSIVE | With more than 12 million members, Woolworths Rewards is one of the most popular loyalty programs in Australia. Members can earn points for shopping at Woolworths, Big W & BWS, and those points can be converted to Qantas Frequent Flyer points. But until now, Tasmanian residents have been excluded from the Woolworths Rewards … Continued

15 May 2020 Woolworths Everyday Rewards

LifeMiles Safe (For Now) as Avianca Files for Bankruptcy

Colombian airline Avianca has become the latest casualty of COVID-19, voluntarily filing for bankruptcy earlier this week. But the LifeMiles frequent flyer program is safe, at least for now. LifeMiles is the frequent flyer program of Avianca, a member of Star Alliance. It’s popular among Australian frequent flyers because LifeMiles are often sold at generous … Continued

14 May 2020 Avianca

Rex Considers Connecting Capital Cities

Regional Express Airlines (Rex) has floated a crazy idea to start flights on domestic trunk routes between Australia’s capital cities, competing directly with Qantas (and possibly Virgin Australia, if it emerges from voluntary administration). Under the proposal, Rex would lease 10 narrow-body jets and operate on key routes such as Sydney-Brisbane and Melbourne-Adelaide. Rex normally … Continued

14 May 2020 Rex & Regional Airlines

No Refunds, Only “Conditional Credits” for Virgin Customers

The federal court has approved a proposal by the Virgin Australia administrator to offer restrictive “conditional credits” to Virgin Australia customers instead of refunds. The new policy applies to Virgin Australia, Tigerair and Virgin Australia Holidays bookings made before the airline entered administration on 21 April 2020. Normal refund and travel credit policies – including … Continued

14 May 2020 Virgin Australia