Time for Lounge Access When Flying Tigerair?

[yohy?!]

Now that TT is effectively stabilised perhaps it is time for VA to consider allowing lounge access for VFFs when flying on leisure routes.

For those of us with a foot in both camps, I can say that I have quite a few flights (mainly to OOL every 6 weeks or so) that now go to JQ purely due to price beats and lounge access (no plus pack on these) - something I would readily reconsider.

Points and status earning would be nice also as an option in future also.

 

[Intra]

Not going to happen!! And me for one personally am grateful JB is not going to blur the lines between VA & TT in the same ways QF & JQ are with Status/Lounge Benefits & Access. One has to only take a quick look at the J* forum here to see the myriad of complaints from members flying JQ and struggling to make use of QFF benefits and/or rorting the system for a ticket they purchased for half the price of a QF ticket!

Quoting JB himself:

There should be no expectation of a "Virgin Express", "Virgin Lite" or even, as some jokingly suggest, a "Virgin Blue" for the LCC's name as that would involve Virgin and Mr Borghetti wants to maintain a clear separation between Virgin and its LCC.

“You walk into a supermarket and look at the toothpaste…there’s probably 20-30 brands. They're probably owned by one or two manufacturers but you’d never know it. I think that's the way you run a multi brand strategy and that's the way we intend to run it,” Mr Borghetti told CAPA TV. This philosophy extends outside the branding. "You’ll never see Virgin codesharing on Tiger or vice-versa," Mr Borghetti affirmed.

....

Virgin elite members travelling on Tigerair experience any Virgin perks, as Qantas passengers on Jetstar sometimes do. Virgin passengers buying a Tigerair ticket, Mr Borghetti said, will "experience the Tiger[air] experience. I'm sorry, they don't have a lounge and you can't use ours.”

http://centreforaviation.com/analys...trategies-asia--being-a-modern-airline-199511

 

[yohy?!]

we'll see about that, if VA wants to grow they're going to have to close the myriad of gaps with QF. the clearest one being the recognition of status on JQ in australia and in Asia on 3K.

it's simple really, give me lounge access that is already fully paid through my VA travel and there will be further revenue/cashflow from my leisure fares for TT to grow and not be a drain on VA.

is that not worth a couple of beers and nuts, doesn't hurt to keep me sweet and putting my work travel towards VA also...

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Certainly the Velocity Frequent Flyer program would gain further appeal should Points & SC be awarded on the sister airline TT's flights with a fare structure similar to the Likes of JQ with their bundle deal.

Other LCC's owned by larger parent companies around the world such as as Vueling ( Iberia/IAG , Spain) & Germanwings ( Lufthansa) offer Points & status credits/miles with their respective add-on pricing structures, so offering this would be a great way for TT & velocity to grow.

VA Lounge access in many ports would be quite contentious I suspect, with capacity issues in the lounge prevalent at the likes of ADL for example.

TT uses another terminal at MEL than VA uses & would also be quite a disincentive at MEL.

I have No doubt though, earning Velocity points & SC on TT flights would have appeal to many who regularly read this forum.

 

[smit0847]

Im happy the 2 brands be kept completely separate.

 

[under the radar]

*THUD*...Ooops, I just fell off my chair laughing so hard

 

[Denali]

Good, God. Can you imagine the DYKWIA attitudes you will see from the bogans and their $39 fares.

Edit: Happy to be a westie and part time bogan but if I want to use the perks, Im not going to get them flying Tiger.

 

[Intra]

we'll see about that, if VA wants to grow they're going to have to close the myriad of gaps with QF. the clearest one being the recognition of status on JQ in australia and in Asia on 3K.

You see it as a gap; I see it as a blessing

I think the only thing we'll agree on is that we disagree - And I'm happy to leave it at that.

 

[AdMEL]

Not going to happen!! And me for one personally am grateful JB is not going to blur the lines between VA & TT in the same ways QF & JQ are with Status/Lounge Benefits & Access. One has to only take a quick look at the J* forum here to see the myriad of complaints from members flying JQ and struggling to make use of QFF benefits and/or rorting the system for a ticket they purchased for half the price of a QF ticket!

Quoting JB himself:



http://centreforaviation.com/analys...trategies-asia--being-a-modern-airline-199511

Im happy the 2 brands be kept completely separate.

You see it as a gap; I see it as a blessing

I think the only thing we'll agree on is that we disagree - And I'm happy to leave it at that.

The problem is that VA are already blurring the lines by partly doing what QF do with JQ and handing unprofitable leisure routes to TT. VA are also allowing points to be burnt on some TT routes, further blurring the line.

I don't think you can have your cake and eat it too by partly blurring the line but saying it won't be fully blurred!

 

[quick_dry]

like others, I wouldn't complain if they decided to let me use the lounge while flying TT, but I'm not sure I care or expect them to - if nothing other than coping with capacity.

I don't think it'd be as big an issue if TT was completely non-status earning, but VA-earned status allowed access (almost like the old "anytime" access).

There is a zone where the pricing gets 'interesting' in choosing between forgoing my status benefits like lounge, faster security and fly-ahead for the cheaper Tiger flight.

 

[Intra]

The problem is that VA are already blurring the lines by partly doing what QF do with JQ and handing unprofitable leisure routes to TT. VA are also allowing points to be burnt on some TT routes, further blurring the line.

Handing routes to another airline is a separate matter in itself; IMHO all DPS routes me thinks should just go to TT if they want to stick with A320s/B737s & try compete with B787s/A330s

I take your point on being able to burn points now flying to DPS though; If we want to go back to the gap argument, VA/VFF has allowed this to be filled. Burn points not earn though. No status benefits either

For VAs sake, I hope this is the only blur we have - Not that I'm interesting in flying to DPS on any airline anyway, but that's just me

 

[Demon_fan]

VA Lounge access in many ports would be quite contentious I suspect, with capacity issues in the lounge prevalent at the likes of ADL for example.

TT uses another terminal at MEL than VA uses & would also be quite a disincentive at MEL.

I have No doubt though, earning Velocity points & SC on TT flights would have appeal to many who regularly read this forum.

I departed on a VA flight the other night from the new T4 at MEL. Was a nice easy walk from the Virgin lounge to T4. No disincentive at all. Now flying JQ from T4 is huge disincentive for QF flyers.

 

[eastwest101]

I departed on a VA flight the other night from the new T4 at MEL. Was a nice easy walk from the Virgin lounge to T4. No disincentive at all. Now flying JQ from T4 is huge disincentive for QF flyers.

First of all - I don't think its going to happen and the language so far from JB also seems to make it unlikely.

But it would be an interesting (if impractical) counter to the always uncomfortable Qantas/Jetstar arrangements where Jetstar originally denied QF status pax and Qantas Club members access to various Qantas Lounges, then I would be assuming that there were numerous complaints and mass resignations of paid QP members and a distinct drop-off of paid QC memberships when a lot of routes were 'Jetstar-ized'. So someone in Qantas had to make the call to allow QF status and QC members access to Qantas lounges when flying Jetstar. We can only specualte about whether Jetstar ever paid Qantas money for JQ pax using the Qantas Lounges. Then recently with the terminal moves and consolidations in SYD and now in MEL, a lot of the convenient access to Qantas Lounges for JQ pax has been removed/enhanced away either by separate terminals or by closing the Qantas Clubs and running JQ flights while the Qantas Club is closed (at smaller airports). Difficult to say if this was motivated by Jetstar or by Qantas management planning or simply a by-product of geographical re-arrangements of terminals and schedules.

So if TT was prepared to pay for access to the VA Lounges and indeed for VA status credits (and charge its TT pax a separate bundle or fee accordingly) then that makes TT more attractive but at the perceived cost of VA pax and VA status holders. So they end up having similar issues of the LCC subsidiary cannibalizing pax and market share.....

So I guess JB thought of either doing it better than what QF/JQ do, or just not bothering to do it at all, for the market segmentation reasons that he explained with his toothpaste analogy.

 

[Mattg]

I must admit, the ability to earn QF points and status credits, as well as QF lounge access are two of the main reasons I've considered Jetstar in the past.

I do feel this is a lost opportunity for Tiger/Virgin, though I can understand why JB doesn't want to allow TT customers to access the lounge.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I think most people who make decisions about which airline to fly with on the basis of points, SCs and lounge access would prefer to fly QF or VA rather than JQ or TT, regardless.
The number of people who want all those benefits but also want the CFOD on an LCC is probably relatively small - but over-represented on a forum such as this.
The number flying to minor airports where the LCCs are the only option and wanting those benefits would also be small (hint - "minor" airports).
How many minor airports have lounges anyway?
I can understand people being annoyed if they are among either of these small groups.
Just as I will be annoyed when VA hands the PER-DPS route over to TT.
But I can understand that the number of similarly annoyed people is probably too small to prompt any change in business strategy.

* Note: I won't be disappointed because of any great love for DPS as a destination, but because PER-DPS was one of the few remaining routes from Perth to Asia on one of the AU full service carriers.
I had been using it as a gateway to gain access to cheap fares onwards.

 

[grubbidok]

The problem is that VA are already blurring the lines by partly doing what QF do with JQ and handing unprofitable leisure routes to TT. VA are also allowing points to be burnt on some TT routes, further blurring the line.

I don't think you can have your cake and eat it too by partly blurring the line but saying it won't be fully blurred!

To me this is the real issue. What is one person's 'leisure' route is often another person's normal travel and handing these off to LCCs only is a mistake IMHO (*cough* QF and OOL *cough*). If TT are going to take over VA routes, which in some cases were the very point of differentiation that attracted some punters from QF (i.e. being able to have a full/half service airline instead of a LCC). If JB wants to truly keep VA and TT separate (which I do in fact support), the non-integration needs to start with stopping giving TT VA routes.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Not going to happen!!

I have no feelings one way or another but "not going to happen" is a big call. JB has already dropped his pants on the point burn front, so why would we assume it won't continue? From where I sit, VA seem to have made some decent inroads into recovering the brand image, as they've also done with transforming DJ, so I would have thought there were some very real benefits to introduce some closer ties and mutual recognition.

 

[woodborer]

But it would be an interesting (if impractical) counter to the always uncomfortable Qantas/Jetstar arrangements where Jetstar originally denied QF status pax and Qantas Club members access to various Qantas Lounges, then I would be assuming that there were numerous complaints and mass resignations of paid QP members and a distinct drop-off of paid QC memberships when a lot of routes were 'Jetstar-ized'.

I don't think it was Jetstar that denied the benefits. It was a Qantas lounge, it is a Qantas call. I doubt Jetstar were in any hurry to pay for anything they couldn't recover from the passenger.

 

[woodborer]

If JB wants to truly keep VA and TT separate (which I do in fact support), the non-integration needs to start with stopping giving TT VA routes.

The other option, then, is to abandon the routes altogether. If the routes were making sufficient money, I am sure they would stay on the route.

 

[medhead]

we'll see about that, if VA wants to grow they're going to have to close the myriad of gaps with QF. the clearest one being the recognition of status on JQ in australia and in Asia on 3K.

there is no recognition of status on JQ or 3K.