Air New Zealand ends alliance with Virgin Australia [goes with Qantas]

[JK1964]

Since when were *G customers not allowed in UA lounges?

Was only referring to UA lounge access for purely US domestic flights - has to be part of same day international journey

 

[jsm2090]

Just throwing it out there ...would VA now look to utilize an A330 with " The Business" to AKL ex SYD or MEL in a peak period ( ie Fri PM / Sat AM / Sun PM / Mon AM) to increase some capacity on the TT route ?

Swap the seasonal Nadi A330 service over to AKL to attract premium pax away from ANZ .

You would think VA would head that way if they had enough aircraft... Perhaps codeshare with SQ will be the first change we see?

 

[bullerdude]

Pity, but this may backfire on NZ. I cannot see Velocity members rushing to NZ as the Airpoints program is absolute rubbish. VA will no doubt find another lounge for trans Tasman services. The one thing
I will miss is access to domestic lounges in New Zealand, which are quite good (especially CHC domestic). Will stick with Velocity anyway. Access to DL lounges in US a big plus. Top tier NZ don’t get access to domestic UA lounges.

Given they have already shifted lounges for LA / HK flights etc. they only have to find new lounge agreements if the keep up VA flights to NZ. If anything, they have the option of Plaza premium lounges in Mel and Syd (already used in BNE).

I suspect we will see some Tiger flights competing against Jetstar flights - Queenstown being a likely bet.

 

[Bibendum]

I know it's beating on a dead horse, but it would be great if this will finally encourage VA to join a proper alliance, even Skyteam would be good.

Please not Skyteam... Please

 

[serfty]

Was only referring to UA lounge access for purely US domestic flights - has to be part of same day international journey

When did this happen?

I was an AirNZ Elite for 7 years up until 2015 and never had trouble accessing UA (or US) lounges before a purely domestic USA flights as a *G.

 

[JK1964]

Have been denied access to UA lounges as NZ gold in Orlando and Chicago. Unless things have changes since.

 

[CPMaverick]

Star Gold gets access to United Clubs on domestic itineraries. It is only the UA Star Gold members that can't do this (strange, but same for DL and VA Gold).

Not all lounge dragons know the rules...

Lounge Access Policy - Star Alliance

As a Star Alliance Gold customer travelling in any class of travel on Star Alliance Flights, you have access to any member airline lounge that displays the Star Alliance Gold logo at the entrance. You will need to present your boarding pass for a Star Alliance flight departing from the local airport. If your boarding pass does not carry the Star Alliance Gold indicator, you will need also to show your valid Star Alliance Gold card. You are entitled to a maximum of one guest travelling on any Star Alliance flight departing from the local airport

If you are a United MileagePlus Star Alliance Gold customer, you may only access the United Clubs within the U.S. when departing from that airport on an international Star Alliance flight.

 

[JK1964]

Thanks for clarification. Learn something everyday.

 

[dajop]

as the Airpoints program is absolute rubbish.

Some would argue that your comment is an insult to rubbish.

 

[serfty]

Some would argue that your comment is an insult to rubbish.

Actually IMHO the Airpoints program is rubbish. It was hard enough before 2013 when they basically destroyed it.

To me the VA alliance was a godsend at the time.

 

[dajop]

Actually the Airpoints program is rubbish. ..

You are missing my point. I am saying OP (and now you) are insulting all the rubbish in the world by lumping Airpoints into the same sentence as it. It is much worse than rubbish.

 

[henrus]

For both Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand, this will cause a few issues.

Currently, VA uses NZ for ground handling (and I wouldn't be surprised if this changes). NZ might have to change to QF for domestic Australian connections and NZ HVC's won't be happy.

Everyone over on AUSBT is suggesting the lack of VA lounges will be the biggest issue but I think the should be quite simple:

Australia
In Brisbane (already used) and Melbourne, they can use Plaza Premium Lounges.
In Sydney, I wouldn't be surprised to see the SkyTeam lounge used (again already used for some flights)
On the Gold Coast, they've got their own lounge which potentially will be a loss for NZ who might have to sign a potentially expensive contract lounge with Qantas.

New Zealand
In Auckland, they already use the Strata lounge for some flights so I don't see why this couldn't be extended to all flights.
Christchurch and Queenstown already have 3rd party lounge which they potentially could change to.
This just leaves Wellington and Dunedin as potential gaps in the VA Trans Tasman lounge network which might require either a deal with NZ especially Wellington which is a major business route and 2 flights per day.

 

[serfty]

You are missing my point. I am saying OP (and now you) are insulting all the rubbish in the world by lumping Airpoints into the same sentence as it. It is much worse than rubbish.

Oops ... i must read better ..

In that case I agree.

 

[Deleted member]

VA will put Tiger into more TT flights, the “Budget” traveller will buy BFOD and not really care.

 

[greenfish]

VA will put Tiger into more TT flights, the “Budget” traveller will buy BFOD and not really care.

That would see trans-tasman flights return to a two horse race for business and non budget travellers - NZ and QF. VA will need to increase frequency to compensate for the loss of codeshares if they want to keep their existing customers happy.

 

[pangwen]

For both Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand, this will cause a few issues.

Currently, VA uses NZ for ground handling (and I wouldn't be surprised if this changes). NZ might have to change to QF for domestic Australian connections and NZ HVC's won't be happy.

Everyone over on AUSBT is suggesting the lack of VA lounges will be the biggest issue but I think the should be quite simple:

Australia
In Brisbane (already used) and Melbourne, they can use Plaza Premium Lounges.
In Sydney, I wouldn't be surprised to see the SkyTeam lounge used (again already used for some flights)
On the Gold Coast, they've got their own lounge which potentially will be a loss for NZ who might have to sign a potentially expensive contract lounge with Qantas.

New Zealand
In Auckland, they already use the Strata lounge for some flights so I don't see why this couldn't be extended to all flights.
Christchurch and Queenstown already have 3rd party lounge which they potentially could change to.
This just leaves Wellington and Dunedin as potential gaps in the VA Trans Tasman lounge network which might require either a deal with NZ especially Wellington which is a major business route and 2 flights per day.

I'm a tad worried that for Dunedin, VA's reaction will be to can the flight. BNE-DUD is the only scheduled international flight arriving/departing from DUD, so if the ACCC determination putting a floor on BNE-DUD capacity isn't there, there may be less incentive in keeping the customs/immigration running.

 

[TheInsider]

Hopefully some positives will eventuate. Like VA thinking about alliance membership and perhaps bringing TT up to a more attractive LCC

I honestly think VA is very very far from some kind of alliance. They are really not interested at the moment. It costs a lot of money and VA just don't have it. Especially with EY thinking about selling their share in VA too, they have greater things to worry about than this alliance thing that keeps on popping up every day.

 

[amaroo]

VA = kid in shorts and long socks, desperately wanting to wear the long pants.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Depressing. But hardly unexpected. Tend to agree that the cost of joining an alliance is something VA simply can not finance right now.

However it does beg the question as to how they are going to maintain a presence across the Tasman, especially with a drop in pax from NZ and frequency offering to their own passengers. The implication from the statement is pretty clear in that Tiger are to take over some flying, or introduce some more flights.

Flights across the Tasman have been at low prices for a few years now, I just don't know how VA can possibly compete and hold their own while facing an even bigger capacity problem from an opponent, making themselves less attractive to high value FFs and losing domestic feed, let alone access to the NZ lounges.

 

[pauly7]

Just throwing it out there ...would VA now look to utilize an A330 with " The Business" to AKL ex SYD or MEL in a peak period ( ie Fri PM / Sat AM / Sun PM / Mon AM) to increase some capacity on the TT route ?
.

I wish...... but I would safely put a big bet on ‘Not a chance’ this will happen.

- They barely have enough A330s to cover their recent foray into Asia
- They have to maintain their current frequency into Asia to remain a contender despite current low loads, they have maintain the cover there to build up a customer base
- They aren’t currently filling their 737s across the ditch even with NZ code sharing, so moving to an expensive widebody with no NZ help to try and compete with NZ and an upgauged Qantas presence would be very risky
- I suspect VAs share of premium corporate travellers is 3rd after QF and NZ and having their lie flat product on this route might be overkill

I suspect we will see a marginal VA presence maintained on trans Tasman with some Tiger thrown on there to keep Jetstar honest.

This is not great news for VA but might help cut their presence back on a very competeive and tight margin route and deploy Tiger to save some $. Might be able to throw some airframes somewhere they can make some more money.