I am "almost" completely fed up with Qantas, whats it like on the "Dark side" ?

[Melburnian1]

With VA Velocity, international redemption seats to and from Asia seem easier to come by than with QF FF. I've always been able to obtain these without trouble on SQ/MI (using VA points.)

 

[Bundy Bear]

But you will miss your Qantas SYDNEY F lounge, one wrong move by VA and I bet you will be back with QF.

 

[jakeseven7]

With VA Velocity, international redemption seats to and from Asia seem easier to come by than with QF FF. I've always been able to obtain these without trouble on SQ/MI (using VA points.)

Much disagree here, IMHO I find any international Velocity redemption in premium classes almost impossible.

Like: family pooling, priority boarding works better than QF most of the time.

 

[Deleted member]

As a QF LTG and ex multi year QF P1, I submit the following -

Who is paying for your travel?

As I pay for my own travel, the $40,000+ in actual cash savings I have made over the past four years flying VA and partners over QF and partners makes any 'perceived' lower level of service in Y pretty insignificant. This is a clearly measurable criteria versus other 'opinion' based criteria. Remember that the QF $1B+ annual profit comes straight from the pockets of their customers.

Is seat comfort important when you travel?

Free domestic YX seating for VA WP, selectable at the time of booking, makes travelling in Y a lot more tolerable. This is a must have being based in PER but still very advantageous on shorter sectors. No rushing around at T-80 (even as a QF WP) trying to scavenge a decent seat. Standard seat pitch on a VA 737 is 31" versus 30" on a QF 737. I have flown in a preselected YX seat on every flight when booked in Y.

Do you travel in domestic J often?

On board, the domestic J experience on VA is superior to QF (no asterisks required). Enhancements include a sparkling wine PDB, far better food, the 'pantry', a six wine selection, hot towels on transcons, the 'magic rope', FA protection on departure, a better seat on A330 services etc. VA WP also receive four free upgrades a year (from a Freedom fare) and can cancel/modify points J upgrades at no cost (when changing flights etc).

Do you want elite status?

Retaining WP on VA is 800SC versus 1200SC on QF. VA has family pooling as well.

In summary, saving tens of thousands of dollars, whilst getting the best possible Y seats at the time of booking, the best domestic J product and retaining WP status with the least number of flights (and cost) is 90% of the 'battle'. Everything else is just noise.

When I made the switch to VA, I was intending to move forward wih a double QF/VA WP strategy. This has changed however as I cannot justify paying more to fly on QF to get less. I miss the OW F lounge access, but then think about the cash in my pocket and then just slum it in the J lounge instead...

I am 100% self funded traveller, and I do fly domestic J (either paid or points upgrade) , so your points overall make sense to me.
Thanks.

 

[kermatu]

I am a QF P1 (and LTG - highly unlikely to hit LTP until I'm 99 years old). VA WP. Most travel is domestic and trans-Tasman J, with some Asian trips and the occasional longer haul international.

For me VA wins pretty easily now for domestic travel - boarding, baggage, PDB, cabin privacy, food, beverages, pantry options and service all far better than QF.
QF has the edge in terms of fleet. More A330s and the 717s.
Objectively QFs lounges are a bit better, but I'm pretty much over domestic lounges so not fussed. I have always found a seat in VA lounges but not so in QF J lounges. Service routinely excellent in both.

I give QF the edge trans-Tasman. The A330s are hard to beat. Plus F lounges in SYD and MEL. Onboard food has been awful of late though. VA is less in quantity, but better quality, plus the pantry. Service pretty equal.

Longer haul the F lounges and EK tie-in make QF the winner for me (but really because I can fly EK, not QF).

I've had very, very little P1 love (upgrades, gifts, invites) so it's all rather pointless to me. Actually a negative. So that skews me a bit.

I like the easy VA Plat qualification and guaranteed benefits of 4 upgrades plus gifting Gold or Plat status. Just better and so much easier and cheaper than P1.

Like others I'm lucky for now to have high status in both and can tailor travel accordingly. Given the stupidly high QF LTP level I am and will continue to fly VA much more into the future.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

One thing I love about VA J class is the FAs don't disappear into the galley for 45 minutes after take off to set up a ridiculous drinks trolley.

 

[Blackswan]

One other major advantage I've found with VA is that the call centre queues are generally quite short. It's rare that I need to talk to a person but when I needed to with QF about a year ago I was waiting about an hour each time and it took three calls to resolve the issue. I've no status with QF but I also noticed that flying J didn't help the situation, dunno if status gets you shorter queues.
With VA I can't remember ever having to wait anything like that length of time.

Agree with this 100%. You don't recognise the value of a short call wait time until you need to speak with someone ASAP. As a VA Gold, I've never had to wait more than 3 - 5 minutes, The on-shore call centre team have gone the extra mile from time to time to help me out.

Now, if only they could offer free high speed onboard wifi, and spirits in the lounge - I'd be very happy.

 

[Tallfont]

I made the opposite change a couple of years ago from VA and back to QF. The main reason being that on the transcon flights that I generally take the aircraft changed from A330 to B737. QF had A330's on "my" flights and still do.
I should add that all my flights are in J and having a lay flat in a QF A330 against a "big seat" in a VA B737 on a 11:30pm flight out of Perth makes a big difference!

In my opinion what's the main differences?

- VA know how to board an aircraft. QF have no idea whatsoever. Disgraceful really.
- VA service in J is slightly better but can vary considerably. QF service I have found consistent and generally efficient.
- VA J food is a lot better. The QF Neil Perry thing is well past its use by date. I have had possibly one of the best meals on an airline on a VA international flight.
- VA A330 "The Business" is far better than QF A330 J which means absolutely nothing if they are flying half empty to and from HKG.
- QF lounges I find better than VA. This is especially the case with the Perth and Brisbane Dom Business and International lounges. Food is pretty much the same IMHO but in saying that I miss the hot dogs at Brisbane VA Dom lounge a lot! And the Mexican food that QF keep serving could be changed!
- I find QF points easier to accumulate and use than VA points. That may just be me but when you and Mrs T jag a couple of QR F seats to Europe on QF points it makes all those work flights worth it.

I really don't "love" either of the airlines. It's a business transaction. I don't think that one is particularly better than the other. They both have pluses and minuses. I guess you have to go with what "fits you best"!

Just my opinion,

Tallfont

 

[boomy]

We talked a bit about that recently. My view is that domestic travel is not special on any airline, apart from medium haul routes with lie flat seats but how often do you fly them... In my opinion, as 100% leisure self funded flyer you shouldn’t commit to any airline.

Flying domestically you will get lounge access with QF once reaching LTG and VA lounge access can be obtained via AMEX Plat with no status required.

Flying internationally you may think that scoring J return to Europe on OW for 5.5k is good deal but it’s not. You can fly F on better airlines for less if you’re willing to forgo the SCs. Now lets see why it’s so important to get those precious SCs, lounge access is already covered via LTG so what you are giving up is F lounge access when flying J. You need to think if it’s worth paying more for your ticket and often compromise in inferior airlines to maintain status.

 

[opusman]

You can fly F on better airlines for less if you’re willing to forgo the SCs

Would love some examples of this

 

[Silvia]

I think it depends where you go, that would easily answer your debacle.
Yes, VA J domestic easily seems to win in terms of food and service. QF food is mediocre (that's how politely I am). I tend to fly Y domestic, so the J lounge at Melbourne does it for me in terms of catering. I tend to skip the meals on board, although snack wise, QF Y snack is heaps better than VA Y.

Having family who flies VA as Plat, I feel for their inconsistencies in their network. My sister in law had a drama where their bags went missing both directions and very poor customer service given they ended up handling the issue to Delta. They tend to go to Singapore so the SQ/VA arrangement tends to go well for them.

I tend to go to Mexico yearly and VA/DL arrangement doesn't work well given that it's Aeromexico you end up having no benefit from VA.

Oneworld as a network is more suitable but that's if you fly often and you fly to a variety of destination.

If it's only domestic and a short network, then VA as it is easier to accrue and better service, if not then Oneworld may still be a better fit and slumming it on the F lounges.

 

[SeaWolf]

The route I do most frequently these days (for work) is the SYD-CBR same day return. In terms of the airport and on-board service that's on offer there's very little difference between the two, it's basically a damn bus service and it's never a particularly pleasant experience. There are two small advantages with QF though:

• QF have occasional jets in the timetables, which are a much better experience than the cramped little turboprops. They are only a few services a day though and they rarely line up with when I need to fly.
• QF just have more flights. It's usually about double to triple the number of services that VA have on any particular day. In the peak the services are that frequent it doesn't matter, but I often return off peak and so a QF service will often more closely align to when I want to come back and minimise waiting around the CBR airport.

I get why VA got rid of the E-Jets, but oh how I wish they had kept them for SYD-CBR. So spacious, so pleasant.

 

[boomy]

Would love some examples of this

Combination of CC crunching, referrals and buying points.

Best value is on long haul routes and sometimes requires flying the longer way (e.g. to US via Asia).

 

[opusman]

So it's not just as simple as forgoing the SC's then...

 

[boomy]

So it's not just as simple as forgoing the SC's then...

It is exactly as simple as that. All the info is here on AFF.

 

[opusman]

If I can't just go to an airline's website and buy a flight without having to "crunch CCs" and other steps first then it's patently not as simple as you make it sound.

 

[Blinky]

Totally subjective, but VA staff seem to enjoy their work more, which makes for a better overall experience.

 

[boomy]

If I can't just go to an airline's website and buy a flight without having to "crunch CCs" and other steps first then it's patently not as simple as you make it sound.

Depends how much you value your time. If you have a very high earning job for example it may be more economical to pay outright for J and F travel.
It also depends how much you want to save.
Flying F very cheap does require some time to collect all the points, it’s not hard but it is time consuming.
Flying F cheaper than paying for J usually only requires buying points when bonus is high enough and go through the process of booking. It doesn’t require much effort (especially if using tools like EF).
The hardest part of all is giving up status chasing.

 

[Ausbt]

With VA as a Plat, you get to use the EK lounge in LAX which I understand is not possible for the QFF types. I never really got to experience much at the pointy end with Q, just a few PE & J trips here and there, but 'The Business' is hard to beat. Like all airlines FAs can be hit-and-miss. My gut feeling is standards have slipped, has been a long while since I've received a CSM greeting which used to be very common during the days of 'The Old Business'.

Priority boarding is excellent. I've had a few op-ups along the way. I've been in the Flounge, yes very nice and all, but VA's 'lounge roulette' can be really interesting at times, certainly EYs Abu Dhabi Flounge is one of the best I've experienced for food & bev. I'm glad I switched over from Q all those years ago, even though I was well on the way to LTG and would have made it by now. You do experience though this feeling it could all come to and end at any time.

 

[stm1sydney]

Agree with all of the above: VA is a better product generally. Priority boarding works, free YX for WP, nicer staff, Fly Ahead is great for WP, better food in J. Dom Lounges about the same.

I think the international lounge situation for VA is underrated, some very good experiences to be had out there. SYD: Number One and Krisflyer both great. SIN: T3 Gold lounge being upgraded, currently using the excellent Marhaba lounge. HKG: Autus (VA) and Plaza Premium First (if flying VS). AUH: excellent first lounge for plats. LHR: Clubhouse (if flying VS). Etc.