"Qantas Throws Towel In" and matches $1199 to LAX

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Lack of right equipment and a US west coast presence.

Only aircraft that can fly trans-pac (to Australia not NZ) with viable payload are B747-400 (preferably ER), B777-200LR, B777-300ER, A340-500 (and the 600 if in very premium/spacious configuration).
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+ 1 - the A380 I think you will find! :rolleyes::D

Also to the defence of Virgin and the widespread perception that V Australia is a LCC ala Jetstar international... Really, what were they supposed to do??

1) They couldn't call it Virgin (or Virgin Atlantic and leverage off the full service sister reputiation - which IMHO isn't stellar anyway) due to legal fights

2) Calling it something completely different to try and distance themselves from the domestic LCC image would cost additional $ to try and build a brand name and 'company' from scratch

I think they have probably done the best they could have in a tough situation ;)

However I will say their advertising is over-stylised and reeks of advertising agencies trying to win awards rather than communicating effiectively to their target audience - evidently as a result I would say a majority of the gen public probably think V Australia is like a Jetstar International rather than a QF full service airline!

PS (I'm not sure it helps having the 'international idea from Virgin Blue' logo lockup on the advertising - again makes people think LCC!)

Tough one really, but the product will hopefully speak for itself and spread word of mouth over time.
 
Oh well, now that's giving QF a real run for it's money. Notwithstanding that VA J has full lie flat seats, so that directly heads up against QF 747's J SkySlopes.

Hmmm...all of the sudden the Transpac route has just got a whole lot more interesting.....

Sadly there has been no major downward pressure on J prices that I have seen.
 
Sadly there has been no major downward pressure on J prices that I have seen.

The financial crisis and increased number of seats on the route will sort that one out by mid 2009 I think.
 
Recently I have noticed a plethora of D class ... and even high numbers of the previously rareish I class available transpac on QF ...
 
Yes, that's all fine, but if you fly V Australia, where are your FF miles going to go?

With QF or UA or DL or NZ it's not a question you have to ask.
 
Yes, that's all fine, but if you fly V Australia, where are your FF miles going to go?

With QF or UA or DL or NZ it's not a question you have to ask.

Don't have to ask with V either. There is only one choice.
 
Yes, that's all fine, but if you fly V Australia, where are your FF miles going to go?

With QF or UA or DL or NZ it's not a question you have to ask.

Umm with all of those airlines the number of places to credit points is huge. Even the simple QF credit to AA vs. QF sparks pages and pages of debate (without an answer)...
 
What I find very interesting is that both Qantas and United (and other major travel agency groups) are not advertising these $1199 fares to LAX. In the past QF and perhaps even UA (if they had any marketing budget) would post full page adverts in the weekend papers or co-op an advert with their travel agency partner (e.g Flight Centre or Amex). Maybe there was no time due to New Year holiday etc, but it's Jan 4 now and these fares expire very soon.

Nothing, nada, zilch...

Which begs the question.

Why don't Qantas and United want consumers to know about the $1199 airfare to LAX?
 
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What I find very interesting is that both Qantas and United (and other major travel agency groups) are not advertising these $1199 fares to LAX. In the past QF and perhaps even UA (if they had any marketing budget) would post full page adverts in the weekend papers or co-op an advert with their travel agency partner (e.g Flight Centre or Amex). Maybe there was no time due to New Year holiday etc, but it's Jan 4 now and these fares expire very soon.

Nothing, nada, zilch...

Which begs the question.

Why don't Qantas and United want consumers to know about the $1199 airfare to LAX?

I can think of a few reasons, all the marketing staff are on hols, all the advertising agencies (who do the ads) basically shut down after the Xmas party blitz until mid Jan....:D

...but more importantly they probably don't feel the need to advertise, anyone who is contemplating a big trip to the US would def check all 3 airlines (whether individually or with a service like webjet). I would imagine they are tracking bookings are are fine with the loads being generated. They would certainly advertise if they needed to but why waste the money if you don't have to.
 
Wow. I've been looking at flights for the family SYD-YVR for a long while now and just looked at May with Qantas after I read the OP. I haven't been able to get less than $10K for the four of us (2 kids under 12). Flying during May we can do it (LAX only but I'm sure I can get a deal for LAX-YVR that won't break the bank!) for $4352 including taxes. With that fare we could spend up at Disneyland on the way over!
Problem is I can't travel at that time with September-October looking more likely. Am hoping for a deal later on. With all the gloom and doom I reckoin there's a good chance but maybe not as good as this!
 
Perhaps it's time for DJ to think about adding J instead of Premium economy and leaving it to JQ and TT to fight for the LCC market.

Interesting idea. Ditch the * Blue names, make it all V Australia branding and premium product, add a few decent partners with status earning and recognition - I'm thinking EK, MH, VX, SQ, LH and the like - and it's a very tempting proposition for any number of people I should imagine. Obscenely expensive for DJ, but tempting for me! :D

Certainly, the big reason I don't fly with DJ is that I wouldn't be able to earn status or get it recognised anywhere outside the Virgin Group network - and I can't be the only person in this situation..
 
I think it really would be a good idea to have a single brand, but I think there may be legal reasons (each is a separate business with different ownership) that means this isn't feasible. And I don't think branding Pacific Blue as V Australia will help endear them to the NZ market. :P

On the topic of Alliances and status earning, sure, for us this is a big deal, but I think most of the travelling public is oblivious to the whole thing. A couple of my friends have some vague idea that they've heard the term "Star Alliance" before, but have no idea what it's about, none of them have heard of oneworld or Skyteam. Most of them have no clue about the specifics of the Frequent Flyer programs and don't know anything about status earning, fare classes or even that you can earn points to one program while flying a different airline. I even know some people who are members of QFF, have linked credit cards and yet don't even know that the program has status levels. When BA started making noises that oneworld would collapse if it didn't get its way I saw a number of articles saying "So what?" and noting that the average consumer wouldn't notice or care if that happened.

I think the alliances do provide a lot of benefits to the airlines, but I think the majority of those benefits are behind the scenes (bulk purchasing, better codesharing etc.) and not really stuff that the average consumer has much contact with.
 
I think the alliances do provide a lot of benefits to the airlines, but I think the majority of those benefits are behind the scenes (bulk purchasing, better codesharing etc.) and not really stuff that the average consumer has much contact with.

True, but alliances are not aimed at average consumer - more aimed at sort of people posting here who account for a disproportionate amount of spend and profitability to airlines. Think of alliances as taking frequent flyer programs to the next level - even basic frequent flyer programs are not relevent to that many people in the general public who still buy only on price, and alliances are not thar relevent to many people in the true frequent flyer pool who only fly short haul.
 
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How about Air NZ $1144 SYD-LAX all-in?

Great for the Star Alliance types.

Check it now.
 
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