Veterans to receive Priority Boarding & "thank you for your service"

[Quickstatus]

Virgin Australia Passengers To Be Asked To Sing National Anthem Before Take Off – The Shovel

To continue the empty gesturing and virtue signalling, VA passengers would be asked to recite the "Welcome to Country"

 

[Mattg]

Criticisms of the policy aside, did it strike anyone else how "off-brand" this announcement was for Virgin? If any Australian airline was going to do something like this, I would have expected it to be Qantas.

 

[bigjobs]

lol ... Larry David has covered this subject extensively in a recent episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Thank you for your service.

 

[DC3]

lol ... Larry David has covered this subject extensively in a recent episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Thank you for your service.

I saw that somewhere today :

 

[kermatu]

Possibly even on page 2 of this thread.

 

[DC3]

Possibly even on page 2 of this thread.

Probably. . I was scrolling through threads on the iPhone earlier. Can't really remember, but I'd say that's it.

Edit: Found it again. Post # 21, Daver6

 

[Quickstatus]

Criticisms of the policy aside, did it strike anyone else how "off-brand" this announcement was for Virgin? If any Australian airline was going to do something like this, I would have expected it to be Qantas.

I didnt think they would do it. They cant even stand up to communist china and recognise democratic Taiwan.( Harsh maybe). Though I get that QF is also unashamedly a great virtue signaller: CC, SSM, constitutional recognition...

 

[Blinky]

I must be getting old. I remember the days when the only thing people expected from an airline was to get them from A to B safely and economically. Yes, a fossil I am....

 

[Quickstatus]

I must be getting old. I remember the days when the only thing people expected from an airline was to get them from A to B safely and economically. Yes, a fossil I am....

Not old enough. If old enough then substitute "economically" for "in style"

 

[Antoallison]

Me too .. I am getting a little nostalgic for that old fashioned style.

 

[Quickstatus]

Me too .. I am getting a little nostalgic for that old fashioned style.

Problem is the suit and tie. Those passengers would never ever wear pyjamas onboard.....

 

[Blinky]

Not old enough. If old enough then substitute "economically" for "in style"

Yeah, good point. “Economically” is in the eye of the beholder though. I remember when a MEL-SYD return flight was around $800. Over 30 years ago. People paid it.

I also remember when the first, and sometimes only, overseas flight was on your honeymoon. My wife and I flew economy to Fiji on Qantas (who else?) in 1972 on our honeymoon. I still remember the meal (Tornadoes Rossini, if my spelling is correct) washed down with a good glass (in a glass) of red. The best meal I’ve had on a plane until I started flying business fairly recently. Yes, in those days, it was flying in style (if you were able to ignore the smokers, anyway).

 

[Quickstatus]

Yeah, good point. “Economically” is in the eye of the beholder though. I remember when a MEL-SYD return flight was around $800. Over 30 years ago. People paid it.

I also remember when the first, and sometimes only, overseas flight was on your honeymoon. My wife and I flew economy to Fiji on Qantas (who else?) in 1972 on our honeymoon. I still remember the meal (Tornadoes Rossini, if my spelling is correct) washed down with a good glass (in a glass) of red. The best meal I’ve had on a plane until I started flying business fairly recently. Yes, in those days, it was flying in style (if you were able to ignore the smokers, anyway).

I would not want to go back to the "good old days"
These days there are multiple airline choices, direct or non stop flights to far corners of the world, affordable prices, electronic transactions, and I truly believe that travel by air has been literally lifesaving. Airtravel is up there with sanitation engineering for reducing mortality.

While Indonesia airtravel is less safe I believe it is still a lot safer than other modes of transportation in that region

 

[Blinky]

O

I would not want to go back to the "good old days"
These days there are multiple airline choices, direct or non stop flights to far corners of the world, affordable prices, electronic transactions, and I truly believe that travel by air has been literally lifesaving. Airtravel is up there with sanitation engineering for reducing mortality.

While Indonesia airtravel is less safe I believe it is still a lot safer than other modes of transportation in that region

Oh, I agree with you absolutely. But I think the whole experience was more romantic then. Now most air travel has all the romance of a short bus trip.

Sorry, enough off topic. Sorry.

 

[gnhansen29]

What about having a flight attendant quietly greet the veteran and give them a free drink when they board.

 

[DC3]

What about having a flight attendant quietly greet the veteran and give them a free drink when they board.

Would certainly be better than the J experience

 

[Quickstatus]

And then every other special identity group will want some kind of special acknowledgement.

 

[Rnwillia]

As a Veteran I applaud the sincerity of the gesture being offered by VA but like most of my colleagues I do not want visible recognition as happens in USA. I am happy that I served my country to protect the values that we Australians hold dear but do not want to see Australia follow the path of America. We do have significant days in the calendar where people pay their respects to all service women & men and I think this is enough. VA would do better by providing some discounts to airfares or Lounge access rather that what I see proposed today - just my humble opinion.

 

[taxmaster]

All this veterans' recognition seems to be part of the coming Commonwealth election.

With 42 years service in the Army I have not found the airlines very helpful in helping me to travel. I missed my brothers' wedding in 1966 because of the outrageous prices that the airlines were charging. It was downhill through the two airline era. Recent years the price regime has changed but there are still pitfalls for the unwary. It is degrading to suddenly be recognised by a group that has never looked after soldiers except to charge them like wounded buffaloes.

If the airlines want to help the veterans then lobby the government to repair current injustices in the system instead of embarrassing us. The airlines are only interested in the media space they can gain by proposing to promote veterans. How very unAustralian is the Virgin idea.

 

[SteveJG]

Whinge whinge whinge. It's the norm in Australia now, even if the subject has nothing to do with the whinger.
My opinion - VA has proposed, in part, a good thing.
Suggestion: When vets book their flight, or maybe check in, they quote their veteran's card number (assuming the cards are numbered) if they would like Priority Boarding.
It would then be on their boarding pass and they (we actually) would step forward when PB is called. No need for showing lapel pins or cards at boarding, possibly slowing the process, or attracting the ire of the part time social worker that thinks they should be entitled too.
Priority Check In would be a great addition, especially as those lines are usually empty.