Virgin to Qantas Comparison

[Brian Gow]

So, after doing the "switcheroo" challenge, here are my thoughts....

Fares... much more competitively priced than Qantas, an an extra $25 to fly Virgin business class than Qantas economy, so a no brainer here.

Check in, much quicker and friendlier than Qantas..

Lounge, food and coffee much better than Qantas.

Boarding, much better than Qantas.

On Board product., food and customer service much better than Qantas.

Staff, on board and on the ground much nicer and better than Qantas (young enthusiastic staff as opposed to old boilers that are bitter and twisted).

Baggage delivery, much faster than Qantas.

Summary, a far superior experience and they've got my business moving forward. Qantas treats its customers with absolute contempt, so I'm switching my business moving forward.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Also, when its time to redeem, you can use all your VFF points for a trip, where as with QFF you have to pay the balance with card (debit/credit).
For my trip in Dec this year, ADL - SYD, in VAd J, all points burnt, I think I used about 66000 points, all in.
For MEL - ADL, I think it was 40000, but QFF was asking an extra $45 or so, in extra to the points, for taxes/dom fuel levies/airport charges.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Also, when its time to redeem, you can use all your VFF points for a trip, where as with QFF you have to pay the balance with card (debit/credit).
For my trip in Dec this year, ADL - SYD, in VAd J, all points burnt, I think I used about 66000 points, all in.
For MEL - ADL, I think it was 40000, but QFF was asking an extra $45 or so, in extra to the points, for taxes/dom fuel levies/airport charges.

You do know you can use points on QF to bring those charges to zero ?

 

[SYD]

You do know you can use points on QF to bring those charges to zero ?

The same as VA. Or you can pay the taxes - the same as QF…

It irks me that VA defaults to the full pts option to mask their surcharges.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I don't think I had the offer to bring down the taxes to zero, or I am getting old, (maybe forget to keep track of it in the booking process).
For once, I didn't use P+P for either, it was full points burn.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I don't think I had the offer to bring down the taxes to zero, or I am getting old, (maybe forget to keep track of it in the booking process).
For once, I didn't use P+P for either, it was full points burn.

You had the offer. Everyone does on the booking page for payment. It’s actually very transparent that your points are waiving the charges

 

[stm1sydney]

Summary, a far superior experience and they've got my business moving forward. Qantas treats its customers with absolute contempt, so I'm switching my business moving forward.

Agree with all your points, and that's a fair summary.

 

[encryptededdy]

Hmm. My personal thoughts after doing the switch-a-roo.

VA Better:

• Fares: VA is much better. $299 Domestic Business Fares are amazing
• Check-in: More or less the same. I'd imagine if you need human intervention VA might be better, but I always OLCI
• Fly Ahead: This has been a great feature that I've been able to use. It's quite unfortunate QF only offers it to P1s
• Boarding: Yeah, VA priority boarding works much better (although VA lounges always announce boarding way too early)
• Staff: Honestly, I've never come across bad staff on either airline, but based on limited sample size I think VA's staff are slightly more proactive?
• Phone Lines: My experience calling VA as a Red member is about as good as my experience calling Qantas as a WP
• Economy Seating: I look forward to trying Economy X once I get VA WP. QF WP doesn't really get me any good seating in Economy, given row 4 and exit rows are free for P1s only.

QF Better:

• Lounge: Personally, I find the Qantas Domestic Business lounges better than the VA lounges. I'm really quite partial to the Melbourne Lounge's Spice Bar and the Perth Lounge's Pizza. The Virgin lounge breakfast at Sydney is quite poor. If we do Gold vs. Gold then I suspect the VA lounge may be better than the QP
• Security: As someone based in Sydney, the Qantas (T3) terminal is always way less busy than T2 one, and the priority security lane has never stopped operating. I can get to the Qantas terminal <1h before my flight and be confident I can make it. Last time I went to T2, I almost missed my flight because of the massive security lanes and no priority security / premium entry. Also the whole security situation at MEL where you walk to T4 and walk back is just weird.
• WiFi: I really hope VA brings this back soon, since I struggle to disconnect and really love free WiFi
• Refunds: On a fully flex ticket, on Qantas I can just click the cancel button in MMB and get a refund to my card (incl. card fees). On Virgin, to get a refund to original payment method, I have to call them which is really annoying. Also they don't refund card fees.
• On-board food (J): Personally I prefer Qantas food in Domestic J. They're all quite similar though. I do like VA's cheese and crackers though.

 

[tdimdad]

My first visit to a VA lounge was this morning (SYD T2). From a dietary requirement viewpoint, the first thing I check is the offering & labelling: what food is safe for me to eat.

QF gets 0.5 stars for attempting to indicate some diets on their menu displays. Zero stars for not also labelling the bowls / trays so you can be confident you are taking the right food.

VA 0 stars for labelling. 1 star for having GF toast available in a separate location to other breads. However, no control on who uses the toaster with what bread = it can have cross-contamination. That renders the toaster potentially unsafe to someone with a very sensitive gut.

Breakfast-wise, based on this visit (and numerous QP visits), you can get something. If you are lucky, you can build a small meal out of the items. But you better eat before the airport to ensure you'll be good until the destination. Looking forward to afternoon visits to VA lounges to see what's for early dinner.

//off-topic
Only very few lounges I've been to seem to have the professionalism and care to label the food properly or provide the ingredients list with ease. Perhaps the most confident I've felt has been in HEL (non-Schengen OWS lounge). Second place goes to JAL HND which had the ingredients lists readily available on request so that was a little win.

 

[Vic]

No sure I agree about calling qantas crew old boilers... I'm pretty sure my director from the early 2000s retired and did not start working for Qantas...

• Security: As someone based in Sydney, the Qantas (T3) terminal is always way less busy than T2 one, and the priority security lane has never stopped operating. I can get to the Qantas terminal <1h before my flight and be confident I can make it. Last time I went to T2, I almost missed my flight because of the massive security lanes and no priority security / premium entry. Also the whole security situation at MEL where you walk to T4 and walk back is just weird.

When did you last depart Sydney T3. I agree with you if it was pre-2022, or pre-covid. I departed there in June, while there was a priority security lane, the whole lot was absolutely clogged up. People were everywhere. The normal security lane was moving faster.

• Refunds: On a fully flex ticket, on Qantas I can just click the cancel button in MMB and get a refund to my card (incl. card fees). On Virgin, to get a refund to original payment method, I have to call them which is really annoying. Also they don't refund card fees.

Economy? Qantas Flex imposes a $99 fee for a refund to your card. Otherwise, you have to take a credit, the same as for virgin. Personally, I find Travel bank to be superior compared to a credit voucher.

I'd also suggest getting the card payment fee refunded is going to be irrelevant once you pay that $99 refund fee.

Also Virgin Flex can also be refunded, for an $80 fee.
Looking at SYD-BNE 27 November, Flex - QF is $575, VA $359

I'm not sure I can agree with your refund benefit, VA appears to be superior give a refund is $19 cheaper, like for like

 

[encryptededdy]

When did you last depart Sydney T3. I agree with you if it was pre-2022, or pre-covid. I departed there in June, while there was a priority security lane, the whole lot was absolutely clogged up. People were everywhere. The normal security lane was moving faster.

I've been through Sydney T3 quite a few times this year. It can be busy at times, but I find T2 to be a lot worse. I feel like the maximum wait I've had at T3 is around 15 minutes, where as 20 minutes seems like the average at T2.

Economy? Qantas Flex imposes a $99 fee for a refund to your card. Otherwise, you have to take a credit, the same as for virgin. Personally, I find Travel bank to be superior compared to a credit voucher.

Point taken. Admittedly I didn't actually know this, I only have experience with cancelling Qantas International Flex, which is fully refundable.

 

[AIRwin]

Personally, I find Travel bank to be superior compared to a credit voucher.

And Travel Bank credits can be used for other people, unlike credit vouchers?

 

[Vic]

And Travel Bank credits can be used for other people, unlike credit vouchers?

I have a vague feeling you can change the name on a credit voucher, but I've never done it and I'm not sure.

Yes, Travel bank is very flexible for use. I've even used travel bank to pay for Economy X seats on an award booking for someone else.

 

[MichaelD]

Former QF P1.
Now refuse Qantas and choose VA wherever possible.

Qantas luggage handling is still a train wreck compared to Virgin, which is a real deal breaker for me & service is non existent.

Now trying to burn up my QF points - EXTREMELY difficult to do, even domestically. Award fares are pretty much nowhere to be found, so I suspect many people are burning points.

 

[PuravidaTC]

Qantas luggage handling is still a train wreck compared to Virgin, which is a real deal breaker for me & service is non existent.

Agree 100% on the luggage, flew into SYD this morning out of MEL (flight was 30mins delayed) and I was first off the plane so at baggage within about 5mins and my bag (along with all others) was there a few mins later. Same occurred last week MEL to ADL and vice versa.

They are absolutely on top of luggage.. one thing I did notice this morning was an absolute nightmare cab rank at least a few hundred people deep on leaving (thankfully I was not one of them).

 

[nowmedia]

Hmm. My personal thoughts after doing the switch-a-roo.

VA Better:

• Fares: VA is much better. $299 Domestic Business Fares are amazing
• Check-in: More or less the same. I'd imagine if you need human intervention VA might be better, but I always OLCI
• Fly Ahead: This has been a great feature that I've been able to use. It's quite unfortunate QF only offers it to P1s
• Boarding: Yeah, VA priority boarding works much better (although VA lounges always announce boarding way too early)
• Staff: Honestly, I've never come across bad staff on either airline, but based on limited sample size I think VA's staff are slightly more proactive?
• Phone Lines: My experience calling VA as a Red member is about as good as my experience calling Qantas as a WP
• Economy Seating: I look forward to trying Economy X once I get VA WP. QF WP doesn't really get me any good seating in Economy, given row 4 and exit rows are free for P1s only.

QF Better:

• Lounge: Personally, I find the Qantas Domestic Business lounges better than the VA lounges. I'm really quite partial to the Melbourne Lounge's Spice Bar and the Perth Lounge's Pizza. The Virgin lounge breakfast at Sydney is quite poor. If we do Gold vs. Gold then I suspect the VA lounge may be better than the QP
• Security: As someone based in Sydney, the Qantas (T3) terminal is always way less busy than T2 one, and the priority security lane has never stopped operating. I can get to the Qantas terminal <1h before my flight and be confident I can make it. Last time I went to T2, I almost missed my flight because of the massive security lanes and no priority security / premium entry. Also the whole security situation at MEL where you walk to T4 and walk back is just weird.
• WiFi: I really hope VA brings this back soon, since I struggle to disconnect and really love free WiFi
• Refunds: On a fully flex ticket, on Qantas I can just click the cancel button in MMB and get a refund to my card (incl. card fees). On Virgin, to get a refund to original payment method, I have to call them which is really annoying. Also they don't refund card fees.
• On-board food (J): Personally I prefer Qantas food in Domestic J. They're all quite similar though. I do like VA's cheese and crackers though.

Fly Ahead is a huge bonus for me. First two VA flights worked on both by a few hours. Getting QF to do that is near impossible unless there is bad weather looming in SYD and its in their interest to get you there quicker.

 

[ferntree]

I took the Virgin status challenge in Dec 2020 and as a result now fly Virgin wherever that is an option. So many reasons as others have listed, but if I had to pick just one then for me it would be Virgin Travel Bank (flexible and immediate) vs Qantas flight credits (ridiculously inflexible and taking months to arrive, if ever).

 

[Dan_]

Fly Ahead is a huge bonus for me. First two VA flights worked on both by a few hours. Getting QF to do that is near impossible unless there is bad weather looming in SYD and its in their interest to get you there quicker.

Hard agree with this. I can't wait to be platinum again next month so I can use it on a choice fare

 

[marks]

I'm doing the switch-a-roo as well. I do like the QF RFID on luggage. I think makes checkin for luggage so much faster. Usually no lines and plenty of machines.
But the time lost is probably waiting the extra 30 mins on the baggage wheel of fortune on the arrival end.

 

[jane blogs]

I am doing the current Switcharoo promo and I have to say I am conflicted! As a QFP1, I really have nothing to complain about - apart from the prices which is a pretty big issue. Fly ahead is the most important feature for me which of course I have no problem with at QF. I have tried Fly Ahead with Virgin this week and also had no problem which was good. I thought lounges were a non issue for me as I try to use them minimally & frankly have never found the F & B an enticement in domestic lounges. However, my first Virgin experience this week transiting through Melbourne shocked me - so full, so noisy, so dirty, so many shouting on phones, so many loud announcements, so much of everything I had to go sit at the gate. Other cities were not quite as bad thankfully. Maybe its similar these days in the Qantas Pub Lounge & I have been sheltered in their business lounges - who knows but it was a real turn off. Equally QF lounge staff way more helpful than VA. On the other hand, the cabin staff on VA on every flight I have taken so far, just in a different league to QF. Not just the fact that they serve spirits which is always a good thing but as others have said, they seem to enjoy their jobs & care about the passengers. I have flown 6 sectors and every flight took off on time and landed on time - just doesn't happen with QF. I have a lifetime of QF flying but with the key elements of price, fly ahead, great inflight staff and on time flights, VA are definitely showing themselves in a pretty good light in my Switcharoo phase!