Virgin to remove bagfree fares from Domestic Routes

[dajop]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I wonder if people would be as disappointed if there never was a different fare type for bags, but instead charged for bags, and decided to scrap the charge and put up fares at the same time.

In reality we all know airfares vary in price so much that you'd almost expect at certain times that saver fares be available at the old lite prices and at other times they won't. All down to supply and demand....

 

[farstar]

One of the reasons NZ are so profitable is that they make very unpopular decisions that pax don't like but they live with.

It would be understandable they would want VA to do the same.

As long as VA keep their sale fares the same or similar it doesn't bother me!

NZ are a virtual monopoly in NZ with Jetstar doing limited routes so not suprising they can do what they like domestically.

But for me as a WP it makes no difference as seat only fares were never avaliable for me as generally I book the week before and the times I fly seat only fares were never avalible.

 

[cambriamarsh]

It's disappointing. You can still be a full service airline and offer discount fares for HLO. It would be a marketing point to set you apart from your competitor.

NZ have HLO fares but they don't include a meal and unfortunately their buy on board is very poor. Allow HLO and a meal on the same ticket and you'd have a winner in my view. Thoughts?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I just changed the return date for 2 of my kids (both VA red), both purchased on saver lites and changed to new date for both, also on saver lite. Much to my surprise the $$ difference was under $7 each ($13 something for the two) and they now seem to have 1 bag included each! I must admit to being very happy and somewhat surprised at a) the small change fee on saver lites (with the BLK disc) and b) the included bag each. Hopefully this is a good omen!

I'm not a fare bucket guru so I have no idea if ELSAVER is the new fare code.

 

[JohnK]

Doesn't everybody get some type of food now?that just means a fare increase. The reference to 'in some cases' could mean when on sale ( even higher sale pricing?) or VA have been slotting in Lower fares at certain times of day like JQ hot fares, that means when most would prefer not to travel.this isn't surprising given VAs relatively mediocre 1/2 year announcement, there is a push for cash on and the bag free fare is low hanging fruit to bean counters

Food on board?

Packet of rice crackers last week. A soggy muffin with ~180 calories of energy last night.

Food?

 

[Nexus9]

Well hopefully this will mean that the FA's can finally crack down on those that are stretching the concept of "carry on" luggage to breaking point and beyond.

You know who you are ... with your luggage that is slightly bigger than standard carry on, in addition to your laptop bag and separate personal item all well and truly taking up the majority if not all of one overhead compartment

 

[stux]

Well hopefully this will mean that the FA's can finally crack down on those that are stretching the concept of "carry on" luggage to breaking point and beyond.

You know who you are ... with your luggage that is slightly bigger than standard carry on, in addition to your laptop bag and separate personal item all well and truly taking up the majority if not all of one overhead compartment

Yep. As someone who tends to NOT travel HLO it really annoys me when travelling (usually in the US) and I can't put my small carryon up there because its chockers with bags which *should* really be checked in.

The other thing that annoys me is having to pay extra for my first bag, i did not mind the concept of saver/saver lite, but what I do not like is when baggage is just not included and charged separate, this just leads to the problem of people squeezing their large bags into small spaces

 

[Milefest]

Well hopefully this will mean that the FA's can finally crack down on those that are stretching the concept of "carry on" luggage to breaking point and beyond.

You know who you are ... with your luggage that is slightly bigger than standard carry on, in addition to your laptop bag and separate personal item all well and truly taking up the majority if not all of one overhead compartment

Agreed, I take great care in making sure that my bag is within carry on dimensions and weight. It really annoys me when I see people get on there with cricket bags and huge family bags that should be checked in.

 

[Nexus9]

Agreed, I take great care in making sure that my bag is within carry on dimensions and weight. It really annoys me when I see people get on there with cricket bags and huge family bags that should be checked in.

additionally if they FA's do crack down, then we wont have to rush to the gate from the lounge as soon as boarding is announced .... the only reason I rush to board is because I know there will be multiple tossers with 3 "carry on" luggage items (in the loosest sense of the term) each taking up the overheads from row 3 back to about row 7 or 8

 

[docjames]

Interesting decision, but i guess they are still trying to shed the "LCC" image and charging for bags (when the major competitor doesn't) is a bad look.

I have a day trip to syd upcoming as was going to book a VA fare as checkin not required.

Now the pricing is essentially equal between the two and it's a toss-up (for me on this trip).

So VA have gone from 80% likely to get my business on this particular trip, to 50/50 at best.

 

[JohnK]

Now the pricing is essentially equal between the two and it's a toss-up (for me on this trip).

I was just searching for airfares BNE-SYD for April and May as I need to book some last minute flights. I fell off my chair when I saw VA $139 one way!

Highway robbery for a VA flight on that route....

 

[Revolio]

Sadly I don't think it will get any better either. I'm toying with the idea of buying a jetpack......

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I was just searching for airfares BNE-SYD for April and May as I need to book some last minute flights. I fell off my chair when I saw VA $139 one way!

Highway robbery for a VA flight on that route....

TT is around half that fare. I think VA might think it time that they start pricing like a full service airline (despite the fact they already were) and leave the cheap buckets to TT.

 

[Clivem]

For full service we are back to the duopoly Ansett / Qantas days ..... Domestic J fares to all points on the compass have also skyrocketed.

Dear Santa ....I know it is early but all I want for Christmas is a price war...... please.

 

[JohnK]

TT is around half that fare. I think VA might think it time that they start pricing like a full service airline (despite the fact they already were) and leave the cheap buckets to TT.

Sadly in my opinion VA are not a full service airline. YMMV.

Need to be careful with Tiger. The SYD-BNE airfares can get close to $100 each way and that is a lot to pay to get nothing other than from A-B. No luggage. No food/beverage. No lounge access. Limited services.

 

[esquire]

Sadly in my opinion VA are not a full service airline. YMMV.

Need to be careful with Tiger. The SYD-BNE airfares can get close to $100 each way and that is a lot to pay to get nothing other than from A-B. No luggage. No food/beverage. No lounge access. Limited services.

Agree - as a heavy domestic flyer - VA are still behind QF in many areas. That doesn't make them a LCC by no means however they are coming from different direction than more traditional carriers that have moved down (such as AirNZ).

But lets be honest here - ultimately VA need MONEY so they need to charge away. They obviously want to ensure their fares are just that little bit lower than QF - so I suspect what we will see from VA now is an increase in charges/fees and services that they feel they can get away with - and they probably can -(they have just announced a new $60 booking fee for some awards today).

Will be interesting to see the TT/VA relationship when it is fully realised and they convert their loss making VA routes over to TT. I don't expect fares to be dropping anytime soon even if moved to TT. It is not unusual for QF to be cheaper than JQ on some routes when booking a week or two out.

Hopefully VA introduce something similar to JQ where there is some tolerable benefit to QFF to use them - otherwise TT will continue to stay in the no interest basket for me and I suspect many other VA elites.

 

[Fruitcake]

Hopefully VA introduce something similar to JQ where there is some tolerable benefit to QFF to use them - otherwise TT will continue to stay in the no interest basket for me and I suspect many other VA elites.

I don't think that will happen in the near future:

Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti interview: dual-brand strategies | CAPA - Centre for Aviation

“You walk into a supermarket and look at the toothpaste…there’s probably 20-30 brands. They're probably owned by one or two manufacturers but you’d never know it. I think that's the way you run a multi brand strategy and that's the way we intend to run it,” Mr Borghetti told CAPA TV. This philosophy extends outside the branding. "You’ll never see Virgin codesharing on Tiger or vice-versa," Mr Borghetti affirmed.

...

Mr Borghetti's objective is to have distinct brands as “the moment you blur that, you’re diminishing your credibility as a brand”.

...
Nor will Virgin elite members travelling on Tigerair experience any Virgin perks, as Qantas passengers on Jetstar sometimes do. Virgin passengers buying a Tigerair ticket, Mr Borghetti said, will "experience the Tiger[air] experience. I'm sorry, they don't have a lounge and you can't use ours.”

 

[alexczarn]

Interesting. So VA are removing a LCC feature.

In my opinion Virgin isn't a LCC anymore.

 

[QF WP]

I can see it from Virgin's POV. By getting rid of the saver lite fares, it does streamline their fare offers - in addition to the uplift in revenue (based on the presumption that the saver fares remain constant). I disagree that they are still a LCC, they transitioned away to be MCC or FCC when John Borghetti came aboard. That also was a natural progresion to capture mote value from the Australian market and away from competing with Tiger and Jetstar; to taking on QF head-on. If we want them there for the longhaul (pun intended) to maintain price competitiveness from QF, then they need to achieve savings as well as revenue increases.

From my POV, I rarely travel with luggage so did predominately buy Saver Lites - as a status pax, I got my luggage for free anyway. Do I think the small uplift will make a huge difference to me - not really. Of course, YMMV.

 

[nonscenic]

additionally if they FA's do crack down, then we wont have to rush to the gate from the lounge as soon as boarding is announced .... the only reason I rush to board is because I know there will be multiple tossers with 3 "carry on" luggage items (in the loosest sense of the term) each taking up the overheads from row 3 back to about row 7 or 8

I do feel sorry for the last pax who board with proper sized hand luggage who can't find any space nearby their seat in row 8 and the FA comes to assist, finding the only spare space above row 25. Removing the HLO fares and tightening down on oversized carry on should assist. To be fair to Virgin, they are the ones who do check the cabin baggage for weight more often.