What's the point? [VA fares > 50% more than Jetstar]

[jakeseven7]

Before everyone gets carried away saying that there is no point in flying VA I did a reality check about actual typical fares - albeit with the proviso that the future of Velocity as a loyalty program is very reduced from where it was. The fact is that no-one is flying internationally anywhere at the moment, and domestically due to Covid restrictions its difficult to fly a lot of places at all without onerous 14 day isolation, Virgin lounges remain closed and Qantas lounges are on reduced hours and availability, the long term future and profitability of both Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin are all in doubt and we would be expecting major "enhancements" to both the QFF and the Velocity loyalty programs in the future, the Y product is all essentially the same (narrowbody 3+3 Y seating with 29"-31" seat pitch).

With all that in mind - have a look at this randomly chosen basket of Economy Y class flights that it is possible to book and fly, and consider the mathematics and the choices here for a BFOD or indeed leisure traveller (for simplicity I compared return flights 1 week later from departure), note all prices shown are return airfares.

View attachment 232647

Sort of blows the illusion of Jetstar being the cheapest option, and the theme seems to be that the Virgin and Jetstar fares overall are pretty much on par once you include all the bundles and seat selection fares etc, it looks like Qantas is able to maintain a fare premium over both Virgin Australia and Jetstar at the moment so that loyalty, status and access to the Qantas lounges does have a tangible "cost" that can be measured.

Domestically - If you care about lounges, nicer food and status then its a "no brainer" to book Qantas at the moment, if you care about lowest fare and don't care about status, food and lounges then you would be better booking Virgin at the moment. If you want to pay more, get gouged with fees to earn status and pay to sit where you want (pretty important to some people with Covid concerns) and don't have a choice (i.e. a lot of Jetstar only routes around at the moment) the you would fly Jetstar.

Interesting and thank you, but as always subject to flight avails, ticket bucket avails when you look.... so people will get lots of different prices.

At the end of the day people will work out what they feel like paying for QF, JQ and the new Bain/VA2 I guess.

 

[RAM]

Before everyone gets carried away saying that there is no point in flying VA I did a reality check about actual typical fares ....

Sort of blows the illusion of Jetstar being the cheapest option, and the theme seems to be that the Virgin and Jetstar fares overall are pretty much on par once you include all the bundles and seat selection fares etc, it looks like Qantas is able to maintain a fare premium over both Virgin Australia and Jetstar at the moment so that loyalty, status and access to the Qantas lounges does have a tangible "cost" that can be measured.

Domestically - If you care about lounges, nicer food and status then its a "no brainer" to book Qantas at the moment, if you care about lowest fare and don't care about status, food and lounges then you would be better booking Virgin at the moment. If you want to pay more, get gouged with fees to earn status and pay to sit where you want (pretty important to some people with Covid concerns) and don't have a choice (i.e. a lot of Jetstar only routes around at the moment) the you would fly Jetstar.

Great work, perhaps we should avoid doing Q's dirty work for them?

Maybe time to get this thread's potentially misleading name changed from:
VA fares > 50% more than Jetstar
to
VA fares not necessarily more than Jetstar and may be cheaper

 

[hossein_au]

View attachment 232647

Sort of blows the illusion of Jetstar being the cheapest option, and the theme seems to be that the Virgin and Jetstar fares overall are pretty much on par once you include all the bundles and seat selection fares etc, it looks like Qantas is able to maintain a fare premium over both Virgin Australia and Jetstar at the moment so that loyalty, status and access to the Qantas lounges does have a tangible "cost" that can be measured.

Domestically - If you care about lounges, nicer food and status then its a "no brainer" to book Qantas at the moment, if you care about lowest fare and don't care about status, food and lounges then you would be better booking Virgin at the moment. ...

That is very interesting; thank you very much for your research and analysis.

 

[andye]

I was under the impression the title referred to a specific flight question rather than fares in general

 

[Charlie Brown]

I'm looking to go to Tassie with the family in January and struggling to understand the point of booking with VA.

As a platinum I used to default to VA but now given their fares are >50% on the same route for Jetstar, I just can't see a reason to book our family of 8 with VA. Extra cost on return fares is about $900 and for that we would get bags (only have 2 or 3 to check anyway) and possibly Economy X seating.

Can anyone help me to understand what's the point of booking these flights with VA?

You are getting a much better product - whats more important - price or quality?

 

[RAM]

I was under the impression the title referred to a specific flight question rather than fares in general

The thread title suggests all flights while the post could be read either way...

I'm looking to go to Tassie with the family in January and struggling to understand the point of booking with VA.

As a platinum I used to default to VA but now given their fares are >50% on the same route for Jetstar, I just can't see a reason to book our family of 8 with VA. Extra cost on return fares is about $900 and for that we would get bags (only have 2 or 3 to check anyway) and possibly Economy X seating.

Can anyone help me to understand what's the point of booking these flights with VA?

...and for many of the subsequent posts it was taken as all VA fares.

 

[TheInsider]

You are getting a much better product - whats more important - price or quality?

How are you getting a much better product?

 

[jakeseven7]

How are you getting a much better product?

The instant noodles are branded on Bain/VA2 v homebrand on Jetstar?

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Ho

The instant noodles are branded on Bain/VA2 v homebrand on Jetstar?

How preposterous??? Fantastic v Mr Lee’s ...lol.

 

[AIRwin]

Just saw on another thread that lounges have reopened...

 

[Harpie]

I use to use the free Economy X seats and free fly forward all the time as a platinum, but will be looking to transition to Qantas in 2021 as the international partners are lacking with virgin and sounds like it will be going very budget.