Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar & Tiger - on the same day

[Mattg]

This probably doesn't come as a surprise to most here, but I enjoy travelling.

I always thought it would be fun to travel on all of the Australian domestic airlines on the same day. So, last week I did just that!

For my experiment I set out to find the cheapest routing that departed and arrived in Sydney on the same day, involved one flight each on Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Tiger, and didn't pass through the same airport twice.

I also wanted to make sure I allowed for plenty of time between connections. As I was travelling on four separate bookings, I didn't want to take any risks in case one or more flights were delayed.

With that in mind, my plan for the day looked something like this:

Flight 1: TT213 Sydney 07:00 - Melbourne 08:35
Flight 2: VA1593 Melbourne 12:20 - Newcastle 15:50
Flight 3: QF2426 Newcastle 16:50 - Brisbane 17:25
Flight 4: JQ827 Brisbane 19:40 - Sydney 22:15

In this trip report I'll briefly cover my experience with each of the airlines, then make some final comments on which airlines performed best and worst on the day.

 

[Mattg]

Flight 1: TT213
Route: Sydney to Melbourne
Aircraft: VH-VNJ (Airbus A320)
Seat: 4F
Scheduled departure time: 07:00 (Actual: 07:03)
Scheduled arrival time: 08:35 (Actual: 08:45)



My first flight for the day was on Tigerair out of Sydney. I'd checked in online and was travelling with hand luggage only, which was lucky as the queue to check in at the counter was very long.

Boarding began on time and was fairly orderly.

The boarding gate in Sydney:



A dedicated gate agent was randomly selecting passengers from the queue to have their bags weighed. Tigerair has a strict policy that hand luggage must not exceed 7kg. One person was caught over the limit, but they were able to avoid paying a "fine" by transferring a few items to a friend's bag.

Tigerair is a low-cost carrier. As such, they charge extra for pretty much everything. When I checked in online, I had been allocated 15E - a middle seat. To change to a seat that wasn't a middle seat, I had to pay $5. I actually ended up paying $7 to select an "up front" window seat in row 4.

The flight was about 2/3 full so there were a few empty seats around the cabin, including next to me.

The legroom on Tiger's A320 wasn't spectacular, but I actually that it was slightly better than on Jetstar, and about the same as Qantas and Virgin on their 737s.

A legroom shot:


Boarding was well and truly completed by the time 7am came around, but we still departed a couple of minutes behind schedule. After a long taxi to the third runway we took off on a beautiful morning in Sydney.

This photo is a bit blurry as there were actually grease stains on the window. But other than that, the aircraft appeared clean and well-maintained.

 

[Mattg]

Once the seat belt signs were extinguished the friendly cabin crew came around offering snacks and drinks. Although you had to pay for everything, I actually thought the menu looked pretty reasonable. The prices were not too high either.

Part of the menu:


I ordered the warm Turkish bacon & egg sandwich, which took a few minutes to heat up and cost $9.50. It was quite tasty and a reasonable size (for airline food).



We landed a few minutes behind schedule (the pilots blamed a headwind and an ATC delay, which seems fair enough) and parked at the gate in Melbourne's Terminal 4. We weren't exactly given a rockstar welcome, having to walk through shipping containers to get to the terminal:





Overall, I was pretty happy with this flight. It wasn't quite up to the standard of service I expect on Qantas, but it was also about a third of the price of a Qantas flight on the same route (at around $50). The service on board was professional & friendly, and although we arrived 10 minutes late, I can live with that.

 

[Mattg]

As I was a bit worried that Tiger might cancel or delay my first flight for the day, I left about four hours until my next departure. In the end I had enough time to pop into Melbourne for a couple of hours and enjoy the wonderful coffee there.

It was a beautiful day, too.





Returning to the airport, I had some spare time so headed down to the new Jetstar section of terminal 4. It seemed pleasant enough, but there were two key things I noticed. Firstly, there weren't a lot of seats. Secondly, it was quite a long walk to get down there. If you wanted to use the Qantas lounges in terminal 1 prior to a Jetstar domestic flight, you would have to allow about 15 minutes to get to the Jetstar terminal.

 

[Mattg]

Flight 2: VA1593
Route: Melbourne to Newcastle
Aircraft: VH-YIG (Boeing 737-800)
Seat: 27F
Scheduled departure time: 12:20 (Actual: 12:25)
Scheduled arrival time: 13:50 (Actual: 13:55)



I'm primarily a Qantas flyer, so hadn't actually set foot on a Virgin Australia aircraft for a couple of years. I was keen to see if anything had changed since my last flight with them.

Virgin now offers complimentary checked bags and complimentary food & drink on their domestic flights. Since introducing this, I notice that they also seem to have raised their fares accordingly.

I didn't have any luggage to check-in, so I was hoping the meal service would be enough to justify the higher fares. It wasn't, but I'll get to that shortly.

One thing that Virgin is known for doing well is priority boarding, and this flight was no exception.

I ended up in a window seat at the back of the plane. When I checked in using the airport kiosk, I could see that 27F had been allocated. The machine said that I could hit a button to change my seat, but there was no button! I ended up stuck in my original seat.

The legroom didn't seem great. Maybe it was my imagination, but I actually thought the legroom on Tiger was about the same or slightly better. Although it was a full flight in economy, so perhaps that didn't help either.

Legroom shot:



Business class, on the other hand, was practically empty. I was invited to bid for an upgrade, and considered bidding the minimum of $120. But for a flight just over an hour I decided it wasn't worth it. Had I bidded, I'm fairly certain it would have been successful.

We departed about 5 minutes late and headed north towards Newcastle. Eventually the cabin service got underway and each passenger was given their complimentary snack and drink. The snack was what I would call a "fun size" sandwich. Though the only people who would have found those sandwiches fun are the airline's accountants. It took probably four bites before the finger-size sandwiches were gone.

For drinks, each passenger was offered a tea, coffee, juice or water. That was it - if you wanted a can of coke, you would have to pay. Wine is available on some flights, but only if the flight departs on a weekday between 5pm and 7pm. (Just 10 hours a week - seriously?!)

My tea and sandwich:



My snack was fine, don't get my wrong. And I realise that it is better than the free snack you get on Tiger or Jetstar (i.e. nothing). But Tiger and Jetstar don't make a big point and run advertising campaigns about how all their passengers get free wine and meals on board. For a lunch-time flight I would have thought Virgin could do more, especially after making such a song and dance about their new complimentary food and drinks.

To their credit, Virgin did have additional food for sale for passengers feeling a bit more peckish. Though I didn't bother studying the menu any further after discovering a stale piece of chewing gum inside the menu:



In-flight entertainment was available through Virgin's in-flight streaming. In order to use it, you had to bring your own device and have the Virgin app pre-installed. I had my iPad with me, but as I hadn't flown Virgin for a while I didn't know I needed to install this. For this reason, I can't comment on the IFE.

The service was professional, but in my opinion lacked the "X-factor" that I came to expect with Virgin Blue. The first time I flew VA, the flight attendants told jokes over the PA. There was none of that on this flight. Now, this isn't necessarily a criticism - in fact, it could be a positive sign that Virgin is maturing. In any case, that's what I observed.

We flew over Stockton Beach on approach to Newcastle Airport:



Having departed 5 minutes late we also arrived 5 minutes behind schedule, but that's not a big deal.

Overall the flight was pretty good. Again, the service wasn't quite up to the standard I expect from Qantas. But unlike Tiger, Virgin charges the same prices as Qantas. In fact, this flight cost me slightly more than the Qantas flight making it my most expensive flight for the day.

 

[Mattg]

After a few hours at Newcastle Airport it was time to board my next flight up to Brisbane.

Flight 3: QF2426
Route: Newcastle to Brisbane
Aircraft: VH-LQM (Dash 8 Q400)
Seat: 6A
Scheduled departure time: 16:50 (Actual: 16:50)
Scheduled arrival time: 17:15 (Actual: 17:15)



My third flight for the day was with QantasLink, the regional offshoot of Qantas. As I was on a smaller turboprop plane for this flight, there was no in-flight entertainment. I do note however that Qantas offer a mixture of on-demand entertainment (AVOD) and overhead screens for entertainment on all mainline flights.

The legroom on this flight was pretty reasonable. I thought it was probably the best of the four airlines I flew that day. I'm quite tall but was comfortable:



Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the food on this flight, but it was pretty good for a "refreshment" service. A variety of snacks were served to every passenger in a box, including soy crisps, chocolate and crackers with mixed olives and feta cheese. A full drinks service including beer, wine and soft drinks was also offered. Mid-way through the flight the friendly cabin crew offered every passenger drink refills with a smile.

We arrived into Brisbane at exactly 5.15pm, the scheduled time.

Approaching Brisbane:



This was my best flight of the day. Even though the flight was on a Dash 8, I felt that we were very well looked after by the crew. The food and drinks on offer were far superior to that on Virgin, and the service had more of a personal touch. It's these kind of small differences that, to me, make all the difference between a full-service airline and an airline that's neither full-service nor low-cost (i.e. Virgin).

 

[Mattg]

Flight 4: JQ827
Route: Brisbane to Sydney
Aircraft: VH-VGU (Airbus A320)
Seat: 10C
Scheduled departure time: 19:40 (Actual: 19:50)
Scheduled arrival time: 22:15 (Actual: 22:18)



My last flight for the day was the final Jetstar service back to Sydney. The flight was called for boarding around 7.15pm in the lounge, but boarding did not get underway until about 7.35pm (5 minutes before scheduled departure).

Boarding was a shambles. The ladies scanning the boarding passes were chatting amongst themselves, and completely ignored the passengers they were boarding.

The boarding queue was all over the place, yet nobody seemed to be taking charge of the situation.



I ended up in 10C, an aisle seat. When I checked in, there was no mention of my allocated seat. In order to choose a seat, I would have had to pay $5.50. I chose to risk not paying the fee and luckily didn't end up in a middle seat...

A final legroom shot:



Yes, that's a Dan Murphy's catalogue in the seat pocket. I'm fairly confident that the legroom on this flight was the worst of the day.

When I sat down I noticed that my seat neighbour, an elderly woman, seemed quite distressed. She told me that she had recently had surgery and was barely able to walk. The ground crew in Brisbane had forced her to walk down the stairs onto the tarmac and then up another flight of stairs onto the plane. She seemed to be in a fair amount of pain as a result.

The lady explained that she had been taken to the boarding gate in a wheelchair. But when it came time to board, she was abruptly informed by the ground staff that they couldn't provide assistance to her as they were "already boarding two wheelchair passengers". Apparently it is Jetstar policy to only help two wheelchair passengers per flight. It seems the ground staff were quite rude about the whole thing too (and based on what I observed during boarding, I'm not surprised).

Reagan, the cabin manager, noticed what was going on when the lady got to the foot of the aircraft, and rushed outside to give the ground staff an earful. After we took off, Reagan came to speak to the passenger again several times. She explained what happened (I heard this explanation, so can verify that what the lady told me is true) and apologised profusely. She was scathing towards the ground staff and also promised to take the matter up with management. I felt that this apology was genuine and that she really wanted to make amends. But this incident really should not have happened in the first place.

Once onboard, the flight was otherwise fine and uneventful. I didn't buy anything to eat, but from past experience I think that I actually prefer Tiger's in-flight menu. Jetstar's range is a bit more limited and I believe slightly more expensive.

Overall, the flight was okay. The cabin crew were very good, but as a low-cost airline there was again no entertainment and the legroom was pretty poor.

I'm disappointed with the way my seat neighbour was treated. I would expect any airline to be more forthcoming in providing assistance to passengers that obviously need it. And if for some reason they can't provide assistance, rudely fobbing off the customer is not the correct way to deal with the situation...

 

[Mattg]

Some final thoughts...

The only flight that arrived exactly on-time was the Qantas flight. Though the other airlines' delays were only 5-10 minutes. I'm not too concerned about that.

My favourite flight of the day was with Qantas. The service was excellent, the food and drinks on offer were superior and I was very comfortable on board. The crew not only offered multiple drink refills, but they remembered what each passenger had had to drink. It's these kind of little touches that make the flight all the more enjoyable.

I was pleasantly surprised with Tiger. This was my third flight with them, and I could barely fault them. The service was good and it was a comfortable flight. Yes, you have to pay extra for everything. But with such low fares, I don't really mind.

Virgin Australia was a bit of a let-down. The flight wasn't bad, but with so much hype about how they're supposedly now a premium carrier, I just didn't see enough evidence of this. If they are charging around the same price as Qantas for a ticket, then they should try to at least provide an equal level of service.

I would probably put Jetstar in last place. The flight was okay and relatively uneventful, but the lack of legroom can make for an uncomfortable flight and I think the ground staff in Brisbane let Jetstar down that night.

Having said all of this, I think my experiment proves in a way just how lucky we are in Australia. All four flights were pleasant, more or less on-time and the on-board service was generally good all-round. I have been somewhat critical about certain aspects of each of the airlines. But on the whole, I think we have it pretty good. Although I do prefer certain airlines over others, I would happily fly any of our domestic airlines again. This is not something I could say about the airlines in many other countries around the world.

 

[GarrettM]

Interesting stuff Mattg. I'd be curious to see how a similar experiment here in WA might work, given the destinations and airlines to choose from.

If that Jetstar wheelchair policy information is correct that is a truly astonishing attitude/policy for an airline to have. I guess the chances of having more than two wheelchair passengers on a flight might be considered slim, but even so.

 

[dajop]

Great TR, interesting review. One question, how do you think mainline stack up against QF Link? I can't comment on the last 7 years , but during the period 2001-8 I used to fly QF and QF link a lot. The service on QF link was always superior to mainline (sometimes by a long way), crew always very welcoming/friendly and I always enjoyed the plentiful wine and snacks. I''m glad to hear that they have maintained their standards.

 

[RooFlyer]

Interesting comparative comments; thanks. With the LCC I always say that a 'routine' journey should be comparable to a mainline carrier (except for the 'paid extras'). Its when things go adrift that the gap between the carrier types opens.

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for the comparison. I have found that service on the Dash 8s is usually pretty good, just a pity I don't like them and try to avoid them if possible unless it is the short hop from CBR to SYD. Anything longer and I find them too noisy, too slow and too uncomfortable.

 

[Mattg]

If that Jetstar wheelchair policy information is correct that is a truly astonishing attitude/policy for an airline to have. I guess the chances of having more than two wheelchair passengers on a flight might be considered slim, but even so.

This appears to have been Jetstar policy for some time. I recall seeing a number of threads on here, as well as other stories in the media about passengers being refused assistance as the "two wheelchair passengers" quota had been reached. In fact, here's an article from 2011 about this:

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

For the record, this woman lost the case. But it's still an appalling, blatantly cost-cutting policy and I was surprised to see that it still exists.

Great TR, interesting review. One question, how do you think mainline stack up against QF Link? I can't comment on the last 7 years , but during the period 2001-8 I used to fly QF and QF link a lot. The service on QF link was always superior to mainline (sometimes by a long way), crew always very welcoming/friendly and I always enjoyed the plentiful wine and snacks. I''m glad to hear that they have maintained their standards.

Obviously the hard product (seats, entertainment etc.) on the mainline Boeing 737 and Airbus A330 aircraft are better than the QF Link Dash 8s. But I have found the service on QantasLink consistently excellent. IMHO it's at least as good, and often even better than on regular Qantas flights (which is usually pretty good anyway).

 

[Justinf]

Great TR. Would have been interested to see how QF went on a 737 instead of a Dash-8. I find the smaller px load on the turboprops to be a better service.

 

[Mattg]

Great TR. Would have been interested to see how QF went on a 737 instead of a Dash-8. I find the smaller px load on the turboprops to be a better service.

I actually flew on a Qantas 737 on the weekend. QF548 from Sydney to Brisbane, departing at 19:05 and arriving at 19:35. The flight was about 60% full, so most passengers had shadows. It was a very pleasant flight. Departed on-time and arrived 15 minutes early.

Service was very friendly - all passengers were served with a smile.

There was in-flight entertainment, but being an older 737 this was limited to overhead screens (playing the news & an episode of Modern Family) and in-armrest radios. For a one hour flight that is more than enough, though personal AVOD would obviously be preferable for longer flights.

Boxed dinners were served on the flight. The choices were a pasta with pork bolognese or a chicken salad. I chose the pasta but honestly it was pretty average. The bolognese was quite runny. I should have chosen the salad. This was a disappointed as I've previously found the boxed dinners very good. On my last Qantas dinner flight I got a lamb curry with rice and bread. A full range of non-alcoholic drinks were available, but beer and wine for only available for purchase at $6 each as it was a weekend flight. (I believe these are complimentary on weekday evening flights.)

It was a very pleasant flight. I thought the service was equally good on QantasLink and regular Qantas, but I suspect that I may have preferred QantasLink if the 737 was full.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Those Dan Murphy catalogues can be found on every JQ aircraft ( I've been on 8 JQ flights this month) and even the MEL domestic QF lounges.
I think Woolies have paid to have Dan Murphy's catalogues strategically placed across a range of Locations to obtain maximum exposure.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

When I sat down I noticed that my seat neighbour, an elderly woman, seemed quite distressed. She told me that she had recently had surgery and was barely able to walk. The ground crew in Brisbane had forced her to walk down the stairs onto the tarmac and then up another flight of stairs onto the plane. She seemed to be in a fair amount of pain as a result.

The lady explained that she had been taken to the boarding gate in a wheelchair. But when it came time to board, she was abruptly informed by the ground staff that they couldn't provide assistance to her as they were "already boarding two wheelchair passengers". Apparently it is Jetstar policy to only help two wheelchair passengers per flight. It seems the ground staff were quite rude about the whole thing too (and based on what I observed during boarding, I'm not surprised).

Reagan, the cabin manager, noticed what was going on when the lady got to the foot of the aircraft, and rushed outside to give the ground staff an earful. After we took off, Reagan came to speak to the passenger again several times. She explained what happened (I heard this explanation, so can verify that what the lady told me is true) and apologised profusely. She was scathing towards the ground staff and also promised to take the matter up with management. I felt that this apology was genuine and that she really wanted to make amends. But this incident really should not have happened in the first place.

I'm disappointed with the way my seat neighbour was treated. I would expect any airline to be more forthcoming in providing assistance to passengers that obviously need it. And if for some reason they can't provide assistance, rudely fobbing off the customer is not the correct way to deal with the situation...

I have heard of JQ's 2 WCHR policy per flight however it would be interesting to know what happens when someone requires WCHR assistance when they book the flight but there are no more places available. Do they just say too bad and make you book a different (possibly more expensive) flight or allow you to book the original flight but say no assistance will be given.

If they took the lady to the boarding gate in a WCHR IMHO the ground staff have acknowledged that they will help her with pre-boarding assistance and she had a right to also expect that service from the gate to the aircraft which is even more necessary as JQ always use stand-off bays in BNE which means you need to walk down the stairs to the tarmac then up the aircraft stairs.

They should have a procedure that covers such situations where passengers requiring assistance haven't pre-booked but still need help with boarding. People either don't tell the airline at the time of booking or mobility issues can arise after the booking has been made. Passengers may not even realise going/up down stairs is involved as they may have travelled previously with the airline to different cities where aerobridges had been used and therefore assumed BNE would be the same.

Thanks for the comparison. I have found that service on the Dash 8s is usually pretty good, just a pity I don't like them and try to avoid them if possible unless it is the short hop from CBR to SYD. Anything longer and I find them too noisy, too slow and too uncomfortable.

I found the legroom on the Q400 way better than on any domestic carrier's B737 or A320.

 

[whatmeworry]

Mattg out of curiosity, I am guessing you didn't get plus bundle on JQ?

 

[Mattg]

Mattg out of curiosity, I am guessing you didn't get plus bundle on JQ?

I often do, but in this case chose not to. (Hence the seat selection lottery.)

If I was taking a bag and/or short on QF points/status credits then I might pay for a Plus Bundle. But at $35 for a BNE-SYD flight it's difficult to see the value in it. Especially when I'm travelling HLO, won't need any food on board and I already have enough booked flights to get enough SCs for QF Gold.

When they were cheaper (~$18) and didn't include checked baggage I would always pay the extra...

 

[Mattg]

I have heard of JQ's 2 WCHR policy per flight however it would be interesting to know what happens when someone requires WCHR assistance when they book the flight but there are no more places available. Do they just say too bad and make you book a different (possibly more expensive) flight or allow you to book the original flight but say no assistance will be given.

If they took the lady to the boarding gate in a WCHR IMHO the ground staff have acknowledged that they will help her with pre-boarding assistance and she had a right to also expect that service from the gate to the aircraft which is even more necessary as JQ always use stand-off bays in BNE which means you need to walk down the stairs to the tarmac then up the aircraft stairs.

They should have a procedure that covers such situations where passengers requiring assistance haven't pre-booked but still need help with boarding. People either don't tell the airline at the time of booking or mobility issues can arise after the booking has been made. Passengers may not even realise going/up down stairs is involved as they may have travelled previously with the airline to different cities where aerobridges had been used and therefore assumed BNE would be the same.

The lady did say that she hadn't pre-booked a wheelchair. But Jetstar knew she would need one from the time she checked in and should have acted on it accordingly. If there was going to be such a problem, I don't understand why they let her go to the gate in the first place.

For the record, she also did not realise beforehand that she would have to walk up & down stairs to get to the aircraft. Apparently when she flew SYD-BNE they got aerobridges on both ends, so there were no problems.