Virgin Blue 'best domestic airline'

[Pedota]

Choice names Virgin Blue as best domestic airline . . . second year running.

Virgin Blue named best domestic airline

The Age

April 29, 2010

Virgin Blue has been voted Australia's best domestic airline, for the second year running, in a poll by leading consumer group Choice.

More than 11,000 Choice members rated their satisfaction with domestic flights they had taken in the past 12 months, awarding Virgin top scores for service, entertainment and comfort.

Regional carrier Rex was ranked second on the strength of its old-fashioned and more personalised service, while Qantas came third overall.
Budget airline Tiger took out last place. Unexplained flight delays and the airline's slow check-in process were the major gripes.

Jetstar, which was ranked second-last, also came under fire for flight delays, and for its cramped seating.

One member complained of Qantas flight attendants being "bitchy", while several others said they treated gold and platinum members more favourably than economy flyers.

Virgin Blue rated first or second in all Choice's customer satisfaction categories and received praise for its treatment of disabled passengers. This came after Virgin last year for disabled passengers, not longer requiring them to travel with a carer, after pressure from equality campaigners.

Choice published a series of comments from members about the airlines:
Virgin Blue: "Virgin offers the best economy flight in terms of service to the public. You feel they are doing the best they can for you rather than you having to abide by THEIR conditions of service."

Qantas: "Qantas staff are very hit and miss - some might not treat you well, others are great and attentive."

Jetstar: "The only reliable thing about Jetstar is that they will be late in departure, which is OK if you've been stuck in traffic!"

Tiger: "It was a cheap flight. The service was reflected by the price, you get what you pay for!"

In other aviation news, Qantas says its frequent flyer program has reached seven million members, and another million are expected to join by the end of 2011.

Qantas frequent flyer chief executive Simon Hickey says membership has grown by 32 per cent, or 1.7 million, since the program was relaunched in July 2008.

"We are targeting eight million members by the end of next year, as more and more Australians realise the advantages available to them through Qantas frequent flyer," Mr Hickey said in a statement on Thursday.

Mr Hickey said the frequent flyer program's alliance with Woolworths Ltd had been a "great success", with 2.5 million members having earned points through the supermarket giant's everyday rewards program.

The frequent flyer program has been a positive earner for Qantas, recording underlying earnings before interest and tax of $157 million in the first half of 2009/10, more than double the $73 million in the prior corresponding period.

with AAP

[Van Gough]

I went on a Virgin 737-700 and an E-jet last week. I would be surprised if the 737 seat could have been any more uncomfortable if the engineers had tried. The E-jet seats on the other hand where fantastic :ok: Interesting to note that the ticket was more expensive than Qantas as well. Looks like they are rebranding as a premium price for budget service airline...:}

[beaver_rotate]

I agree. The E-jet's are lovely. The 737 however not so much; just did PER-MEL for 3+ hours, was total rubbish seat pitch; laptop use with the seat in-front reclined is impossible. the Live2Air is an inferior product compared to the A330's running across the same sector. Give me a QF A330 or 767 anyday on flights longer than 2 hours.

[stubby jumbo]

JB must be doing "donuts of joy" down Queen St in his 911 Porche after he heard this news.:ok:

Lets face it........QF S/H punters have been neglected for at least 5 years. Sure the FF's have had lounge upgrades and their letter boxes filled with Qantas marketing crap.......but at the end of the day -speak to the average traveller-they consider Qantas to be second rate.
Why?
Domestic aircraft fleet look tired ( especially those ACE's)
Product -even though superior to Virgin- is inconsistent with delivery , eg: IFE breakdowns, shortages in catering etc.
Crew have had a gut-full of leadership by KPI's and being "led" by a management that should be pulling beers at the local Rissole.

So....... solution. Spend some of those cash reserves that the CFO keeps banging on about and invest it back in the EXISTING business, not on some hair-brained / half baked "concept" aka the Centre of Service Excellence as an example.

The reason why the majority of staff feel like some of the comments in the Choice article is that they want to feel proud again to work for the Australian Airline.

The Dixon Legacy :yuk: is gone now, but the stench still lingers down the corridors of QCA.

Who would of thought when Ansett went and Virgin came...... that Virgin would take the Ansett Crown in less than 10 years.:{

[b737800capt06]

I am a big Richard Branson fan, however on Virgin Blue there is no serious Business Class to speak of.

With the VB experience both off and on board the service is lacking - VB is not a full service airline.

Flying QF business class YMML to YSSY (767-300 - seat 1A) recently the service was outstanding start to finish.

Qantas Club, free beers/wine/sparkling wine prior to departure, also good food.:ok:

On board, glass of water/oj before taxi & hot towel, good size seat, decent food, outstanding service (CSM on hand the whole time). Good wines to choose from with your meal.:ok:

Premium Economy on VB is the same price and the service and product is not there. If you pay business class price you should at least get a business class seat - not an economy seat with a slot in table between you and the person next to you.

**Note to Alan Joyce: Your people deserve a serious pay increase for the outstanding work they do.

[dizzylizzy]

Congratulations to Virginblue or any carrier in that matter who win's an award. I guess something to take into account with this is also the average customer who fly's with DJ aswell... ie: one would find more of the "Karen/Sharon/Darren" type al la pax flying to holiday destination or family once a year and potentially a reasonably priced air fare. Just a thought.

[piston broke again]

b737800capt06, I don't totally agree with all you're saying.

Agreed that if they are the same price, you would choose QF business over VB premium but how often does this happen? This would probably only be the case of VB had a full aircraft, so they can charge whatever they like for any remaining individual seats. But it is a different product...so different marketing strategies.

Agreed tho if QF guys get a pay increase, it spreads across the board for everyone else...bring it on!

[High-Bypass]

When you climb aboard a QF flight, you know the people sitting in the first few rows paid more than the people sitting in the rest of the aircraft. (staff, FF, etc.. exempt)

When you climb aboard a VB/JQ flight, you see that everyone has the same seat, gets the same level of service, regardless of what price they paid, regardless of what row their in, even though some passengers pay $30 and some pay $300.

Congratulations goes to VB, the people have spoken. But IMHO, I would feel a little disgruntled if I was sitting next to someone who paid $300/$400 less than I have, and we both got the "That will be $$$ thanks"if I wanted to check in luggage, use the lounge, buy a drink, heaven forbid eat something or use IFE on a 3-4 hour sector.

[OverRun]

I’ve long criticized Virgin Blue Premium Economy for very high pricing, nothing special in seats, no perks etc. Couldn’t think why anyone flew it. Not surprised when basically no-one does.

But then I did it Per-ADL and return a week ago in Premium Economy, and to my complete and utter surprise, had the best flights I’ve had in Aus for a very long time. I walked off in ADL with a big grin on my face, and after decades of flying with multitudinous flights up the front of the cabin, that doesn’t happen easily.

Yes, it was the EMB190 as a big plus, and this a/c is (also to my surprise) a great pax experience even though it is a 4 seat wide narrowbody (should that be tinybody? to fit in a scale of widebody, narrowbody and tinybody).

Premium Economy was great. For starters there was no-one else around. I got 12 seats – 3 rows to myself. Can’t get close to that anywhere else in the world these days, unless you own the plane yourself. Certainly can’t get that on Qantas. Not for nothing are they held in high regard for their efficient yield management and booking systems. Not for nothing are you jammed in like sheep on a live sheep carrier.

And Perth now has a DJ lounge. It was almost empty. There was about 75 sq.m. per person, which beats the Qantas Club design of 3 sq.m. per person. On the plane, all the food and drink were free. The cabin crew were very attentive and extremely pleasant. On one leg, I was tired and pulled down the shade to sleep. Next thing, all the blinds in the three rows were down, and MY PERSONAL cabin was dark, cool and peaceful.

All this will change if large numbers started using Premium Economy, but for the next few years, I’m going to close my eyes to the price on the longer legs and fly it more often from now.

[The The]

Have to wonder about these kinds of surveys sometimes. Choice also has an international airline survey on their website

On flights to Asia, Singapore Airlines was voted top to Bali (how many people fly to Bali via Singapore - statistically significant?).

Emirates ranked highly to Singapore (but they don't fly there from Aus)

Qantas doesn't fly to Malaysia (unless a codeshare ex Singapore?)

Malaysian Airlines to Vietnam (again how many take this route).

I think these surveys have bias predisposition. You had a good flight on Airline X recently, and so when filling out this kind of survey, you rank it top in every category without much thought.

[hoss58]

Good morning Mr Beaver

For me the question begs why did you choose DJ vs QF. If your employer was picking up the tab and DJ were cheaper i could understand. But if you were forking out the $$$$$ out of your own pocket then i assume the decision was price driven.

Fly safe and play hard

Regards to all

Hoss58

[Icarus2001]

But then I did it Per-ADL Yes, it was the EMB190 as a big plus

Three hours on an E Jet with NO IFE. Not even AUDIO!! Modern aircraft?? I wonder how that goes on the Cocos Island run?

Compare that with the competition, flew a QF 330 the other day, very nice IFE and will be even better when it works properly.

:hmm:

[7378FE]

Emirates ranked highly to Singapore (but they don't fly there from Aus)


Since when?

EK currently do BNE-SIN & MEL-SIN daily and they also do MEL-KUL daily. :rolleyes:

[wheels_down]

Premium Economy is $1300 return on ADL-PER with DJ. Hmmmmm..........:oh: You can go to NY and back for that price!

[737NG_Girl]

Premium Economy is $1300 return on ADL-PER with DJ. Hmmmmm..........:oh: You can go to NY and back for that price!


Yep - and QF Business class for a comparable flight timing on ADL-PER-ADL is $2500 - enough to buy an around the world ticket...

Obviously different products - DJ P.E is not QF Business Class - and there is a $1200 difference between the two. Interesting point to note - the QF Flight is on a B734 one way, B738 the other - even with the lack of IFE, I think the E190 is a more comfortable choice - at least moreso than the QF B734...

[industry insider]

I like VB Premium Economy for domestic travel more than QF.

Firstly the staff appear as if they actually want to work for the company rather than hating it. Secondly, VB seem to be able to get a flight off on time (at least the last 9 have pushed within 5-10 minutes of schedule)

If the seats were a little more comfy it would be even better.

[dizzylizzy]

industry_insider: Good point regarding the OTP, but that also has other factors to take into account. A big one affect OTP lately is the number of no show pax that have luggage checked in or getting pax out of the lounge early enough. Sure in a perfect world if all the pax were sitting waiting at the gate lounge and ready to go the flight would depart early...

[rmm]

OTP. The figures on Airline On Time Performance Monthly Reports (http://www.btre.gov.au/info.aspx?ResourceId=214&NodeId=104) seems to suggest otherwise over the last few months when comparing them to QF.
March didn't seem to kind to them with 290 cancellations.

[nivsy]

Hi,

I have been pricing some internal flights within Australia for October and must say quite impressed with the total cost offered by Virgin Blue fornon Australian residents. Around 870 Dollars for the following:

Perth-Sydney -Melbourne-Perth

Does this seemlike a good price to those who know the airline and while reading about the seats not being that comfortable would it be worthwhile looking at alternatives?

Routing initially from the UK toPerth via Singapore with SQ A380and A330.


Nivsy

[Sunstar320]

nivsy, thats a bloddy ripoff. You could fly J*/Tiger for around $400/500

[nivsy]

Ah meant to say that price is for 2 pax....so actually I guess its fairly reasonable withgood times for the flights.


Nivsy

[43Inches]

If timing is not important a mix of tiger/jetstar late night flights comes in round $620 for two at that time of year. Save on two nights accommodation as well. For the Sydney-Melbourne leg Qantas is the same price as Virgin ($90-$100), although jetstar and tiger are offering $35 per person.

Out of interest Qantas (no Jetstar flights included) is $1070 (two tickets) all on cityflyer services on the 767/A330 thoughout the day.

[nivsy]

Thank you...I do quite like the idea of mixing carriers and of course aircraft types. Is the Embraer used on flights between SYD-MEL? Virgin Blue seems quite with flexible flight changes and date changes (naturally ata cost a price difference to be paid for any new selected flight).

Nivsy

[F111]

Yes the Ejet is used on SYD - MEL.

[43Inches]

The E-Jet is used on some Syd-Mel flights however for some reason Virgin does not indicate which aircraft is scheduled to operate the sector. Possibly there is some passenger negativity towards one type or the other, although I thought it was a requirement in Australia to indicate the equipment normally operating a service at point of sale.

The other airlines indicate the normal scheduled aircraft for the sector at booking.

[apacau]

The timetable on their website does indicate aircraft type (except doesn't tell you if 737-700 or -800).

For Sydney-Melbourne, the schedule shows all 737 operation except for the 1945 departure (DJ886) which is E170 operated. However, being October this is very much subject to change before then!

[43Inches]

Ah correct they do have the type advertised. Funny it's only in the timetable section, not in the booking section as with the other airlines.