Flown with Jet* numerous times, cabin and tech crew first rate, food and drink as u would expect, second rate, you get what you pay for.
The strange thing is, every single time I check a QF fare against a VB fare they are within cooee of one another, except with VB you get Jet* service, yet nobody seems to mind paying basically full fare on VB??? ( and $30 for the exit row )
Jet* is really the only low FARE carrier in in Oz, as opposed to Low COST.
VB is just Ansett without the service, dont kid yourselves folks, the Duopoly is alive and well :ok:

VB just Ansett without the Service
 

Yes, I would tend to agree with that and that is possibly another reason why I like flying Qantas.

I think Virgin are now calling themselves "value based" more than "low cost".

WRT the fare comparison, yes many times the QF fare is very close to or sometimes cheaper than Virgin. Bear in mind the QF fares you pay today are much less than you were paying 5 years ago (due soley to the introduction of DJ) so lets not be too quick to espouse the values of our beloved legacy carrier.

I don't go much on these QF v's DJ threads as they never appear to achieve anything other than a couple of frustrated or bored airline employees venting their spleens. Factual or otherwise, I really don't think anyone cares what we think!

OZcabincrew. What is your opinion on the two evacuations QF have completed in recent times? I.e Bangkok and the B747wheel fire in Sydney. The crew actions and the general competency of the procedures.

So how many evacuations or emergencies have those 55 year olds done compared to the 18/19 year olds. ANSWER - probably the same amount -- NONE.

I think a young fit person would be more able to assist in a genuine emergency, whereas I can see myself having to help the 55 year old out the door.

And at the risk of introducing fact into the argument, the majority of flight attendants are not 18/19 year olds.

It looks like Virgin management have managed to lose out big time themselves anyway - latest news reports this morning have DJ making an $11Million LOSS for the latest quarter, due largely to not having fuel hedged at more reasonable prices than the current ~$65+ per barrel.

Perhaps they should concentrate on some of the key aspects of managing an airline, and making a profit, rather than "...trying to keep the air fair".:rolleyes:

Good point Coitus and very poignant, am definitely not a QF lover tho.

NG, you can stick the 19 year old ;) have seen the young'uns and the oldies operating under pressure, will take the oldie any day.
A 19 year old has no experience in life yet alone airline ops, maybe after a few years of EPs and dealing with different situations and I would have a different opinion, evacs are'nt the only emergencies that happen on A/C.

Oz Cabin Crew is right!
 

Bad joke after bad joke continually on VB. Pax up during the safety demo, you bet ya. The stories I have heard of Virgin's demo is just outrageous. Guys just right to Civil Aviation Authority, get them to kick their butts.

Virgin is going down hill big time, that is why Branson is fuming.

Rumour has it that a group of CC have forwarded a letter to him based on what's happening down under, as of course he should be interested, still a major stake holder in VBA stock, now trading as low as $1.59. How nice it is that on radio last month I heard of a CC from Virgin that got terminated for stuff he did not even do. Apparently he was one of the most popular guys in his class and one of the oldest. Virgin just terminated him. He said the training was an absolute joke. Trainers did not know anything. Trainers were back stabbers and watched every move and gave warning letters for every little detail. If they did not like you, or you did too well at your exams and were a smarty pants, that was reason to start at looking to dismiss you. Trainers were helping the young ditzy blondes and not others. Exams....hardly I recall him saying that the answers are fed to the ones that were struggling. During a familiarization session up at Head Office the CEO Brett Godfrey was mocking gay people. If only all the CC new about that. Then he made a joke about Ansett going under, until he asked whether there was any former Ansett employees, he soon shut up. What a great CEO!!

Did anybody hear this on the radio? If so, what channel was it on.

Virgin has put class after class after class simply because they can't keep their CC. One person mentioned that of the 40 or so people at interview day, all but 3 were hired. That tells you something.

Why in the hell would Virgin put through 5 trainings in the past few months, with only one plane delivered? 5 times 30 = 130. Where have all the rest gone?

Business market....VB has no hope! Ladies and Gentlemen girls and boys......you really think businessmen want to hear this crap and safety demos done by pax as Oz Cabin Crew has stated.

We'll see how quickly the CC will start leaving once their annual profit sharing has been cut, their commission for cart sales cut, their working conditions cut. Hmmmmmmmmmm

Stick with Qantas, Emirates and Jetstar. Jetstar is expanding good way to get into International.

I mean 5 times 30 = 150 I\'m a ditzy blode perhaps I should apply for VB, but then again I\'m too old....18:p

C'mon, is there really any significant difference?

If it is differentiation in service that sells air tickets, this lot might make some sense!

We are getting what we pay for... (and asked for)

"On the aeroplane, she was amazed at the lack of professionalism displayed by the cabin crew who gossiped between each other all flight so PAX could clearly hear, at the same time ignoring the PAX."

pullock -
Not denying that the event occurred. But every airline has a dodgy crew from time to time. As a point of information the group of cabin crew that are now Jetstar (formerly QFLink and Impulse) have consistently ranked top in the QF Group in Customer Satisfaction ratings. They have done so since Impulse joined the QF fold - despite becoming the 'low cost airline everyone loves to hate' (and drop in pay and conditions to boot).

The schedules changes at Jetstar are really something else, however...

ABC News Online
Last Update: Friday, August 26, 2005. 12:17pm (AEST)

Jetstar faces renewed communication breakdown complaints

Jetstar passengers have complained they were not notified of the cancellation of an early-morning Hobart-Sydney flight until they arrived at the airport this morning, just days after the airline promised better communication with its customers.

Jetstar says the cancellation was the result of a mechanical fault that saw the Hobart-bound plane stuck in Adelaide overnight.

Corporate relations manager Simon Westerway says the airline tried to get the plane to Hobart last night, but was unable to fix it in time for Adelaide's 11pm AEST airport curfew.

He says the timing made it difficult to notify Hobart passengers.

"The difficulty is, when do you commence calling?" Mr Westerway said.

"We had dispensation to try to get the aircraft out by around midnight last evening.

"There's always a balancing act in terms of: do you start making call-outs at one, two in the morning, or will you try to manage the situation as the sun rises?"

The Australian

The blue shaking up Virgin
Steve Creedy
August 26, 2005

CHRIS Corrigan looked less than comfortable as he clutched a glass of bubbly and posed for a picture with a smiling Richard Branson at Sydney\'s upmarket Bondi Icebergs club on April 3.

The photograph, emailed to reporters the next day, was designed to illustrate that the two executives had buried the hatchet after a hostile takeover battle and were ready to co-operate in the new era of a Corrigan-controlled Virgin Blue. But even at that stage outsiders could sense the unease between the two men.

"They just looked like a real odd couple," said one observer who was in the bar.

"Neither of them looked comfortable."

This week Branson again moved to bury the hatchet - in Chris Corrigan.

It was payback time for the bloody nose that Corrigan had given Branson during the airline\'s float, and the hostile bid to take control of Virgin Blue.

Monday\'s carefully choreographed attack by Branson on Corrigan\'s stewardship of Virgin was the first public broadside in a campaign the British entrepreneur says he had been planning since late last year.

Complaints included the failure to hedge against rising fuel prices, and delays in introducing a frequent flyer plan and attacking the business market.

Branson particularly blamed Corrigan for the fuel problems, which added $150 million to Virgin\'s costs and have seen it punished by the market with a succession of profit downgrades.

Branson says that as a way of protecting his position in Virgin Blue he originally began speaking to Toll boss Paul Little, even as Corrigan outmanoeuvred him to launch a bid for control.

Little was not yet ready to move, but about six weeks ago he rang Branson to tell him the game was afoot, and the two reached an agreement about the future of Virgin Blue last week.

"We wanted to be involved in the running of Virgin Blue, and because of our airline expertise we felt that it was important to Virgin Blue as well," Branson said. "So when Chris actually made the bid to take over Virgin Blue we put a brave face on it, but we were trying to see if there was some way of getting back into a situation where we could have a reasonable say over its future."

An irate Corrigan camp hit back, describing the comments as "laughable" and noting that Branson had never attended a board meeting. (Virgin Group has two board representatives, David Baxby and Patrick McCall, while Branson has the advisory role of "lifetime president".)

"There never have been, as Richard claims, any strong debates on the issue of fuel hedging," Patrick spokesman Paul White said, "as all the board members, including his own representatives, have always agreed the position."

The exchange is a new low in the relationship between Branson and Corrigan, which has had rumours of conflict since Patrick\'s $500 million acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in Virgin Blue in March 2002. It was obvious from the start that the two men - the flamboyant, publicity-hungry British entrepreneur and the reclusive former banker - were cut from radically different cloth.

Industry sources say there were strategic differences from the first days and that the gung-ho Branson was always destined to fall out with the more cautious Corrigan.

But it was not until 2003 that a row about how much of Virgin Blue should be floated brought differences between the two into the public spotlight.

Branson had wanted to float 30 per cent of the company and raise new capital representing up to 20 per cent of the airline. Corrigan fought the Branson plan, arguing that the move would significantly dilute Patrick\'s shareholding and that its agreement with Virgin only required it to sell a stake of 5 per cent.

The issue went to arbitration and Corrigan won - but he was unable to stop Branson from taking the airline public.

Branson took advantage of strong demand for the December 2003 float to sell his stake down from 29.1 per cent to just over 25 per cent at $2.25 a share, pocketing an additional $84 million in the process. But in doing so he set the scene for Patrick\'s move at the end of last year to take control of the airline.

Patrick offered $1.90 a share but Branson attempted to force up the price by buying stock at $2.06 and claiming he ran an associated company - supposedly requiring Patrick to match his bid under the Corporations Act. Corrigan hit back with criticisms that Virgin had failed to respond adequately to the threat of Qantas\'s low-cost offshoot Jetstar and needed to modify its business model to concentrate on domestic operations.

The British entrepreneur lost again when ASIC ruled in Patrick\'s favour and a last-minute stampede of sellers gave it 62.4 per cent of the company.

Since then, Virgin has restructured its management and is working on a new strategy aimed at attracting business travellers away from Qantas.

The strategy is already addressing some of Branson\'s criticisms - for example, a frequent flyer program is expected later this year - but apparently not quickly enough for Branson. Having nailed his colours to the mast, Branson says he is confident his bid will succeed. If that proves to be the case, it will effectively allow him to buy back for as little as $1.40 the shares he sold at $2.25 and give him 40.6 per cent of the company.

"But if we don\'t succeed, we just hope Chris will do certain things at Virgin Blue that we think need to be done," Branson said. "It does need some airline expertise which Chris has not got and we need to try to get certain issues fixed."

The deal still has a long way to go and it could be months before there is a resolution. No one is counting Corrigan out, and obstacles include getting the deal past the competition watchdog.

But Branson can be reasonably sure of one thing: no more chummy drinks at the Icebergs.

........... well there's an enlightened and articulate individual if I've ever seen one!:yuk:

QF cainer what a remarkable outburst. You certainly have a command of the English language. I believe Vb made a NET profit of $150M last year and going for about $100M this year. But you keep denigrating if you feel the need. It obviously makes you feel better.