Why I switched from Qantas to Virgin Australia

I'm in the same camp, I was with Qantas but made the switch in 2012. It's refreshing being an airline customer who is made to feel wanted, rather than expected to fly just because its the national carrier. 

Can I do an opinion article on "Why Virgin Australia will never get any of my business"? I have mentioned it many times on here but to say their product offering is inconsistent would be an absolute understatement

Qantas have raised the doubt - inviting us to put our toe in other waters.  A mathematician like Joyce cannot match a marketing man such as Dixon, when brand loyalty is at stake

I appreciate many of the points that you've raised, though given this is an opinion piece I would like to express my own thoughts. I think Virgin service is poor in terms of network, frequency, on time performance and HVC recognition. 

Their "virtual network" is a complete flop. I've been denied access to Delta lounges in major DL hubs because my velocity platinum card doesnt have Virgin Australia written anywhere on it. Not Virgin's fault, but OW Emerald doesn't give me this problem. And earning around 340 points for a flight from SYD-SIN on SQ economy fares doesn't scream "contender" for my international travel dollar. 

I'm 23 years old, and many Virgin crew are around my age. I've found the service to be decidedly subpar and aloof from the majority of these crew members. Experience counts. 

On triangle flights I tend to spend more time in the airport than in the air. Virgin's lounges might be better than your average SkyClub but they don't hold a candle to Qantas. 

This is just my opinion. And for the record I'm platinum with both VA and QF. 

Shaun, I agree with most of what you've said here.

However, as my flying patterns mostly consist of international sectors, QFF is my Australian based FFP of choice. Velocity just doesn't offer the same level of consistency across carriers that my oneworld benefits offer through QFF. Qantas is well ahead of Virgin Australia in it's own international offerings on it's own metal.

If my flying was primarily domestic, then I believe I'd be flying Virgin Australia a lot more even though I'd miss the perks of the Qantas domestic business lounges.

I'm in pretty much the same boat as Shaun, I switched from Qantas to Virgin Australia after Virgin got 'serious' about business travel and took advantage of their status match promotion on my Qantas Platinum card, so I could try them out with full Velocity Platinum privileges. Once the new business class was rolled out across most of the fleet I was pretty happy and definitely wanted to show my support of the new 'challenger' although its cheaper fares didn't hurt.

But I differ with Shaun on the lounges, this is where Virgin needs to really work harder. Okay I obviously have different needs when it comes to a lounge, due to my timetable and flight timings I am there to eat, I want a decent breakfast at the lounge so I can 'hit the ground running' on arrival and a decent dinner at the lounge because I head out of the city in late afternoon but don't get home until late at night.

Qantas of course has the advantage that it has two types of lounges, the Qantas Club and Qantas Business lounge. Virgin has only one lounge so this should be positioned in the middle. I don't expect it to be anywhere near as good as the Qantas Business Lounge but these days especially since Accor took over the Qantas Club is a lot better than it used to be and better than even the Virgin lounges.

So for me this is the big area where Virgin needs to make the most improvement to keep me a happy flyer!

Lets not loose sight of reality over a little subjectivity, Virgin lags well behind in most regional centres as far as lounge offerings go (great article recently on alternatives which could be implemented by Virgin immediately if they were serious) and I wouldn't exactly say that their "bright and youthful" staff are always cheerful or attentive. I still think Qantas has it all over Virgin as far as the business product goes, sure the competition might eventually help them to smarten themselves up but seriously that blue perspex doesn't do much for me neither does the chord across the aisle. I don't need the prima donna recognition as long as the product meets my expectations.

Now just imagine John Borghetti running Qantas instead of Virgin...OMG!!

Qantas Board - Epic FAIL! 

You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

I've flown TAA all my childhood life when in the lounge they only had a bar fridge with airline tray food and mini cans. I flew on one of the last couple of Ansett flights before Air New Zealand sank them. In April I'm going to try Virgin as a deflated Gold member free of charge. It will be an interesting experience comparing QF Platinum to the Virgin experience. They might keep me, they might not? 

I am a convert too having first started flying them going back to the Virgin Blue days in 2007 as part of my cruises and more recently than that going to Tasmania just after the name change took place and love it.Qantas is more of a last resort for me these days unless someone else is paying for my flights.The only things I do miss now are the standard inflight entertainment and the ability to order a special meal on most domestic flights other than that I wouldn't go back to those stuck up's ON THE FLYING KANGAROO.It's a shame though that the ANZ bank is affliated with the wrong airline to earn points/miles on.

I cannot believe that Virgin are ordering new 738's with out IFE. Until Virgin fix up their meals, bags and entertainment I will fly Qantas any day. 

I guess it all depends on location I do a lot of ADL to DWN runs and I can't change to Virgin unless I want an 8 hour trip. Its pity as Virgin looks to be getting good reviews.

I don't do as many international trips as I used but the One World First Class Lounges compared to Star Alliance are ahead in my books.

All in all getting there safely, on time and the quickest route is top of my list.

Sure QF has a lot to make up for, they just don't get loyalty.  But really, if you ever fly overseas, QF lounges are unbeatable but Virgin, especially if you are platinum has no match.

Besides, despite most QF FA's increasing age, I'd rather have one of them handling an emergency than one of the perky bubbly blondes on VA, I just don't trust them and let's face it, FA's ARE there for outer safety, the rest is just a bonus!

Did OOL - MEL on VA last night.

New VA lounge in OOL was immaculate with a vey helpful lady on the desk at the door. Someone else wandered around handing out party pies.

Flight was full but boarded first and chatted to FA Stephen while waiting for the others to board. He was terrific despite the trials of doing the OOL run all day with that particular OOL crowd.

I fly VA a lot and I like their consistent product offering and I find the FAs generally very good. 

Going to Try Virgin on Tuesday for the first time in many many years, just took 19 minutes to book the flight from Syd-Goldie   Bris- Syd on the same day. QF takes about 3 -4 minutes to book those flights so it's a good start to the experience.

Since 1 Apr 2003 (over the last year) I've flown 19 Domestic Business flights with Qantas, and 37 Domestic Business flights with Virgin Australia, and I'm Platinum in both Frequent Flyer schemes.

Fair to say I have had reasonable exposure to both, and can make an informed comparison between the two.

I find some of the jibes about VA Business cabin crew here completely unfounded - when comparing service in J cabin across QF/VA flights, FAs are generally better at service than their QF counterparts. Gross generalisations about a link between service and the age of FAs seems not only fatuous (the two are hardly hand-in-hand), but untruthful given I've yet to meet a FA teenager in a VA J cabin (I think some are making fanciful illusions here). Most Domestic J FAs I've encountered this previous year on QF/VA seem to hover around their 30s, with their respective ages having little to do with their customer service performance.

In the Business Cabin, I've found the food and beverage better on VA. Utterly sick of QF Cheese Box or Soup choice often lumbered with on Qantas Domestic Business flights - especially when those behind me in Economy often get better than that (that's just illogical).

I'm not blown away by the Qantas Domestic Business Lounge either - it's better than the Qantas Club, sure, but it's far from being all that much better a VA lounge (and I'll take VA's premium entry and premium security perks in preference). Now, if you could order bistro style meals (like in the QF First lounge) in the Qantas Domestic Business lounge, I'd change my mind but until then VA seems better.

All in all, VA just tries harder to keep you flying J domestically with them. Given similar J domestic fares on QF/VA, I'll take VA most times (even at the expense of bumping my QFF LTG count). 

Also, unlike Qantas, priority baggage is treated as just that, always first off the plane. That means a lot.

I fly home to Perth from Sydney 2 to 3 times a year, up until 2 years ago I would always fly Qantas in business.  At the height of the Qantas arrogance when it came to charging, I was paying $1,800 each way.  Then Virgin came along with $959 business each way so I decided to try them.  The difference between the Qantas767 / A330 "Business Class" seats and the Virgin Australia A330 business seats couldn't be more stark.  To me flying Qantas was more like Premium Economy, that's when Qantas lost me domestically.  Even now the Qantas business airfare is about $400 more each way than Virgin, it's a joke.  Qantas needs a huge product upgrade to compete on the transcontinental flights.

As for Frequent Flyer programs I couldn't care less, I always fly business or first so frequent flyer member level access lounges is of little consequence. Trying to use points is near impossible. 

Shaun, interesting read and my experience mirrors yours. My brother switched to Virgin when Qantas stopped flying to the Gold Coast. What a slap in the face that was for business flyers! Use Jetstar, yeah right! He was a Qantas devotee, but that switched him across for good.

Eventually he convinced me to try eventually, so I too switched to VA from Qantas. Since I fly Melbourne to Perth pretty regularly I'm stoked with VA business class. Happy with the food, the aircraft, the seat, the staff, the safety. 

I'm mainly a domestic flyer, and apart from the Perth flight, I find it difficult to seperate the service on either. They're pretty much the same as far as I'm concerned. But I don't care so much about IFE, FA age etc. For the Melbourne to Sydney busrides I really don't sit in the seat long enough for it to matter.

And lastly, the national carrier debate is absolute rubbish! What's left of Qantas is TAA - a commercial domestic airline. Not a national carrier IMHO.

"And lastly, the national carrier debate is absolute rubbish! What's left of Qantas is TAA - a commercial domestic airline. Not a national carrier IMHO."

'Try Another Airline' it was called by those of us old enough to remember. Like many, I'm top tier in both currently ( although nothing lasts forever you young X 'n' Y flyers) , and all air travel is crap if you do enough of it.  I don't feel I ever get treated any better for being Pt by either mob.

Virgin tries harder, and it has taken 2 years for them to understand business class. The lounges are... 'interesting' . The Valet is Brisbane is a laughing stock, many people in the lounge treat it as if it were their lounge at home.. and yet....

Consistency always is an issue. If you want to feel better about it, fly American when in the US next.

If you have enough time to comment on this forum, and you fly enough to comment in an informed way ...well that speaks for itself... er..me included.

We could be at home doing something useful, rather than eating third rate food , second rate grog and getting dry airways hurtling toward another meeting.

Not really in the spirit is it. Sorry.