NZbutterfly

Hi,

I'm an air nz airpoints customer but am now doing more trips to australia and am not sure whether to go with virgin or qantas primarily. I've been flying more virgin due to the alliance with air nz however I have not enjoyed my experiences in WA with Skywest.

Yesterday our little Fokker 50 was speeding down the runway then powered down to abort take off and I was thinking "should I brace???" Turns out one of the engines didn't power up enough for take off so they aborted takeoff. (Turns out my only go round has also been with Skywest!). Funnily enough I was reading the top 10 airline safety rankings in the newspaper on take off and virgin was not listed. Qantas was though!

In the terminal another lady said they taxied out to the Tarmac and returned as a wing wasn't working properly. She said they really needed to change the planes as they were old. I was wondering if I should even get on the plane at all or just drive!!

I realised its a bit difficult evaluating who to become a member of because with virgin I guess I didn't expect to get Skywest planes. I've liked the actual virgin planes. I've had better experiences on qantas or link. Virgin in perth is closer to terminal 1 however I feel myself leaning towards qantas as they have a better safety record but I saw in some other thread that ... They pair with alliance also? So you're still left flying these other unknown carriers which makes it difficult to evaluate. I earn all of 3 airpoint dollars by taking virgin flights so that's not a major swayer. I'm leaning towards qantas now purely because safety comes first i think but was wondering if you guys from velocity could shed some light on why you've chosen Virgin over qantas??

I fly both east and west but mainly west oz lately. I know I prefer flying into brisbane than perth in terms of turbulence!

Mr H

Personally it's because that's what my employer has mandated as the cheaper provider. If I had a choice, I would be with Qantas; if I were paying, I would be with Tiger or Jetstar.

Dave Noble

I use Virgin for domestic travel by choice, since I prefer it to Qantas

if, however, you are going to end up having to take flights which you would rather not take, then perhaps Qantas would be the better option

If flying on Virgin, maybe the VA scheme might be of more value than NZ Airpoints

vbroucek

Can you enlighten us what do you mean by "wing wasn't working properly"?

NZbutterfly

Yeah I think it's really Skywest planes that are putting me off but I'm slowly realising qantas don't have the same number of destinations as virgin (Skywest). Well in the west. Im leaning qantas.

NZbutterfly

That one wasn't my plane. Mine was the engine not powering up enough so that was the other lady's plane and was her phrasing. I just thought about your comment though and just thought...turboprop planes wings are probably different to the larger a320 777 etc. can't remember if they have the bits that come out to slow you down on landing but I'm guessing not. In which case I can't tell you. Besides I guess the landing stuff shouldn't be an issue on taxiing for takeoff.

Sorry can't answer that. All I know is that lady didn't take off either for plane mechanical reasons.

Jorgen

Personally I go with Virgin because (a) it's easier to earn/keep my status and (b) I'm uncomfortable with the Qantas/Emirates tie-up and refuse to let my travel dollars prop up barbaric Middle Eastern theocracies. (I realise that VA is also in bed with EY but at least they provide the alternative SQ option.)

I don't think either airline is in any statistically significant sense more or less likely to crash, though I can understand preferring a 737 to a Fokker 50 if those are the options on your particular route.

vbroucek

You need flaps both for take off and landing, but I would not call it "wing wasn't working properly"...

DomesticGoddess

Maybe i'm a bit dim here, but how does flying Qantas domestically financially advantage Emirates? Particularly compared to (to use your example) flying Virgin Australia (21% owned by Etihad and one of the "barbaric Middle Eastern theocracies" you seem to have an issue with).

Red Roo

While we appreciate there are many aspects to consider in your described scenario, both personal and external, we share your sentiment that safety is of highest priority, and not negotiable.

A couple of points to note:

- if you're already a Qantas Frequent Flyer member, you can retrospectively claim Qantas Points from eligible flights and non-airline partners: https://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn...missing-points

- there are more ways than ever before to earn and redeem Qantas Points; our new calculators may be useful in chalking out possible future itineraries or potential rewards: https://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn...ts-calculators

I'd be happy to discuss this with you further via private message should you wish.

Mwenenzi

And most people earn less QF points than 1 year ago for the same flights and/or on partner airlines. And you still pay, in cash, sky high fuel surcharges on award flights even though when the price of fuel had dropped. (Full & open disclosure is always good)

AAdvantage is viable alternative to QF for many us.

Its a pity Redroo does not answer questions on the QF forum instead of just advertising & following the company propaganda.

Jorgen

True. Quite bizarre. First Red Roo post in months and it's in the Virgin forum?

Supersonic Swinger

QF's safety record and status benefits are definitely reasons to fly them.

However, Qantas frequent flyer points have been devalued to the point that it's barely worth chasing them, definitely from non-flying sources.

"Potential" rewards being the operative word here. Other than short-haul domestic flights:

- classic awards are pretty much never available anywhere close to the day where you may actually want to book, particularly in premium classes
- if they are, in economy, the fees and taxes will almost equal a paid economy fare
- if there's a business flight for say SYD-MEL-DXB-LHR, the site will charge you the business class points redemption requirement but helpfully say "Your flights from MEL to LHR will be in economy".

"Pay In Points" values each point at about A0.78 cents each. As this is often the only practical way of using the things, I value and 'chase' them accordingly.

If you're doing it just to chase points, my recommendation would be to use AA which is a MUCH better program - as long as you can get 4 AA flights in each year to get status.

shillard

Virgin, no contest.

I've simultaneously held Platinum status with both, so I'm reasonably qualified to comment. After more than a decade as a hard-core Qantas loyalist, today I take maybe 10% of my flights on Qantas/ DeathStar.

There is NO culture of Customer Service at Qantas. Individual staff members might have it, but the company does not. Virgin does - this difference is at the core of the disparity between the two airlines.

Qantas has lost the plot, with no prospect of recovering it anytime soon.

serfty

I am WP on both - domestically I generally use VA over QF - basically because it they are normally cheaper when I book (3 or more months out most of the time).