Virgin Australia: further reductions on every day business class airfares

Virgin is taking it to Qantas over Business Class Airfares, by further cutting fares on some routes and adding 45% bonus Velocity Status Credits on all eligible Business Class bookings for travel by 30 June 2022.

Virgin v Qantas

Virgin Business Class airfares are around half those of Qantas on most routes offering Business Class airfares. For example for a direct Sydney to Adelaide flight – one I do regularly, one-way fares on Qantas start at AU$951 and head up to around AU$1,266 while on Virgin fares range from AU$359 (Monday 18 April is the sample date)

I’ve travelled on both in Business Class recently, and there is not a lot between the two services on the plane, other than seat quality (better on Qantas) and drinks (you get a boarding drink on Virgin, not Qantas). The food quality on both is pretty much the same, having diminished during the pandemic on both airlines. For me, the only other thing that sets them apart is the ground service, where, in Sydney, the terminal and lounge experience is won by Qantas. Virgin’s Terminal 2 in Sydney is a nightmare since they closed Priority Entry. If Virgin re-opened that, they would almost win hands down. Lounge food at Qantas is frankly pretty awful in their business lounge, with the Virgin experience being much better, however, Qantas wins it in the bar race, providing a much larger range of alcohol choices.

Given that service, food, seat, and terminal quality is much-of-a-muchness, price becomes a significant factor. In that race with fares in Business Class on Virgin Australia being up to a third of the price on Qantas – Virgin is the clear winner

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

On my Adelaide trips these days, I plan to travel with Qantas in economy (they have same carry on weight that Virgin only offers in business – 14kg) out of Sydney – since I just can’t abide the chaos of Terminal 2, and return from Adelaide on Virgin for under AU$300 in business, if the flight cost in economy on Qantas is nudging AU$250 or more.

Here are the base fares for Virgin Australia Business Class domestic routes:

Virgin Australia Business Class pricing

ROUTE	VIRGIN AUSTRALIA Business Class(one-way)
Melbourne <> Sydney	$299
Sydney <> Brisbane	$299
Melbourne <>Brisbane	$299
Hobart <> Sydney	$309
Brisbane <> Cairns	$309
Brisbane <> Canberra	$309
Melbourne <> Gold Coast	$299
Gold Coast <> Canberra	$309
Sydney <> Gold Coast	$299
Adelaide <> Hobart	$309
Adelaide <> Brisbane	$359
Adelaide <> Gold Coast	$359
Melbourne <> Sunshine Coast	$359
Sydney <> Hamilton Island	$409
Cairns <> Perth	$409
Perth <> Broome	$409
Hobart <> Brisbane	$459
Adelaide <> Perth	$459
Sydney <> Cairns	$459
Brisbane <> Darwin	$559
Melbourne <> Cairns	$609
Brisbane <> Perth	$1059
Melbourne <> Perth	$1159
Sydney <> Perth	$1209