Right about now, Qantas should really be thinking about what it can do better.
Photo Courtesy of VAustralia.com.
The launch of V Australia should really change the game for getting to Australasia from the United States. Before now, if you wanted to go to Australia or New Zealand from North America, you were flying either Qantas or Air New Zealand.
Fortunately for travelers, both have been pretty good options. And when I say “pretty good,” I mean pretty good once you’re aloft. The cabin crews are great. At the gate and on the phone, though, the best I can say is that the staff is icily polite but intractable.
Three hours late? You've gotta be kidding!
Qantas has slipped in my esteem after the recent return from Auckland to Los Angeles. A flight that’s nearly three hours late taking off doesn’t amuse me, especially when the culprit was a door seal that should’ve been caught during a maintenance check. It gets even worse when this delay caused me to miss a connecting flight, and Qantas hung me out to dry (Qantas tried to tell me that, since I didn’t book the connection through them, that I was on my own. I pointed out that I tried to, and they refused.).
Still, the snarls you might hear about Qantas’ shenanigans have some basis in fact. And they open the door to V Australia to cut significantly into its business. As you might guess, V Australia is affiliated with the Virgin brand, which is really getting a lot of applause. It might come down to airline mileage partners.
Qantas can clean up with people who fly American Airlines (those poor, sorry suckers) a lot, and those who fly Continental (though getting proper credit for your Qantas miles can be a trial). Air New Zealand plays well with US Airways, which is getting a bit better with service and on-time performance. V Australia just inked a deal with Delta the should help it gobble some passengers.
Something else weighs in V Australia’s favor: the Boeing 777. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this plane, and I’d love to give one a spin. Yeah, I still love the 744, but it’s still a fundamentally old plane. The 777 is real next-generation stuff. Call me crazy, but the choice of aircraft can really influence my choice of airline.
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The Boeing 777 left a very good impression on me. I’m excited for my return trip to America to give it another ride. There was plenty of room to move around so the 14.5 hour trip was actually quite bearable.
Delta is the big dog here, so maybe I’ll get to try them out sometime. The 777 sounds pretty nifty, but I doubt it would change the fact that I hate 14 hour flights, unless maybe Sir Branson threw in a hammock lounge.
Thanks for dropping by, Jimmy. I liked your post and thought it did a nice job of describing the trip on a 777, so I had to link to it. By the way, I’m the rarest type of creature you’ll find – a happy passenger flying in coach! Put me on a long flight and I’m happy as a clam.