Fares as cheap as Fantastic Cup Noodles?. 1
Only available on business class. Vegetarian / Gluten Free option not available. Chopstick sold seperately. ↩
How are you supposed to eat it without chopsticks… wait… forks are free :D
Ok
They're not free meals - they're included meals.
Still not as bad as posts saying <insert movie> free on Netflix
Which as a meal prepper I don't need. I'll stick to my packed dry horrible chicken breast and broccoli thanks!!
I thought the new owners wanted to keep it middle-of-the-road in terms of services? If they do this, it's just paying for extra legroom compared to Jetstar.
In any case I'm fully expecting reasonable flight prices to be long gone, for a long time.
I remember Swiss Air used to charge for tea and stuff, quite a lot of money. You got the chocolate coin for free but you had to pay a fortune for some tepid tea. Swiss Air went out of business not long after that tho.
If they do this, it's just paying for extra legroom compared to Jetstar.
My personal, and family members who used Jetstar separately, is that Jetstar is much happier to cancel flights with low passenger numbers. Virgin have always been a pleasant trip.
I think that was the idea, as was keeping on Paul Scurrah… but it seems all that has already gone out the window.
Singapore will give you free booze on international flights in economy. They used to 20 years ago anyway.
Still do.
They are most likely moving to a "Pay by Row Model"
Unlike the usual "Pay By Seat" model which has a set price per seat type (Up Front, Economy, Legroom) the Pay By Row Model sets a price based on a seats location a window seat in the front row would cost almost double what an Aisle seat in the back row would cost.
Its not considered a "low cost" model as per what people expect like Jetstar and Tiger (R.I.P) They call its a "mid cost" model
this model allows the airline to make more money overall from ALL the seats vs having to discount seats the closer they get to a travel date in order to fill the plane.
Under the Pay by Seat model a flight is only profitable when 90% or more full. A Pay By Row plane can make money when only half full.
This method has been used to massive success by JetBlue in the US.
This method also removes included Baggage (or a much lower than standard baggage allowance), Food and drinks which are all sold as additional extras.
Dont the airlines now sell the cheapest seats first and then seats get more expensive the closer it gets to the travel date?
They pay by seat model pricing is based on % full.
If a flight fills quickly they are less likley to discount the seat price.
if a flight take a long time to fill they tend to discount the price to fill the flight.
in the Pay By Row Model the seat prices are fixed no matter when you buy them
a $150 seat will be $150 day 1 of it going on sale or day before the flight, because they have a fixed price per seat the model tends to hit profitability much sooner and everything after that is pure profit.
The model tends to equate to higher priced more "premium" seats being sold sooner and as such the flight hits its finanical target much quicker. This also means the later you wait to buy your seat you will be less likely to get a seat you prefer. Under this model the most common "unsold" seats are middle seats (in 2-3-2 configs) and seats near restrooms and to the rear of the plane.
It's a smart play if they go the Ryan Air route. Demolishes the Virgin brand but… Ryanair has done well and I believe Bain can leverage Oceania like Ryanair has done for Europe… If they ran a marketing campaign about charging for toilet use only to "revoke" it as a ruse, it'll be biblical
In the old days pre-mobile devices, getting served a drink/food on a flight helped with the boredom. Now any flight under 2-3 hours really doesnt need food or drink.
If it reduces cost to the passenger - ie cheaper flights - bring it on. Dont even add it as an "extra".
It always amused me flying between Melbourne and Adelaide that stewards barely had time to hand out a muffin and drink before they had to start packing up again. If you can't go 50 minutes without food, time to sort yourself out.
I expect 5 course in business class!
Isn't that how they started anyway? You know, back before they start losing money? :)
Was going to say the same thing. I haven't flown with them for a while but I definitely remember a time when drinks/snacks weren't free and rather were sold onboard.
Virgin started losing money hand over fist when they tried to compete with Qantas on international routes. That was roughly at the same time when Virgin touted itself as a full service airline.
So it sounds like Virgin is now going to be Tiger Plus.
To be honest aside from the lengthier flights such as SYD-PER or SYD-DRW where a hot meal or hot snackbox was served, on the shorter flights the snack was rarely anything of note, often a tini muesli bar, or a small pack of nuts, on one particular TSV-BNE flight we got one very disappointing biscuit!
Don't think many people will miss this. I'm expecting Bain to do something similar to what Air NZ has done on their domestic and short haul routes, i.e. a barebones product as well as an opportunity to pre-pay packaged deals including bag, meal, drinks etc.
I did read an article today where they were considering pre-packaged meals you can buy ahead of time and collect at the gate.
I actually liked their snacks. Usually what I got was crackers and cheese or popcorn. I do remember once getting some sort of dip (I think it was Chris' dips) that came with some crackers and that was probably the tastiest snack. It was always nice getting a small snack and refreshment on their planes IMO.
I always thought this was their go? I'm sure I had to fork out when flying to Fiji a couple of years back. It's certainly how I remember them from however long ago …
Sounds smart given the old idea sent them…um…bankrupt…
And saving on them noodles will pay back the Billions lol
SO essentially virgin is becoming tiger?
Hope so
I wouldn't mind if fares will be cheap as chips…