Virgin Australia Is Increasing Redemption Fees On Selected Routes

Virgin Australia’s financial situation has been a topic of discussion of many in the aviation industry. Sadly of late, there have been several things that point back to cost-cutting and even a revenue model, similar to Etihad.

The main things that they’ve announced are the complete removal of tablets in business class on all 737 routes. The next other announcement reported by Executive Traveller is the removal of complimentary snacks in the business class cabin. Yes, you will pay $600-800 for a seat and still have to pay for snacks. That is not appealing for some passengers as not everyone wants to have a full meal and would just prefer a quick bite.

I’ve just received an email from Velocity and to say the least. , There is nothing at all good to say:

While these increases in price aren’t significant,  no one can happily say they would prefer to pay more for an award ticket. From the above table, you can see that flights to Hong Kong in business class will almost double in price, that’s not nice.

This announcement isn’t a good look considering Qantas only just recently announced changes. While they increased the points required for some flights, some fees were cut dramatically, which made many travellers happy.

Not saying either one is a better program, and I’m on the fence when it comes to choosing a program. This announcement isn’t something anyone will be pleased with.

With how Virgin’s finances have been of late let’s hope their upcoming planned Tokyo route can help the airline. I’d say that the route will be more profitable than one of the Hong Kong routes they currently offer.

I can’t say I’m too surprised the fees have been incensed, but I can’t say anything great about it. It would be maybe more acceptable if they opened up more availability on flights, but that won’t happen.

What do you make of the changes?