Come, fly with me: more than 500 Choice and Choice Online subscribers give you their verdict on the major domestic airlines.(SURVEY: Domestic airlines)(Qantas, Virgin Blue, Jetstar)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Australian Consumers' Association

When we last surveyed consumer satisfaction with airlines eight years ago, the then two major domestic carriers scored very similarly for overall satisfaction. But a lot has changed in the domestic amine market since then. In 2000, after the amendment of foreign ownership rules

for Australian domestic airlines, discount airline VIRGIN BLUE entered the domestic market. The following year came the collapse of ANSETT and, just about a year ago, QANTAS launched its low-cost subsidiary JETSTAR.

The new budget airlines have stirred up the domestic airfare market considerably. With ever cheaper airfares on offer, we're certainly benefiting from the increased competition. But is everyone happy getting cheaper fares at the expense of service? Or can we get a discount fare and good service?

To find out how satisfied people are with the major domestic airlines, we asked a group of subscribers who'd taken at least one domestic flight within the past 12 months about their experiences of the airlines generally and of their last flight--see page 11 for more on the survey. Thanks to all of you who took part in the survey, and for your valuable comments; they're printed in italics throughout the article.

CHEERFUL SERVICE A CLEAR WINNER

Of the two budget rivals, VIRGIN BLUE clearly beat JETSTAR in our survey, with a more than 20% difference in overall rating. Table 1, page 11, gives the overall ratings our survey respondents awarded the domestic airlines they'd flown with in the previous 12 months: JETSTAR, QANTAS, REGIONAL EXPRESS (REX) and VIRGIN BLUE.

There's no marked difference between REX, VIRGIN BLUE and QANTAS in the overall ratings, but when reporting on their last flight, our survey respondents rated VIRGIN BLUE better than both QANTAS and JETSTAR, and for almost all the individual aspects we asked them about--see Table 2, page 11, for details. (We didn't have enough responses for REX to include it in this table.)

Many were particularly impressed with VIRGIN BLUE's 'different' approach to service, commenting along the lines of:

"Very friendly and down-to-earth attitude, which was a nice change."

"Love the customer service, focus on fun."

"Quite satisfactory and enjoyable due to the antics of the flight crew."

Criticisms of VIRGIN BLUE were few and far between, with only a small number commenting negatively on the airline's 'flesh' approach to customer service:

"The 'cute' approach, clearly popular with a younger market, is a bit much for me."

"They sometimes talk to you as if you're kids."

The only aspect for which VIRGIN BLUE was rated slightly lower than QANTAS was entertainment. That's not surprising, really, as none of the budget airlines provides free headphones. But VIRGIN BLUE sells reusable headphones for $2.50 (JETSTAR, too, for $3, on its Airbus flights) and is looking to provide, from...

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