Author: Matt Graham
Podcast #36: Behind the Virgin Australia Cockpit Door
As Virgin Australia’s voluntary administration process continues, frequent flyers with travel credits or Velocity points are getting nervous. But what’s it like for the airline’s pilots whose jobs are on the line? Chris Bournelis is a Boeing 737 First Officer for Virgin Australia. You may know him as AviatorInsight, a regular contributor to AFF’s Ask … Continued
Behind the Virgin Australia Cockpit Door – AIR036
Chris Bournelis (a.k.a. AviatorInsight) is a Boeing 737 First Officer for Virgin Australia. As the voluntary administration process continues and many flights remain grounded, Chris joins Matt in this episode of AFF on AIR to talk about life behind the cockpit door. Episode contents: 0:56 – Fortnightly news round-up 12:42 – Maximising frequent … Continued
Emirates, Etihad Resume Flights to Australia
Emirates and Etihad Airways are both resuming commercial passenger flights to and from Australia. Qatar Airways, meanwhile, is also making a return to Brisbane in May 2020. Etihad Airways flights from Melbourne to London From today, Etihad will operate one flight per week from Melbourne to London via Abu Dhabi. The flight will operate on … Continued
Woolworths Rewards is Coming to Tasmania
EXCLUSIVE | With more than 12 million members, Woolworths Rewards is one of the most popular loyalty programs in Australia. Members can earn points for shopping at Woolworths, Big W & BWS, and those points can be converted to Qantas Frequent Flyer points. But until now, Tasmanian residents have been excluded from the Woolworths Rewards … Continued
LifeMiles Safe (For Now) as Avianca Files for Bankruptcy
Colombian airline Avianca has become the latest casualty of COVID-19, voluntarily filing for bankruptcy earlier this week. But the LifeMiles frequent flyer program is safe, at least for now. LifeMiles is the frequent flyer program of Avianca, a member of Star Alliance. It’s popular among Australian frequent flyers because LifeMiles are often sold at generous … Continued
Rex Considers Connecting Capital Cities
Regional Express Airlines (Rex) has floated a crazy idea to start flights on domestic trunk routes between Australia’s capital cities, competing directly with Qantas (and possibly Virgin Australia, if it emerges from voluntary administration). Under the proposal, Rex would lease 10 narrow-body jets and operate on key routes such as Sydney-Brisbane and Melbourne-Adelaide. Rex normally … Continued
No Refunds, Only “Conditional Credits” for Virgin Customers
The federal court has approved a proposal by the Virgin Australia administrator to offer restrictive “conditional credits” to Virgin Australia customers instead of refunds. The new policy applies to Virgin Australia, Tigerair and Virgin Australia Holidays bookings made before the airline entered administration on 21 April 2020. Normal refund and travel credit policies – including … Continued
Qantas Clarifies Air France, KLM Tier Benefits
Last year, Qantas introduced a new frequent flyer partnership with Air France & KLM. Qantas Frequent Flyer members can earn & redeem points for Air France and KLM flights, and Qantas Silver, Gold, Platinum & Platinum One members receive reciprocal status benefits when flying with either airline. Unfortunately, as we reported in February, the implementation … Continued
No Qantas Status Upgrades for Grounded Flyers
Qantas is refusing to offer flexibility to frequent flyers that were on track to upgrade to a higher status tier before the COVID-19 travel shutdown. Several Australian Frequent Flyer members were just 10 or 20 status credits short of attaining Gold status before the travel restrictions were implemented and flights grounded. Under normal circumstances, they … Continued