Virgin Blue voted Australia's best airline

[Ryan N]

Virgin Blue voted Australia's best airline

AAP
March 31, 2009 07:38am

VIRGIN Blue has been voted Australia's best overall airline in a poll of more than 4,000 recent flyers by leading consumer group Choice.
The survey of 4,307 airline passengers who had flown domestically in the last three years found the budget carrier had an overall satisfaction rating of 68 per cent.

Virgin Blue relegated previous 2007 winner Regional Express to second-place, followed by Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger Airways.

A series of mechanical mishaps appear to have reduced confidence in the flying kangaroo, with 17 per cent of respondents choosing Qantas domestically because of its safety record, down five per cent on its 2007 score.

But despite this, more respondents nominated safety as a reason to fly with the beleaguered airline than with any other.

Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said that while value for money was the clincher for most travellers, the popularity of Qantas' frequent flyer program has ensured it continues to dominate local skies.

”However, ask people what airline they would definitely recommend to others and the score is 39 per cent from those who've flown Qantas but 57 per cent from Virgin Blue passengers,” Mr Zinn said in a statement.

[Grahame Hutchison]

I am with you Andrew, I have no time for Choice, they have their own agendas.

[Grant Smith]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I stopped reading once I saw the consumer group was Choice

Shouldn't have even read that far into it Andrew - 4,000+ surveyed? Hardly a huge range...

[Craig Murray]

Good to see REX still holding their own in second place. Sure the sample wasn't huge, but then not too many so called "polls" do.

To be fair, Virgin Blue do run a good ship and they are continuing their fight to keep the air fare while adapting their own business model continually around the ever evolving industry/public needs in this country. "The Lounge" and Premium Economy are two perfect examples of such adaptation. My last flight with Virgin was back in May 2008 down to Newcastle and back. Both flights were on time, the service was fantastic and little Patrick was able to visit the flight deck after landing - all up, a great experience!

If I wasn't eligible for Qantas Staff Travel through family links I suspect I would use DJ more than I currently do, I rate their product highly.

[Rhys Xanthis]

Customer service from dj has always been top notch from my experiences.

Probably done about 6 or 7 flights crossing the country (plus return to karratha) with them, and never had a problem or a big delay.

I even glanced at the flight deck after we landed into Perth (iirc) about 2 years ago, and imediately got invited in by the flight crew who showed me around all their instruments, turned on all the lights in the cockpit etc etc.

Better experiences with Virgin overall than Qantas...and there are 2 main reasons I fly QF more than DJ, despite the experience...1) Frequent flyers (at least half our flights are FF redemptions) and (2) Schedule...DJ don't have as many flights into and out of Perth...the more frequent cityflyer flights with QF are handy.