POLLIES might wax lyrical about watching their spending taxpayers’ dollars, but Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority figures have revealed that more than 90% of domestic flights booked by federal parliamentarians and their staff are with Qantas, despite their higher costs.
By comparison, Virgin’s share of government travel is sitting at just more than 9%, a decrease from $5.3 million in 2014 to $2.7 million.
Yesterday, Virgin’s Velocity frequent flyer program announced a major shakeup, offering new lifetime status tiers. ‘Forever Gold’ will see loyal members locked to their status, earning permanent perks such as lounge access, priority check-in, security screening and more. That level will be eligible for members who have earned 12,000 status credits dating back to 01 Feb 2013.
It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this might have on pollies’ take-up of Virgin in the future.
We chatted with Ram Chhabra, Group CEO at CVFR Travel Group, about public servants choosing QF over VA. He did not mince his words.
“Pollies have always preferred QF due to the allure of the Chairmans Lounge and VIP treatment which VA does not give them. QF has always gone that extra mile to make pollies feel special. There is a certain prestige around the QF brand when compared to VA,” he said (P.S. Albo’s son was invited to be part of the Chairmans Lounge).
“It has that ‘rich old men sitting in front of a fireplace chomping on a cigar’ vibe.”
Chhabra added that QF offers pollies that extra level of TLC when it comes to personal travel when they go overseas, although that may change once VA releases its international flights with QR in the future (“but of course, QF will have a larger network departing Australia”).
However, VA’s new lifetime program may be seen as more attractive to pollies, who can maintain it even when they eventually quit their jobs.
Speaking of QF, the Travel Daily team banged out a breaker earlier this week when the airline announced 220,000 extra seats on its international network to roll out over the next 12 months, as well as changes in key routes to the US, Asia and the Pacific. This included increased frequencies to routes to Dallas, Los Angeles and New York.
Interestingly, QF has also added the new destinations Palau, as well as the return to New Caledonia.
Yesterday we also saw Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) release a financial update to the market, a mixed bag of results and forecasts which ultimately saw shareholders concerned and its share price plummet 18%.
While the company is tracking better in Q1 2025 than it did in the same quarter last year across most key metrics, the somewhat vague language in the report used about the rest of FY25 spooked the market enough for a price drop.
On the positive side, FCTG is now less reliant on its mass-market division, seeing a healthy growth among luxury and independent arms.
In other breaking news, on Tuesday, we also reported on CTM chief Jamie Pherous taking over from Laura Ruffles on the ATIA board. Meanwhile, American Express Global Business Travel’s Danielle Russom has been appointed Vice Chair.
If you’re in Sydney, you’re probably well aware of the fact that SXSW has descended upon the city, and our Deputy Editor Matt Lennon attended a panel discussion hosted by Accor earlier this week.
Tripadvisor’s ANZ Country Manager, Jessica Small, revealed that according to a new study from the platform, consumers are actually concerned that AI’s impact on travel will kill off the human, personalised side of the experience.
“When we asked for that deeper sentiment, we actually found out that travellers don’t want to lose that personal touch, or they also don’t want to think that their trip is like everyone else’s,” Small said.
“When I think about AI [and] the use of AI in trip planning, I think everyone must be getting a different result.
“But actually, in some cases, AI is actually giving you the same result, and you’re being recommended the same trip, which is not really the way that it should be used, so I think there’s some worry,” Small added.
I’m personally really fascinated by our changing tastes around travel experiences and our desire for more authenticity and deep-dives into different cultures and parts of the world. I think we’ve all seen the stats around a desire for more “immersive experiences”, which Helloworld’s Head of Cruise Steve Brady discussed this week.
“We’ve seen strong demand for packages that include a cruise to see the solar eclipse in Spain in 2026,” he said in an interview with my colleague, Cruise Weekly Editor Myles Stedman.
“With the solar maximum underway, it’s a perfect time to see the Northern Lights and cruising Norway is a popular way to do it.
“Now more than ever, combining bucket-list experiences with cruise is a great opportunity for agents to differentiate.”
Interestingly, Myles also covered Ponant and Crooked Compass’ new partnership, taking travellers on fascinating cruise adventures on board Paspaley Pearl, deep into Papua New Guinea.
During the 16-day itinerary bookable only through Travel Associates, passengers will visit two nights in Kumul Lodge and visit the villages of Huli Wigmen. They will also witness the practice of “cane swallowing” and walk to the ancient caves of the Asaro Valley to see locals perform traditional dances.
It sounds like the trip of a lifetime, really. Sign me up!
Enjoy the weekend guys.
