I fly Qantas about once a week at the moment, which is down from 2-3 times a week this time last year. I've started moving more and more of my flights to Virgin Blue.

There are a few reasons I've been moving my flights, but one of my main ones is the aircraft that Qantas use. Because I generally fly short haul domestic, I am typically on 737-400's or the occasional 737-800. Now the 800's are a pretty recent plane and are in good condiction, but the 400's seem to be getting very old. They are frequently delayed due to maintenance.

My major reason for moving carrier is the way qantas operate, and I imaging this is a staffing/contracting issue. When you board a qantas plane you always board only from the front... so it takes 20 minutes to get everyone on. Then it takes 20 minutes to get everyone off... then once your off the plane you spend 20 minutes standing around waiting for your luggage to turn up. The problems with the luggage also tend to encourage frequent flyers to bring 2 bags onto the plane which then fills the cabin.

Virgin Blue on the other hand always board from both ends of the plane, so your on your way quickly and you get off nice and quick. Typically, you only wait a few minutes for your luggage to arrive as well.

I am not sure on the general statistics, but it also feels like VB run on time more frequently and have less lengthy delays.

Also, I get more points flying with Virgin, so thats another bonus... and I can spend those points on flights with the Virgin airline groups and even Emirates.

I think things will get better for Qantas once the A380s start flowing in, and then the 787's as well. They are going to have to start doing something about their domestic fleet soon though.

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