Just a few weeks after empathising with customers over their cost-of-living pain, Virgin’s hypocrisy has been laid bare as footy fans ache to see their team.
Not even three weeks ago, a Virgin Australia bigwig joined two Palaszczuk government ministers and a mutually beneficial spruiker from Tourism and Events Queensland to make merry in front of television news cameras at Brisbane Airport.
The subsidised flights equalled “incredible value” at an “incredibly important time”, Virgin’s Alistair Hartley said. This was because the “cost of living is starting to hurt, and households are starting to feel the pinch”. Amen.No matter the “hurt” and “pinch”, Virgin has looked deep into its corporate soul and decided to slug Carlton members a minimum of $1300 return to get to Brisbane on Saturday to watch their team play the Lions in a sell-out preliminary final at the Gabba.
The price strategy is no worse than those of the other gouging airlines, which are making hay while the finals sun shines, but only Virgin has paraded itself so overtly alongside the Queensland government as the righteous corporate citizen. True enough in this context. But remember, Virgin’s low fares for the Queensland is Calling campaign are generously funded by taxpayers – not, as the airline and ministers would like us to think, from the vast banks of Virgin’s corporate goodness and Queenslander spirit.