I’ve just booked a flight to Sydney. I decided to fly Qantas, although there wasn’t much in it. Pacific Blue (who are Virgin by any other name) are a so-called ‘budget’ airline, but only worked out to be about ten bucks cheaper than Qantas or Air New Zealand. I choose Qantas over Air New Zealand only because the flight to Sydney was at a more convenient time (Air New Zealand had pretty much sold out of their cheapo seats except on their 6am flight). And while Virgin have better planes (brand new 767’s where as Qantas/Air New Zealand only fly 737’s from Wellington) I’d have to pay for booze and food on Virgin – so it was a no brainer.