Virgin Australia’s flights from Brisbane to Tokyo went on sale today, and there are even some Velocity reward seats available on the new route.
The new Virgin flights to Japan will operate daily to Haneda Airport from 29 March 2020. The flights will be operated by Virgin’s Airbus A330, which features 255 Economy and 20 lie-flat Business class seats.
(Read more: The Ultimate Virgin Australia Seat Guide)
Virgin will offer full service on its flights to Japan, with all passengers receiving 2x 23kg checked bags, complimentary meals and in-flight entertainment on board. The airline is also promising to incorporate a Japanese flair, with Japanese ambassadors on board to “provide an outstanding customer experience for our Japanese guests and share local knowledge with Australian residents visiting Japan.”
The schedule for Virgin Australia’s Brisbane-Haneda flights will be as follows:
- VA77 Brisbane 11:40 – Haneda 20:00
- VA76 Haneda 21:45 – Brisbane 07:45 (next day)
The flights are currently on sale from $699 return in Economy class or $3,495 return in Business class. This sale ends on 16 December 2019.
Currently, Qantas is the only airline flying between Brisbane and Tokyo. Qantas operates daily Brisbane-Narita flights using Airbus A330-300 aircraft.
Business class is not currently available for sale on the inaugural VA77 flight on 29 March 2020, indicating that the Business cabin on this flight is likely to be filled with journalists and VIPs. Who knows, Richard Branson might even make an appearance like he did when Virgin launched Melbourne-Hong Kong in 2017?
The flights are timed to allow for connections via Brisbane from across Australia and New Zealand. At the other end, Virgin plans to offer a codeshare partnership with Japanese airline ANA with easy connections to over 30 Japanese cities. These codeshares are not yet available for sale, however Virgin is already selling interline connections on some domestic Japan flights with “NH” flight numbers.
Virgin is also planning to codeshare on ANA’s Sydney-Haneda and Perth-Narita flights from March 2020, These flights are also not yet available for sale, but we expect these to come online in the coming weeks. We also expect to hear more details about the new frequent flyer partnership between Virgin Australia and ANA soon.
The new Brisbane-Haneda flight utilises a Haneda Airport slot that Virgin Australia recently won in a bitterly-fought contest with Qantas.
To celebrate the launch of the new route, Virgin Australia is running a competition today where they’ve hidden free flight prizes on sushi plates at a secret Brisbane CBD location.
Brisbane-Tokyo Reward Seat availability with Virgin Australia
If you’re thinking about using your Velocity Frequent Flyer points to book a trip to Japan, you’re in luck! In fact, you can even take your extended family with you.
There is currently one Business Reward seat and at least nine (yes, nine) Economy Reward seats on most dates between Brisbane and Tokyo.
An Economy reward seat from Brisbane to Tokyo costs 27,800 Velocity points + $129.31 taxes & charges, one-way. In Business class, the cost is 59,500 Velocity points + $144.31 one-way. The taxes are slightly lower in the other direction from Tokyo to Brisbane.
As of this morning, reward seats are available on most direct flights from Brisbane to Tokyo from 14 April 2020 onwards. In the other direction, there is award availability from Tokyo to Brisbane in the very first few days of the service until 2 April, and then again from 27 April 2020 onwards.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Tokyo Haneda slot – how will Virgin Operate it?
