Do Virgin mostly fly 737s Perth-Broome does anyone know?

[ozstamps]

Last flight I did to Broome was the direct from SYD. Those were the days.

Booked SYD-PER-BROOME for June 11/16 and good 1 stop connection in Perth and all upgrades were in place on 737s all legs.

Hotel all booked at double Sydney Hilton rates .. that is Broome sadly and all non cancellable sadly.

Email today from Virgin saying everything was changed. Now a 19 hour layover in Perth before getting a FOKKER to BME. No thanks. And flight home is now 27 hours, via MEL, also with an initial Fokker leg.

Looks like in June many flights PER-BME are Airbus A320, which are all 1 class, no non=upgradeable.

I can see fights to and from SYD-PER-BME later June, that are all 737. The CHOICE price is higher than I paid, but being their sked change, Virgin will wear that I am sure, if I call to reset dates, but of course will not care about the $2000 Hotel loss.

My dilemma is, will the 737s showing now still run to BME late June? Which then wastes another hour re-jigging it all.

No idea how much change Virgin makes to WA aircraft schedules. Yes changes happen all the time, fully realise that, but if 737 mostly do Broome, I'll take a punt.

With WA just opening up to Tourism, I assumed BME would be a popular destination?

Anyway, a $1600 impulse flight booking, and tempted to can the whole thing. Seems like booking anything more than a week out can and will change. Last 3 trips had 4 sked changes on each.

 

[Inlander]

June is right in the peak tourist season for Broome so you would think demand would be higher so always a chance for a 737. The A320 is not that bad, Im 180 cm and have found the legroom is ok. Of course there is no J.

 

[jase05]

June is right in the peak tourist season for Broome so you would think demand would be higher so always a chance for a 737. The A320 is not that bad, Im 180 cm and have found the legroom is ok. Of course there is no J.

The Y might be ok but it’s not the point. Some people want J only and in the OP’s case I would definitely cancel as I’d refuse to fly in Y to BME

 

[dajop]

Some people want J only

There's always Qantas for that.

They have direct flights SYD-BME on Saturdays, could go up on 11/6 returning on 18/6. Only charging $6395 for those. Only $1500 more than flying to SIN around the same time, and for that extra $1500 you get to save 3 hrs each way flying, don't have to worry about consuming excessive amounts of spirits on board, and get to enjoy QF's spectacular 737 business class, instead of the substandard A330 business class they use to SIN.

All jokes aside, there's clearly a risk that comes with the significantly lower fares that VA has in business class. (Mind you the fares on QF via PER are still in the order of $5-$6K and they stick you in economy between PER and BME anyway).

 

[jase05]

There's always Qantas for that.

They have direct flights SYD-BME on Saturdays, could go up on 11/6 returning on 18/6. Only charging $6395 for those. Only $1500 more than flying to SIN around the same time, and for that extra $1500 you get to save 3 hrs each way flying, don't have to worry about consuming excessive amounts of spirits on board, and get to enjoy QF's spectacular 737 business class, instead of the substandard A330 business class they use to SIN.

All jokes aside, there's clearly a risk that comes with the significantly lower fares that VA has in business class. (Mind you the fares on QF via PER are still in the order of $5-$6K and they stick you in economy between PER and BME anyway).

Yes, easier to just avoid BME currently

 

[dajop]

Yes, easier to just avoid BME currently

Yes, even economy around that time of year start from $1100 return from SYD.

 

[ozstamps]

Yes, even economy around that time of year start from $1100 return from SYD.

Actually it was getting near half that each, and all booked in CHOICE, and all 4 legs upgraded free for both of us now.

So 400 x Status Credits via pooling, so was worth booking, as long as the aircraft types stayed unchanged and do not revert to Fokkers after booking them!

Those double SC til end June are a godsend on longer flights, especially as Plat upgrades can be used til end June as well. I imagine from BNE/MEL/SYD would all get the 200 S/C per person, for anyone looking for a quick SC boost, and some upgrades to burn, to a pretty interesting destination.

 

[dajop]

Actually it was getting near half that each, and all booked in CHOICE, and all 4 legs upgraded free for both of us now.

Oh yes, I meant the non stop flights on QF. VA certainly charges less.