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Your best bet is to use VS/DL’s website to search for reward seats then call up VA to book. Still no guarantee that VA have access to those seats but according to anecdotal evidence from a friend it worked for a transatlantic flight from US into LHR.

It’s operated by Qatar Airways for Virgin Australia International for Virgin Australia. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

That is very true, though I think this is more of a business decision. On face value even with VA being just a QR proxy it’s hard to argue against the fact that more flight is good for consumers. Alternatively the government can just sign an open sky or expand the bilateral with Qatar - I’d be...

Sorry I’m really confused: are you saying 1. VA should just lease a few wide bodies and enter the international market “with conviction” or 2. they shouldn’t even bother trying and just be happy being Australia’s 2nd domestic airline because they have “no conviction” or 3. the VA/QR wet lease...

Then too bad you don't get the extra flight feeding the Doha hub and back to your 28 weekly frequencies? If QR wants to sell it's stake to someone else it can do it at any time with or without the wet-lease arrangement. I disagree. Most airlines' fleet planning happen years or decades ahead of...

I don’t think those matter really. The IASC can and should impose those types of condition and it’s up to the business to decide whether it’s still profitable for them. If this turns out to be a good deal for them I’m sure they’ll turn around down the road - if not they can come back to the...

If you dry-lease or own the aircraft then you’d have full control over them and that’s my point. The aircraft are paid for and VA has to fly them somewhere, JV or not. Again, please read my post more carefully. VA dry leased or owned aircraft would have VA crew on them.

Please read my post more carefully. Specifically the assumption I based my statement on. In fact I’d even quote it for you. If VA is not genuine about its intention to try and rebuild a long haul network then I’d agree it’s a QR slot mechanism and shouldn’t be approved.

I can see the government to require that after X years VA will have Australian based pilot and crew operate “VA controlled” aircraft will be a condition and should be acceptable to Bain/VA. Ultimately I think this wet lease to get started then after X years transition to VA controlled operation...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-02/analysis-qatar-outmanoeuvres-qantas-with-virgin-deal-flights/104417622 Some additional media coverage has came out this morning.

The way the PR is phrased - launching of those routes subject to ACCC approval seems to suggest VA won’t do it alone without a QR backed JV.

Indeed. Which is what led me to think it’s more likely the latter (they think it’s a non issue). Given the QR/QF fiasco brought bad PR to the government and the upcoming election, I actually think it’s a smart move to announce it now while the government have its hands tied while people still...

We can all see that’s exactly the point - that includes Bain, QR, VA, QF and of course the Australian government. It’s naive to think Bain/QR and its teams of advisors lawyers, back channels to politicians hasn’t thought this through. They’ve either priced it such that the investment is...

Is that true? I’ve tried to fact check this but couldn’t find any sources that would suggest the wet lease were objected to. Would be nice if you can link yours. The best I found was the QR newsroom release - there was no note on “pending regulatory approval” on the Finnair wet lease arrangement...

Why would that be the case? Is there specific requirement about wet lease or is it just because of the “public interest” thing? At one point Bonza even wet leased from Canada and the government didn’t seem to blink. It’s hard to see why just wet leasing would make VA ineligible for a DOH slot.

Do you mean the ACCC? It’s unlikely QF would contest VA’s allocation for Qatari slots and any uncontested application IASC basically wave it through. ACCC review will be required for any potential alliance / joint venture where schedules and fares are coordinated. Without that the best VA and...

Maybe they shouldn’t have given back the HND slot that early. Though it’s hard to imagine VA management weren’t aware of this and there’s probably reason to not hold on to it for a few more months.

UA seems to be doing better with selling J and upgrades on the US departure compared to AUS departure. Make sense if UA wants to hold inventory for upgrade and cash fares

But in this case it’s VA’s award inventory for SYD-MEL and UA’s award inventory for MEL-LAX. I have not seen rewards ticket applying married segment to multi carrier trips before. I guess it’s a way for VFF to force people to burn more points on the domestic J? Say for OP’s trying to find...

SQ's in a different position than EY when compared to QR though. EY's network is largley is subset of QR and their role is largely the same in their optimal onward destinations where as SQ is an important partnet for VA in Asia and China, especially without the HNA Group as redemption partner...