United Airlines new Virgin Australia/Velocity Partner

[henrus]

Virgin Australia takes flight with United Airlines

Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said the partnership is an exciting opportunity for Virgin Australia customers while tripling the airline's reach into the United States.

newsroom.virginaustralia.com

Looks like the DL partnership is dead.

 

[jakeseven7]

Can I say it

 

[antycbr]

Back to the future... UA was the partner before DL

 

[henrus]

Can I say it

VA thanks Delta

Virgin Australia thanks Delta Air Lines

Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka has acknowledged the significant partnership with Delta Air Lines.

newsroom.virginaustralia.com

 

[jakeseven7]

VA thanks Delta

Virgin Australia thanks Delta Air Lines

Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka has acknowledged the significant partnership with Delta Air Lines.

newsroom.virginaustralia.com

Ouch

 

[Andrew Curran]

Interesting. I prefer Delta over United, but anyway ...

VA has confirmed the DL partnership will end by April

 

[jakeseven7]

Interesting. I prefer Delta over United, but anyway ...

Agree…. But we can only hope this kicks off something bigger and better…

 

[jakeseven7]

This appeared on a press release by the work experience kid given the head of PR at VA2 was actually fired a couple of weeks ago in a scandal at Virgin HQ…

A leak?

 

[henrus]

So the Delta partnership started on 12 December 2009, at the time the only benefit for VA Gold (they didn't have Platinum back in 2009) was SkyClub lounge access. RIP Delta Partnership 2009 - 2022.

Back to the future... UA was the partner before DL

Back then DJ (Virgin Blue) and Velocity were operated very separately. United was a partner of Virgin Blue but not velocity. This meant that whilst single tickets involving UA and DJ flights were possible, there were no earning or burning opportunities for Velocity members. This arrangement started in 2002/3. United remained a "partner" of Virgin Blue up until the end of 2010? when the switched to selling Qantas domestic flights instead

 

[HS-TQE]

DJ and UA had a limited codeshare and interline agreement from all capitals, CNS and OOL out of SYD, iirc.

DJ kept the interline agreement when VAustralia (under Godfrey) switched to DL in 2009, and the UA/VA1 interline was ended in 2015 in favour of QF group interlines.

 

[henrus]

DJ and UA had a limited codeshare and interline agreement from all capitals, CNS and OOL out of SYD, iirc.

For UA members it was a bit more than just a codeshare. They could earn miles on codeshare Virgin blue flights:

 

[HS-TQE]

For UA members it was a bit more than just a codeshare. They could earn miles on codeshare Virgin blue flights:

View attachment 267073

Interesting that the miles earn was only on the UA end, but this looks like it was set pre-Velocity.

Virgin Blue Velocity was only set up around 2005/2006, so a tad surpising they didn't sort out anything with UA then for miles earn on DJ that year.

 

[jase05]

Great move by VA and I’m loving that they are looking at new options.
DL to be the big loser out of this, perhaps they can hop into bed with Rexy

 

[HS-TQE]

Great move by VA and I’m loving that they are looking at new options.
DL to be the big loser out of this, perhaps they can hop into bed with Rexy

Or DL could 'buy' a stake into 'Bonza!" and help 777 partners set that up without the baggage of RexJet

 

[jase05]

Or DL could 'buy' a stake into 'Bonza!" and help 777 partners set that up without the baggage of RexJet

Bonza have no plans for capital city markets though have they?
DL are going to need to enter a deal to get their passengers from SYD to MEL, PER, ADL, BNE etc

 

[HS-TQE]

Bonza have no plans for capital city markets though have they?
DL are going to need to enter a deal to get their passengers from SYD to MEL, PER, ADL, BNE etc

Not at this stage, although that could probably change with DL influence if they bought a considerable stake that gets them a 'say' at the 'Bonza!' boardroom table

The other question however is where to now for DL in Australia after April 2022?

 

[henrus]

The other question however is where to now for DL in Australia after April 2022?

Well VA is out, QF is tied up with AA, I guess that leaves Rex or they'll just sell add on flights without a codeshare however this does put them at a disadvantage compared to their competitors UA/VA and AA/QF.

 

[Mattg]

This looks like great news.

As I currently have Gold status with both Velocity and United, I'm now wondering what the point of maintaining Velocity status is though. If I can get lounge access and earn United miles/status on VA flights, I would just credit to United.

The only reason I would consider maintaining Velocity status is if it got you lounge access on UA domestic itineraries (which United status does not).

 

[exceladdict]

Will be watching this keenly.

Edit: I wonder what it means for VA's transpacific restart. Feels like it would push it out or possibly take it off the table.

 

[BNEFlyer]

This looks like great news.

As I currently have Gold status with both Velocity and United, I'm now wondering what the point of maintaining Velocity status is though. If I can get lounge access and earn United miles/status on VA flights, I would just credit to United.

The only reason I would consider maintaining Velocity status is if it got you lounge access on UA domestic itineraries (which United status does not).

The partnership does include access to domestic United Clubs (which is probably the one benefit of the UA partnership over DL).