Business Class Fares - Dropped in Price

[Cruiser Elite]

There is indeed Centurion offer of 25% off for all PE and J flts with VA til May 31 - not sure if valid for Plat also.

 

[simonsyd]

There is indeed Centurion offer of 25% off for all PE and J flts with VA til May 31 - not sure if valid for Plat also.

This offer is valid for Amex platinum charge card holders also, I have used it extensively in the last 8 weeks, has put domestic J class within my allocated budget. Will be sorry when it expires at end May.

 

[lovestotravel]

This offer is valid for Amex platinum charge card holders also, I have used it extensively in the last 8 weeks, has put domestic J class within my allocated budget. Will be sorry when it expires at end May.

It has been extended many times, so fingers crossed

The J sale is still running today too, but probably in-line with the domestic sale which is extended until midnight Friday

 

[Justinf]

Yup, the MEL-PER J flights are now back up to $1299 as of midnight (39 minutes ago). $859 to $1299. Ridiculous price increase.
So have all the other flights.

 

[pauly7]

Maybe it was another work experience kid in yield mgt playing with the numbers maybe they transferred the same one out of website development

Seriously though as a VA shareholder those prices were too low, reeked of a quick get some cash in before FY12 ends.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Flew SYD-PER on Thursday - 15 pax in J cabin on A330 - PER-SYD last night - 14 paying pax in J cabin of A330 - just on 50% loadings - wouldn't imagine that is a recipe to drive earnings through the roof.

 

[mannej]

Yup, the MEL-PER J flights are now back up to $1299 as of midnight (39 minutes ago). $859 to $1299. Ridiculous price increase.
So have all the other flights.

On the flip side, it was a good sale. Are they not the original J prices (before the sale)?

 

[Comoman]

I have to say I am very frustrated with this secret/unpublished "sale". Didn't know when it started or officially when it would end. Just conjecture.

Not a good way to handle things IMHO. It's been a struggle just to get on V-mail or whatever it's called to get the sale alerts in the first place.

 

[lovestotravel]

Yep the sale has ended and the silly pricing has returned!

You only need to try some dummy bookings and select either 7 or 8 passengers to see how bad the loads in J really are.... Most of the time selecting 8 passengers will show availability, and no seats sold and this is for flights only a week or two out

There is still something wrong with the pricing on various routes though, in Economy

Why are flights ending in .50 such as $117.50, $143.50 etc

Just round the damn amounts up to an even figure!


Given the fact that this was an "unpublished sale" it was more than likely a mistake, if VA wanted to push J by discounted, it would have been emailed and advertised on the website!

 

[clarkkent]

There is still something wrong with the pricing on various routes though, in Economy

Why are flights ending in .50 such as $117.50, $143.50 etc

Just round the damn amounts up to an even figure!

So given a choice between paying $117.50 and $118 you'd rather pay $118?

 

[MarkD]

I have to say I am very frustrated with this secret/unpublished "sale". Didn't know when it started or officially when it would end. Just conjecture.

Not a good way to handle things IMHO. It's been a struggle just to get on V-mail or whatever it's called to get the sale alerts in the first place.

So you are frustrated and pissed off because they knocked $400 plus off J fares. Don't blame virgin, blame yourself for not being quick enough


Excuse the typos, this was sent from my iPhone using Fat fingers

 

[lovestotravel]

So given a choice between paying $117.50 and $118 you'd rather pay $118?

Doesn't worry me either way, but it just looks like Tiger when they are using .50 besides a fare...

 

[Moopere]

Yep the sale has ended and the silly pricing has returned!

Oh good lord.

Yes, you are right. I thought the 2/3 pricing might be here to stay ... certainly hoped so because it seemed about right for the product at its current level of maturity.

Oh well. Flexi upgrades it is then...what a PITA

 

[lovestotravel]

Certainly hoped so because it seemed about right for the product at its current level of maturity.

Indeed - Looking at flights on Monday 16th MEL-SYD-MEL there are no more than 3 J seats booked on ANY flight, most only have 1 or 2 seats booked....

 

[markis10]

Indeed - Looking at flights on Monday 16th MEL-SYD-MEL there are no more than 3 J seats booked on ANY flight, most only have 1 or 2 seats booked....

Which is a hell of a lot better than the loads PE used to achieve, and on most routes when parliament is not sitting unlikely to be different at the competition. Virgin have reported a significant increase in RPKs, cannot help but think that J has been a factor!

 

[lovestotravel]

Which is a hell of a lot better than the loads PE used to achieve, and on most routes when parliament is not sitting unlikely to be different at the competition. Virgin have reported a significant increase in RPKs, cannot help but think that J has been a factor!

Yes, but I'd say it's more to do with the generally higher prices in Y

 

[Moopere]

Which is a hell of a lot better than the loads PE used to achieve, and on most routes when parliament is not sitting unlikely to be different at the competition.

Sure. DJ's PE was a pretty half hearted premium attempt though. I'm certainly not questioning their new attempt at premium product I absolutely think it was the right direction for them to head. But gee, some of the lessons from the PE days don't seem to have been learned.

I guess I'm frustrated because its not at all easy to see their strategy ... do they _want_ to fill J with paying customers? Not a rhetorical question ... I've mentioned in other threads that perhaps this is not the strategy at all, and it may well be that the actual aim is to keep J seating somewhat aspirational as a means of feeding the VFF machine which is always going to generate more money then a few premium seats here and there.

In any event, my own value judgements are just that and of course completely subjective. I notice in random sweeps of QF today that some days and times are charging over $4400 PER-MEL return in J ... just insane, seriously, insane. With your competition having obviously lost their mind, I guess DJ see's their current pricing as discounted ... even given the fact that their product is not as high a standard (arguable I'll admit).

Virgin have reported a significant increase in RPKs, cannot help but think that J has been a factor!

Indeed. Hard to argue. Do you know how this is calculated? I assume its a summation of total group Km travelled versus group revenue? Thereby capturing the effect of all the groups strategy changes. Or is it not that simple?

 

[lovestotravel]

I'll add in this thread as well, that I received a survey on behalf of VA yesterday.

It has a warning/T&C's at the start saying you are not allowed to talk about or mention any new products/ideas/services in the survey, however this was just generic and had no relation to the survey that I completed.

It was really based around the FF program vs the Qantas FF and any other FF program that you may be a part of, there was a small section at the end that talked about the food/drinks/IFE/seat but there was no room for comments, so I just scored seating/IFE/Food 2/10.

 

[oz_mark]

In any event, my own value judgements are just that and of course completely subjective. I notice in random sweeps of QF today that some days and times are charging over $4400 PER-MEL return in J ... just insane, seriously, insane. With your competition having obviously lost their mind, I guess DJ see's their current pricing as discounted ... even given the fact that their product is not as high a standard (arguable I'll admit).

QF business prices are similar to the way economy fares are strucured. Multiple booking classes at different price points. When the cheap buckets are gone, you just see a higher price.

 

[medhead]

Prices ending in .50 are bad? What about the .44 price I got from a different airline this week?


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