Fly Ahead - love it

[777]

Also why the huge difference in authority levels from premium check-in staff to lounge staff?

Maybe because 'Fly Ahead' is, according to the rules, a benefit ONLY available in the lounge:

21.5.2 The request for Fly Ahead must be made to a Virgin Australia staff member at the Virgin Australia lounge.

 

[serfty]

Maybe because 'Fly Ahead' is, according to the rules, a benefit ONLY available in the lounge:

All the more reason to travel HLO (as much as possible) ...

 

[OzEire]

If it's a genuine restriction with the software, this should be sorted out - I would happily have switched to save both time and fuel, and it should be easy enough to set something up whereby the computer system automatically flags the option to switch people to a more direct flight if timings etc. aren't too dis-similar.

As I have discovered, this is not FlyAhead, it it a rerouting which seems to be treated the same as canceling the ticket and rebooking- but the remaining half fare on a return booking rarely has enough value to cover the change.

Also, as JohnK has outlined above, it is not easy to back out of this process once it has started.

In my experience the VA ticket/booking system is locked down pretty tightly and staff have little flexibility to assist pax. I've found the experienced lounge staff have tricks that they use to get around the system (ie. to provide real customer service rather than just 'computer says no').

 

[Ozmutz]

Even though the T&C state FlyAhead is only available from the Lounge, I rang Velocity to confirm and they said all staff have the ability to change your flight ahead. I was in ROK where there is no lounge and the check in staff happily moved me forward.
Apparently some staff don't know what FlyAhead is so I was advised to ask them to call the Velocity or GCC to confirm it is allowed.

 

[robd]

Even though the T&C state FlyAhead is only available from the Lounge, I rang Velocity to confirm and they said all staff have the ability to change your flight ahead. I was in ROK where there is no lounge and the check in staff happily moved me forward.
Apparently some staff don't know what FlyAhead is so I was advised to ask them to call the Velocity or GCC to confirm it is allowed.

We were offered Fly Ahead a few weeks ago at Melbourne Priority check-in, without prompting. We we checking in with 2 suitcases.

 

[Caversham04]

As I have discovered, this is not FlyAhead, it it a rerouting which seems to be treated the same as canceling the ticket and rebooking- but the remaining half fare on a return booking rarely has enough value to cover the change.

Also, as JohnK has outlined above, it is not easy to back out of this process once it has started.

In my experience the VA ticket/booking system is locked down pretty tightly and staff have little flexibility to assist pax. I've found the experienced lounge staff have tricks that they use to get around the system (ie. to provide real customer service rather than just 'computer says no').

Agreed - not FlyAhead (and I knew that at the time), but I thought it was sufficiently similar to justify putting it in this thread rather than starting another one.

I also agree with you on the value of the return leg on international flights, but Domestic flights seem to priced as 2 one-way tickets when you buy them online, so I would think there's actually a reasonable amount of value in this scenario (particularly as we had originally booked OOL-MEL-ADL for the return leg, so two flights). The seats on the direct flight could have been in a higher fare bucket, I guess, but they won't be selling them with only 90 minutes until take-off, so it would be worth allowing the switch of flights just for the fuel savings.......

To prevent any confusion, my initial post wasn't intended to be a complaint (it's not a published benefit or anything), more a story followed by a way that things could improved, generating a win-win (saving on fuel costs and keeping a WP happy for VA, shorter trip for me!)

 

[Deleted member 29185]

so it would be worth allowing the switch of flights just for the fuel savings.......

Without comment as to whether they should or shouldn't allow the change, I'd suggest if the other flights were flying anyway, there'd be next to no fuel savings.

 

[JohnK]

This is my experience

A no at check in is quite often yes in the lounge

That could well be the case but I did not want to risk walking to the lounge with a boarding pass for 4E in my hands in the hope they would find an aisle seat on the flight.

Seriously why is it so difficult to see all available seats on a flight?

 

[markis10]

It sounds like VA have tightened up on who can do what, and frankly I think that is fantastic, given the incidence of rogue gate agents do friend favours in the past.

As a newly minted Gold I did run into an odd issue at SYD last night, used the priority entry and initially got told no your silver, with a couple of keystrokes Gold appeared and I was told to see the service desk as there was seats on the 7 PM. I was keen to catch an earlier flight as my initial cheapie had me arriving just as the last train left BNE.

Through security I approached the service desk only to be told no change was possible as I was not on a flexi, I responded that I wanted to fly ahead and was told only available to Gold, it seemed my booking had reverted to Silver status, so I had a tantrum about their cough systems. I showed the agent my email congratulating me on getting gold, and upon a little bit of digging, things were fixed, finally.

I feel a bit guilty about my tantrum as I took it out on the poor agent at the service desk, so I will be fronting up to the lounge manager tomorrow with a box of chocolates as something of a mea culpa when I get back into Sydney. Sadly VA still have some work to do to get to their competitors level, even with their competitor doing their best to drop their standards.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

so I had a tantrum about their cough systems.

Have I only ever seen you on your best behaviour? I can't really imagine you throwing a little tanty, but I think I'd find some amusement in it! :mrgreen:

Did you make the train? I must admit the BNE airtrain finish time bloody annoys me, as does the weekend track work that always means I have to catch a bus.....or drive and pay for parking which is what I nearly always do. Which brings up another gripe......why can QF parking get QF points, yet VA parking gets no VFF points, yet non VA parking can get VFF points??????? VA certainly lose the plot at times.

 

[MH_fan]

Back on topic...
I love VA's Fly Ahead. Worked every time I've asked for it in the lounge. This is probably the best reason for choosing VA over QF. I know it's not a published benefit on QF but I've only been successful half the time on QF and it's very dependent on the lounge agent. Sometimes I reckon the agent doesn't even bother to try. I usually get the "you're not on a flexible ticket, sir" line. Fine. It's their right to do that but it only encourages me to choose VA instead.

 

[QF WP]

Seems that we've all had similar issues with Fly Ahead - it's great when you can switch to an earlier flight with similar seating, however it can have its drawbacks. I've also had better service in The Lounge in BNE (as I would suspect we all do in our home or most frequent ports). Sometimes it truly is Not what you know but who you know.

 

[Caversham04]

Without comment as to whether they should or shouldn't allow the change, I'd suggest if the other flights were flying anyway, there'd be next to no fuel savings.

I agree that we're not talking massive numbers, but Virgin are running at a loss, so every little helps..... Back of the envelope stuff, but I reckon (based on a Wikipedia value of 2.68 litres per passenger per 100 km for a Boeing 738 plus the mileages from the VA calculator) that the fuel saving is of the order of 25 litres (including a small adjustment for lifting an 18-stone rugby player to altitude, rather than an average passenger ). If you can repeat that trick several times a day over your whole network, the numbers would start to look attractive.

An accountant would probably make it look even more attractive based on the cost of the OOL-MEL-ADL ticket versus the direct OOL-ADL ticket e.g. simplifying things by assuming that the OOL-ADL and OOL-MEL tickets are the same distance and hence the same price, VA are actually getting the price of the ADL-MEL flight (say $100) for free, on top of the fuel savings


The lady at check-in immediately asked why we weren't on the direct flight, so a small amount of training and a computer system that allows them to use their initiative could see some worthwhile annual savings......

 

[JohnK]

Did you make the train? I must admit the BNE airtrain finish time bloody annoys me, as does the weekend track work that always means I have to catch a bus.....or drive and pay for parking which is what I nearly always do.

If it annoys you now I wonder what it did it to you when the airtrain last service for the night was ~8:00pm. :shock:

 

[jazza1971]

Arrived at the airport quite early for flight due to catching train from Newcastle, got offered at check in 'did I want to get on flight just boarding now, or the 6pm flight', thanks for the offer but I'll stay on the 8pm...on holidays so enjoying a few beers.....but was great to see the check in staff at Sydney being pro-active.

 

[toowongman]

Arrived at the airport quite early for flight due to catching train from Newcastle, got offered at check in 'did I want to get on flight just boarding now, or the 6pm flight', thanks for the offer but I'll stay on the 8pm...on holidays so enjoying a few beers.....but was great to see the check in staff at Sydney being pro-active.

Happens every time for us. I think it's in VA's interest to get everyone out of SYD ASAP every day. The more people hanging around for later flights, the higher the risk of expenses if something goes wrong. And saves them money on catering

 

[Deleted member 29185]

If it annoys you now I wonder what it did it to you when the airtrain last service for the night was ~8:00pm. :shock:

I didn't know it had changed. What time is the last train now? Shortly, it may be handy for me to have one about 10.30pm on a Friday.

 

[JohnK]

I didn't know it had changed. What time is the last train now? Shortly, it may be handy for me to have one about 10.30pm on a Friday.

I think last airtrain these days is 10:04pm.

 

[jackthomas]

I used Fly Ahead today, Out of Sydney during the current horrific Martin Place Hostage situation in Sydney.

After being stuck in my locked down hotel all day, with all my meetings cancelled I arrived at the airport at about 2pm, for my schedules 5:30 flight.

The amazing woman at check in had me placed on the 4pm flight, although the computer would not allow it (some tech glitch) she went above and beyond to get me in the air quickly.
I'm feeling very lucky today.

 

[justcallmeryan]

I managed a little 'work around' of the Fly Ahead baggage issue today which I thought I'd share (we all love a good 'work around' don't we?). Apologies if already been discussed before.

Today I landed in MEL at 10.45am from BKK on JQ. I had a separate VA ticket booked MEL - SYD for 4pm allowing some extra time in case of delays and being on separate PNRs/airlines. With an on time arrival at MEL, and after clearing customs, I made my way over over to the VA lounge at about 11.30am and requested Fly Ahead. The lovely lounge attendant managed to move me from a 4pm departure to a much more civilised 1pm - saving me 3 hours of extra waiting around. Once I received my new boarding pass, I left the lounge and went back up to the bag check area and checked my bag. Somewhat of a round about way of doing it, but certainly worthwhile trying now and again!

Note: I imagine this wouldn't work if I had been moved forward to a flight that was within the 30 minute cut off for checking bags, but this morning I had enough time.

LOVE LOVE LOVE Fly Ahead.

On a side note, I got to use the MEL showers for the first time and was pleasantly impressed. The facilities are pretty good for a domestic lounge!