Interesting pricing [Award sale - book 'til 28/2, travel 15/3/18 to 9/1/19]

[The Flying Brick]

Interesting to note: the official travel dates were listed on VA's website as valid from mid March 2018 to 09 January 2019. Last night, I booked our reward J seats to Perth for January 16, 2019. A small notice just before the payment page advised me that the 30% discount had been applied and sure enough, I paid way less than the standard reward fare to Perth.

Well spotted Clipped Wings!

I've already booked travel on the 09/01/19 and 15/01/19 and never quite got around to remembering that line of the fine print.

However, the 30% points discount was applied correctly so that J from MEL to AKL was 24800 VFF points plus tax per seat

 

[ozstamps]

I know the Virgin website is often cr*p, but looked just now to book some 30% off seats and see NOTHING, anywhere, for any days. Even MEL-SYD!

A few days back I saw all sorts of options.

Have they ended it a day early?? Allegedly midnight Feb 28 end as can be seen.

Can anyone else now see any 30% off options?

 

[HeavyElectricity]

I know the Virgin website is often cr*p, but looked just now to book some 30% off seats and see NOTHING, anywhere, for any days. Even MEL-SYD!

A few days back I saw all sorts of options.

Have they ended it a day early?? Allegedly midnight Feb 28 end as can be seen.

Can anyone else now see any 30% off options?

Well midnight AEST is slightly ambiguous. But techically it's 01:12 AEST on the 28th right now, and 00:00 (midnight) on 28th has passed.

 

[ozstamps]

Well midnight AEST is slightly ambiguous. But techically it's 01:12 AEST on the 28th right now, and 00:00 (midnight) on 28th has passed.

Sightly Ambigious ?????????????

It is rock solid PRECISE -- midnight Feb 28 AESDT is near a day away.

 

[HeavyElectricity]

Sightly Ambigious ?????????????

It is rock solid PRECISE -- midnight Feb 28 AESDT is near a day away.

No, technically midnight is 00:00, and is the first minute/second/microsecond etc of the day, which has now past. The last minute of the day is 23:59. However a lot of people misunderstand this, which is why it's important to word it well in t&cs, and which is why I said it was ambiguous - they haven't worded it well (and for all I know they really meant the promo ends at midnight on 1st March).

I've encountered lots of strange time issues as a developer whilst working on various projects. It's amazing how messed up our understanding and communication of time is. Most brief/spec documents I receive write it incorrectly and I always seek clarification before coding a time range. You can never assume one way or another (an inclusive upper bound of a time range is another common misunderstanding).

 

[ozstamps]

Well as someone who has been an elite in most Airlines and Hotel plans over 40 years I have never once encountered a promo that "ends Feb 28" not to mean at midnight ON that day.

One usually assumes midnight in city they are HQ in unless otherwise noted in T&C.

New Years Eve globally is MIDNIGHT Dec 31. Maybe not where you hang out.

 

[HeavyElectricity]

Well as someone who has been an elite in most Airlines and Hotel plans over 40 years I have never once encountered a promo that "ends Feb 28" not to mean at midnight ON that day.

One usually assumes midnight in city they are HQ in unless otherwise noted in T&C.

New Years Eve globally is MIDNIGHT Dec 31. Maybe not where you hang out.

Thats why it's ambiguous - technically that's incorrect even though most people refer to it in that way. But if it's left up to a computer, the 'technical' way wins .

I'm not trying to 'actually' say one is right/wrong because it comes down to interpretation: who wrote the t&cs, the developer who programmed the promotional period, and the customer reading the t&cs. Unless care is taken each person can read it differently. Not trying to defend, just trying to show how these things can end up being confusing.

In any computer programming language, midnight on the 28th AEST has already passed. But that (probably) wasn't the intention of the promo! I agree! Potentially just a developer/project manager who didn't think about or question it and typed in '2018-02-28 00:00'. Technically correct, but probably not what was actually intended.

Regarding ambiguity: Times of Day FAQs

To avoid ambiguity, specification of an event as occurring on a particular day at 11:59 p.m. or 12:01 a.m. is a good idea, especially legal documents such as contracts and insurance policies.

Update: And of course after all of this, it turns out the promo is still on, and working as expected ! My theories of potential date confusion were wrong (I hadn't actually checked to see if the promo was still on, I just wanted to point out that 'midnight' can be confusing).

 

[Must...Fly!]

And on the front page.

However I see the discount is still being applied when searching. Lucky as I feel like I should take advantage, even if I don't really know when or where to go...

 

[serfty]

And on the front page.

However I see the discount is still being applied when searching. Lucky as I feel like I should take advantage, even if I don't really know when or where to go...

Me too:

 

[clipped_wings]

Found this after throwing a dummy booking for dates after March 15 - looks to be promotional.

 

[ozstamps]

Clearly the 3 posts above.

1. Were not looking over the last 2 weeks. The REAL 30% off awards were in fact 30% lower. Fancy that concept! 20300 Syd to Adelaide is normal but I was seeing 14210 all week - several flights each day. Flagged as Points Sale.

2. Think 31,600 points for a standard coach award of 12,100 is a sale of some kind. You are nuts - that is 3 times the NORMAL rate.

Serfty might think 55,800 points one person one way in coach is a bargain of some kind. Clearly it is not, to anyone except him. If he is talking about an OZ/LAX (he oddly does not say) ..... 110,000 points RT for a coach ticket that you can buy all day long at sub $1000 retail these days and earn a lot of points and status credits is a nonsense rate..

Again for anyone who HAS been looking, the 30% off fares were CLEARLY marked and they were not there after midnight Feb 27.

 

[serfty]

Serfty might think 55,800 points one person one way in coach is a bargain of some kind. Clearly it is not, to anyone except him. If he is talking about an OZ/LAX (he oddly does not say) ..... 110,000 points RT for a coach ticket that you can buy all day long at sub $1000 retail these days and earn a lot of points and status credits is a nonsense rate..

Rubbish - that is actually Premium Economy!

The net cost (and I did book one of these) was 50,100 points and USD34 - normally 71,700, same $.

An Economy award with the sale discount is 31,300 and USD34, normally 44800.

 

[serfty]

Were not looking over the last 2 weeks. The REAL 30% off awards were in fact 30% lower. Fancy that concept! 20300 Syd to Adelaide is normal but I was seeing 14210 all week - several flights each day. Flagged as Points Sale

What class?

 

[serfty]

Sure you weren't looking at a short route like SYD-MEL?

 

[junbugging]

Again for anyone who HAS been looking, the 30% off fares were CLEARLY marked and they were not there after midnight Feb 27.

Maybe you should do your sums again and then start booking.

CBR-SYD: minimum points for a Business Award: 15,500 (20,500 with no co-pay) outside promotion period, 10,800 (15,800) during promotion period as of NOW.

MEL-PER: (need I go on?)

 

[serfty]

Finally:

Think 31,600 points for a standard coach award of 12,100 is a sale of some kind. You are nuts - that is 3 times the NORMAL rate.

That is an 'any seat' award - where your points are converted to $ to book a revenue fare at a value ~0.7¢ each.

IMHO, only those who are points rich or have no other option or are simply foolish/unaware would book such.

 

[ozstamps]

Ross, you lazily did not share where your ”BAHGAIN” 55,000 one way coach fare was to. No city pairs, no carrier, no cabin class. No-one has a crystal ball here.

110,000 Virgin miles is worth ~$3,000 to ME.

I repeat, if I was prepared to sit in coach for 14 hours each way (and I never have!) I’d spend ~$1000 RT, (get a couple 1000 miles on my card for doing so) and get a ton of real miles, and SC, and being a Platinum get to pick my own seats. Total no-brainer to me anyway. AND get to pick the actual days I wanted to fly not to the one seat a month Velocity offers up.

So good on you – if you feel that is superb way to spend miles – it takes all types. Virgin loves you!

Back to the actual point – Virgin pulled the 30% off late night at midnight, not tonight.

 

[junbugging]

no-brainer

Yep.

 

[serfty]

I apologise for not making it clear; but I would have assumed someone of your experience would have understood.

Me too:

The screen snip shows VA24 - many here know that is a LAX-MEL flight.

Also, the word "Premium" in "Premium Reward" would have indicated to most this is not main cabin "Economy". Examples of how an available "Economy Reward" would display can be seen is some of my later posts.

Perhaps, the awards you were looking at on your target flights have been snapped up already.

I am thinking you are so steamed up, you are not looking clearly at my posts, other's post or your booking screen.

Finally:

...
Back to the actual point – Virgin pulled the 30% off late night at midnight, not tonight.

Again I post Rubbish!

The Sale is continuing at least for today.

 

[blackcat20]

Ross, you lazily did not share where your ”BAHGAIN” 55,000 one way coach fare was to. No city pairs, no carrier, no cabin class. No-one has a crystal ball here.

Back to the actual point – Virgin pulled the 30% off late night at midnight, not tonight.

You dont need a crystal ball to see the flight is VA24, nor to see that it isnt a Y seat...

And no they havent pulled the discount, it's still available. For example, J awards from MEL-ADL are currently 10,800 points. That is the discounted rate.