Mystery Flights are back as a holiday!

[LiamR]

I couldn't help but laugh, I was selecting my seats via the call centre, upon asking for my booking reference number I responded giving a word for each letter "Sure, that's A for Alpha, the number 7, Q for Qantas"

Lovely helen on the Platinum Line won't stop laughing now.

 

[haydensydney]

Any the result for my mystery tour is...

Very cool... but... Hobart? Seems fairly pedestrian doesn't it - like a golden triangle flight really.

What were your expectations?

Perhaps if it was a two night mystery flight they may consider sending you further afield?

 

[markis10]

Only thing I'd like is to be on the earlier flight, I arrive in HBA at 1250 and leave at 1310. I'll have to make the most of the time!

Maybe we should revisit that statement after your trip??? Whats the hotel, there are hardly a plethora of options that are good?

 

[Greggsy]

What were your expectations?

Anywhere but the Gold Coast I'd imagine.


Greg.

Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[LiamR]

Why so negative? I'm just glad it wasen't SYD, ADL or BNE (or OOL!) Destinations I've travlled to dozens of times. At least Hobart will be something different, I'll be able to go out and explore and what not.

 

[markis10]

Why so negative? I'm just glad it wasen't SYD, ADL or BNE (or OOL!) Destinations I've travlled to dozens of times. At least Hobart will be something different, I'll be able to go out and explore and what not.

Again we will revisit that statement after your trip! HBA is great in Summer which coincidently is peak season, and some of the best food can be had in the many restaurants, but options are limited at this time of the year IMHO.

 

[haydensydney]

All i'm saying is that it's fairly close to Melbourne so wasn't a stretch in terms of distance... it would be similar to going to Adelaide from Melbourne.

Thats my concern - paying $500 to end up somewhere close and unimaginative. I would rather go to Alice Springs, Darwin, Sunshine Coast etc etc...

[PS I really want to go to Hobart as i've never been, and I love the cold weather]

 

[mr_osborne]

Air NZhave a similar concept, but the have great mystery breaks(3-3.5*), and deluxe mystery breaks(4-5*). Air New Zealand Mystery Breaks
They also allow you to nominate one place you don't want to go to.

LiamR, I love tasmania and am sure you'll have a great time.

 

[LiamR]

I'm just in transport on the way to the airport so I thought I'd let you know how my mystery trip went.

Was told Thursday Afternoon via email where I was going, more than enough time to pack for my Saturday departure. My hotel "The old Woolstore Apartment Hotel" was good, with a very roomy design and nice service all round by the staff. Breakfast was included in my rate, which was a bonus. The hotel was in a good location, with easy access to the city.

Transport was a minibus service from the airport to my hotel, and the same for the return. Upon arriving at the minibus, they had no record of my arranged transportation so we had to get out my booking, call head office who called Blue Holidays, who confirmed they forgot (Grr!) to book the bus for me, luckily they sorted it out then and there. Bit of a pain.

I was lucky enough to have a local AFF member, chrisjnr show me around some of the beautiful sights of Hobart. Very thankful for his time.

All in all I enjoyed my time here, however....

I arrived at my hotel yesterday at 2pm, and my transport picked me up at 11am. That's only 21 hours in a city!! Why virgin couldn't put me on the early flight yesterday morning and the event flight tonight is beyond me. I only had yesterday afternoon and this morning to explore the city. Nowhere near enough time for a $400 holiday IMO.

The thing I liked about the Mystery Break is, if I went to spend $400 on a holiday, I wouldn't have gone to Hobart. But since Virgin chose for me, I got to explore somewhere I wouldn't normally go, and had a real good time doing it. Just wish I could have had a lot more time here.

So great idea Virgin, but it just needs a little tweaking to improve things.

 

[Blossom]

I totally forgot to write a review of mine.
We were leaving Adelaide. Midday the day before we still hadn't been told where we were going. I was getting panicky incase we had been forgotten and were going nowhere, so called them. They told me it was booked and I should get an email soon. They didn't tell me on the phone where I was going though. Half an hour later I got the email. I did get the impression we had been forgotten.
So our trip was to Melbourne. I must admit, had I been able to choose two places not to go Melbourne would have been the other one. The trip was a three night one so we had been hoping for somewhere further away. Everyone I told we were doing the mystery trip said 'you will get sent to Sydney or Melbourne' so it doesn't look like there is much optimism about the trips out there.
We stayed at the citigate hotel which was a great location, but nowhere near the service I would expect for the price we paid. When we booked it was advertised that you would get free chocolates and wine if you booked and went at that time. I had asked on virgins Facebook page about when to expect them, as nothing mentioned it anywhere, and was told it would be waiting in our room for us. It wasn't. I let the Facebook page people know the next day and they got is sorted right out (they were great with all my questions etc).

Transfers were really good. Flight times were good.

All in all, it was a lot of money for a trip that I could have planned in advance for FAR less money. To be fair to virgin, the only other places they had flights going to were Sydney, Brisbane and the gold coast. The weather in Melbourne was stunning while we were there, and raining in qld. So it could be that they have looked at the weather and decided Melbourne would be nicer.

I would do a planned trip next time though. It wasn't worth the money paid, and actually was very stressful having the destination not revealed without so much as a 'we are on it' email.

Ohhhh yes, flights were good also, although nobody at all asked for any form of id or ticket on our way out....