New fare structure from 13/01/2013

[ChrisFlyer]

I received an email last night advising of a new fare structure, effective from January 13. The email mentions that the structure will be harmonised across their domestic and international products, however the attached link only shows information for domestic.

A summary of the changes (not including differing change fees etc):

5 fare types:
Y
*Saver Lite (classes U, M & S) - no baggage included and cannot be purchased separately online. The only way to have checked baggage is to upgrade to the next fare type, or to pay the airport rate for checked baggage on departure. Only tea, coffee & water included, with the exception of Capital Connect, transcons, and "other services" (no specific clarification).
*Saver (T, Q, V, N & E) - 1x23kg included, 3 bags/pax max. Same inclusions as above.
*Flexi (L, K, H, B & Y) - same baggage as above, but with complimentary food & bev.
J
*Business Saver (I, D) - 2x32kg baggage, all-inclusive, no refunds.
*Business (C, J) - as above but allows refund without fee.

Also of note is that there will be no discounts for children aged 2-11 (not sure if a discount is currently offered), and that no fares (including full fare J) permit name changes (corrections only).

Full details here.

 

[ms1]

Hmm very interesting.

No mention of status credits.. I assume saver lite and saver fare's will still be discount economy?

 

[moa999]

No name change (even J) is interesting.

What are refunds on Flexi Y ??

The intro of Saver Lite is interesting given that DJ is acquiring Tiger.

Also seems to suggest that JBs attempt to move DJ up-market has not been entirely successful

 

[oz_mark]

Hmm very interesting.

No mention of status credits.. I assume saver lite and saver fare's will still be discount economy?

You'd think so, but will have to wait until the status credit earn table gets updated, to reflect the code changes.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

What are refunds on Flexi Y ??
...
Also seems to suggest that JBs attempt to move DJ up-market has not been entirely successful

For Flexi Y, booking cancellations have a $60 fee, "permitted up to 24 hrs after schedule flight departure and prior to guest check-in". For refunds, a $60 fee "when refunding to original form of payment".

And I agree - I was hoping that all fares (or at least 'Saver' fares) would include soft drink etc at a minimum (even LCCs in the USA offer this). I don't often travel on flexible tickets as most of my travel is self-funded or BFOD for client (usually on QF), and being asked to pay for a can of soft drink on board as an SG does still carry a hint of Virgin Blue... Obviously there are other aspects to not completely transitioning to 'up-market', but as my status gives me most of the J inclusions on the cheaper fares, the on-board food & beverage offering is the one most noticable to me.

 

[777]

At this stage it looks more like housekeeping to me in preparation for sabre, alignment of the domestic and international product and sales via GDS. The obvious reason for making the distinction between saver and saver lite is to make it easier to sell the two via GDS.

 

[pshepvic]

If find it strange when the whole point of going to just three fare types previously was to simplify things. I can see confusion in its way, particularly with the baggage rules on the cheapest fares.

 

[highflyingkiwi]

If they are harmonizing - would that mean loss of priority checkin for Silver and Flexi for International too (as per that document)?

 

[day-heg]

I wonder if 'fly ahead' will still be available on saver lite fares? My work policy is BFOD and I utilise the Fly Ahead benefit from time to time... it's very useful!
I hope we don't see an enhancement....

 

[mavrick9]

For all fares it says "Yes" to advanced seat selection, (Currently 14days out for Status and Business only).

 

[clarkkent]

I hope priority baggage still being available for Golds and Plats on Saver Lite fares means that this overrides not being able to add a bag to those fares, and that it remains free..

 

[Jousams]

I hope it's the same as the current pricing structure. For savers & flexis.

 

[KCMil]

There were 12 different fare structures under the VA / DJ system. This now takes it to 7 for the consolidated VA ops and aligns more with their partner airlines. Always confusing when changes are made.
Saver Lite fares = no bags for non / red level mbr, - 1 X23kg bag for silver/gold and 2X23kg bags for Plat.
Other fare levels = 1 bag for non/red and 2 bag for silver / gold and 3 bags for Plat.
J class is 2Xbag for non/red level, others remain the same.

Other advantages appear to be receiving all boarding passes for domestic / international combinations with 11 of VA's partners.

Velocity Points will go to a completely self managed system, avail from mobile as well as web based. This includes last minute upgrading without the call centre headaches!

I was advised yesterday that the Velocity site will be the first to be shut down for cutover, on the 9th Jan. With go live finished for all aspects by Sunday 13th afternoon. Sounds like a huge exercise. There are reportedly large teams from Sabre in the US moving in to all the terminals for the period of cutover and following 4 weeks to work with staff at ALL airports as well as significantly increased staffing levels.

Lounge staff also indicated that the new system means we should see an end to the "I can't access Velocity" situation. They are waiting to either get a velocity staff member into the lounges or lounge staff trained to handle requests. Though they say the new system will eradicate the need for most Velocity centre queries. Best of all a supposedly dramatic shortening in Velocity shop n not earn store processing etc.... with the Velocity partners having more direct access to the Velocity system.

As for no soft drinks, JB has stated more than once that we will see a continuing development of the onboard product over the new year. I suspect if it were his decission alone things would have changed more dramatically by now, however, he does have to convince the board that it is all the right move. And they are still mainly the same board from Virgin Blue.

For me, I've cancelled the two flights I had in Jan to avoid the possibility of a nightmare, guess lower loads will help them too. They did say to me yesterday that all flights have had a cap put on them so they should not be fully booked to allow for quicker recovery from dissrupt. A costly exercise I should think, fingers crossed for the best.

 

[serfty]

Hmm very interesting.

No mention of status credits.. I assume saver lite and saver fare's will still be discount economy?

You'd think so, but will have to wait until the status credit earn table gets updated, to reflect the code changes.

Going by the colum headings, that's exactly what I would expect.:

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]Cabin[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 3, align: center"]Economy[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"]Business
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]Fare Types[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Saver Lite
(U,M,S)
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Saver
(T,Q,V,N,E)
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Flexi
(L,K,H,B,Y)
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Business Saver
(I,D)
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Business
(C,J)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

That is:
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Discount Economy
[/TD]
[TD]Saver Lite/Saver: (T,Q,V,N,E,U,M,S)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Full fare Economy
[/TD]
[TD]Flexi: (L,K,H,B,Y)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Business
[/TD]
[TD]Business Saver/Business: (I,D,C,J)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[JohnK]

So much for the simplifying exercise.

My concern would be the difference between Saver Lite and Saver in regards to checked luggage. Also interested to see which class Happy Hour and Sale airfares will fit into.

 

[atreides]

Hmm, so why would they outlaw name changes completely? They are quite handy sometimes.

 

[openseat]

Velocity Points will go to a completely self managed system, avail from mobile as well as web based. This includes last minute upgrading without the call centre headaches!

This is great news!

I was advised yesterday that the Velocity site will be the first to be shut down for cutover, on the 9th Jan. With go live finished for all aspects by Sunday 13th afternoon. Sounds like a huge exercise. There are reportedly large teams from Sabre in the US moving in to all the terminals for the period of cutover and following 4 weeks to work with staff at ALL airports as well as significantly increased staffing levels.

I hope it works out well. It's just every big changeover usually has an outage and also given summer storms, it could be a bit messy.

As for no soft drinks, JB has stated more than once that we will see a continuing development of the onboard product over the new year. I suspect if it were his decission alone things would have changed more dramatically by now, however, he does have to convince the board that it is all the right move. And they are still mainly the same board from Virgin Blue.

I had hoped things would have progressed much more quickly.

One concern I have is staff fatigue. I know a cabin manager quite well and she has told me that she is being constantly called in and thinking of throwing in the job because it has become so demanding.

 

[Lowjhg]

So much for the simplifying exercise.

My concern would be the difference between Saver Lite and Saver in regards to checked luggage. Also interested to see which class Happy Hour and Sale airfares will fit into.

i believe happy hour and sale fares would fit nicely into the saver lite categories, with the normal savers and flexes remaining in their very spots. I believe with the introduction of Business savers it only means something - expect more J sales to be coming our way?

 

[KCMil]

Let's hope that this is one program implementation that doesn't have to be carried by the Ground Crew, Cabin Crew and support staff! I agree openseat, some I know are feeling burned out with so many changes and it doesn't look like easing up for them.

 

[oz_mark]

So much for the simplifying exercise.

Bringing domestic and international ops under one common set of branding will be simpler.