Qatar Airways to acquire 25% of Virgin Australia

[SCM]

Probably another point to consider, if you're living in Europe, it will be impossible to get the correct amount of SCs flying QR from Europe to Asia (ex Australia), since those flights won't be codeshared, right?

 

[AIRwin]

Europe on sale:

Europe flights on sale

www.virginaustralia.com

 

[RooFlyer]

Europe on sale:

Europe flights on sale

www.virginaustralia.com

Thanks! Perfect timing - just sent the TA a Europe return request for the sale period a few hours ago.

 

[levelnine]

No J award seats released yet.

 

[RooFlyer]

No J award seats released yet.

Well, you aren't any fun ....

 

[RooFlyer]

No J award seats released yet.

What I should have said is - when you say 'yet' is there reason to believe that J will follow?

 

[levelnine]

What I should have said is - when you say 'yet' is there reason to believe that J will follow?

Generally new routes are some of the best opportunities to score J award seats, so I think there's a good possibility they will release some at some point, especially because it would allow Virgin to drive home the benefits of its points program vis-a-vis the competition.

 

[WilsonM]

Generally new routes are some of the best opportunities to score J award seats, so I think there's a good possibility they will release some at some point, especially because it would allow Virgin to drive home the benefits of its points program vis-a-vis the competition.

I'd be surprised if they released seats before the changes on Jan 21. But also, extremely interested to see the pricing on VA to DOH, and onwards on QR - if they keep it as is, it's more expensive than a straight QR itinerary on VA points (although probably less in carrier charges).

 

[SYD]

No J award seats released yet.

No particularly good J fares either - unless I missed something….?

 

[AIRwin]

Thanks! Perfect timing - just sent the TA a Europe return request for the sale period a few hours ago.

Up to 20K bonus points

 

[tmdl]

I wonder when J reward seats will appear?

 

[levelnine]

I wonder when J reward seats will appear?

Wilson's guess that they won't appear before the devaluation comes into effect seems like a sound one.

 

[jrfsp]

No particularly good J fares either - unless I missed something….?

Not bad though - cheaper than QR themselves for the same product (plus cheaper than all the usual suspects)

 

[justinbrett]

No particularly good J fares either - unless I missed something….?

Are there actually new fares? It doesn't seem to make a difference whether you book the VA*QR for VA vs VA*QR so is there any reason why these prices would have been any different a week ago?

 

[henrus]

Not bad though - cheaper than QR themselves for the same product (plus cheaper than all the usual suspects)

Is it the same product or will it be the older non qsuites J cabin?

Amusingly from Brisbane to Doha oneway the QR flight is significantly cheaper in J compared to the VA one (6k vs 9k).

 

[Harrison_133]

Is it the same product or will it be the older non qsuites J cabin?

From the newsroom article:
"[3] Virgin Australia’s flights will all include the QSuite configuration by default. The aircraft will only switch to a non-QSuite fitted aircraft if operationally required."

 

[markis10]

From the newsroom article:
"[3] Virgin Australia’s flights will all include the QSuite configuration by default. The aircraft will only switch to a non-QSuite fitted aircraft if operationally required."

Be funny if the ex VA aircraft suddenly stoped visiting Bali and became operationally required on a wet lease to Aus.

 

[HS-TQE]

Be funny if the ex VA aircraft suddenly stoped visiting Bali and became operationally required on a wet lease to Aus.

The trio of ex-VA 77Ws are also regular visitors to HKT and Vietnam ports as well. They're pretty much QR's leisure destination aircraft those days.

 

[Brizz]

New Long Haul reward chart for Virgin - only for bookings from the 21st Jan - so that's probably when we will see the ability to book rewards on these new flights?

Using Points For Flights

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158k points to LHR - plus $230 USD per segment (approx. $720 AUD for the trip)

 

[im.daniel]

Looks like the extra service to PER means that the A380 QR 900/901 service is being swapped for a 77W.