Rewards booking codes for VA?

[Moopere]

Another piece of info:
"I" is the whole of government (WOAG) fully flexible economy fare, including lounge access, food & drink & entertainment.

Hmm. We have D listed as this type of fare at the moment. Perhaps "I" is as well? Anecdotal evidence suggests I is also used for other non government related buckets. Have you got any recent booking info or boarding pass you'd be able to share (with personal stuff obscured of course)?

All data points gratefully accepted of course.

 

[significance]

Hmm. We have D listed as this type of fare at the moment. Perhaps "I" is as well? Anecdotal evidence suggests I is also used for other non government related buckets. Have you got any recent booking info or boarding pass you'd be able to share (with personal stuff obscured of course)?

All data points gratefully accepted of course.

I was initially booked on a D fare tomorrow afternoon (Rockhampton-BBN-CBR). I called this morning to change my flight to this afternoon, and was told I'd need to spend an extra $100 to upgrade to an I class fare as there were no seats available for a D class fare. My itinerary states that this is a WOAG** fare, and the fine print describes it as a flexible fare.

I'm having trouble uploading a photo from my iPad. I ended up in 3C (front row of Economy) on the Rocky-Brisbane stretch and 1C, Brisbane to Canberra.

 

[Moopere]

Thats really interesting - more evidence it seems of "I" class being related to ticketing changes in the immediate term. Maybe there are two WOAG fares? Deep discount and standard? People needing changes in the next few days are finding only the more expensive buckets left (as other anecdotes imply).

Thanks for the report. I'll update the list when I get home.

 

[significance]

An update... On boarding, I got shunted back from 1C to 12D.

I wonder if "I" is just the general "gotcha!" price gouge fare for last-minute changes, inheriting whatever the conditions were on the original fare. I'm annoyed, because I only bought the expensive D fare in the first place because I knew a last minute change was likely and thought paying for a flexible fare was supposed to cover that eventuality.

 

[Moopere]

Thought I'd come back to this as there has been significant change since the change over to Sabre and I've not been able to find a good single authoritative source of info.

To kick the post Sabre booking codes off then, here is what I've gleaned from snooping around the virgin website:

August 2013 Update

From Virgins Site (https://www.velocityrewards.com.au/content/Earn/Airlines/PointsEarn/index.htm)

S, M, U = Discount Economy - "Saver Lite" fares. Probably in revenue order, so, S most expensive, U cheapest
E, N, V, Q, T, G = Discount Economy - "Saver" fares
Y, B, H, K, L = Full Fare Economy (Flexi)
W, R, O = Premium Economy - I can't find any flights that actually use this code however ... possibly used for codeshares with partners?
D, I = Business - "Business Saver" fares
J, C = Business - Full fare Business


AFF deduction:

Z = Business award and upgrade from flexi. I was told this by a VA CSR on the phone and I think there is reference to this elsewhere on the forum
F = Economy Award. There is some scattered evidence to suggest this is the stock drawn on for Economy Reward seats - looking for a source/confirmation


Standard Codes that get used in interesting ways:

Nothing confirmed so far.

Do we know which classes the 'free' Amex economy flights book to now (probably F????)



Here is an interesting document that is probably available from the VA website somewhere but I couldn't find it there. This one came to me via a google search:

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/finance/travel/consultants/Virgin_Australia_Fare_Type.pdf

 

[serfty]

For the Amex stuff, I made a booking a month ago.

I asked about the fare bucket classess and there are three - they'll book you in to the cheapest available at the time of booking. I noted them down, but these notes are at my office - I'll dig them up next week.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Maybe a mod may like to change the thread title to VA (from DJ).

 

[Moopere]

For the Amex stuff, I made a booking a month ago.

I asked about the fare bucket classess and there are three - they'll book you in to the cheapest available at the time of booking. I noted them down, but these notes are at my office - I'll dig them up next week.

Sounds likely it would be the "Saver Lite" fare codes, S, M, U ... presumably, as with the previous Amex DJ offer standard luggage would be included

 

[Moopere]

September 2013 Update

From Virgins Site (https://www.velocityrewards.com.au/c...Earn/index.htm)

S, M, U = Discount Economy - "Saver Lite" fares. Probably in revenue order, so, S most expensive, U cheapest
E, N, V, Q, T, G = Discount Economy - "Saver" fares
Y, B, H, K, L = Full Fare Economy (Flexi)
W, R, O = Premium Economy - I can't find any flights that actually use this code however ... possibly used for codeshares with partners?
D, I = Business - "Business Saver" fares
J, C = Business - Full fare Business


AFF deduction:

Z = Business award and upgrade from flexi. I was told this by a VA CSR on the phone and I think there is reference to this elsewhere on the forum
F = Economy Award. There is some scattered evidence to suggest this is the stock drawn on for Economy Reward seats - looking for a source/confirmation
P = Premium Economy Reward/Upgrade from Flexi (source=https://www.velocityrewards.com.au/content/Redeem/FlightUpgrades/index.htm#1)


Standard Codes that get used in interesting ways:

Nothing confirmed so far.

Do we know which classes the 'free' Amex economy flights book to now (probably F????)



Here is an interesting document that is probably available from the VA website somewhere but I couldn't find it there. This one came to me via a google search:

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/finance/t..._Fare_Type.pdf



===============
Last Update:

- Add "P" class

 

[AdMEL]

Sounds likely it would be the "Saver Lite" fare codes, S, M, U ... presumably, as with the previous Amex DJ offer standard luggage would be included

I doubt this would be the case, since the Amex free flights include checked bags and Saver Lite does not.

September 2013 Update

From Virgins Site (https://www.velocityrewards.com.au/c...Earn/index.htm)

S, M, U = Discount Economy - "Saver Lite" fares. Probably in revenue order, so, S most expensive, U cheapest
E, N, V, Q, T, G = Discount Economy - "Saver" fares
Y, B, H, K, L = Full Fare Economy (Flexi)
W, R, O = Premium Economy - I can't find any flights that actually use this code however ... possibly used for codeshares with partners?
D, I = Business - "Business Saver" fares
J, C = Business - Full fare Business


AFF deduction:

Z = Business award and upgrade from flexi. I was told this by a VA CSR on the phone and I think there is reference to this elsewhere on the forum
F = Economy Award. There is some scattered evidence to suggest this is the stock drawn on for Economy Reward seats - looking for a source/confirmation
P = Premium Economy Reward/Upgrade from Flexi (source=https://www.velocityrewards.com.au/content/Redeem/FlightUpgrades/index.htm#1)


Standard Codes that get used in interesting ways:

Nothing confirmed so far.

Do we know which classes the 'free' Amex economy flights book to now (probably F????)



Here is an interesting document that is probably available from the VA website somewhere but I couldn't find it there. This one came to me via a google search:

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/finance/t..._Fare_Type.pdf



===============
Last Update:

- Add "P" class

Interesting that VA are using F for economy flights, when it is generally used for first class! Maybe F = Free?

I've seen the VA fare table you posted somewhere else - I think a link to it has previously been posted on another thread (maybe around the time/subject of the switch to Sabre?) and I think the link was possibly from the VA website.

With regard to PE, what about Trans Tasman flights?

I'm curious as to whether Z currently earns status credits at Flexi or Business?

 

[serfty]

VA would not be the only airline without any first class to use the F designator for another class.

 

[AdMEL]

VA would not be the only airline without any first class to use the F designator for another class.

I take it that Virgin do not on sell/offer F seats on SQ?

 

[Lowjhg]

Shouldnt the booking code for economy rewards be X?

 

[Moopere]

I doubt this would be the case, since the Amex free flights include checked bags and Saver Lite does not.

Always looking for confirmations and information of course, but it wouldn't be the first time this weirdness has happened. The old Amex offer using DJ, when before DJ became VA used to book to a 'no bags' fare yet still included baggage for the Amex contracted seats ... caused any amount of confusion a fair bit of which was posted to this forum I seem to remember.

However, for sure, we need folks to contribute real life info from these Amex flights. The problem of course is that many here will have some sort of status with VA and will get baggage regardless, we need some red status holders to use their Amex flights and report in afterwards

I'm curious as to whether Z currently earns status credits at Flexi or Business?

Up until June (I think) upgraded Flexi's to Z earned full business credits/points. I hit gold because of it. Not 100% sure, but I think this 'offer' has finished now and we're back to obtaining only the original fares entitlements. I'll be taking a Z fare out of SYD in the next couple of weeks and will be paying attention to this ... will report back.

 

[Lowjhg]

I can confirm, a rewards J (Z fare) posted at 0 Sc earn post June. The flight was taken mid July.

 

[DGW]

I can confirm, a rewards J (Z fare) posted at 0 Sc earn post June. The flight was taken mid July.

I had the opposite experience with a Z fare (Flexi upgrade to Business) over the weekend. Flight was booked in June but not upgraded until last week.

 

[AdMEL]

I can confirm, a rewards J (Z fare) posted at 0 Sc earn post June. The flight was taken mid July.

I had the opposite experience with a Z fare (Flexi upgrade to Business) over the weekend. Flight was booked in June but not upgraded until last week.

From these two experiences, it seems VA can and do differentiate between Z booked on rewards points and Z upgraded from Flexi - not sure how they do that though!

 

[Moopere]

From these two experiences, it seems VA can and do differentiate between Z booked on rewards points and Z upgraded from Flexi - not sure how they do that though!

Yes this certainly does seem to be the case - original fare rules/credits apply when upgrading. The fairly recent 'gifting' of full J status for upgraded flexi's was just a promotion I think ... or a backend Sabre thing that had to be worked out and was presented to us as a favour hehehe.

 

[Lowjhg]

Yes this certainly does seem to be the case - original fare rules/credits apply when upgrading. The fairly recent 'gifting' of full J status for upgraded flexi's was just a promotion I think ... or a backend Sabre thing that had to be worked out and was presented to us as a favour hehehe.

This was definitely back end recognition pre june 30 with the 'earn status credits on rewards fare' promotion. According to the T&Cs X, P, Z fares would earn the same status credits as their revenue counterparts, thus the back end system recognizing the 'Z' fare and awarded the JCL SCs accordingly (highest historical SC earning fare class rule?). Since now the promotion is over it does not recognize the 'Z' fare but instead recognizes the flexi fare and thus award the SCs based on that.

 

[AdMEL]

I had the opposite experience with a Z fare (Flexi upgrade to Business) over the weekend. Flight was booked in June but not upgraded until last week.

Just to clarify, were you awarded Flexi or Business status credits?