The Virgin Australia Newbie Questions Thread

[MooTime]

Hard to hide on ool lounge, got another jumper, hat?

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Hard to hide on ool lounge, got another jumper, hat?

My next flight is on QF so I might just shuffle to the dungeon.

I'm just a little surprised that VA had a 1 hour rule!

 

[jase05]

My next flight is on QF so I might just shuffle to the dungeon.

I'm just a little surprised that VA had a 1 hour rule!

Yes, VA have a 1hr limit for lounge access on arrival. It’s meant to be so you can just have a quick toilet break, grab a coffee and a snack. It’s not for people to make it a home base for several hours. Lounge access on arrival is for those in Business class or tier members of both VA and partner airlines. When lounges are busy they give preference to Business passengers and Platinums with Gold being denied entry but if lounges are really bursting at the seams they can stop all access on arrival ( I haven’t seen this happen yet )

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Yes, VA have a 1hr limit for lounge access on arrival. It’s meant to be so you can just have a quick toilet break, grab a coffee and a snack. It’s not for people to make it a home base for several hours. Lounge access on arrival is for those in Business class or tier members of both VA and partner airlines. When lounges are busy they give preference to Business passengers and Platinums with Gold being denied entry but if lounges are really bursting at the seams they can stop all access on arrival ( I haven’t seen this happen yet )

I think that's agreeable some might have a few emails/meetings to attend so more than an hour would be nice. Having this explicitly stated on the website would be good as well just to manage expectations.

 

[kerfuffle]

I think that's agreeable some might have a few emails/meetings to attend so more than an hour would be nice. Having this explicitly stated on the website would be good as well just to manage expectations.

It is explicitly stated on the website: Virgin Australia's airport lounges | Virgin Australia (Point 3, left hand column)

Enjoy lounge access immediately upon arrival at your destination after your Virgin Australia flight for up to 60 minutes. Subject to space availability.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

It is explicitly stated on the website: Virgin Australia's airport lounges | Virgin Australia (Point 3, left hand column)

I stand corrected! Must have been reading elsewhere. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[serfty]

I stand corrected! Must have been reading elsewhere. Thanks for letting me know.

Yes, this predates COVID by maybe a year.

In reality the inference in @MooTime's post #221 is pertinent.

 

[FlyIsUndone]

I found a last-minute reward flight on Virgin Australia that I wanted to book.
Virgin's site let me go all the way through to payment. But it was only after I verified everything, input my details and clicked purchase that I got an alert:
"Pricing error. We were unable to price your selected itinerary. Either the fares are invalid or there is no longer any availability for the flights and fares you selected. Please select a different fare to continue."
And yet when I went back to the site - the fare was still available. It even showed up when I searched on a different computer. It just won't let me finalise the booking.
I triple-checked availability on ExpertFlyer and it looks like there is capacity.
If this is a phantom listing, is there any way I can ask Virgin to honour it?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I found a last-minute reward flight on Virgin Australia that I wanted to book.
Virgin's site let me go all the way through to payment. But it was only after I verified everything, input my details and clicked purchase that I got an alert:
"Pricing error. We were unable to price your selected itinerary. Either the fares are invalid or there is no longer any availability for the flights and fares you selected. Please select a different fare to continue."
And yet when I went back to the site - the fare was still available. It even showed up when I searched on a different computer. It just won't let me finalise the booking.
I triple-checked availability on ExpertFlyer and it looks like there is capacity.
If this is a phantom listing, is there any way I can ask Virgin to honour it?

You can call and ask the call centre to book for you. If it’s an IT glitch they should be able to fix it. If it’s phantom, nothing they can do.

 

[MelbFlyer]

I've got a flight from Melbourne to Brisbane later this week (VA353 @ 8:40pm), and really don't want to pay for a change fee for an earlier flight considering it was already changed from 8:10pm to 8:40pm (I had a look at VA353's performance and it seems like last Friday there was an issue and the flight had to return back to Melbourne, and eventually arrived in Brisbane at 1am Saturday morning).

Two tickets - mine was a complimentary return ticket from my (now cancelled) AMEX card and the 2nd seat was a paid fare under the Choice fare level.

We've got a rental car pickup at 11:30pm with Budget and since the flight is scheduled to land at 10:50pm, by the time we get out, it might be too late. We've only got carry-on so we won't have to wait for luggage, but it's just whether or not the flight will be delayed or on time.

Would it be completely out of the question, or still possible to chance it and arrive at Melbourne Airport at 6pm and ask / see if I can get a seat on either of the 7:40pm (VA349) or 8:10pm (VA353) flights?

Checking online now, these two flights are not yet sold out, but of course in between now and then, they may sell out.

I guess worst case, they'll say no / the flight is sold out and we then wait an hour or so extra for our originally scheduled flight.

I've checked online and the change fee to change my flight is ridiculous - it's as much as the fare itself.

TL;DR - If we can rock up at Melbourne Airport and chance it to get a seat on an earlier flight, without a change fee / fare difference.

 

[MooTime]

I've got a flight from Melbourne to Brisbane later this week (VA353 @ 8:40pm), and really don't want to pay for a change fee for an earlier flight considering it was already changed from 8:10pm to 8:40pm (I had a look at VA353's performance and it seems like last Friday there was an issue and the flight had to return back to Melbourne, and eventually arrived in Brisbane at 1am Saturday morning).

Two tickets - mine was a complimentary return ticket from my (now cancelled) AMEX card and the 2nd seat was a paid fare under the Choice fare level.

We've got a rental car pickup at 11:30pm with Budget and since the flight is scheduled to land at 10:50pm, by the time we get out, it might be too late. We've only got carry-on so we won't have to wait for luggage, but it's just whether or not the flight will be delayed or on time.

Would it be completely out of the question, or still possible to chance it and arrive at Melbourne Airport at 6pm and ask / see if I can get a seat on either of the 7:40pm (VA349) or 8:10pm (VA353) flights?

Checking online now, these two flights are not yet sold out, but of course in between now and then, they may sell out.

I guess worst case, they'll say no / the flight is sold out and we then wait an hour or so extra for our originally scheduled flight.

I've checked online and the change fee to change my flight is ridiculous - it's as much as the fare itself.

TL;DR - If we can rock up at Melbourne Airport and chance it to get a seat on an earlier flight, without a change fee / fare difference.

As a Red member you don't get the 'Fly Ahead' perk reserved for Gold & Platinum status holders.

Asking at the airport can't hurt, but being a Friday peak flight, not likely at all.

Hey if your flight's been changed time previously, this allows free change time of flight, call the call centre & simple tell them my flight time's been changed, can I please change to an earlier flight. Done it many times.

 

[aikman]

What is the easiest, preferably free, way of extending expiring points? The points expire June 30. This is for a family member so I don't have their membership card.

 

[AIRwin]

it was already changed from 8:10pm to 8:40pm

When was it changed and did you accept?

 

[MelbFlyer]

As a Red member you don't get the 'Fly Ahead' perk reserved for Gold & Platinum status holders.

Asking at the airport can't hurt, but being a Friday peak flight, not likely at all.

Hey if your flight's been changed time previously, this allows free change time of flight, call the call centre & simple tell them my flight time's been changed, can I please change to an earlier flight. Done it many times.

Thankyou, I don't fly with Virgin much so wasn't aware of that perk for higher tiered members.

I was able to call up and get my flight changed due to that schedule change - all good now, thankyou!

When was it changed and did you accept?

It was around 6 months ago that I received the email regarding the flight time change and I can't recall if I accepted it.

I was able to get the flight changed by calling up, so I'm assuming that I didn't accept the change then.

 

[AIRwin]

I was able to get the flight changed by calling up, so I'm assuming that I didn't accept the change then.

Lucky for you then!

 

[kerfuffle]

What is the easiest, preferably free, way of extending expiring points? The points expire June 30. This is for a family member so I don't have their membership card.

Can they buy something small from 7-eleven? Or transfer points in from a credit card program?

 

[MooTime]

What is the easiest, preferably free, way of extending expiring points? The points expire June 30. This is for a family member so I don't have their membership card.

if they have flybuys linked to their velocity, simple coles shop & scan flybuys card will do it.

sign upto e-rewards, link their velocity acc & do a survey, 10-15mins.

 

[stm1sydney]

What is the easiest, preferably free, way of extending expiring points? The points expire June 30. This is for a family member so I don't have their membership card.

7-Eleven. Get the 7-Eleven app (the Australian one), link to Velocity number and buy some petrol (when paying, the cashier scans the 7-11 member barcode in the app).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

if they have flybuys linked to their velocity, simple coles shop & scan flybuys card will do it.

sign upto e-rewards, link their velocity acc & do a survey, 10-15mins.

Aren’t they transferred in batches of 1000 cole’s points though? Quite an expensive way to get points?

 

[MooTime]

Aren’t they transferred in batches of 1000 cole’s points though? Quite an expensive way to get points?

oh yes I didn't think of that, you are correct.