The Virgin Australia Newbie Questions Thread

[sudoer]

Likely not possible, but wanted to ask anyways. I have a rewards flight from HND - CNS all booked next year. But i'm planning on flying from CTS (Sapporo) that same day. Does anyone know if it's possible to book a NH flight through VAs call centre to then combine them in one itinerary, so i can check the bags all the way through?

If there is NH partner award space it should be easy enough to add to the same PNR.

Having said that, NH will absolutely check through partners on separate PNRs, especially from a domestic leg originating in Japan. Have done this many, many times on both NH and JL.

Just give yourself at least 3 hours transit time at HND, or maybe longer if you're departing in Sapporo during winter.

 

[ADFlyMore]

We have a trip to Melbourne this Friday (27th) and returning Monday (30th). I am gold and am not going to hit the required SC to retain gold this year as my review date is 28th Oct. I noticed my card expiry date is 28th Nov.
Question - On my flight on Monday, will I still be gold as wondering if we will still have lounge access? Will I have gold for the additional month between the "review" date and "expiry" date? Or from this Saturday, am I dropping down to Silver?

 

[Human]

We have a trip to Melbourne this Friday (27th) and returning Monday (30th). I am gold and am not going to hit the required SC to retain gold this year as my review date is 28th Oct. I noticed my card expiry date is 28th Nov.
Question - On my flight on Monday, will I still be gold as wondering if we will still have lounge access? Will I have gold for the additional month between the "review" date and "expiry" date? Or from this Saturday, am I dropping down to Silver?

You will have lounge access until your card expiry date or until Velocity contacts you to say that you've dropped down to Silver, whichever comes first. You should definitely be right for lounge access on Monday 30th.

 

[knagelli]

We have a trip to Melbourne this Friday (27th) and returning Monday (30th). I am gold and am not going to hit the required SC to retain gold this year as my review date is 28th Oct. I noticed my card expiry date is 28th Nov.
Question - On my flight on Monday, will I still be gold as wondering if we will still have lounge access? Will I have gold for the additional month between the "review" date and "expiry" date? Or from this Saturday, am I dropping down to Silver?

Your status remains unchanged until the expiry date on your card / digital app.

 

[ADFlyMore]

Oh fantastic. Thank you both

 

[ishfrem]

I swear it was possible to do flights from some places that connected through singapore previously with virgin. Is that feature gone?
In this case it was an istanbul to penang flight with a stopover in singapore.

 

[marcojim]

Hi everyone.

I was making a reward booking and received the booking confirmation email (including the e-ticket) and the corresponding funds have been deducted from my points balance and back account. The booking also appears in my Velocity account. However the payment webpage kept loading and eventually said payment failed. Is there anything I should do in this situation other than ringing Virgin to check that the booking was made successfully?

Thanks

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Print out your bank account page, and get a guillotine or pair of scissor to cut out the other parts of the statement, and send it to them to provide proof that the amount of $ you have paid, have been deducted.
Or print selection.
Also do it for your VFF account.
Has not happened to me, but the only way I can see, is to phone them up.
VFF does not have an Aust call centre anymore, so it would be the overseas one.
Hope it all goes well and to plan for the trip.
Better than turning up on the day of the flight, to be denied boarding.
I saw "back account", did you mean you paid some $ for taxes from your bank account?

 

[RooFlyer]

Hi everyone.

I was making a reward booking and received the booking confirmation email (including the e-ticket) and the corresponding funds have been deducted from my points balance and back account. The booking also appears in my Velocity account. However the payment webpage kept loading and eventually said payment failed. Is there anything I should do in this situation other than ringing Virgin to check that the booking was made successfully?

Thanks

Sounds like everything happened normally except for a glitch on the payment webpage, but as the payments obviously gone through, then I don’t think you need to do anything.

Keep checking the booking on the velocity site, just to make sure it doesn’t suddenly disappear or anything, but if the points and funds have gone you’ve paid for it and you have the eTi cv let.

 

[marcojim]

Sounds like everything happened normally except for a glitch on the payment webpage, but as the payments obviously gone through, then I don’t think you need to do anything.

Keep checking the booking on the velocity site, just to make sure it doesn’t suddenly disappear or anything, but if the points and funds have gone you’ve paid for it and you have the eTi cv let.

Ok great thanks for your help

 

[Fenlon2203]

Hi hoping someone can answer my question, I was recently booked on a VA flight from Rockhampton to Sydney, I was booked in a choice fair so that I could gain the 30 status credits to achieve my gold membership status, however my flight was delayed and further cancelled, I was then booked onto a Qantas flight by virgin, I had no choice on which flights to choose, just directed by the app to check in with the qantas desk. I am hoping to find out whether I am still going to receive the status points and miles, further to this will they automatically be added to my account or will I need to contact virgin myself. Hope someone can help and appreciate it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi hoping someone can answer my question, I was recently booked on a VA flight from Rockhampton to Sydney, I was booked in a choice fair so that I could gain the 30 status credits to achieve my gold membership status, however my flight was delayed and further cancelled, I was then booked onto a Qantas flight by virgin, I had no choice on which flights to choose, just directed by the app to check in with the qantas desk. I am hoping to find out whether I am still going to receive the status points and miles, further to this will they automatically be added to my account or will I need to contact virgin myself. Hope someone can help and appreciate it.

You will need to contact Virgin directly and ask for an ‘original routing credit’.

I would probably contact velocity, as they’re the ones handing out the status credits, rather than reservations.

Explain your original flight was cancelled and you were rebooked on Qantas, and you’d like the original routing credit so you can keep gold.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @Fenlon2203 .

Re-iterating Mel_Traveller's advice and for you to emphasise that you want 'original routing credit' - its a standard phrase, and you are entitled to the SCs etc of the route you paid for.

 

[Fenlon2203]

You will need to contact Virgin directly and ask for an ‘original routing credit’.

I would probably contact velocity, as they’re the ones handing out the status credits, rather than reservations.

Explain your original flight was cancelled and you were rebooked on Qantas, and you’d like the original routing credit so you can keep gold.

Thank you for the advice, appreciate

Post automatically merged: Oct 31, 2023

Th

Welcome to AFF @Fenlon2203 .

Re-iterating Mel_Traveller's advice and for you to emphasise that you want 'original routing credit' - it’s a standard phrase, and you are entitled to the SCs etc of the route you paid for

Thank you for the advice, appreciate it

 

[AIRwin]

Thank you for the advice, appreciate

Post automatically merged: Oct 31, 2023

Th

Thank you for the advice, appreciate it

Try [email protected]

 

[marcojim]

A question for regular flyers on VA for MEL-SYD. Are there particularly unreliable flights which you avoid?

Asking because I booked myself on VA807 MEL-SYD yesterday (13/11/2023) which was cancelled and VA874 SYD-MEL today (14/11/2023) which has now also been cancelled! I note that VA807 was cancelled three days in a row from 02/11-04-11 and VA874 was cancelled on 05/11, 08/11 and 10/11 also!

Should I buy a lottery ticket?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

A question for regular flyers on VA for MEL-SYD. Are there particularly unreliable flights which you avoid?

Asking because I booked myself on VA807 MEL-SYD yesterday (13/11/2023) which was cancelled and VA874 SYD-MEL today (14/11/2023) which has now also been cancelled! I note that VA807 was cancelled three days in a row from 02/11-04-11 and VA874 was cancelled on 05/11, 08/11 and 10/11 also!

Should I buy a lottery ticket?

You are spot on there are some flights which are less prone to delays than others.

i fly weekly from Sydney to Melbourne and reverse.

The 4:00 p.m. from Sydney seems to be the last flight of the day that regularly runs and departs on time. The rest can be subject to delays or cancellations. Then the last flight of the day also seems to be on time.

The 7:00 p.m. from Melbourne seems to get out on time when everything else around it is delayed or cancelled. Generally up until about 4:00 p.m. flights are on time. Again the last flight of the day is on time.

It can be a bit time consuming to piece it together but generally if the inbound is coming from Brisbane or gold coast it turns around okay, but if you are relying for the inbound to come from Melbourne or Sydney it can be impacted by consequential delays.

 

[sudoer]

ExpertFlyer is a good source of recent reliability information - this is for the past 60 days.

SYD-MEL

		On Time	Avg	Max	Total	Cancelled	Diverted	Late >15m	Late >30m	Late >45m
VA	800	96%	7m	17m	54	0	0	2	0	0
VA	804	63%	11m	31m	38	11	0	2	1	0
VA	806	76%	13m	26m	33	4	0	4	0	0
VA	808	74%	11m	31m	61	8	1	7	1	0
VA	810	81%	10m	27m	42	3	0	5	0	0
VA	812	85%	10m	34m	48	5	0	1	1	0
VA	814	90%	11m	40m	38	1	0	2	1	0
VA	816	83%	10m	39m	60	5	1	4	1	0
VA	818	71%	13m	1h 2m	21	3	0	2	0	1
VA	820	77%	10m	53m	61	12	0	1	0	1
VA	824	72%	18m	1h 15m	60	2	1	9	2	4
VA	826	66%	20m	1h 15m	61	7	1	7	5	2
VA	828	0%	0m	0m	1	1	0	0	0	0
VA	830	47%	24m	3h 13m	60	12	0	11	1	8
VA	832	62%	25m	1h 35m	26	0	0	4	2	4
VA	834	64%	20m	2h 33m	55	5	0	7	4	4
VA	836	100%	5m	5m	1	0	0	0	0	0
VA	838	80%	22m	1h 42m	61	0	0	3	6	3
VA	842	72%	18m	1h 22m	57	3	0	8	1	4
VA	846	66%	29m	1h 42m	50	6	1	5	1	5
VA	850	51%	34m	1h 58m	55	3	0	8	6	10
VA	858	76%	20m	1h 53m	55	7	0	2	2	2
VA	862	65%	24m	1h 46m	49	5	0	5	2	5
VA	866	50%	25m	1h 40m	56	9	0	5	8	6
VA	868	39%	33m	1h 42m	23	3	0	6	0	5
VA	870	46%	29m	2h 6m	52	4	0	9	4	11
VA	874	43%	33m	1h 45m	56	6	0	9	8	9
VA	876	40%	37m	1h 52m	50	3	0	7	5	15
VA	878	40%	39m	3h 10m	52	5	0	8	5	13
VA	882	35%	32m	2h 23m	57	1	0	14	12	10
VA	884	24%	38m	1h 31m	29	5	0	6	1	10
VA	886	44%	27m	1h 40m	46	4	0	10	6	6
VA	888	42%	33m	2h 1m	52	4	0	8	10	8
VA	890	75%	12m	12m	4	1	0	0	0	0
VA	892	67%	28m	1h 12m	6	0	0	1	0	1
VA	894	60%	21m	51m	10	0	0	2	1	1
VA	898	42%	30m	1h 5m	12	1	1	3	2	1

MEL-SYD

		On Time	Avg	Max	Total	Cancelled	Diverted	Late >15m	Late >30m	Late >45m
VA	803	77%	12m	59m	57	5	1	6	1	1
VA	805	58%	15m	48m	33	5	1	6	2	1
VA	807	65%	8m	26m	46	12	0	4	0	0
VA	811	83%	12m	39m	60	2	0	4	4	0
VA	813	67%	17m	1h 39m	43	4	0	7	1	2
VA	815	47%	19m	1h 10m	47	13	0	8	2	2
VA	817	59%	20m	1h 43m	39	3	0	6	4	3
VA	819	79%	16m	2h 3m	61	2	0	6	3	2
VA	823	84%	15m	1h 50m	49	1	0	3	1	3
VA	825	50%	15m	38m	8	1	0	2	1	0
VA	827	66%	20m	1h 41m	61	9	0	7	1	4
VA	829	60%	19m	1h 9m	20	1	0	4	2	1
VA	831	100%	0m	0m	1	0	0	0	0	0
VA	833	78%	11m	47m	59	5	0	5	2	1
VA	835	86%	8m	19m	7	0	0	1	0	0
VA	837	75%	16m	1h 0m	61	5	0	6	2	2
VA	841	64%	20m	45m	47	2	1	7	6	2
VA	843	50%	19m	24m	2	0	0	1	0	0
VA	845	64%	19m	1h 28m	61	4	0	9	4	5
VA	849	66%	24m	1h 51m	59	3	0	9	3	5
VA	851	66%	24m	1h 31m	35	3	0	5	2	2
VA	853	51%	22m	1h 39m	57	5	1	13	6	4
VA	855	63%	21m	1h 9m	32	5	1	2	3	2
VA	859	51%	25m	1h 24m	59	5	0	15	4	5
VA	863	40%	28m	1h 36m	52	9	0	9	5	8
VA	867	31%	32m	1h 46m	52	7	0	12	9	8
VA	869	35%	34m	1h 50m	48	4	0	11	4	12
VA	871	39%	31m	1h 39m	52	7	0	11	3	11
VA	873	33%	23m	41m	3	0	0	1	1	0
VA	875	43%	35m	1h 32m	60	3	0	6	12	13
VA	877	33%	23m	1h 7m	18	2	0	5	4	1
VA	879	60%	24m	1h 35m	52	6	0	7	3	5
VA	881	0%	1h 55m	1h 55m	1	0	0	0	0	1
VA	883	53%	26m	2h 15m	51	3	1	12	5	4
VA	885	18%	32m	1h 24m	11	1	0	4	3	1
VA	887	54%	27m	1h 54m	46	5	0	10	1	5
VA	891	48%	29m	1h 51m	50	2	1	12	7	5
VA	893	62%	14m	20m	13	1	0	4	0	0
VA	895	63%	23m	1h 7m	43	6	0	3	2	5
VA	897	0%	0m	0m	1	1	0	0	0	0

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Not laughing at you, but at your comment about buying a lottery tix, and more chance of winning than having flight/s cancelled.
I guess, I would avoid the last flight of the day, and maybe the 2nd last.
With ZL, I would avoid it till maybe they get more planes.
With airlines, if you have a look at flight aware, they really put their planes on a hard working schedule.
In one day, it could be SYD - PER - BNE - OOL - SYD - MEL.
If one is late, then the next will be late, and later, and later.
Then if they fail the curfew into SYD, they might be able to land, but not take off.
VA/VOZ874 might be just unlucky that its been cancelled that many times.
Its not the last flight of the day, so, maybe its more so crew issues, not enough trained flight (pilot/co) crew, etc.
===
VA/VOZ807, might have been crew as well, weather/or they couldn't "get the plane started/warmed up" as its the first flight of the day.
Hard to say for sure.
As mentioned on here, airlines do not just tug any available plane onto a spot/slot where there is a broken down one.
They might have all their planes already booked for other flights.
I always dread all PA announcements at the gate at an airport, "we aplogise that due to technical issues, we have had to cancel your flight... please approach our ground crew who will try to assist", "due to the late arrival of the operating aircraft for your flight, your estimated departure time has been adjusted to 13.45...".

 

[elanshin]

Just curious, I know officially fly ahead for choice tickets are a perk for WP, but has there been instances of SG getting fly ahead granted with choice tickets?