VA Booking with Fare Type Business, but has some economy segments

[stratosp]

Anyone familiar on what will happen to the SC and business fare perks if you have a multi-sector VA business booking with some flights in Economy Cabin?

I have booked a VA Business Fare MEL-SYD-BNE-PER on a single booking. The SYD-BNE & BNE-PER will be in economy cabin due to lack of seat availability (the planes do have business seats but it's full). These two segments are currently shown as Business Fare but Economy cabin. During my booking's flight selection, it indicated a total of 215 SC earn for the trip (which I needed for my Platinum status match challenge)

However when I got the e-ticket, I got confused by the contradictions in fare type and fare basis of the last 2 flights:

• MEL-SYD (Fare Type: Business, Fare Basis: "D", 2x23kg baggage) - Business cabin
• SYD-BNE (Fare Type: Business, Fare Basis: "L", 2x23kg baggage) - Economy cabin
• BNE-PER (Fare Type: Business, Fare Basis: "L", 2x23kg baggage) - Economy cabin

Anyone knows how the SC will be calculated in this case? And will I get the typical business class perks if sitting in economy cabin since it's a business fare type (e.g. food, drinks, baggage, priority boarding)?

P.S. I called VA today. During the call, the rep kept referring to the last two flights as Flexi booking. It's not until I told him to check the Fare Type on the travel reservation and E-ticket that he and his manager understood what I meant. They said they'll honour the business upon check in at the airport even when sitting in economy cabin. But the tone of the overseas representative lacks confidence so I'm not sure if that's what is actually being done onboard...

 

[jase05]

Hope you didn’t pay too much for it as the two longest legs in Y would make it an uncomfortable flight IMO.
From what I can make of it though yes you will get the full Business class SC’s and other Business class perks such as lounge access, priority boarding, extra luggage etc but you will obviously be seated in Y for 2 legs which means you will get the Y class food and beverage options unfortunately

 

[pauly7]

Anyone familiar on what will happen to the SC and business fare perks if you have a multi-sector VA business booking with some flights in Economy Cabin?

I have booked a VA Business Fare MEL-SYD-BNE-PER on a single booking. The SYD-BNE & BNE-PER will be in economy cabin due to lack of seat availability (the planes do have business seats but it's full). These two segments are currently shown as Business Fare but Economy cabin. During my booking's flight selection, it indicated a total of 215 SC earn for the trip (which I needed for my Platinum status match challenge)

However when I got the e-ticket, I got confused by the contradictions in fare type and fare basis of the last 2 flights:

• MEL-SYD (Fare Type: Business, Fare Basis: "D", 2x2kg baggage) - Business cabin
• SYD-BNE (Fare Type: Business, Fare Basis: "L", 2x2kg baggage) - Economy cabin
• BNE-PER (Fare Type: Business, Fare Basis: "L", 2x2kg baggage) - Economy cabin

Anyone knows how the SC will be calculated in this case? And will I get the typical business class perks if sitting in economy cabin since it's a business fare type (e.g. food, drinks, baggage, priority boarding)?

P.S. I called VA today. During the call, the rep kept referring to the last two flights as Flexi booking. It's not until I told him to check the Fare Type on the travel reservation and E-ticket that he and his manager understood what I meant. They said they'll honour the business upon check in at the airport even when sitting in economy cabin. But the tone of the overseas representative lacks confidence so I'm not sure if that's what is actually being done onboard...

Sounds like a real mess and the Virgin call centre is not always accurate either…

Do you have time to cancel the whole booking and get a refund?

Then rebook in Virgin Y (why pay for something you are not getting) or with QF?

 

[kerfuffle]

you will get the Y class food and beverage options unfortunately

And by 'get', they mean 'pay for it' (tea, coffee and water are complimentary)

 

[GDale]

It's not exactly the same but for what it's worth, I'm currently booked to fly domestic business for a couple of legs, international business for a few more, before ending with a final leg in domestic economy due to availability, all on a single rewards ticket.

The "Fare Type" shown on each leg of the eTicket as well as on the VA app says "Business Reward", including the final leg in economy. However:

• from the same eticket, I can see that the fare basis for the economy leg is based on the economy reward fare basis, not the business reward one (i.e. "XZDAU1" rather than "ZZDAU1"), and the booking class for the leg is "X" (economy reward), not "Z" (business reward)
• the "fare" I paid for the business reward seat (i.e. the amount of points required) took into consideration the economy leg, so the total cost was lower than what it would've been if the entire journey was in business
• VA made a schedule change on the ticket recently and when I called to nominate alternate flights, the operator could not put me into business for the final leg (it seemed like he hesitated for a second, so I wonder if I could've pushed, but I didn't as I knew I effectively hadn't paid for the privilege)

Assuming your ticket is constructed on a similar basis (which it may not be - but you should be able to look it up) I would suggest:

• Yes to the 2x 23kg limit, which was probably based on the fact that the first leg carried that limit and this is an all domestic itinerary. I wonder if it would've shown 1x 23kg if your first leg was in economy but second/third in business.
• Earn rate will be based on your fare basis, i.e. D, L, L, not D, D, D
• No to business food and drinks in the economy cabin though if you asked nicely onboard based on your confusion, the FAs may be able to bring you some free snacks
• No to priority boarding in SYD and BNE
• No to lounge access in SYD and BNE, though again if you asked nicely at least the Sydney lounge may let you in on account of the fact that you're an arriving business passenger with a confusing ticket.

If, however, your fare basis for all three legs indicate D class (e.g. something like DZBU0A45 written for each leg, but the fare class is L for the last two legs), then *maybe* the outcome will be more favourable (but I suspect you'd still need to fight it)

If you're doing this as a SC run, I recommend rebooking to all business sectors - not worth the angst, subsequent fight, and potential forfeiture of the opportunity to retain WP

 

[stratosp]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I cancelled it and booked something else. Doing this mainly for the SC and it's a cheap fare so I thought it was a deal. But it's a hassle to confirm the status earn and perks. I called again and the reps keep saying the fare rule for the 2 flights is Flex Economy, not Business. Even though that wasn't mentioned at all during the booking. So very likely I won't get the 215 SC that I saw.

I feel like this is an IT glitch on VA's booking system.

So just as a data point for anyone. If after a status run, avoid or be careful with VA "business fare" single booking that consists of one or more flights in economy cabin.

The SC earn for some legs will likely be in economy. Also, worth nothing that since they'll assign some flights under economy fare rules, those are the rules that will be used for refunds/cancellation for the WHOLE booking rather than the business fare rules. There's a clause saying the most restrictive fare rule applies to all flights.

 

[stratosp]

Screenshots of the booking vs the E-ticket. Anyone can try to replicate this booking and see what I meant on how a bit misleading/confusing that purchase was.

1. Flight selection - stating 215SC to be earned



2. Step before payment - Showing all flights are categorised under Business Fare, including flights in Economy cabin.




3. Step before payment - Fare Rule shown is only Business (D)




4. Once paid, I received an E-Ticket but suddenly the economy cabin flights have been assigned under Flex (L) fare rule.




I feel like I can still argue my way to get the perks and SC for this booking since I have proof of each step of the booking. But not worth the hassle for me

 

[Must...Fly!]

I would agree, feel like due to the fare basis you'll be awarded flex economy SC but you'd have good justification to receive business levels. Why bother though.