VA codeshares on Singapore Airlines

[Mattg]

I understand that the ACCC has approved Virgin Australia to codeshare with Singapore Airlines.

I just did a quick search and can see a small number of VA-coded flights operated by Singapore Airlines available for sale on the Virgin Australia website. But there are very, very few flights available and it seems only at full-flexible prices. Does anyone know what's going on here?

 

[nerdinary]

What's the actual question? You can buy VA flights that are on SG metal, so it's working as intended?

 

[Steven of Mysore]

The question was why are there so few code share flights on SG and why are they on a limited range of fares (the latter is pretty obvious though, SG offer what they like as it is their airline)

 

[Mattg]

What's the actual question? You can buy VA flights that are on SG metal, so it's working as intended?

I can only see 2 flights available for the entire month of May from Sydney to Singapore when searching on the Virgin Australia website. So, almost all flights are unavailable as VA codeshare bookings and I'm not sure why this is.

 

[SCM]

Might be a dumb question, but what if any is the benefit here? Is it slightly higher status credits or something?

More importantly, when coming back from whatever destination - take FRA or MUC for example, you can use the Lufthansa lounges due to partnership and alliance with SQ, however if you have a VA ticket, would they let you in just because it's SQ metal? Same question for any other lounge situation overseas.

 

[stm1sydney]

There still seems to be a very limited number of destinations/flights being codeshared. Eg, DEL showing as unavailable (even though it is possible to select DEL as the dstination in the dropdown list on the VA booking page). SQ has double daily flights SIN-DEL.

Any thoughts on why this is, and when it might be expanded?

 

[jpp42]

Might be a dumb question, but what if any is the benefit here? Is it slightly higher status credits or something?

One important reason is that VA-marketed flights (those with VA codes) are Eligible Sectors for status, i.e. you need 8 eligible sectors to attain or maintain Platinum. For those who travel mostly internationally on partners, this is an important consideration as they might not have enough sectors on VA metal. In addition, generally you get more points on VA-marketed flights. Another minor motivation - for me all VA fares come up in our corporate booking system as a preferred airline and therefore I can easily select these flights without having to put in an explanation for choosing an out-of-policy flight (even if the SQ flight numbers are cheaper, which they often are).

More importantly, when coming back from whatever destination - take FRA or MUC for example, you can use the Lufthansa lounges due to partnership and alliance with SQ, however if you have a VA ticket, would they let you in just because it's SQ metal? Same question for any other lounge situation overseas.

No, VA's partnership with SQ does not extend further to SQ's partners. If it's an SIA-branded lounge, yes you would get access, but you would only have access to LH lounges in FRA or MUC if allowed due to class of service, not based on VA elite status. VA elites flying PE or Economy only get access to the lounges listed here (except for Singapore, which uses the Gold lounge): https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/flying-withus/before-the-flight/lounges/silverkris/ .

There still seems to be a very limited number of destinations/flights being codeshared. Eg, DEL showing as unavailable (even though it is possible to select DEL as the dstination in the dropdown list on the VA booking page). SQ has double daily flights SIN-DEL.

Any thoughts on why this is, and when it might be expanded?

Wish I knew - I have an upcoming flight to BOM that I was hoping to book on VA codes to get four sectors and decent SC's towards requalifying as VA WP, but if not available I'll probably chase my QF QP instead (realistically I will only get one of the two this year). So they are definitely losing revenue.

 

[antycbr]

Wish I knew - I have an upcoming flight to BOM that I was hoping to book on VA codes to get four sectors and decent SC's towards requalifying as VA WP, but if not available I'll probably chase my QF QP instead (realistically I will only get one of the two this year). So they are definitely losing revenue.

I wonder if there are restrictions in the International Air Services bilaterals which restrict codesharing? If that’s the case the priority for VA to add their codes would be commercially driven based on likely numbers as well as managing overlaps between partners.

 

[HS-TQE]

I wonder if there are restrictions in the International Air Services bilaterals which restrict codesharing? If that’s the case the priority for VA to add their codes would be commercially driven based on likely numbers as well as managing overlaps between partners.

VA swapped out EY for QR on Italy and France services back in 2022. Not sure if it's related to the Italy or France bilateral though, however.

https://www.iasc.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/11-june-22-iasc-france-italy-variation%20.pdf