VA Flexi Fare's

[JasonG]

MEL-PER went from $299 to $349 to $399 to $449 to now $499. It's been a very very steady rise (every few months basically).

QF are a few dollars more for 'flexi saver' but 'full flex' on QF is $1199 (and J Saver is $1299, so you can see why QF do it that way).

I only buy flexis 4 times a year for my 4 upgrades, but from $600 return to $1000 is a steep rise, no matter how good the trans con J service is (and considering I can get NZ-US in Premium Economy for not much more than double that and it's 28-30 hours of travel vs 7 1/2, even though it's only Y+).

Couldn't agree more with your sentiments.
I travel to Perth 6-8 times a year for work and convinced the company in late 2012 to book me on Flexi fares so I could upgrade with points and use my 4 comps..they were fine with it when it was $300-$400 and I was netting J SCs at 80 a pop with decent points (once I even got the full 9000 points as if I was travelling on a full J fare)...but the official stance this year is no flexi fares given the costs have increased so much so its back to Y for me. And I cannot even bring myself to spend 20k points on a J upgrade with Qantas on a red-e-deal as its just not worth it. I think VA caught on to the fact that so many of us were using points and the free comps on the Coast to Coast that it wasn't working out for them. And given their product compares and if, not, is better than QF on the new aircraft, if you're going to spend for a full fare I would certainly be looking at VA as much as I would QF unless retaining status was my focus.

 

[kevrosmith]

Couldn't agree more with your sentiments.
I travel to Perth 6-8 times a year for work and convinced the company in late 2012 to book me on Flexi fares so I could upgrade with points and use my 4 comps..they were fine with it when it was $300-$400 and I was netting J SCs at 80 a pop with decent points (once I even got the full 9000 points as if I was travelling on a full J fare)...but the official stance this year is no flexi fares given the costs have increased so much so its back to Y for me. And I cannot even bring myself to spend 20k points on a J upgrade with Qantas on a red-e-deal as its just not worth it. I think VA caught on to the fact that so many of us were using points and the free comps on the Coast to Coast that it wasn't working out for them. And given their product compares and if, not, is better than QF on the new aircraft, if you're going to spend for a full fare I would certainly be looking at VA as much as I would QF unless retaining status was my focus.

You could always consider the new UpgradeMe Bid system which work for Saver fares and if your booking is deemed eligible. Though this may have to be out of your own pocket and you would have to evaluate the worth to you.

 

[grubbidok]

Wow. Just looked at some dates in April SYD-PER, as I thought I may try to use one of my comp upgrades. Cheapest Flexi each way was $519, with many flights in $700-800 *each way* range. No way I could even justify that expense to my employer, when just cancelling and booking an entirely new Saver ticket if I need to switch is actually cheaper! Looks like I'm stuck in Y.

As it goes, the 4 comp upgrades I get each year will probably just continue to go unused.

FWIW the QF Fully Flex Y ticket was $1269 each way, so I'm guessing the PER fare war is well and truly over.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Both probably admitting defeat to some extent and employing their LCC siblings to continue the war...

 

[pauly7]

Both probably admitting defeat to some extent and employing their LCC siblings to continue the war...

Has definitely been carnage on that route especially in VA's A330 services in terms of loads. Many reports here of planes taking of with almost empty J cabins and sparse Y cabins over the last 12 months.

Perhaps you are right and VA and QF are letting their TT and JQ offsprings fight out the bottom of the barrel!

 

[Bofter]

Apart from school holiday periods I have been regularly able to get VA sale fares on my preferred flights for under $200 and a few under $180. These are relatively popular flights that go out with Y cabins generally in the 80-90% load range.

The main increases I have seen are not in sale fares as if QF and VA were letting JQ and TT have the battles.

For VA the non sale saver intro fare had crept up, the flexi fare has rocketed up and the fares that they frequently sell with good availability have not. I hope for their sake their changes have increased average yield, because in my one person sample all they have done is make it less likely that I will pay the ever increasing premium to be able to redeem a complimentary upgrade.

 

[Noob]

Has definitely been carnage on that route especially in VA's A330 services in terms of loads. Many reports here of planes taking of with almost empty J cabins and sparse Y cabins over the last 12 months.

Perhaps you are right and VA and QF are letting their TT and JQ offsprings fight out the bottom of the barrel!

There's a few things that render visual load analysis flawed:

1) QF allows staff on duty travel to sit it J & Virgin does not - Potentially a lot of crew movements.
2) QF allows family travel in J & Virgin doesn't
3) QFF has a much larger member base (many millions more), lots of point redemptions for awards/upgrades.

Unless you have the numbers in front of you, it's impossible to really know who is making revenue on a route or in a certain cabin on a certain route.

However, the numbers we can see published on the ASX show VA has had better load factors across its network than QF for the past FY and the current to date.

 

[pauly7]

There's a few things that render visual load analysis flawed:

1) QF allows staff on duty travel to sit it J & Virgin does not - Potentially a lot of crew movements.
2) QF allows family travel in J & Virgin doesn't
3) QFF has a much larger member base (many millions more), lots of point redemptions for awards/upgrades.

Unless you have the numbers in front of you, it's impossible to really know who is making revenue on a route or in a certain cabin on a certain route.

However, the numbers we can see published on the ASX show VA has had better load factors across its network than QF for the past FY and the current to date.

Personally I take a peek at the load sheets.

 

[Noob]

Personally I take a peek at the load sheets.

Unless you're magically on every flight, it doesn't change the accuracy.

 

[pauly7]

Unless you're magically on every flight, it doesn't change the accuracy.

As much it may be surprising to you no I I am not 'magically on every flight'. There is no need to be snide.

All I said was from general observations from all the AFF posts the C2C VA A330 flights are often sparsely populated and I'd add from my observations and other posts on here, probably most so in J.

I didn't mention anything about or comparing to QF which you seem to referring to as well (which is fine).

Anyway this is kind of off topic so no more from me - apologies to the thread starter!

 

[haydensydney]

As much it may be surprising to you no I I am not 'magically on every flight'. There is no need to be snide.

He's not being snide - just challenging your assumptions.

Back to the original topic however, I have never ever purchased Flexi fares as I've never seen the value. I've never been a status chaser either... Last night I booked a SYD-ADL leg which was $250 for a saver, and $290 for a flexi - so I bought the Flexi for the extra SC's. However it's not too often that the gap between Saver and Flexi fares is so small where it's really worthwhile.

 

[Moopere]

There has to be a point to a product, but for the life of me I can't understand what that might be with VA Flexi's ....

Actually, for that matter, I'm struggling with the VA business and business saver products as well. Whilst I haven't read the fine print, superficially both types of business ticket appear to offer the same benefits (??)

For mine, Flexi's are only ever a step up to a J ticket ... and perhaps that is their real reason for being. Without appearing to devalue their full J product they can still get those of us who would probably be Y+ customers (if there was such domestically) to pay a bit more and utilise what would otherwise be wasted J cabin space.

The argument I've always been told when speaking to CSR's about this product is that these fares are 'flexible' and therefore can help if you don't know your exact time of departure (meetings or whatever) but the reality, for me at least, is that its almost always cheaper to burn an unused saver ticket and simply buy a new one if plans change. As someone else stated a few posts above, 90%+ of the time plans go ahead and the savings are significant over a years travelling.

edit: Oh, had a thought. These days I often do J points upgrades with the missus from PER to the east. The points returned via the flexi original fares, combined, contributes significantly towards that required for the J upgrade (75% bonus as a gold). So, for about $2K cash + about 30K points I gain 2 return J tickets to MEL or SYD ... thats still really good value imho given even the 'business saver' pricing is normally over $1K per seat in each direction.

 

[anat0l]

Actually, for that matter, I'm struggling with the VA business and business saver products as well. Whilst I haven't read the fine print, superficially both types of business ticket appear to offer the same benefits (??)

Business Saver fares cannot be refunded - you can cancel to a credit in Travel Bank, but that's it.

Business fares are fully refundable to original form of payment.

Other than that, I'd imagine that it's a convenient way to split some buckets up, e.g. especially when VA have those $200 Business flash sales.

 

[Jama]

Agreed. One of my comp upgrades will go to waste this year as my employer has recently changed to cheapest fare of the day, and the price difference to upgrade to flexi myself on most routes is cost prohibitive (or at least not value for money).

Same here, 2 going to waste. After Platinum since the beginning my employer has taken the same path, except I now primarily get sent on Jetstar !

 

[schmoots]

We were status matched from QF platinum and mostly purchased Flexi fares to upgrade with points or Complimentary upgrades or to obtain more status credits. Switched to Virgin for all possible flights to maintain status and really happy with the product. Accepted inferior lounge access and partners in Europe and both of us maintained Platinum. However we have now swapped back to Qantas given the huge jump in fares.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Same here, 2 going to waste.

4 for me this year, 4 for me next year and 4 for my wife this year.............12 so called complementary upgrades waved goodbye. I'm not prepared to pay the flexi price to use them and the short haul int. flexis that I do get aren't eligible, so that which is meant to be a platinum benefit, is no such thing for me.

Also, I have never yet received an offer to "UpgradeMe". Some incentive .

 

[Moopere]

However we have now swapped back to Qantas given the huge jump in fares.

Oh, interesting. I've taken my eye off the ball recently I must admit. Life's been super busy and I've generally been happy with VA ... but is the above indicating that recent pricing has been more favourable over at QF? Or at least, pricing to wangle ones way into a J seat?

 

[OzEire]

Another Flexi Fare data point. I paid around $920 for a two sector (each direction) flight to MCY. The fare premium was worth it as my schedule changes a lot and I needed the flexibility, and the flights were booked under 24 hrs from travel.

It quickly became obvious that I needed to change my return flight time so I rang the call centre and discussed options. One option was to cancel and use refund to rebook. I was quoted $380 for cancelling the return sectors. But as I had checked in the call centre couldn't help, I needed to see airport staff.

In MCY I asked airport VA staff to change the return leg, which I found was not possible (not that many MCY) flights. Other option was rerouting to drive to BNE and fly direct. I was quoted an extraordinary fare difference, for a shorter flight with fewer sectors, oh, and plus the "service" fee. No way!

So I asked for a refund quote, and started checking J* on my phone while this was calculated. Essentially, half way through a trip my $920 fare was now worth around $200. Does anyone know how this works ? I didn't expect half of my money back, but more than a quarter!

In the end I took BNE option, paid for hire car and one way fee. This all took about an hour and several calls to the VA help line (by VA staff assisting me). They were very pleasant but clearly very restricted in what they could do.

In summary, I fly flexi a lot (I am again tomorrow), and have found them quite inflexible, not just for customers but VA staff in person and on the phone.

 

[serfty]

...

In summary, I fly flexi a lot (I am again tomorrow), and have found them quite inflexible, not just for customers but VA staff in person and on the phone.

I avoid checking in for any flight before arriving at the airport, not Business, not Flexi, not Saver.

This is a facet of Virgin OZ that has been around for a while:

• www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/...-flyer/why-va-discourage-olci-even-50723.html

 

[Dan_]

Yes I learnt not to OLCI a little while ago. I select a seat ASAP, but that's as far as it goes.