VA international for work?

[ddd]

I have a work trip to Europe coming up and was looking to fly VA via the new codeshare agreement with Qatar. This is the only way I'll maintain my gold status in the upcoming year due to the new requirements for earn on VA flights.

My work uses FCM for travel bookings and it is apparently impossible to book VA. The flights do not appear when I search for them, and even after contacting a travel agent they're putting me on the same flight but under the Qatar flight number. This is extremely frustrating for me... but also seems like an enormous own goal for Virgin. Has anyone else run into the same problem?

 

[Saab34]

I recall the Velocity boss said in an interview the other week that many of these sort of things will gradually be introduced in the months after they commence. It’s not all the bells and whistles from the get go. Seem to come scores that likely we won’t get the full benefits until 2026.

 

[henrus]

I think many here are missing the point, these VA/QR flights are a QR attempt to get more seats in the AU market.

My guess is that QR is practically wholly funding these flights hence would probably prefer it to be booked on their code.

I flew on a similar setup with QR/AY 2 years ago from Doha to Stockholm with the majority of pax booked on the QR code. Yes it was a slightly different setup as that was an AY wet lease but these VA/QR flights aren’t much more then that (just different setup due to legal regulations).

 

[justinbrett]

I think many here are missing the point, these VA/QR flights are a QR attempt to get more seats in the AU market.

My guess is that QR is practically wholly funding these flights hence would probably prefer it to be booked on their code.

I flew on a similar setup with QR/AY 2 years ago from Doha to Stockholm with the majority of pax booked on the QR code. Yes it was a slightly different setup as that was an AY wet lease but these VA/QR flights aren’t much more then that (just different setup due to legal regulations).

It will be interesting to compare the loads between the two flights. I’d imagine there will be a significant number of non-QR oneworld elites that will avoid the VA flights, and of course they will be excluded from the QR/BA/IB JV.

Longer term I’d expect that JV will struggle to be renewed.