Velocity/Virgin websites are RUBBISH

[Fiches Mouser]

When I was looking to book our flights to Stockholm several months ago, I tried using the VA site to compare pricing with SQ - I was able to select ARN as a destination for the return flights without any problem, but didn't matter what dates etc I tried, the search wouldn't return any flights at all. Finally gave up and just booked direct with SQ.

Had the same experience recently CBR-CPH. No problem, just went back to SQ. Can't believe they don't care about it – it's pretty serious lost revenue.

 

[Jurahn]

Had the same experience recently CBR-CPH. No problem, just went back to SQ. Can't believe they don't care about it – it's pretty serious lost revenue.

Hugely frustrating, they've been in this partnership with SQ for a while, you'd think VA would have the flight searches working properly (or even at all!) by now for these destinations.

 

[Fiches Mouser]

Hugely frustrating, they've been in this partnership with SQ for a while, you'd think VA would have the flight searches working properly (or even at all!) by now for these destinations.

I haven't tried booking these over the phone, though. It could be a website thing. Or, I know there are some routes they don't codeshare on. Maybe it's that?

 

[Jurahn]

I haven't tried booking these over the phone, though. It could be a website thing. Or, I know there are some routes they don't codeshare on. Maybe it's that?

If they don't codeshare on some routes though, why have that destination listed for selection on the website? I'd imagine it would have to be a codeshare with someone (be it Etihad, SQ or whoever) seeing as VA don't fly to these destinations themselves. I think it must be a website issue but they certainly don't seem in any hurry to fix it.

I haven't booked these over the phone either - I needed to be able to look at different dates/pricings and especially timing of connecting flights (and layovers) to work out which European port would be best to connect through to Stockholm, try to reduce layover time etc and it gives me a headache just thinking about trying to do that on the phone!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Can't believe they don't care about it – it's pretty serious lost revenue.

Maybe they don't care about it;
Maybe they're unaware of it (which is possibly worse than not caring about it);
Maybe they're prevented by SQ or Sabre from correcting the issues;
Maybe they skimped on the costs with Sabre when it was first implemented and now they're having to deal with that short-sightedness; and/or
Maybe they do not have the necessary skills to correct it in house but don't want to/can't afford to outsource it.

Whichever is the real reason for VAs web debacle, I actually wonder if anyone in VA realises just how poorly it reflects upon their ability to run an airline, when they can't even run a web site. I have no doubt the VA web engine is a complex task, but I also have no doubt that all the issues can be fixed if VA have the motivation to tackle them rather than playing ostrich.

 

[Fiches Mouser]

Maybe they don't care about it;
Maybe they're unaware of it (which is possibly worse than not caring about it);
Maybe they're prevented by SQ or Sabre from correcting the issues;
Maybe they skimped on the costs with Sabre when it was first implemented and now they're having to deal with that short-sightedness; and/or
Maybe they do not have the necessary skills to correct it in house but don't want to/can't afford to outsource it.

Whichever is the real reason for VAs web debacle, I actually wonder if anyone in VA realises just how poorly it reflects upon their ability to run an airline, when they can't even run a web site. I have no doubt the VA web engine is a complex task, but I also have no doubt that all the issues can be fixed if VA have the motivation to tackle them rather than playing ostrich.

Yes to all of that.

They do seem to have money to spend on it – multi-city came from somewhere. Interesting that was more revenue critical than fixing codeshares.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

multi-city came from somewhere.

Yep......and multicity is a stuff up as well! At least they're consistent I guess.

I thought I came across a pearler of a mistake fare with VAs multicity booking. The multicity was almost 1/2 the price of booking the same sectors individually......you beaut I though, right up until I priced it against QF and found QF to be about the same fare as the 1/2 price VA one. So if there is a mistake, it's with the overpriced connection fares rather than a cheap multicity. I booked QF! :mrgreen:

 

[Fiches Mouser]

Yep......and multicity is a stuff up as well! At least they're consistent I guess.

I thought I came across a pearler of a mistake fare with VAs multicity booking. The multicity was almost 1/2 the price of booking the same sectors individually......you beaut I though, right up until I priced it against QF and found QF to be about the same fare as the 1/2 price VA one. So if there is a mistake, it's with the overpriced connection fares rather than a cheap multicity. I booked QF! :mrgreen:

Haha that's great. Classic VA, I guess!

Something I'd like to see is a development roadmap. A lot of services publish them to give users an idea of what features are being planned, built, released etc. Basically, giving a reason to stick around if you know X feature is on its way.

Airlines like VA could really benefit from a bit of transparency. And I do think it's possible without compromising competitiveness.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Something I'd like to see is a development roadmap. A lot of services publish them to give users an idea of what features are being planned, built, released etc.

Wow.....I never actually considered the possibility of VA planning something to the level of having a development roadmap. I assumed they used AFF to decide on development pathways, but were just not capable of implementing any of the many excellent suggestions that have appeared here over the years..... (and this is suggested only partially in jest ).

 

[Fiches Mouser]

Wow.....I never actually considered the possibility of VA planning something to the level of having a development roadmap. I assumed they used AFF to decide on development pathways, but were just not capable of implementing any of the many excellent suggestions that have appeared here over the years..... (and this is suggested only partially in jest ).

Not even joking! They get free, frequent and detailed user feedback right here. We would love to have that in our business. AFF would be immensely useful to both airlines. I really hope they don't ignore it.

 

[Fiches Mouser]

Not even joking! They get free, frequent and detailed user feedback right here. We would love to have that in our business. AFF would be immensely useful to both airlines. I really hope they don't ignore it.

...or I should say FF programs, since there are obviously more than two airlines.

 

[Warks]

Is there any chance of online check-in for INT flights on VA ever? I'd forgotten you couldn't do it - was trying to check in for SYD-AKL with an onward flight internally. When I booked I must have selected seats for the AKL leg but couldn't select seats on the little internal flight which I understood. I saw in my booking that I didn't have seats selected for the return leg (WLG-SYD) so tried to do that but it wouldn't let me? If it was a simple SYD-AKL return I assume it would let me but for some reason the internal flights (Air NZ - who else is there?) seem to prevent me selecting seats for the return?

Another black mark. But the IT nerds are surely checking this thread regularly and it will soon be fixed...

 

[Deleted member 29185]

the IT nerds are surely checking this thread regularly and it will soon be fixed...

How's the weather up there on planet Mars? :mrgreen:

 

[kevrosmith]

Seems they've been spending their time on a new App rather than fixing the website...

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-velocity/new-virgin-australia-app-73296.html

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Seems they've been spending their time on a new App rather than fixing the website...

Concurrence is not a term they're familiar with then?

 

[flying_duck]

This is so much fun. I can't book a flight, I can't check my seats for an existing booking. Basically, it's broke.

 

[bcworld]

This is so much fun. I can't book a flight, I can't check my seats for an existing booking. Basically, it's broke.

Most recently I've found that I have to use different browsers for different things. While I had to start using IE for booking to avoid the 'Temporary Error' and redirect loop issues, the other day I was trying to select seats and I could get right through to the confirm step then clicking the button just did nothing. Seat selection only worked with Firefox. It's a real PITA trying up to 3 browsers to achieve any result!

I do wonder if some of this issues are coming from Sabre rather than VA and might be outside their control? I also got the redirect loops message and many errors when trying to book on Vietnam Airlines where the URLs clearly reference Sabre.

 

[greenfish]

These are clearly Virgin bugs, nothing to do with Sabre - I believe to do with interactions with the cookies VA is storing in our browsers. I find that I have best success when I use an "incognito" tab on Chrome. If I don't use this tab, I can't even search for new flights - I end up with a redirect loop warning.

The same for the Temporary Error messages; I have much better luck avoiding these by using an icognito browser tab.

Same for checking in online - if I click the link in the email, the check-in fails. Cutting and pasting the link into an incognito browser tab works 100% of the time. In all cases, I'm just using Chrome.

 

[theevilmuppet]

Most recently I've found that I have to use different browsers for different things. While I had to start using IE for booking to avoid the 'Temporary Error' and redirect loop issues, the other day I was trying to select seats and I could get right through to the confirm step then clicking the button just did nothing. Seat selection only worked with Firefox. It's a real PITA trying up to 3 browsers to achieve any result!

I do wonder if some of this issues are coming from Sabre rather than VA and might be outside their control? I also got the redirect loops message and many errors when trying to book on Vietnam Airlines where the URLs clearly reference Sabre.

For something as basic as Virgin's current site is, the idea that browser-specific behaviour is present with any of the modern browsers is mind boggling.

 

[Milefest]

Does anyone else get the error when trying to check in online using the login on the top right and then it displays the message: "Our system cannot process your Velocity login. Please check your details and try again, or contact us for assistance."

Then you just type in velocity number, surname and departure port manually.. That login in the top right has never worked for me.