Velocity/Virgin websites are RUBBISH

[TomVexille]

Definitely in Chrome in incognito mode works and does not show this error

That's also my current workaround

 

[Quickstatus]

Not sure Plutonus, lots of Z availability 15Dec and earlier

Looking at the adjacent BNE, there are Z availability 16 Dec onwards.

School holidays would have started too

Suggest looking daily which is a PITA

 

[TheInsider]

So at what point does it hold the reservation? Only after payment has been processed? Surely it holds the fare and seats once you click the next screen from the fares page?

That's correct, only once payment information has been put in and accepted is when the system will hold the booking.

 

[whatmeworry]

Virgin Website made The Checkout last night.

[video=youtube;rMDZKAEWR_M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMDZKAEWR_M[/video]

 

[eastwest101]

I think that The Checkout researchers had been working on this a while, I did have contact from their researchers last year and had directed them to this discussion. Since then they have obviously been in contact with a few airline customers.

Interesting that they also picked up on the issue of rebooking the second leg of a return flight and airline websites also rebooking both flights into a higher fare class even if the first flight may have already been flown (?). It said volumes to me about Virgin that different parts of the organisation gave different excuses about the cause of the error that Ingrid had, admitting that the error was because of the website but then refusing the refund seems a very dangerous way to do business as well, that only invites further attention from consumer regulators. The second explanation of Pauls problem with first booked leg not flown and all other flights in the same PNR auto-cancelled isn't news to regulars here, but is a well presented explanation of an issue that catches people out whom aren't familliar with airline T&Cs and fare rules, raises some interesting issues about how flights are represented at the point of sale (an airline web page) vs how they actually work (hidden in the conditions of carriage).

Comedy points for nice use of conjoined siamese fruit plus "sock puppets" as well, even the ABC have some money for sock puppets but it seems Virgin can't afford an official social media prescence....

 

[Warks]

I still can't "retrieve my booking as a Velocity member" on the mobile when trying to check in. Always says "this service is not currently available" so I have to enter all my details. This hasn't worked for me in over six months. Really not good enough.

 

[Melburnian1]

The second explanation of Pauls problem with first booked leg not flown and all other flights in the same PNR auto-cancelled isn't news to regulars here, but is a well presented explanation of an issue that catches people out whom aren't familliar with airline T&Cs and fare rules, raises some interesting issues about how flights are represented at the point of sale (an airline web page) vs how they actually work (hidden in the conditions of carriage).

eastwest101, your point about this is legitimate but for clarification this is not a new issue and by no means is it restricted to VA - (almost?) all airlines decline to honour bookings if you 'do not fly the 'coupons' in coupon order.'

I would have thought that by not flying a sector you or I were saving an airline money but I assume the justification is that such multiple sector tickets can be discounted with airlines not wanting to cannibalise sales of say (more expensive) point to point (say in coupon 3 only) sectors.

 

[Warks]

So this looks like you are better off booking two one-way tickets (apart from the two credit card fees) as there's no discount for a return ticket anyway?

 

[Milefest]

I still can't "retrieve my booking as a Velocity member" on the mobile when trying to check in. Always says "this service is not currently available" so I have to enter all my details. This hasn't worked for me in over six months. Really not good enough.

I can't even login to their checkin page, I've had this problem for more than a year now. I have to manually input my booking number, surname and departure airport.
https://check-in.virginaustralia.com/checkin/index.html

 

[medhead]

It seems the account activity summary is well and truly broken. Last time I logged in the account summary page showed the last 16 days of activity correctly. But if I then went to the statement page only credit transaction were showing, not deduction transactions, i.e. award redemptions. So how do I check the points cost of an award, or that the correct points were deducted? Can't...

So this looks like you are better off booking two one-way tickets (apart from the two credit card fees) as there's no discount for a return ticket anyway?

For domestic this is true, but there are times when 2 one ways will be much more expensive than a return. e.g. international flights.

 

[Warks]

It seems the account activity summary is well and truly broken. Last time I logged in the account summary page showed the last 16 days of activity correctly. But if I then went to the statement page only credit transaction were showing, not deduction transactions, i.e. award redemptions. So how do I check the points cost of an award, or that the correct points were deducted? Can't...



For domestic this is true, but there are times when 2 one ways will be much more expensive than a return. e.g. international flights.

Yes I should have qualified that.

 

[serfty]

Also with more than one booking tbere comes the issue of multiple cancellation fees.

 

[kevrosmith]

It seems the account activity summary is well and truly broken. Last time I logged in the account summary page showed the last 16 days of activity correctly. But if I then went to the statement page only credit transaction were showing, not deduction transactions, i.e. award redemptions. So how do I check the points cost of an award, or that the correct points were deducted? Can't...

I think I've noticed that redemptions are shown on the date of the flight... not the date you made the redemption, so if the flight is in the future, it won't show up until that month has passed, though it will show on the front summary screen if it's within the last 16 activities... it highlights the difference between the Processed Date and Activity date.

I regularly copy-paste the activity table into a spreadsheet I have to ensure it stays balanced.

 

[medhead]

I think I've noticed that redemptions are shown on the date of the flight... not the date you made the redemption, so if the flight is in the future, it won't show up until that month has passed, though it will show on the front summary screen if it's within the last 16 activities... it highlights the difference between the Processed Date and Activity date.

I regularly copy-paste the activity table into a spreadsheet I have to ensure it stays balanced.

I can see the point of that approach. Still the activity of taking points from my account has already happened.

 

[theblank]

I cant find any reward seats on the SQ flights ex BNE at the moment, at any time. None, zip.
Been like that since yesterday.

 

[GarrettM]

I cant find any reward seats on the SQ flights ex BNE at the moment, at any time. None, zip.
Been like that since yesterday.

been through a whole swathe of dates for Jan-Mar next year for PER-NRT/HND/KIX, and getting the same - that is no - result.

 

[theoracle30]

There were a whole lot of Business award seats CHC-BNE in January 2017 - was checking over a period of three weeks,

I got my ANZ Reward points transferred (15%) bonus, and the very day they got credited (yesterday), all the availability has disappeared!

Very annoyed, but I understand that's the nature of the game

 

[theblank]

Still same issue on all SQ flights.

also just noticed that reward seats on the Etihad flights from SIN/BKK to AUH have jumped from ~$21-29 in taxes to >$200.
EK flights departing Australia, seems to be no change in taxes.

fortunately I already booked my flights, but I am tinkering with availabilty to make a change. Hopefully this is just a database error soon to be fixed.

 

[Warks]

Just when you thought they couldn't make the website worse I've just tried booking some happy hour fares. Once you select your flights it pops up a new internal window which puts your $95 cheapskate fare next to a fully flex $389 fare and compares the differences. You have to select "I am a tightwad" at the bottom (or click on the cheap fare) before you can move on! Stupidity. I wouldn't be flying Virgin if I wanted to pay $389 one way SYD-BNE.

 

[GarrettM]

Still no SQ award availability out of Perth as far as I can see. Luckily I am not looking to book for another few weeks. But it is curious.