Virgin Australia and Air NZ to Form New Partnership

[HS-TQE]

((("Help us to serve you better")))
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And as we know, too, this "agreement" is only Au - NZ, and not on AirNZ flights onwards on their other sectors.
Would be nice to go back to the real "former" agreement, ie, prior to their 2017 "divorce".
Just let us put our VFF# into AirNZ bookings on all AirNZ sectors.
Bespoke partnership with other airlines indeed, even with JB having now gone many years, nothing seems to have changed, airline partnership with VA and other airlines.

Unlikely the former "JV" will be re-implemented for the foreseeable future as VA allegedly still lost money on NZ services under the former JV. A JV requires both parties to put in CapEx/OpEx even if a partner is operating zero services like the "EK/QF JV" where EK operates 100% of the services but QF still puts money in.

At most the VA/NZ one way unilateral alliance may expand in the future to be a bilateral two-way clone of the current QF/NZ domestic codeshare arrangement but with Tasman codeshares included in a potential future alliance upgrade (not quite the old JV)

The current one way partnership is where VA acts as an authorised travel agent on behalf of NZ for services from Australia to AKL/CHC/WLG and pays commission like actual travel agents. This reduces VA's (and the travel agents) risk where NZ carries all of the operating expenses and risk.

 

[HS-TQE]

From the article

To me that is very disappointing Was not expecting that. So not a full VANZ partnership.- 50% at best. For Australian based flyers only.

Pretty sure it was stated the "new" partnership is a unilateral partnership and most media/bloggers also reporting that it was not the more extensive old VA/NZ Joint Venture (JV) partnership prior to 2018.

 

[The-Aviator]

My understanding is that the fares should match what Air NZ is selling for the equivalent flight/product. If there's a discrepancy, this could be due to a system connectivity issue. Virgin's tech folks are working to fix this.

Will be pretty good if they get this working. At the moment for my dates in late Jan I'm seeing $733 on NZ vs $916.32 on VA for a SYD-AKL return in Y

 

[henrus]

At the moment for my dates in late Jan I'm seeing $733 on NZ vs $916.32 on VA for a SYD-AKL return in Y

Are you looking at the Air NZ works pricing, VA don’t appear to be selling lite fares (which would equal an Air NZ seat fare) so the comparison needs to be between choice and works.

 

[ferntree]

It does. Going to jump on Air NZ and see if I can select a seat

Any luck? Thanks

 

[The-Aviator]

Are you looking at the Air NZ works pricing, VA don’t appear to be selling lite fares (which would equal an Air NZ seat fare) so the comparison needs to be between choice and works.

Yep, comparing Choice vs Works

 

[Cryptarcadian]

From the article:

From 2 April 2025, Velocity will change its system to awarding 1 status credit per $12 spent.

This won’t apply here though, if I’ve understood correctly? VA marketed, NZ operated = status credits by miles table, not $ spent? (Although it will count for the 50% VA earn requirement)

 

[duanemiller]

Can select a seat (for a fee) via ANZ website with my ANZ PNR. Couldn’t through VA booking process.

 

[henrus]

This won’t apply here though, if I’ve understood correctly? VA marketed, NZ operated = status credits by miles table, not $ spent? (Although it will count for the 50% VA earn requirement)

Any flight that is VA marketed and booked on VA ticket stock will switch to the $ based system.

The Air NZ partner page reflects this information:

Air New Zealand

www.velocityfrequentflyer.com

Post automatically merged: Dec 5, 2024

Can select a seat (for a fee) via ANZ website with my ANZ PNR. Couldn’t through VA booking process.

Even seats towards the back are paid? That seems like an error because works fares always include seat selection.

 

[duanemiller]

Even seats towards the back are paid? That seems like an error because works fares always include seat selection.

Yes, all seats for a fee. Even up the back. Hopefully that changes

 

[tmdl]

Does anyone know if these flights will be released as reward seats in the future?

 

[AFF Editor]

Yes, all seats for a fee. Even up the back. Hopefully that changes

I believe the intention once the initial teething issues are sorted is that VA customers should be able to select a standard seat for free (as per the conditions on "theworks" tickets).

Does anyone know if these flights will be released as reward seats in the future?

There's been no indication from VA that this will be possible.

 

[Mattg]

Looks like you can get a discount - 3% off Economy Choice or 6% off Business - by booking NZ codeshares through the VA Business Flyer portal.

 

[EneleAUS]

I believe the intention once the initial teething issues are sorted is that VA customers should be able to select a standard seat for free (as per the conditions on "theworks" tickets).



There's been no indication from VA that this will be possible.

I’ve just booked a return economy fare SYD - AKL in March, there are different fees for different types of seats you can to select. I called AirNZ as on the AirNZ app it was showing my class as Business which they said was not correct but is an Economy fare (cleared up the confusion) but also asked if I could select a seat for free once I turned Velocity Gold in the next week (waiting for SC to load), he booked my seats for me over the phone for free

 

[duanemiller]

I’ve just booked a return economy fare SYD - AKL in March, there are different fees for different types of seats you can to select. I called AirNZ as on the AirNZ app it was showing my class as Business which they said was not correct but is an Economy fare (cleared up the confusion) but also asked if I could select a seat for free once I turned Velocity Gold in the next week (waiting for SC to load), he booked my seats for me over the phone for free

Thanks. I might give them a call too to select my seats

 

[AFF Editor]

You should now be able to select a standard seat free of charge when booked on a VA coded Air New Zealand flight.

 

[duanemiller]

You should now be able to select a standard seat free of charge when booked on a VA coded Air New Zealand flight.

Thanks for the intel Matt. Unfortunately still no go for me. Every seat has $$