Virgin Australia and Air NZ to Form New Partnership

[justinbrett]

VA media --> Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand to get back together

More benefit to VA freq flyers than NZ freq flyers

“Get back together” is a bit strong.

It’s more like VA got permission to sleep in NZ’s back shed while it lives with its new partner QF

 

[TheInsider]

It’s happening!
As someone who flies ADL-WLG a few time a year I can’t contain my excitement

Why so excited?

 

[RSVKanga]

“Get back together” is a bit strong.

Indeed. Air NZ don’t and won’t even mention Virgin Australia on their website/socials, since it’s a tiny unilateral codeshare agreement only for VFFs.

 

[MooTime]

Indeed. Air NZ don’t and won’t even mention Virgin Australia on their website/socials, since it’s a tiny unilateral codeshare agreement only for VFFs.

It was announced today, give it a day, c'mon man.

 

[jase05]

“Get back together” is a bit strong.

It’s more like VA got permission to sleep in NZ’s back shed while it lives with its new partner QF

Yeah it is a bit strong.
Obviously depending on the pricing it sounds like a good deal for VA members and does give us another option to NZ but I guess time will tell if it’s a success or not

 

[HS-TQE]

It was announced today, give it a day, c'mon man.

Well it is a unilateral agreement, with basically no benefit for NZ FFs.

There may be a tiny mention of the VA codeshare on the NZ website at the most, but I can't see NZ advertising this unilateral agreement on socials.

 

[RSVKanga]

It was announced today, give it a day, c'mon man.

I’ll give it a week, a month or a year, it doesn’t matter. You clearly don’t understand this new agreement and have been sucked into the VA Newsroom’s sensational title and images.

This agreement is only for VFFs. Zero benefit for NZ Airpoints members. It would be against Air NZ’s commercial interest for them to advertise flights to be booked on a VA code on the VA website when they can be booked directly on an NZ code on the NZ site, maximising profit.

 

[justinbrett]

Indeed. Air NZ don’t and won’t even mention Virgin Australia on their website/socials, since it’s a tiny unilateral codeshare agreement only for VFFs.

Why would they?

It would be like QF advertising Flight Centre on its website. “Why book through us direct when you can book through a third party?”

 

[jase05]

I’ll give it a week, a month or a year, it doesn’t matter. You clearly don’t understand this new agreement and have been sucked into the VA Newsroom’s sensational title and images.

This agreement is only for VFFs. Zero benefit for NZ Airpoints members. It would be against Air NZ’s commercial interest for them advertise flights to be booked on a VA code when they can be booked directly on an NZ code.

Honestly who cares. Most of the people on here only care about what works for them. I know personally I couldn’t give two stuffs if it’s only a one way agreement.
It allows VA frequent flyers to have more options to get to NZ which can only be a good thing

 

[RSVKanga]

I know personally I couldn’t give two stuffs if it’s only a one way agreement.

The argument is against Virgin Australia’s sensational headlines and images, and the fact that people aren’t realising that this is a one-way agreement. We’ve got posts in this thread equating this ‘partnership’ to the QF-EK JV.

 

[justinbrett]

Honestly who cares. Most of the people on here only care about what works for them. I know personally I couldn’t give two stuffs if it’s only a one way agreement.
It allows VA frequent flyers to have more options to get to NZ which can only be a good thing

Yep, totally agree. I would have been livid to be a VFF and not be able to fly to NZ using my status. That’s like an American airline not flying to Canada or Mexico.

I still don’t understand why VA can’t make it profitable but this at least throws a few crumbs to its customers. I still don’t think it’s compelling and if you did a lot of TT travel you’d probably still be looking at NZ or QF. But this would suit VA fanbois who want the occasional trip across the ditch.

 

[HS-TQE]

It's more of a "tick and flick" in VA's case, and VA will always be a price-taker on the trunk Tasman routes considering their history of not making revenue, even reportedly in a JV, on Tasman since the start of VA 1.0.

I'm not sure if the pre-VA; VB made revenue on the Tasman back when they were branded as PB (owned by VB) and also had fifth freedom rights beyond AKL. PB also briefly operated domestic services between 2007 and 2010 prior to NZ taking a stake in VA 1.0

 

[jase05]

Yep, totally agree. I would have been livid to be a VFF and not be able to fly to NZ using my status. That’s like an American airline not flying to Canada or Mexico.

I still don’t understand why VA can’t make it profitable but this at least throws a few crumbs to its customers. I still don’t think it’s compelling and if you did a lot of TT travel you’d probably still be looking at NZ or QF. But this would suit VA fanbois who want the occasional trip across the ditch.

Exactly. It’s not perfect but it’s something. It’s another option for those who want to earn points with VA and to have lounge access.
For me personally I’m not sure how much I would use them as we prefer go EK SYD-CHC going to the South Island but if heading to the North Island it gives us a few extra options with a domestic VA leg and them jump on NZ

 

[henrus]

We're still a bit off being able to book, let's wait and see how this looks once it's setup:

 

[HS-TQE]

Well well well, whaddaya know! (via Air New Zealand's Australia FB). Good to be wrong though.

Edit: Note it's not posted on the Air New Zealand - NZ or Air New Zealand - USA FB pages, thus localised.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1266216104824988

 

[TheInsider]

The argument is against Virgin Australia’s sensational headlines and images, and the fact that people aren’t realising that this is a one-way agreement. We’ve got posts in this thread equating this ‘partnership’ to the QF-EK JV.

You have people on Reddit linking it to a starting point to joining Star Alliance..............

 

[HS-TQE]

You have people on Reddit linking it to a starting point to joining Star Alliance..............

There's also some 'hope' from posters in the above linked FB post hoping they are able to use Airpoints for VA flights (They aren't able to).

 

[henrus]

There's also some 'hope' from posters in the above linked FB post hoping they are able to use Airpoints for VA flights (They aren't able to).

I guess part of the problem is air points doesn’t do enough marketing of what is possible…

For non Australian airpoints accounts it’s possible to book reward flights on domestic Qantas economy flights. Good luck finding that info on the Air NZ website.

At least with VA they’re making a big deal of this and there will be a partner page soonish outlining the benefits and earn/burn rates.

 

[serfty]

There's also some 'hope' from posters in the above linked FB post hoping they are able to use Airpoints for VA flights (They aren't able to).

Not an issue. In five years as a Gold Elite I never found effective use of airpoints to book an international flight.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Yep, totally agree. I would have been livid to be a VFF and not be able to fly to NZ using my status. That’s like an American airline not flying to Canada or Mexico.

I still don’t understand why VA can’t make it profitable but this at least throws a few crumbs to its customers. I still don’t think it’s compelling and if you did a lot of TT travel you’d probably still be looking at NZ or QF. But this would suit VA fanbois who want the occasional trip across the ditch.

Will be some benefit to to those who have a feeder VA flight to BNE-SYD-MEL then to NZ. Better to have all on one PNR. Are still many anti QF people.