Virgin Australia and Air NZ to Form New Partnership

[AustraliaPoochie]

PremY not available on the VA website flying these flights.
Some flights are not showing on the VA but on the AirNZ website.

Post automatically merged: Dec 5, 2024

Its not really a fair flat playing field, considering that QF also still has its own JQ NZ d flights flying around NZ.
Not so bad if VA had its (dream on, yeap), if VA had its NZ d flights flying around.

 

[justinbrett]

With the NZ/QF partnership in effect, they probably can't.

I think they would be free to sell the NZ coded flights and I expect a TA could combine them in a single PNR. I don’t think there’s anything stopping VA selling them on its site either (QF sells UA, HA, SQ and others on its site)

 

[henrus]

These are actually more benefits then I would have expected:



So Lounge access is an interesting one depending on departure city:
Auckland - Strata Lounge (instead of the Air NZ Lounge)
Wellington/Christchurch - Air NZ Lounge
Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne/Perth - Air NZ Lounge
Adelaide/Gold Coast - Virgin Lounge

Prices seem to be comparable to the Air NZ Works fare.

 

[Mondo]

How do you select seats? Do status passengers get preferred seating?

 

[justinbrett]

I found a few examples where the J fare is cheaper on VA than on NZ.

 

[AFF Editor]

Great news. Checked some sample dates and prices come in a bit higher than ANZ directly. Comparing a Choice fare with a "theworks" fare (unsure if VA codeshare includes food and drink?) and VA is about $200 more for a return trip.

I checked with VA and the Choice fare maps into "theworks", while the Flex fare is treated as a "worksflexi" ticket. All the VA-coded flights include a meal, drinks and a checked bag.

Details here:

Virgin Launches Air New Zealand Partnership

Virgin Australia has launched its long-awaited codeshare partnership with Air New Zealand. From today, Velocity members can book NZ-operated flights to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and enjoy Velocity status benefits including lounge access.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[The-Aviator]

All the VA-coded flights include a meal, drinks and a checked bag.

Details here:

Virgin Launches Air New Zealand Partnership

Virgin Australia has launched its long-awaited codeshare partnership with Air New Zealand. From today, Velocity members can book NZ-operated flights to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and enjoy Velocity status benefits including lounge access.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Thanks for looking into it! Sounds like a reasonable deal then.

 

[Mwenenzi]

I checked with VA and the Choice fare maps into "theworks", while the Flex fare is treated as a "worksflexi" ticket. All the VA-coded flights include a meal, drinks and a checked bag.
Details here:

Virgin Launches Air New Zealand Partnership

Virgin Australia has launched its long-awaited codeshare partnership with Air New Zealand. From today, Velocity members can book NZ-operated flights to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and enjoy Velocity status benefits including lounge access.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

From the article

These flights are only available to book as one-way or return services departing Australia. Under this arrangement, Virgin Australia is not able to sell tickets departing New Zealand.

To me that is very disappointing Was not expecting that. So not a full VANZ partnership.- 50% at best. For Australian based flyers only.
I usually book one ways AU<---->NZ. Often a few days before travel based on schedule and price.
Real taxes Au to NZ ~AU$140 and NZ to ~AU NZ$68 on my MEL<--->CHC flights. Fares can vary a lot.

 

[jase05]

Was not expecting that.

Pretty sure all that the whole partnership terms were outlined when the proposal was first announced. I do agree it’s not ideal though and will cause many to avoid it

 

[Transair]

so can someone answer the following......if I prebooked flights for Jan25 on ANZ MEL-AKL-MEL, can I now attach a VA FFP number and get VA status/points for those two flights

 

[henrus]

so can someone answer the following......if I prebooked flights for Jan25 on ANZ MEL-AKL-MEL, can I now attach a VA FFP number and get VA status/points for those two flights

Nope, you must have booked the flights via the Virgin Website and they need to be marketed by VA so a VA flight number. Any existing bookings made prior to today aren't eligible and new bookings must be made via Virgin.

 

[Transair]

Nope, you must have booked the flights via the Virgin Website and they need to be marketed by VA so a VA flight number. Any existing bookings made prior to today aren't eligible and new bookings must be made via Virgin.

pity..thanks

 

[duanemiller]

Just booked my trip in Jan/Feb return MEL-AKL with VA flight number. Happy camper

 

[henrus]

Just booked my trip in Jan/Feb return MEL-AKL with VA flight number. Happy camper

Does the VA website give you an Air NZ booking reference or can you bring it up on the Air NZ website?

 

[justinbrett]

Pretty sure all that the whole partnership terms were outlined when the proposal was first announced. I do agree it’s not ideal though and will cause many to avoid it

Yes, was always the plan, NZ doesn’t want to lose its existing direct bookings.

Effectively just VA playing the role of travel agent for these flights.

VA’s comments about a love story are quite cringe. Perhaps the story is “He’s Just Not That Into You”

 

[AFF Editor]

I found a few examples where the J fare is cheaper on VA than on NZ.

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.

 

[Nouflyer]

These are actually more benefits then I would have expected:

View attachment 417613

So Lounge access is an interesting one depending on departure city:
Auckland - Strata Lounge (instead of the Air NZ Lounge)
Wellington/Christchurch - Air NZ Lounge
Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne/Perth - Air NZ Lounge
Adelaide/Gold Coast - Virgin Lounge

Prices seem to be comparable to the Air NZ Works fare.

Actually, the Strata Lounge in Auckland is the old Air NZ lounge. And it was much better than the current one, it just wasn’t big enough for it to be pimped out to partner airlines for their flights too.

 

[justinbrett]

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.

But there could be a lower fare class available on the VA code vs the NZ code. Probably due system lag.

 

[ferntree]

How do you select seats? Do status passengers get preferred seating?

Yes that's what I'd like to know. Can't select them when booking. So ... for example, is the equivalent of Virgin row 3 reserved for platinum, etc?

Anybody know?

 

[duanemiller]

Does the VA website give you an Air NZ booking reference or can you bring it up on the Air NZ website?

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