Virgin Australia bookings going forward.

[eastwest101]

So my work which is BFOD had to book ao essential travel, our internal booking travel tool has completely blocked all VA flights from being able to book.... just QF, JQ, Rex available.

I wonder if your company will be one of the voices pissing and moaning about high airfares in 3 months time in the case that VA2 (or whatever its called) happens to fail to recapitalised and launch? Its always funny seeing people moaning about high prices when they weren't prepared to consider using competitors.

 

[Scarlett]

I wonder if your company will be one of the voices pissing and moaning about high airfares in 3 months time in the case that VA2 (or whatever its called) happens to fail to recapitalised and launch? Its always funny seeing people moaning about high prices when they weren't prepared to consider using competitors.

That's overly harsh.
It's a sensible business decision given that no one has any idea what kind of airline will emerge in another month, or if one even will. With such a heavy debt burden; a depressed travel market; and competition that didn't exist when DJ first started, there's no guarantee of anything.
Therefore, reduce business travel risk until there is more certainty.

 

[simmomelb]

My wife and were only yesterday talking about this. Currently we have about $2k in the travel bank together and 4 x tickets (future dates) June and September to Europe and North America. (approx. $5K in value) We tried to transfer European tickets to the travel bank however as we know they are not currently transferring these tickets to the travel bank. I don't have an answer suffice to say that we will wait and see. If it goes pear shape and we loose the lot and we will try and do a charge back. I just hope that version VA 2.0 will still honour the travel bank as well as future tickets.

If they don't honour the travel bank, future tickets and Velocity points (we have about 300k together), then we will not support any version of the "New Virgin Australia." If they honour parts of it then I guess time will tell and we will make up our mind then.

Of course they are honoring the Travel Bank credits, it's not only a condition of the sale agreement as frequently spoken about in earlier AFR articles, but it would be dead set stupidity for the new owners not to honor this, it would kill off a huge loyal customer base which could have dire consequences for the business. I have about 3.5k in Travel Bank and absolutely not worried in the least about this being available on the other side. Now, lets hope those Qld border restrictions are lifted soon so we can all start domestic flying for the time being. I can't see international flying in and out of Australia anytime soon, except for NZ and Fiji.

 

[Scarlett]

Now, as for the original question from straitman, I booked (or should that be rebooked) the family for a trip over to PER in October. Mostly burned all remaining VFF points, but also some QFF points as well. I'll still have $ tied up in travel bank and a MasterCard travel credit, but figured points bookings are inherently more flexible and they're probably going to be devalued anyway, if not completely lost in VFFs case.
There is still plenty of risk in making a booking at this time, especially with grandstanding premiers and goalposts being shifted from flattening curves to elimination strategies. Whilst an interesting short term goal what are they going to do when international travel resumes?
But, not having forward travel bookings was too horrible a future to contemplate! #firstworldproblems

 

[smittykittyflying]

My wife and were only yesterday talking about this. Currently we have about $2k in the travel bank together and 4 x tickets (future dates) June and September to Europe and North America. (approx. $5K in value) We tried to transfer European tickets to the travel bank however as we know they are not currently transferring these tickets to the travel bank. I don't have an answer suffice to say that we will wait and see. If it goes pear shape and we loose the lot and we will try and do a charge back. I just hope that version VA 2.0 will still honour the travel bank as well as future tickets.

If they don't honour the travel bank, future tickets and Velocity points (we have about 300k together), then we will not support any version of the "New Virgin Australia." If they honour parts of it then I guess time will tell and we will make up our mind then.

This is our situation as well but we have 800k in points we were saving for our milestone birthday

 

[eastwest101]

That's overly harsh.
It's a sensible business decision given that no one has any idea what kind of airline will emerge in another month, or if one even will. With such a heavy debt burden; a depressed travel market; and competition that didn't exist when DJ first started, there's no guarantee of anything.
Therefore, reduce business travel risk until there is more certainty.

Yes but the poster mentioned that their companies travel portal was blocking VA bookings despite near term bookings and flights being guaranteed by the federal government, so if the company needs to fly someone somewhere tomorrow, then VA is no more risk than booking QF JQ or Rex. If the bookings were for much further time frames then I would understand that caution might be considered. If the company actually does needs to fly someone somewhere in the near future, then grandstanding state premiers and border restrictions etc are all unavoidable risks whichever airline you book.

If VA2 collapses/never happens or goes into liquidation then everyone can backslap each other about how they avoided losing those particular bookings, but those short term trivial "savings" will be rapidly eaten up by a dominant QF JQ monopoly airfare environment, so its a case of pinching the pennies and throwing away the pounds that some large organisations are famous for.

 

[The Flying Brick]

I think it took VB a few years or so before they brought on their VFF system.
They (VB) started about the time AN died, so about 2000 or so, and I think it was about 2004 ((edit: I just checked, it was 2005)), before VFF started.
As I mentioned in the past, speculation is bad, but we just don't know (as you have), what routes will continue, if they will continue to pay for the VFF system, or if VGW will survive.
Not too long to go, month and a bit before we get more info, (end of June?)...
Results of sale end of July.
Even if the Aust domestic borders are opened again to domestic travellers, I worry more about self isolation.
Would dare surmise though that VA is earning lots of interest though, of the money being held in travelbank.

I used to drink VB.

Till the bloody Yanks bought it !

OTOH I did spend a fair bit of time flying DJ before it transformed into VA

 

[farmboy]

What are peoples thoughts about future bookings with VA?

For example we have several TravelBank credits. We have one each for my wife and myself and another for both of us via Amex.

Looking ahead to maybe October/November. Are we better off to have these TravelBanks intact or use some of then to make a couple of bookings that that we hope will go ahead? Another way of looking at this is which would be better if the it all goes the wrong way. Having a booked ticket OR having a TravelBank credit? (or maybe neither)

I've been a happy Virgin supporter since Virgin Blue days, less so in recent years but still a supporter.
I've been following the recent saga closely, and I will be very surprised if Virgin survives the admin process. Many reasons, but here are a few;
1. Current loss-making CEO to stay on is a big negative, check his record.
2. Too many creditors all saying they demand 100% of their debt be repaid. Fair enough but not possible. 3. Several of the suitors are romantics and in love with the idea of owning an airline.
4. Even with the best will in the world, the aircraft are not going to be making money for a long time.
5. Several of the suitors have a checkered record.
6. That's it for now, but there are more....

 

[RAM]

Looking at Flightradar24 a couple of times this week I was surprised to see a number of VA flights operating such as to Perth from Sydney (or could have been Melb) as well as another couple of routes that I didn't think were operating & I don't recall being on the future booking list either.

We have a couple of flights booked for mid June (from pre-CV days) which are not operating currently. Will be interesting to see what happens with those given the current 'travel credit' unknowns.

 

[dajop]

1. Current loss-making CEO to stay on is a big negative, check his record.

Could any CEO have turned around VA in one year to the point that it could survive the COVID-19 shock, given the debt load and leases he inherited? He took over as CEO on 25 Mar 2019.

 

[jakeseven7]

1. Current loss-making CEO to stay on is a big negative, check his record.

There is a very good chance the new owners will be throwing out the CEO and some of senior VA1 management if they purchase.

There are 2 CEO's lined up to replace the old VA1 CEO that have been named in the media, who knows how many more in locked away transition plans....

Anyway - back on topic, I wonder if restrictions lift BEFORE a new owner takes over, whether VA1 (under admin) will have any cash to fly any more flights in the interim without more government guarantees?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

For RAM...
We are told the Aust fed govt is paying for some essential services flights.
Some of those planes might be carrying mail and freight only.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

There is a very good chance the new owners will be throwing out the CEO and some of senior VA1 management if they purchase.

There are 2 CEO's lined up to replace the old VA1 CEO that have been named in the media, who knows how many more in locked away transition plans....

Anyway - back on topic, I wonder if restrictions lift BEFORE a new owner takes over, whether VA1 (under admin) will have any cash to fly any more flights in the interim without more government guarantee as?

They are probably making some money.
Fed govt did pay them to do some flights, and they would get paid by Auspost et all to fly too.
OT... Some eBay items from o/seas now have freight charges of $99, in past was much less.

 

[BNEFlyer]

For RAM...
We are told the Aust fed govt is paying for some essential services flights.
Some of those planes might be carrying mail and freight only.

They (and QF, JQ and Rex) are operating a minimal domestic network. VA is flying these services until mid-July.

 

[simmomelb]

Will take a few domestic flights with VA in the next month but not looking much past that and definitely won’t be booking much further forward until we find out what form VA2 will return as (if it does even return).

I've just booked flights from Melbourne to Cairns in September with Virgin Australia. Perhaps I am more optimistic than most on here, but I don't have any doubts about their aviation future and the interest from cashed-up investors that are bidding for them secures that thought in my mind

 

[BNEFlyer]

I looked at flights yesterday afternoon, went to book last night and something had updated, all flights had increased (to almost double what I was going to pay), no Getaway fares, all flights, all day for multiple days are the same fare amount. Hoping it's just a schedule update and the prices will adjust back down soon, and Getaway fares will be added.

 

[dajop]

Perhaps I am more optimistic than most on here

Which are you more optimistic about, VA still operating in September or the Qld border being open by then?

 

[Melburnian1]

I wonder if your company will be one of the voices pissing and moaning about high airfares in 3 months time in the case that VA2 (or whatever its called) happens to fail to recapitalised and launch? Its always funny seeing people moaning about high prices when they weren't prepared to consider using competitors.

Usually you are 110 per cent correct, but here, the AFFer's company has made a prudent decision.

I can't see how VA 1.0 will morph into anything other than a liquidation process. Yes, there's many articles in the business press about 'bidder A' or 'D' but little attention to what creditors may do. Some of the latter are owed what to me are large sums.

Today in one outlet there's some story about the VA administrators being unable to exactly identify how much debt VA has because the supplier arrangements are allegedly incredibly complex. In the age of complex IT programs this seemed a strange comment, but I'm not the one running an eye over the books.

 

[Melburnian1]

They are probably making some money.
Fed govt did pay them to do some flights, and they would get paid by Auspost et all to fly too.
OT... Some eBay items from o/seas now have freight charges of $99, in past was much less.

Intuitively you are correct that on the Fed Govt-arranged domestic/international flights 'VA is making some money' but Deloittes, the administrators, commented to one newspaper that gross revenue was $25m a month (from which the company must deduct fuel costs, staffing, maintenance and so on) and expenses for aircraft leases alone $40m monthly so in total, still loss making.

 

[joon8887]

Are we still allow to book a SIA flight via VA website? Not showing anything on my side. I guessing its not working?