Virgin Australia flights to Doha now on sale

[L_MareeB]

Looks like I typed this yesterday but never posted.

I have some update. After 7 tries, I finally got through to the VA Guest Contact Centre. I had some other questions, but re the seat selection, this seems to be the go:

1. If it’s one of new “VA” flights Aus-DOH (VA1-VA29 or whatever it is), those seats can be booked through VA. I didn’t asked if that’s free for standard seat selection on Y or not.
2. If it’s a QR flight: one of the existing ones or DOH to somewhere other than Aus, seats must be booked by contacting QR.
3. I asked if you could book the seats online through the QR website. He said I could try using the ticket number on the QR website to book the seats that way but, failing that, I’d need to call QR.
4. When I asked about waiting until check-in for free seat selection (I wanted to know how I’d be able to select a seat when checking in with the VA app when I can’t select it now, at booking), he basically said that I would either have to select a seat upon checking in at the airport, or accept a random seat allocation when checking in online (or, at least, that’s what I could make it; line wasn’t great). I’ve heard of people losing their pre-paid seats upon check-in, so wanted to know what it would mean to simply wait.

This is the most information I’ve gotten out of anyone in about 6 weeks of trying. It’s likely that when I call the next time, I’ll get completely different answers, but at least I feel a little bit more empowered with this knowledge, as much as I don’t like the answers… HTH someone…

 

[SCM]

It's a real shame when they can't get something as basic as seat selection working...

 

[L_MareeB]

It's a real shame when they can't get something as basic as seat selection working...

Totally. I’m looking at booking direct with QR now. For the same price as VA, I can get a fare that actually lets me select standard seats. It comes at the cost of points and SC (also, won’t be a VA flight for the purposes of the new rules), but worth the hassle saved, I think.

Subsequent conversation with VA, they said that I can’t event check in on the app. Would have to do it at the airport.