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.

 

[L_MareeB]

Ok, I'm back with report from my experience of (finally) booking my QR flights through VA. *Disclaimer: This is my experience; no guarantee it will be the same for everyone else!

After making the booking, you get to this landing page, showing your six-letter VA booking code. Click on "Partner Airline Reference" for it to expand and show your six-character alphanumeric QR booking reference.

If you've exited or closed this page, you can also access it when you go to manage your booking through the VA app (or website, presumably, but haven't tried that yet).

Then, of course, you go the Qatar website. From there, click on Manage/Check In (I didn't see this until I went to type this up! I went through a very long-winded route before)



Follow the prompts. It asked me to enter my email address, phone number and FF number (I used my VA one, of course, as this is what I booked with). Every time I log back in, it sends me a an OTP to my phone and email.

From there, it looks like you can manage the booking exactly as you would have if you booked directly with QR. I'm kind of assuming that you can check in with QR online this way, too, and might not need to wait to check in at the airport, as I was initially advised by one of the VA agents I spoke to.

HTH

 

[Jusrus]

I booked a QR AU/EU return flight today with the 4th leg on the Virgin wet lease from Doha to Brisbane.

I tried to book via Virgin, but of course I couldn't for a variety of reasons (the outbound leg wasn't on the Virgin website, and of course, no ability to book open jaw yet either).

I went the mid tier economy, credited points and status to Virgin (both legs prior to Sep 30 change in policy), which included free basic seat selection.

Of course, cannot select seat on the last Virgin wet lease leg. A long way away, so I'll try and sort via QR I guess once these flights start operating.

All in all still a mess.

 

[L_MareeB]

I booked a QR AU/EU return flight today with the 4th leg on the Virgin wet lease from Doha to Brisbane.

I tried to book via Virgin, but of course I couldn't for a variety of reasons (the outbound leg wasn't on the Virgin website, and of course, no ability to book open jaw yet either).

I went the mid tier economy, credited points and status to Virgin (both legs prior to Sep 30 change in policy), which included free basic seat selection.

Of course, cannot select seat on the last Virgin wet lease leg. A long way away, so I'll try and sort via QR I guess once these flights start operating.

All in all still a mess.

Yeah, it’s a bit of a schmozzle right now. It was cheaper for me to buy the mid-tier economy on QR than what I’m assuming is the lowest tier economy on VA, if I was flying from Brisbane. Ended up being cheaper to fly via Sydney, even with the extra BNE-SYD return flight added on. Only thing was I couldn’t book this as one itinerary (not without shelving out another $500), so I booked both on VA, so they can at least link the bookings (which I’ve requested). I’m also hoping that doing so would mean that all these count as SC on VA flights under the new rules.

From my many conversations with the VA agents, you should be able to book the seats on the wet-lease flights with VA on the phone. Pretty sure it’s option 9 when you call 136789. It’s basically the first one they give you. I don’t know why they think anyone would want to select a seat without being able to look at the seat plan at the same time, especially when you’re spending 15 hours in a Y seat, but yeah.

Also depends on the agent you get. I’ve called back to get a different agent if the first one I spoke to seemed to not know what they were talking about…

 

[jase05]

It looks a real mess currently and after crunching a few numbers it doesn’t make any sense for me to book on the VA wet lease flights. No access to the AS is a big deal breaker for me too

 

[L_MareeB]

It looks a real mess currently and after crunching a few numbers it doesn’t make any sense for me to book on the VA wet lease flights. No access to the AS is a big deal breaker for me too

Personally, I’m also a bit nervous about booking flights that are still “subject to government approval”. Anyone know when they’re due to get that approval?

Even the bonus points couldn’t lure me. If it was an A380, maybe. But not a 777 in Y.

Don’t worry, I’ll be writing a comprehensive letter to VA about my experience with all this!

 

[Gold Member]

Personally, I’m also a bit nervous about booking flights that are still “subject to government approval”. Anyone know when they’re due to get that approval?

If this was a Qantas service, AJ would have just texted Albo and Cathy and voila - approved. Something about Government Backed Entity and protection rackets, apparently.

But for a service effectively operated by Qatar? With so much recent scrutiny and public interest in opening our skies to offer more competition, you might just get lucky. Who knows

 

[simmomelb]

Personally, I’m also a bit nervous about booking flights that are still “subject to government approval”. Anyone know when they’re due to get that approval?

In the improbable event that it's not approved, the way I look at it is the worst-case scenario, which is a full refund. Then you can book an alternative

 

[RooFlyer]

I’ll just say here what I usually end up saying in these situations. Using a bricks and mortar travel agent (ie not Flight Centre or online types) saves time, hassle and often money although they will charge you a fee these days (how much is your time worth?). No having to deal with call centre agents who don’t know what they’re doing, no hassles with dodgy websites etc. ect.

They will find and price various options for you: code share, native code, departure port etc

And the travel agent will fix things up if there’s cancellations or re-timings along the way. No having to call Australia and wait forever on a long distance call.

I used my TA when I was planning to fly QR or VA/QR through to Europe and it just took me one email to get the options and make a choice. I’m flying ordinary QR flights.

 

[bernardblack]

It looks a real mess currently and after crunching a few numbers it doesn’t make any sense for me to book on the VA wet lease flights. No access to the AS is a big deal breaker for me too

May I ask whether you have QRPC Plat, @jase05? Because I don't think you would get AS even on the QR codes, unless one of the flights is in F or you have that particular status.

 

[L_MareeB]

In the improbable event that it's not approved, the way I look at it is the worst-case scenario, which is a full refund. Then you can book an alternative

Fair enough, but how much would that alternative cost by then…

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 1:01 PM

I’ll just say here what I usually end up saying in these situations. Using a bricks and mortar travel agent (ie not Flight Centre or online types) saves time, hassle and often money although they will charge you a fee these days (how much is your time worth?). No having to deal with call centre agents who don’t know what they’re doing, no hassles with dodgy websites etc. ect.

They will find and price various options for you: code share, native code, departure port etc

And the travel agent will fix things up if there’s cancellations or re-timings along the way. No having to call Australia and wait forever on a long distance call.

I used my TA when I was planning to fly QR or VA/QR through to Europe and it just took me one email to get the options and make a choice. I’m flying ordinary QR flights.

I’d have no qualms doing that if I knew a decent one. I have never used one, so no idea how to even find a good one…

 

[jase05]

May I ask whether you have QRPC Plat, @jase05? Because I don't think you would get AS even on the QR codes, unless one of the flights is in F or you have that particular status.

Not currently but when I fly through next time I will. Need one QR flight to be status matched to QR Platinum and we normally stay in Doha for 2 or 3 days so should be fine for the flight out

 

[L_MareeB]

May I ask whether you have QRPC Plat, @jase05? Because I don't think you would get AS even on the QR codes, unless one of the flights is in F or you have that particular status.

QR has three Y fare buckets. The upper two (Convenience and Comfort, I think) include free seat standard selection. The uppermost one (that should align with Flex for VA) includes free preferred and extra legroom seating, too.

 

[Bolter]

QR has three Y fare buckets. The upper two (Convenience and Comfort, I think) include free seat standard selection. The uppermost one (that should align with Flex for VA) includes free preferred and extra legroom seating, too.

I may have missed this but if you book the VA lower tier economy flights do you have to pay for seat selection?

 

[L_MareeB]

I may have missed this but if you book the VA lower tier economy flights do you have to pay for seat selection?

It’s virtually impossible to know whether you’re getting the equivalent of a QR Classic (paid standard seat selection) or QR Comfort (free standard seat selection) when you select Choice on VA - which I assume you are referring to.

You might be able to figure out the exact category you’re attempting to book by finding it on http://matrix.itasoftware.com/, but even then you have to translate the VA code to the QR code, which I didn’t know how to do. Once I spoke to a VA agent and they did seem to be able to decipher it. But, ultimately, you will probably only find out once you’ve booked! This is a big part of why I would have booked directly with QR because you have that information upfront. I only booked with VA because I wanted to make it easier to link it with my domestic flights (which they now say they can’t do ), and given how cheap the fare was, I assumed I’d have to pay for seat selection and I do.