Virgin Australia flights to Doha now on sale

[Secco]

Velocity has just released Reward Seats on the VA flights between Australia and Doha. It looks like there are up to four Business Class seats available per flight, and many more in Economy.

Get in fast!

You Can Now Book Virgin Flights to Doha with Velocity Points

You can now redeem Velocity points to book Virgin Australia flights to and from Doha, and there are up to 4 Business Reward Seats available per flight.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Thank you for the heads up.

I originally had to book Paris-Doha-Singapore-Melbourne, but just managed to change it to Paris-Doha-Melbourne, and after paying $240 in change/cancellation fees, still ended up $155 in front.

 

[jase05]

Seriously looked at cancelling awards seats from DOH back to Asia and booking on the direct flights into Australia but in the end no AS access swayed with my decision to stick to my existing flights.

 

[Gold Member]

My planned route was MUC-DOH-SYD-MEL. This priced at 173K miles + ~$950AUD! I realise Virgin are merely passing on QR’s carrier charges and that the SYD-MEL flight was priced as an additional separate one-way award (albeit on the same ticket), but damn that’s steep. Not up there with QF redemption on EK, but still. So I amended the booking to just DOH-SYD-MEL for 135K + ~$500.

That’s saving me 38K miles and $450, but I now have the option to pick and choose my connecting flight which is so much better. Although there are two daily flights from MUC, of course the VA booking engine only offered the afternoon flight with the shortest connection time which left a 9hr transit in DOH. That’s only about 4 hrs of sleep in a nearby airport hotel in practical terms when you account for all the logistics before and after head on pillow.

I can now select the earlier morning flight using AA, QR/BA and many more FFPs from just 40K and circa $100 in taxes/surcharges. I could even pay just 35K miles with SQ’s partners if I could handle indirect and narrow bodies. I value other FF points much higher than VA points, so I now have a lot more flexibility and I don’t feel like I’ve been as badly ripped off using my VA points on the extra EU-DOH segment. But I am certainly grateful that I can actually use my points for long-haul premium cabins to/from Europe during peak season.

Edit: just for reference using QR points - The very same DOH-SYD flight alone is just 70,000 Avios + 785.50 AUD.

 

[flyerzz]

if flying from SYD to Europe via DOH (same ticket), does the baggage need to be picked up at DOH and re-check back in?
Or, will it go to the final destination (Europe)?

Also, do we know which days VA1 (SYD-DOH) fly during the week?

 

[Secco]

if flying from SYD to Europe via DOH (same ticket), does the baggage need to be picked up at DOH and re-check back in?
Or, will it go to the final destination (Europe)?

Also, do we know which days VA1 (SYD-DOH) fly during the week?

You won't need to pick it up

 

[jase05]

Also, do we know which days VA1 (SYD-DOH) fly during the week?

Every day

 

[flyerzz]

looks like no J from around 10 or 14 Dec onwards. I assume because it's peak period?
is it normal for airline not to release any reward J seats for peak period in Dec?

 

[Bagpuss]

looks like no J from around 10 or 14 Dec onwards. I assume because it's peak period?
is it normal for airline not to release any reward J seats for peak period in Dec?

Yup this is normal. If released it's usually last minute.