Virgin Australia - Promo Codes (ongoing)

[aus_flyer]

Click here for a list of current Virgin Australia discount codes:

Current Virgin Australia Discount Codes

Why pay full price for your next Virgin flight? Virgin Australia regularly releases discount codes that you can use to save money on airfares!

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

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A while back VA had a discount code that could be used for (almost) any domestic booking.

Are there any discount codes that work at the moment?

Thanks!

 

[The Flying Brick]

I stumbled across this too late to take advantage of the Friends and Family offer!

Does anyone know of any current codes for travel between NZ and Australia for next month (Aug)? How often do the codes or sales happen (is it worth hanging out and waiting for one or should we just book?). Thanks

HNV39 will give a discount up to 10% depending on your fare class, and must be booked at least 21 days in advance.

 

[neean]

Thanks Flying Brick!

Out of interest - do prices ever drop closer to the travel date? Or do they only ever go up?

 

[Must...Fly!]

Thanks Flying Brick!

Out of interest - do prices ever drop closer to the travel date? Or do they only ever go up?

I wouldn't say it's normal but it can happen.

Happy Hour can be a good time to pick up a flight close-in at a bit of a discount - though obviously it's a gamble as that comes around only once a week. It will usually be at least two weeks out though.

 

[ozfflyer]

Thanks Flying Brick!

Out of interest - do prices ever drop closer to the travel date? Or do they only ever go up?

if airlines are discounting close to departure date, their yield manager has stuffed up & will be sacked OR airline about to close down. It's that simple.

 

[QF WP]

I can think of a number of scenarios that aren't that simple @ozfflyer, for example:

Commercial TA hands back seats from a block booking they have been unable to sell (generally in discount fare buckets). Depending on the time decay until flight and likelihood of sale (based on day of week, destination and previous data on time of year and loads), YM will decide on a strategy of which fare buckets to put the seats. Then Marketing will put together campaign to sell seats (social media channels blitz, flash advert on website, or add to existing campaigns as some examples).

So @neean prices can drop (where flights have low seat sales and the time before departure is nearing); whereas in normal conditions, the first seats sold are generally in the lower fare buckets (but with greater conditions), so prices are seen to go up because the remaining seats are the more expensive ones (but with flexible conditions). Most pax are happy to take the restrictive condition flights if they don't need flexibility (or don't value their time as much as others, particularly business people).

 

[neean]

Thanks QF WP - that makes sense. Many thanks for the helpful response - I appreciate it.

 

[ozfflyer]

I can think of a number of scenarios that aren't that simple @ozfflyer, for example:

Commercial TA hands back seats from a block booking they have been unable to sell (generally in discount fare buckets). Depending on the time decay until flight and likelihood of sale (based on day of week, destination and previous data on time of year and loads), YM will decide on a strategy of which fare buckets to put the seats. Then Marketing will put together campaign to sell seats (social media channels blitz, flash advert on website, or add to existing campaigns as some examples).

So @neean prices can drop (where flights have low seat sales and the time before departure is nearing); whereas in normal conditions, the first seats sold are generally in the lower fare buckets (but with greater conditions), so prices are seen to go up because the remaining seats are the more expensive ones (but with flexible conditions). Most pax are happy to take the restrictive condition flights if they don't need flexibility (or don't value their time as much as others, particularly business people).

the last thing any airline wants is cheap seats at last minute. That encourages people to book late & then something comes up & they don't travel. If a wholesaler hands back unsold seats from an allocation, airline wants them back a good few months prior or full payment, otherwise deposit, like a group booking is lost.

So if wholesaler had put down $100 per seat, the airline has that amount to play with. Any allocation of seats is usually at cheapest level, that often never appears in online searches & the airline doesn't want them to appear as cheap fares. They might offer them as a package only fare, where the actual fare is never divulged.

An interesting thing I saw recently was mystery flights to UK.

It gave origin BNE, SYD, MEL etc. fixed dates with number of seats & duration (I think it said under 25 hours in each direction) & it also stated it was not on any Chinese or Taiwanese airline.

Had a quick on sites that give you 49 date combos & the fares in peak season, were around $400-$500 than anything advertised elsewhere

 

[Stealthflyer]

Thanks Flying Brick!

Out of interest - do prices ever drop closer to the travel date? Or do they only ever go up?

I have quite a few Google Flight alerts set up for flights on my shortlist to book later in the year. It’s been really illuminating how they change BOTH ways. For instance, one 3 leg return international flight was approx $1900, then it jumped to 2800. I got quite worried and wondered if I should book before it went further, but then it jumped back to 2100. It’s moved around a few times since - not as dramatically as the $900 jump, but still, it demonstrates how unpredictable prices can be.

 

[ozfflyer]

I have quite a few Google Flight alerts set up for flights on my shortlist to book later in the year. It’s been really illuminating how they change BOTH ways. For instance, one 3 leg return international flight was approx $1900, then it jumped to 2800. I got quite worried and wondered if I should book before it went further, but then it jumped back to 2100. It’s moved around a few times since - not as dramatically as the $900 jump, but still, it demonstrates how unpredictable prices can be.

with the exception of peak season flights like 18DEC-9JAN seats to LAX aren't selling & airlines are holding out. There comes a point when one airline will drop their pants & then every airline will match to some degree. If you are a little bit date flexible, you might save a lot. It's all a game of chicken. Catch is many families want to be back for start of school year. Those who couldn't care less if kids miss a few days, will save heaps. Consumer confidence is taking a nose dive. Spoke to a few families who used to go skiing every year in USA as it's so cheap now. Few of them said, instead of going every year, that now might go every 2nd year for a little bit longer, which is not good for airlines.

 

[Isochronous]

With HNV39, VA SYD-HKG J return is pricing at $2,951.76. Anyone ever seen this fare go lower?

 

[ozfflyer]

va now dumping seats to NZ for industry personnel from $96 return/adult + taxes

Breakaway Travelclub

Might buy a tiny share in a travel agency

 

[jase05]

With HNV39, VA SYD-HKG J return is pricing at $2,951.76. Anyone ever seen this fare go lower?

Not sure but last year VA had a sale to HKG and were doing various cities for around $1500.
We did ADL-MEL-HKG return for $1579 and I think a few others on here took up the offer from OOL for memory

 

[Isochronous]

Not sure but last year VA had a sale to HKG and were doing various cities for around $1500.
We did ADL-MEL-HKG return for $1579 and I think a few others on here took up the offer from OOL for memory

That was only when HK Airlines still ran OOL-HKG which is now gone though, right?

 

[jase05]

That was only when HK Airlines still ran OOL-HKG which is now gone though, right?

I don’t honestly know why they went that low. Not sure if it had anything to do with HX or not

 

[ozstamps]

We did a few HKG RT in biz in past year - each was about $1A500 RT all in.

We started in ADL each time, and we re able to route them ADL-MEL-SYD-HKG and silly things that gave us many 1000s of SC.

Starting in SYD or MEL was double that even in $s on same dates. Strange.

 

[lilkid28]

We did a few HKG RT in biz in past year - each was about $1A500 RT all in.

We started in ADL each time, and we re able to route them ADL-MEL-SYD-HKG and silly things that gave us many 1000s of SC.

Starting in SYD or MEL was double that even in $s on same dates. Strange.

These few trips were all booked using the same promo code correct? Haven't seen this promo since then, but happy to be told otherwise.

 

[Bagpuss]

the last thing any airline wants is cheap seats at last minute.

Some times, a few days out prices will lower and it will display as a "Fast Fare" on the Virgin Website.

 

[Mattg]

Not sure but last year VA had a sale to HKG and were doing various cities for around $1500.
We did ADL-MEL-HKG return for $1579 and I think a few others on here took up the offer from OOL for memory

I don't think that was a sale fare, as such, but rather a mistake fare

Was undoubtedly a great deal for anyone that was able to take advantage, though!

 

[ozfflyer]

I wouldn't say it's normal but it can happen.

Happy Hour can be a good time to pick up a flight close-in at a bit of a discount - though obviously it's a gamble as that comes around only once a week. It will usually be at least two weeks out though.

discounting of many Xmas school holidays flights is now happening. Usually in healthier economic times, the cheapest time to book Xmas was February as soon as flights loaded.

 

[cqtiger]

Any new promo codes. Nothing seems to work at the moment on any classes.