Virgin does it again - will no longer fly with them

[jase05]

I know I'll probably jinx myself when I say this but having taken now close to 200 flights with a number of airlines: United, Qantas, JetStar, KLM, Air Canada, ANA, Air New Zealand, Delta, American, BA, RyanAir, Swiss, EgyptAir, etc. I haven't once had a bag gone "missing". I would estimate probably about half of my flights involved a checked bag of some sort. The fact that Virgin is losing bags on top is crazy.

I never mentioned anything about VA losing my bags. It was QF who lost my bags.
In my hundreds of VA flights I have only had bags go missing once and that was on a ADL-MEL-BWN-MNL ticket booked on BI several years ago. The first leg was on VA ADL-MEL with an overnight stop over in MEL before our international legs. Mrs Jase’s bags arrived in MEL but mine didn’t and had somehow ended up in SYD. We were leaving MEL mid morning the following day but VA delivered the luggage to our hotel early the next morning so no problem.
QF have lost my luggage several times the last time being at Easter this year when on a ADL-MEL-CBR booking my bags didn’t make it to CBR and somehow took a couple of days to get to CBR. That was the same flight where they “forgot” to load any J catering

 

[SeaWolf]

Anything else you'd like to know about my travel plans?

Yes, why are you still flying on Virgin Australia? You're a prolific poster in this forum but always say negative things about Virgin. There's alternatives available in Australia so, what is it that has kept you flying on them despite your passionate loathing of them?

 

[stm1sydney]

Just TEN or 20 extra paid biz tickets a day covers security staffing costs. No brainer to any savvy management. Force them into the Mayhem Bogan Zoo and you just lost them.

Just horrible having to mix with *Bogans* ewwwwwwwww...

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Just horrible having to mix with *Bogans* ewwwwwwwww...

Especially the ones in the high-vis at the Perth QF Business lounge, "look ma I'm in first class!"

 

[bakerbj]

And now, we just received an email offering to "upgrade" the flights we are no longer booked on.
REALLY Dick?

And the saga continues, I also booked return flights to Sydney in February which they tried to change, luckily we came to an acceptable arrangement

I reckon that, based on our experience for the three trips I booked back in July at the then cheaper costs, Virgin simply kick you off your cheap seat so they can sell it at the now much more expensive rate.

 

[TheInsider]

Virgin simply kick you off your cheap seat so they can sell it at the now much more expensive rate.

Doesn't work like that. It's not some big conspiracy.

 

[HS-TQE]

Mr Richard 'Dick' B has little to no control over what Virgin Australia does apart from being the occasional figurehead that may get wheeled out/flown in by the current owners.

RB only has a minority stake and is only getting paid $$ for the licensing fees of the use of the 'Virgin' brand by VA's current Private Equity owners.

 

[BAM1748]

Anecdote does not equal data.

Have a look at the Qantas forum on this website or open any newspaper or visit any form of social media and search 'qantas' or visit Choice's website or or or ....

Neither does a social media forum, it does not equal data.

 

[antycbr]

Neither does a social media forum, it does not equal data.

There simply is not enough data other than BITRE and financial returns by the airlines. Therefore we are reduced to speculation.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

And the saga continues, I also booked return flights to Sydney in February which they tried to change, luckily we came to an acceptable arrangement

I reckon that, based on our experience for the three trips I booked back in July at the then cheaper costs, Virgin simply kick you off your cheap seat so they can sell it at the now much more expensive rate.

I think Hanlon's razor applies in this situation:

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

The fact of the matter is Virgin, Qantas, JetStar all cancel flights. I say that not as speculation but having specifically experienced cancellations by all three of them. I have also flown KLM and Air Canada both of which cancelled flights on me, in some instances just a couple of hours prior to departure. I'm sorry if you aren't enjoying the process as much as others have, but it's a simple reality of airlines trying to ramp up capacity and build back route networks that have been damaged due to the COVID pandemic.

As I've said before elsewhere on the forum, and I will repeat again, what you should be asking yourself is how do you profit from these cancellations and delays? Every one of these cancellations I have benefited from, in some cases greatly. I have forced Air Canada to open up a business class seat for me at a later date when they cancelled my business saver award flight and had me rebooked at an inopportune time. When JetStar cancelled my PER to SYD flight last month as I was smiling ear to ear since I could force JQ to rebook me on a connecting flight which resulted in me earning 100 status credits instead of 80 status credits for the original flight. Every flight you book you need to be asking yourself in a perfect world, if money wasn't a concern, what flight would I like to be on then deploy that option when the airlines inevitability cancel your flight.

Mr Richard 'Dick' B has little to no control over what Virgin Australia does apart from being the occasional figurehead that may get wheeled out/flown in by the current owners.

RB only has a minority stake and is only getting paid $$ for the licensing fees of the use of the 'Virgin' brand by VA's current Private Equity owners.

Can we please leave Dick out of this! We've already got enough Dicks managing Australian airlines!

 

[jakeseven7]

I didn't really want to start a new thread on this, thought someone may know.

Its it actually possible for VA2 to link bookings and then the second booking to get the seating allowed by the person in the first bookings status? (e.g I'm Plat, seperate booking is Red, can I link bookings and move them up the front with me - not into economy X, just at the front)

I do this on QF all the time, but just got off the phone with the VA2 Customer No-Care line (Asia call centre not local escalation call centre yet) and they were adament tough luck that can't be done.

Before I call again and try my luck thought I'd just check, see if anyone had actually done it / can VA2s old clunky system actually do this?

Thanks so much.

 

[oz_mark]

I didn't really want to start a new thread on this, thought someone may know.

Its it actually possible for VA2 to link bookings and then the second booking to get the seating allowed by the person in the first bookings status? (e.g I'm Plat, seperate booking is Red, can I link bookings and move them up the front with me - not into economy X, just at the front)

I do this on QF all the time, but just got off the phone with the VA2 Customer No-Care line (Asia call centre not local escalation call centre yet) and they were adament tough luck that can't be done.

Before I call again and try my luck thought I'd just check, see if anyone had actually done it / can VA2s old clunky system actually do this?

Thanks so much.

As I undertsand it, linking bookings is no longer enough, they need to be on the same booking. You'll need to find someone to charm into doing it

 

[jakeseven7]

As I undertsand it, linking bookings is no longer enough, they need to be on the same booking. You'll need to find someone to charm into doing it

Thanks for answering, appreciated it.

I don't think they actually can link anymore - if the computer says no operator is to be believed -'it is a limitation of our booking system I cannot help'....

Not sure I have the energy to try and escalate and try and get someone in Brisbane to look at it...

Thanks

 

[AIRwin]

Not sure I have the energy to try and escalate and try and get someone in Brisbane to look at it...

Try seat selection at T-50

 

[jakeseven7]

Try seat selection at T-50

Thank you I will

 

[oz_mark]

Try seat selection at T-50

Interesting as Virgin say T-48

 

[Must...Fly!]

I didn't really want to start a new thread on this, thought someone may know.

Its it actually possible for VA2 to link bookings and then the second booking to get the seating allowed by the person in the first bookings status? (e.g I'm Plat, seperate booking is Red, can I link bookings and move them up the front with me - not into economy X, just at the front)

I do this on QF all the time, but just got off the phone with the VA2 Customer No-Care line (Asia call centre not local escalation call centre yet) and they were adament tough luck that can't be done.

Before I call again and try my luck thought I'd just check, see if anyone had actually done it / can VA2s old clunky system actually do this?

Thanks so much.

It's always been a limitation. Linking bookings is possible but all it really does is put a note in each pnr I believe

 

[AIRwin]

Interesting as Virgin say T-48

T-49?

 

[JohnK]

My simple take on all this is that it's an issue with all airlines at the moment. From staffing issues, to cost issues and likely that planes were hibernated for a long time causing a ripple of issues.

The situation is made worse by the pent up demands of flying and the higher costs paid for airfares.

We should remain thankful that we're all alive and well.

Maybe this is what's happening in Australia.

Last month had a Nok Air flight DMK-CNX flight that was pushed out 2-3 hours a few days before travel.

Received a lovely email outlining that I did not need to do anything if I accepted the new flight and a whole lot of options if I did not accept new flight including 1 free change to another flight.

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

It's always been a limitation. Linking bookings is possible but all it really does is put a note in each pnr I believe

Interesting, as I'd regularly done this with Mrs Hawk's flights, as she is Red and I've been SG/WP. It had been done with minimal fuss and in less than a minute. Obviously things are different now