Virgin Overbooking

[justinbrett]

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/man-waits-at-perth-airport-for-more-than-15-hours-without-getting-on-flight/news-story/665ee6f53f26c374510954e10e837786

This seems odd, evidently VA didn't follow its own involuntary denied boarding policy (asking for volunteers first) and that the pax ended up paying for their own QF flight after the second flight cancelled. Surely at very least VA should have paid for the QF flight?

 

[odysseus]

Sad they're using the cop out "The number of travellers flying with us this school holidays has increased by 15 per cent in comparison to 2019 levels, which is significantly higher than the recent Easter holiday period."

And? They didn't make the bookings on the day, so the airline took and knew these bookings existed. Therefore the above isn't an excuse or even a reason.

 

[TomVexille]

Yeah, that's extremely poor. And exactly why we need some form of passenger protection laws in place.

Buuuuut, when was the last time QF paid to put pax on VA? I'll wager close to never. And there's been quite a few QF overbooking stories popping up from AFFers lately, so clearly not just a VA problem.

 

[justinbrett]

Buuuuut, when was the last time QF paid to put pax on VA? I'll wager close to never. And there's been quite a few QF overbooking stories popping up from AFFers lately, so clearly not just a VA problem.

It's a bit different though, when QF + JQ combined have 62% of the market, vs 34% for VA. There's just more options for QF to rebook organically (8 vs 4 for this route).

 

[simmomelb]

I never used to buy travel insurance for domestic flights and now I won't fly without it given the issues with all airlines right now. Just too risky.

 

[jakeseven7]

It's a bit different though, when QF + JQ combined have 62% of the market, vs 34% for VA. There's just more options for QF to rebook organically (8 vs 4 for this route).

I have had VA rebook onto QF and JQ (very recently this has occurred alot with the huge number of VA cancellations - see other thread)
I have had JQ rebook onto QF
I have had QF rebook onto JQ

Never have had myself our our team rebooked from QF/JQ to VA though - as you say, they probably don't need to with the coverage they have on the routes they fly between JQ and QF.

 

[OzEire]

Buuuuut, when was the last time QF paid to put pax on VA? I'll wager close to never.

yes, I've had this rebooking... but it was a fully flexible QF economy fare which cost about 300% what the rebooked VA ticket was worth (it was in the details of the ticket I received on a slip of paper printed at the service desk).

 

[openseat]

Buuuuut, when was the last time QF paid to put pax on VA? I'll wager close to never. And there's been quite a few QF overbooking stories popping up from AFFers lately, so clearly not just a VA problem.

In 2019 I was rebooked from QF to VA on a LST-MEL flight when the egg beater failed to show. Mind you it was at my prompting over the phone.

 

[jakeseven7]

I wonder how much is 'true' VA overbooking versus the recent VA cancellation rates of 15% pushing everyone onto reduced services leading to people being bumped off....

 

[TomVexille]

yes, I've had this rebooking... but it was a fully flexible QF economy fare which cost about 300% what the rebooked VA ticket was worth (it was in the details of the ticket I received on a slip of paper printed at the service desk).

In 2019 I was rebooked from QF to VA on a LST-MEL flight when the egg beater failed to show. Mind you it was at my prompting over the phone.

All in all, a far cry from flying in the US where it takes next to no prompting for an airline to put you on the competitor.

 

[justinbrett]

This article suggests that while both QF & VA OTP is around the same (terrible, 44/43%), VA is far in front in terms of cancellations, at 14.7% vs QF 6.7%. It doesn't specify if JQ is included, I would think probably not.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-advice/flights/qantas-and-virgin-australia-cancelled-or-delayed-more-than-half-of-domestic-flights/news-story/dd8cf30fcd24bbb7e7aa43e0e958df88

 

[TheInsider]

Buuuuut, when was the last time QF paid to put pax on VA? I'll wager close to never. And there's been quite a few QF overbooking stories popping up from AFFers lately, so clearly not just a VA problem.

QF do have an agreement with VA (as VA do with QF) and QF has moved plenty of people to VA.

 

[simmomelb]

I was moved from a QF flight to VA only 3 weeks ago from Gold Coast as the QF flight was cancelled and they had no other flights for the day yet VA did.

 

[Sale]

A couple of weeks ago Virgin changed an upcoming business class flight in August. The BNE - HBA leg was cancelled of a TSV-BNE-HBA flight.

When I rang (as the alternative offered flight did not work), the CSA eventually worked out an option that did work. I took the new flight, then she asked me for seat selections. She also said to check-in immediately at 48 hours plus get to the airport 3 hours early. After I had selected seats and it was all reticketed, I asked her why the seat selection etc as I had never had that offered on the phone before.

The answer - my two seats were actually overbooked in Business, but because all passengers hadn't selected seats, they would be bounced first as long as I checked in etc early.

PS - Our plans have all changed since because of other cancelled VA flights last week - I couldn't cope with the stress of going through it all again so TSV came off the agenda and someone got their business class seats back