Virgin regularly cancelling flights?

[Harthagan]

I've noticed lately that virgin are advertising and selling seats on flights from SYD to CNS and CNS to SYD only to cancel the flights the day or night before in order to consolidate passengers on fewer direct flights. It happened to me in both directions on this trip.

It's very frustrating because on a short 3 day trip losing almost 7 hours is quite significant! The return flight change we were only notified the night before, too bad for us if we had something booked that we would have to cancel!

 

[Zinger]

I recently booked an early January non stop CNS-PER-CNS trip in VA business class for the sum of $798.00.

Borders suddenly closed reducing the demand and last Thursday I was advised by text and email that VA has cancelled the flights which saved me having to cancel the flights myself.

 

[Harthagan]

Yeah that's completely different situation. I'm not talking about flights cancelled due to border restrictions.

I recently booked an early January non stop CNS-PER-CNS trip in VA business class for the sum of $798.00.

Borders suddenly closed reducing the demand and last Thursday I was advised by text and email that VA has cancelled the flights which saved me having to cancel the flights myself.

 

[Carrots]

It's not just borders closing at the last minute that is causing issues now, it's the latest wishy washy rules that change regularly and fear mongering across the board that is adding to the headaches.

I wouldn't blame any business for cutting scheduled services and consolidating at the moment. They've planned with expectation of X, and now X looks more like a faint memory .

Mind you, don't get me wrong, it'd give me the pips too.

 

[Harthagan]

I wouldn't blame any business for cutting scheduled services and consolidating at the moment. They've planned with expectation of X, and now X looks more like a faint memory .

Mind you, don't get me wrong, it'd give me the pips too.

Nor would I. However there's a difference between doing it occasionally in a pinch and routinely employing it as an ongoing business strategy.

I suspect they are advertising and selling these extra Cairns flights because it increases their sales, as it allows people to book more favourable options. I wonder how often they are actually flying all the routes on a given day though?

Before the last lockdown in Sydney I had another Cairns trip booked which I eventually cancelled due to them changing the flights at the last minute, again cutting my time there by about 7 hours.

This last time I didn't cancel because they only initially changed the flight going over so I decided to just put up with it, but then of course the night before returning home I was notified of the change to my return flight as well

 

[antycbr]

Nor would I. However there's a difference between doing it occasionally in a pinch and routinely employing it as an ongoing business strategy.

I suspect they are advertising and selling these extra Cairns flights because it increases their sales, as it allows people to book more favourable options. I wonder how often they are actually flying all the routes on a given day though?

Before the last lockdown in Sydney I had another Cairns trip booked which I eventually cancelled due to them changing the flights at the last minute, again cutting my time there by about 7 hours.

This last time I didn't cancel because they only initially changed the flight going over so I decided to just put up with it, but then of course the night before returning home I was notified of the change to my return flight as well

There will also be issues with staffing at the moment.

 

[Zanzara]

A consequence of weak Commonwealth leadership and trigger happy state premiers closing borders at the drop of a hat. Infuriating but not entirely surprising.
Guess, VA are trying to make sense of the madness and reducing costs by consolidation. Mind you, they used to do that a lot pre Covid though too.

 

[zig]

I've noticed lately that virgin are advertising and selling seats on flights from SYD to CNS and CNS to SYD only to cancel the flights the day or night before in order to consolidate passengers on fewer direct flights. It happened to me in both directions on this trip.

It's very frustrating because on a short 3 day trip losing almost 7 hours is quite significant! The return flight change we were only notified the night before, too bad for us if we had something booked that we would have to cancel!

This has been happening on the MEL- NTL route as well. Pre-pandemic VA only had a daily flight each way on the route. Recently they have advertised 3 flights each way with some favourable times and then cancelled 2 and run only 1 departure. As you identified on a short trip these changes make a significant impact on the amount of time at your destination. I ended up not accepting the VA changes and booked with QF instead as the times suited better.

 

[Zanzaid]

I've flown BNE-PER return 3 times this year and all but 1 flight was cancelled and merged into another. It's pretty annoying since i make sure to plan my day/leave around it but then i have to shift my day and leave 4 hours earlier, but i don't really blame them. It doesn't make sense to fly 4 half full flights each way if you can squeeze everyone onto 2, or alternative day. Hopefully it becomes less of a thing in the future.

 

[zig]

I've flown BNE-PER return 3 times this year and all but 1 flight was cancelled and merged into another. It's pretty annoying since i make sure to plan my day/leave around it but then i have to shift my day and leave 4 hours earlier, but i don't really blame them. It doesn't make sense to fly 4 half full flights each way if you can squeeze everyone onto 2, or alternative day. Hopefully it becomes less of a thing in the future.

Agree with you. My gripe on the MEL - MTL route is that for years VA only had a single daily departure. Why in the midst of pandemic recovery they would even imagine that they could fill 3 flights is beyond me. To my view they are trying to get bookings with favourable flight times that they know they will never fly.

 

[Zanzaid]

Agree with you. My gripe on the MEL - MTL route is that for years VA only had a single daily departure. Why in the midst of pandemic recovery they would even imagine that they could fill 3 flights is beyond me. To my view they are trying to get bookings with favourable flight times that they know they will never fly.

Yeah have noticed the same for BNE-PER, they were selling tickets for 4 flights a day! I think even before covid it was usually only 3, maybe 4 during a peak time/weekend. So to think they were somehow going to sell tickets for all flights knowing how up and down the borders were, especially QLD and WA. Then they cancel and merge a short time out and you're just wondering why they even bothered. I suppose you can turn it into your favour by booking the cheaper time (if any) and either lucky to go at that time, or get to 'transfer' flights with no extra cost

 

[antycbr]

This has been happening on the MEL- NTL route as well. Pre-pandemic VA only had a daily flight each way on the route. Recently they have advertised 3 flights each way with some favourable times and then cancelled 2 and run only 1 departure. As you identified on a short trip these changes make a significant impact on the amount of time at your destination. I ended up not accepting the VA changes and booked with QF instead as the times suited better.

NTL is a bit of a special case right now with “cases cases cases” but there’s too much plane for confidence levels across the whole Australian market right now with 4 x jet operators duking it out.

 

[zig]

NTL is a bit of a special case right now with “cases cases cases” but there’s too much plane for confidence levels across the whole Australian market right now with 4 x jet operators duking it out.

This was occurring before the spike in cases last week.

 

[antycbr]

This was occurring before the spike in cases last week.

That’s my point about too much plane for confidence levels more broadly.

 

[esquire]

agree- this Newcastle cancellation tactic has happened to me a few times too - cancelled day before and tried to move me onto a flight 24 hours after my original booking! Ended up having to take a last minute JQ flight which cost 3 times more than the VA. Not happy and reluctant to book VA again on this route.

This was occurring before the spike in cases last week

 

[Harthagan]

Agree with you. My gripe on the MEL - MTL route is that for years VA only had a single daily departure. Why in the midst of pandemic recovery they would even imagine that they could fill 3 flights is beyond me. To my view they are trying to get bookings with favourable flight times that they know they will never fly.

So as I suspected this is their business strategy rather than a one off occurrence. I can't really say Im on board if that's the case, it's pretty sketchy.

 

[Harthagan]

agree- this Newcastle cancellation tactic has happened to me a few times too - cancelled day before and tried to move me onto a flight 24 hours after my original booking! Ended up having to take a last minute JQ flight which cost 3 times more than the VA. Not happy and reluctant to book VA again on this route.

Not a fan of this tactic at all. They are messing their customers around intentionally, not sure how well that will work for them in the long term.

 

[justinbrett]

Jetstar has been doing this for years on the BNE-NTL route, well before covid.

 

[antycbr]

Jetstar has been doing this for years on the BNE-NTL route, well before covid.

Sounds like the market would be better served by smaller aircraft more frequently - something neither VA or JQ have

 

[justinbrett]

Sounds like the market would be better served by smaller aircraft more frequently - something neither VA or JQ have

But QF does - 717 and Q400.