Whats the point with Flexi Fares?

[striking]

I just returned BNE-MEL on VB. The flight down, I booked a saver fare, and I was pre selected row 3. When I checked in at the lounge, I was given row 1d.

The plane was pretty full with other guests seated in the PE seats. The only paying PE pax was sitting next to me so I got the full treatment.

I booked a flexi fare for the trip home so if my meeting ran over, I could change the flight as I was meeting with an important client.

About 2 hours before my flight was due out. we were well into our 4th bottle of red, and thing were going well. I rang velocity gold line and asked to be moved to the last flight. The girl on the phone was not interested in helping and put me through to Virgin. The Virgin girl, then said, the only seats left on the last flight was Y+ and that to change flight would cost me another $256.

So what is the point with the Flexi fare if it isn't flexible?

For the record. There was no one seated in row 1 and only 3 Pax in row 3.

Still seemed to find inconsistencies across Virgin Australia

 

[jsd]

A flexible fare is fexible so long as there is a same priced seat on another flight. If this was the case you would not pay anything to change flights....

However in your situation there were no flexible fares left and the next available ticket was premium economy. As this ticket is more expensive than your original fare you are required to pay the difference in fare (however the change fee would not apply)

Sent from my Garmin-Asus A50 using AustFreqFly App

 

[Deleted member 29185]

So what is the point with the Flexi fare if it isn't flexible?

Still seemed to find inconsistencies across Virgin Australia

I don't see an inconsistency with what you describe. On the trip down you were fortunate (seemingly because of a full flight, are you Gold by chance?) and the return trip was flexible, just no seats left to the same value. The fact there may have been seats vacant when you flew is not a true indication as they may have been booked, but were no-shows.


I do however agree, that the Virgin telephone experience when altering flights does seem to be more rigid than doing it in person at a check-in counter or lounge.

I also prefered GO fares, but since the changes, flexi do have somewhat more appeal (to me of course......everyone is different).

 

[oz_mark]

So what is the point with the Flexi fare if it isn't flexible?

For the record. There was no one seated in row 1 and only 3 Pax in row 3.

Still seemed to find inconsistencies across Virgin Australia

What you really need to know about, is what the situation was at the time of the phone call. Passengers may have moved to an earlier flight subsequent to your phone call. Passengers may have no-showed leading to the empty seats. There are a range of possibilities to explain the situation, so you cannot really look at what it was at the time you got on the flight.

 

[Virgin Australia]

I just returned BNE-MEL on VB. The flight down, I booked a saver fare, and I was pre selected row 3. When I checked in at the lounge, I was given row 1d.

The plane was pretty full with other guests seated in the PE seats. The only paying PE pax was sitting next to me so I got the full treatment.

I booked a flexi fare for the trip home so if my meeting ran over, I could change the flight as I was meeting with an important client.

About 2 hours before my flight was due out. we were well into our 4th bottle of red, and thing were going well. I rang velocity gold line and asked to be moved to the last flight. The girl on the phone was not interested in helping and put me through to Virgin. The Virgin girl, then said, the only seats left on the last flight was Y+ and that to change flight would cost me another $256.

So what is the point with the Flexi fare if it isn't flexible?

For the record. There was no one seated in row 1 and only 3 Pax in row 3.

Still seemed to find inconsistencies across Virgin Australia

Hi Striking,

As mentioned by jdevereux your fare is flexible where there is cabin availability, any cabin change requires you pay the fare difference (can be seen at the table here).

 

[extracta]

So what is the point with the Flexi fare if it isn't flexible?

The fare is flexible and what they have done is fair enough. There either needs to be an available seat in the same class or lower than you booked, or you need to pay to upgrade if there is a higher class seat available.

 

[Up&away]

The op seemingly knew the rules. I think he was saying more that the rules make it hard to justify flexible when it doesn't really mitigate the risks of having to pay more to change. And also that the staff don't male it an easy experience.

 

[dajop]

The op seemingly knew the rules. I think he was saying more that the rules make it hard to justify flexible when it doesn't really mitigate the risks of having to pay more to change. And also that the staff don't male it an easy experience.

The same thing can happen on QF and any other number of airlines operating in other markets. The flexible fare just means you don't have to pay change fees to change, and unless you are paying the most expensive fare, there will always be the risk of having to pay more to move to a specific flight.

 

[serfty]

It's really to do with "Fare Buckets" and which you book into. For DJ, the "Flexible" fare buckets appear to be:

Y N B & M (Or at least those than can be changed on day of travel)

Some come with a $60 fee.

e.g. Today, Expert Flyer is returning the following for MEL-BNE flights:

DJ341 5:00pm J9 O9 HC Y9 I9 D9 N9 B9 MC S9 T9 AC UC XC RC LC P9 CC EC 

DJ347 6:00pm J9 O9 HC Y9 I9 DC N9 BC MC S9 TC AC UC XC RC LC P9 CC EC 

DJ351 7:00pm J9 O9 H9 Y9 I9 D9 N9 B9 MC S9 T9 AC UC XC RC LC P9 CC EC 

DJ353 8:00pm J9 O9 H9 Y9 I9 DC N9 BC MC S9 TC AC UC XC RC LC P9 CC EC

Say you had booked a B class flight on the 5pm.

You would be able to change to the 7:00pm as it has B class availability, but not the 6:00pm or 8:00pm flights as B class is Closed on those flights.

 

[pshepvic]

The other benefit of the Flexi fares, is you can turn up late and they will move you to the next available flight (provided you haven't checked in online) and won't charge the fare difference. Only at the airport though. There is a good chance of seats being available even if flights are full, as they'll be flow-forwarding - ie. they will have likely given your empty seat to someone else when you didn't show in time, which will leave a seat empty for you on the next flight.

 

[malmacdowall]

.

I booked a flexi fare for the trip home so if my meeting ran over, I could change the flight as I was meeting with an important client.

About 2 hours before my flight was due out. we were well into our 4th bottle of red, and thing were going well. I rang velocity gold line and asked to be moved to the last flight. The girl on the phone was not interested in helping and put me through to Virgin. The Virgin girl, then said, the only seats left on the last flight was Y+ and that to change flight would cost me another $256.

Hi Striking.... I do the same thing in booking a flexible for the return in case the meeting runs over and have occasionally had the same issue moving flights. BUT assuming your Gold (as you called the Gold velocity number) there does seem to be some inconsistency.... My experience is that if you tried to make the change at the airport it would be done at NO extra cost, even when the only available seats were more expensive.

Even more so...... I was told by a check in person at SYD, when I made Gold, that from now on I should only book fixed or lowest fare flights as they would move them at no cost BECAUSE I am a gold status member. .... So there seems to be a large inconstancy between what happens a the airport and what happens when you call the call centre.....

 

[striking]

I think the general consensus here is that there are still inconsistencies.

As a gold member I have changed flights at no charge both at the airport and over the phone.

On the recent flight, I knew there was a chance I would need to change, so I did the right thing and booked a flexi fare, but I wont make that mistake again!

The most important thing Virgin Australia and velocity need to do now is consistency in the products and services.

I was quite disappointed really, especially when I was telling my client how well Virgin generally look after me as a frequent flyer, then they dogged me right in front of them!

 

[concorde71]

It's really to do with "Fare Buckets" and which you book into. For DJ, the "Flexible" fare buckets appear to be:

Y N B & M (Or at least those than can be changed on day of travel)

Some come with a $60 fee.

e.g. Today, Expert Flyer is returning the following for MEL-BNE flights:

DJ341 5:00pm J9 O9 HC Y9 I9 D9 N9 B9 MC S9 T9 AC UC XC RC LC P9 CC EC 

DJ347 6:00pm J9 O9 HC Y9 I9 DC N9 BC MC S9 TC AC UC XC RC LC P9 CC EC 

DJ351 7:00pm J9 O9 H9 Y9 I9 D9 N9 B9 MC S9 T9 AC UC XC RC LC P9 CC EC 

DJ353 8:00pm J9 O9 H9 Y9 I9 DC N9 BC MC S9 TC AC UC XC RC LC P9 CC EC

Say you had booked a B class flight on the 5pm.

You would be able to change to the 7:00pm as it has B class availability, but not the 6:00pm or 8:00pm flights as B class is Closed on those flights.

That is very interesting, thanks for sharing that, I never knew how it worked.

 

[straitman]

I think the general consensus here is that there are still inconsistencies.

As a gold member I have changed flights at no charge both at the airport and over the phone.

On the recent flight, I knew there was a chance I would need to change, so I did the right thing and booked a flexi fare, but I wont make that mistake again!

The most important thing Virgin Australia and velocity need to do now is consistency in the products and services.

I was quite disappointed really, especially when I was telling my client how well Virgin generally look after me as a frequent flyer, then they dogged me right in front of them!

I have to disagree with you here unless of course you believe that by giving you extra on some occasions means they are inconsistent when they apply the rules as written.

Take the extras as a bonus but remember where the bottom line really is. That's how I treat these situations.

 

[serfty]

As noted, there is generally more flexibility in this at the airport than the agents can do over the telephone.

 

[lazybones1987]

The airport staff have access to certain "moves and upgrades" that call center agents don't have access to.

A flexi fare also gives you the flexibility to change, cancel and refund your fare upto 24 hours after your flights departure.

 

[Noob]

Um that's how flexible fares work - Qantas is the same with all their flexible fares/business, you pay the difference (if there is one). This is nothing new, nor something unique with Virgin...