This week a member is looking to book a trip to Asia on Singapore Airlines. As a Velocity member, they would like to book with Virgin Australia however to do so would cost $132 more. Understandably they are wondering what, if anything, one gets for that extra $132.
Hi, just looking into booking a fare to asia return from Melbourne. Using the Virgin website and then Singapore Airlines, what essentially seems to be the same flight (and flexi seats) code shared is $1577 on Singapore or $1709 on Virgin. Any difference? in that if I book Singapore and put my velocity number in ,will SC’s and points flow seamlessly? Just wondering why the difference? Thanks.
Virgin and Singapore Airlines have an extensive partnership that, in theory, grants reciprocal benefits to members of both airlines when travelling on either carrier. So, why the difference in price? Is there any incentive for a Velocity member to pay the extra?
Our members explain that in this situation, it would only be worth paying the extra money to book under the VA code if one wanted to earn extra Virgin points based on their Velocity status, or if they needed qualifying VA segments for the purpose of attaining or retaining Virgin status.
If these factors are not important, then it is almost certainly better to save a little bit of money and book with Singapore Airlines. The member will still earn Velocity points and status credits (albeit without the Virgin status bonus points) and they will also be able to select a seat much more easily online and have an opportunity to upgrade with points.
Another small consideration is the SGD$40 worth of vouchers given out by Singapore Airlines when transitting in Singapore on an SQ booking.
The reason for the price difference seems to be that Virgin only have access to “saver” and “flexi” fares on Singapore codeshare flights, while Singapore Airlines also sell another category, “flexi saver”. This category is cheaper than “flexi” but still earns full economy points and status credits. In the case of our member, the cheapest saver fares were likely sold out and Singapore was showing the “flexi saver” fares, while Virgin were only able to display the more expensive “flexi” fares, hence the price difference.
With all of this in mind, the general consensus among our members is to book directly with Singapore Airlines.
I would never consider booking through Virgin. I have just done 8 SQ/MI sectors in the last three weeks booked on the SQ website and 6/8 flights I was able to select front row bulk head seats and even had the front row all to myself on a reasonably full KUL-SIN flight. The ability to select seats and deal direct with SQ make booking with SQ worthwhile. Additionally, all flights have credited to my Velocity account within about 72 hours.
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