anyone have any insight to VAs partners airline swap to united?

[traceyy]

im wanting to use up all my points on rewards flights in dec/jan virgin has no idea what's going on with rewards seats and airline partners so anyone know when they will drop delta and go with united? at the moment seats are not available probably cause its so far out so as soon as something comes up I need to jump on it...... any hints or tips would help me out

 

[oz_mark]

As per their announcements - April.

 

[AIRwin]

Virgin Australia and United Airlines partnership announcement

Virgin Australia Group Announces Partnership with United Airlines

experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com

You may wish to subscribe to Velocity marketing emails, if you aren't already:

Q: Will I be able to earn and redeem Velocity Points on United?
A: Yes, although the agreement start date is yet to be confirmed. Virgin Australia and United are working hard to get this up and running, and we hope to have this live before the end of April 2022. Full communications will be sent to Velocity members when this date is confirmed.

 

[HS-TQE]

UA are also resuming from MEL in May. VFF/UA MileagePlus customers from SYD/MEL has access to the LAX/SFO bases from April/May, and SYD to IAH from October, giving those cities basically a one-stop connection for those travelling beyond the hubs.

For SA, Queenslanders, etc it's a double connect via SYD/MEL or via AKL from July. There will be no replacement of the VA BNE-LAX flight for the short term until the 'assumed' Queensland Government taxpayer subsidies to pay for any future UA operations in BNE are finalised.

United Airlines restarts Melbourne-LAX flights

The newly-minted Virgin Australia partner expects daily flights to LA and San Francisco by December.

www.executivetraveller.com

 

[aaronm]

UA are also resuming from MEL in May.

The fares seem steep, almost $3k return in Y, $5k in J. Is this the new standard for AUS-USA?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

The fares seem steep, almost $3k return in Y, $5k in J. Is this the new standard for AUS-USA?

This is not the reality of what I'm seeing at all:



Yes, there is still some stabilization going on right now given the hiccup that was COVID. Indeed, flights from North America to SYD on UA were in the tens of thousands of dollars until November when things opened up. Give it some time and you'll see the flight prices drop to what we've seen pre-COVID (i.e. well below $1000 return). I will also point out that Australia isn't a great place to originate travel from. In particular, pre-COVID I flew LHR > SYD (via LAX) on United, and the price for that was $1100 AUD return in Y. Used my MilagePlus points to upgrade both segments: LHR > LAX and LAX > SYD into Polaris J for 35,000 miles + $600 USD total. Best upgrade I've done in a while!

-RooFlyer88

 

[AIRwin]

This is not the reality of what I'm seeing at all:

More expensive from MEL?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

More expensive from MEL?

Not really: