Are Flexi Fares Overpriced?

[Mackey]

I've been looking at International Long-Haul Fares recently and think that Flexi fares are incredibly overpriced.

Here is an example:
BNE-LAX (VA7):
Saver $770.00
Flexi: $1460.00 (90% more)

Fare Rules:

Fee	Saver	Flexi
Booking Change (>24h)	$250 + fare difference	$250 + fare difference
Booking Cancellation	Forfeit	Forfeit on L,K,H. Full Refund on B,Y
Baggage	2 pieces	2 pieces
Points	0.5 x miles	1 x miles + 2 x status credits of Saver

So realistically unless you expect to require a full refund, or are desperate to earn twice the SC + points, it is almost twice the price to fly Flexi over Saver (*while there are still seats available).

Another example:
BNE-PER (VA464):
Saver: $269
Flexi: $429 (60% more)
This time there is a fee for refunds/changes on the saver, but is it worth 60% more money just to get more points, SC and avoid a $60/$80 fee?



Basically, I would book a Flexi fare if it offered me significant flexibility - like change of date with a fee but no difference in fare, or if the Flexi was 20% more than the Saver fare to get the meal and additional points. But I don't see how a fare like the VA7 fare listed above is any value when the same change policies apply and the fare is almost twice the price.

Really, I guess I'm asking how Virgin can justify these prices based on the similarity between the fares. Any comments?

 

[smit0847]

I've never booked a flexi fare and never will unless it's about the same price as a Saver or I'm only getting it to use points to upgrade.

 

[Fruitcake]

Any comments?

Flexibility (ie cancellation and refunds) is an expensive thing to offer.

On VA, flexi tickets also play a role as ultra deep discount J tickets, given the possibility of locking in a confirmed upgrade at the time of booking.


Your specific comparison has missed a few points. VA Flexis to North America allow a twelve month stay (six months for a saver) and two free stopovers (only one free stopover on a Saver). And any changes to a Saver and cheaper Flexis within 24 hours of departure require you to upgrade to a Flexi fare. So total cost of a last minute change to a Saver (or to be fair, a cheap Flexi) could be enormous.

 

[bullerdude]

In my view they are not really flexible at for international tickets.

But what really annoys me is this:

Booking Cancellation

Forfeit

Forfeit on L,K,H. Full Refund on B,Y

There are different rules for L,K,H and B,Y - but you can't book a specific fare bucket to get what you want via the VA website. You can only book what is available at the time, which until the 24hr mark us usually the K and H bucketss

 

[Justinf]

The guy sitting next to me on my MEL-ADL flight last Friday gave his flexi meal to me. He didn't want anything to do with it, and after I ate half the crusty old sandwich I realised why he gave it away.

 

[Fruitcake]

But what really annoys me is this:

Booking Cancellation

Forfeit

Forfeit on L,K,H. Full Refund on B,Y

That's an epic 'gotya' right there :shock:.

 

[sogg]

In my view they are not really flexible at for international tickets.

But what really annoys me is this:

Booking Cancellation

Forfeit

Forfeit on L,K,H. Full Refund on B,Y

There are different rules for L,K,H and B,Y - but you can't book a specific fare bucket to get what you want via the VA website. You can only book what is available at the time, which until the 24hr mark us usually the K and H bucketss

Is there anyway to book into a specific fare bucket? in particular on international, as you can only upgrade on premium saver (O or R) to business

 

[bullerdude]

Is there anyway to book into a specific fare bucket? in particular on international, as you can only upgrade on premium saver (O or R) to business

There are only 3 Prem Economy fare buckets now and with the new international upgrades points tables (changed back in feb) it's not an issue anymore. Any PE ticket you book will be in an eligible fare bucket.

Premium Economy:

• Virgin Australia and Virgin Samoa: W, R, O

 

[JohnK]

In my opinion most flexi airfares are too expensive and in a lot of cases not as flexible as one would expect.

 

[MarkD]

To me a flexi fare is just like paying extra on jetstar for points / sc. usially only slightly more, and double the SC. have been guilty of paying a bit more just for the SC

 

[vitagen]

I would only flexi on VA if I upgrade to J

 

[777]

They only make sense in specific circumstances:

1. Want to upgrade to J
2. Need the *actual* flexibility for some bizarre reason
3. Want the extra SCs and the $ difference is low
4. Book late and they are all that is left.

Is it "worth it" in a generic sense? No. But are there times when it makes sense? Yep.

 

[Intra]

The price gap I do find between Saver & Flexi is abit steep at times, but having paid in the past too much (For various reasons) Change Free + Fare Difference anyway in changing my initial bookings on personal trips, I try to stick to Flexi anyway these days, purely for the extra SCs and chance to upgrade to J if I have the points...

 

[UniFlyer]

Flexi fares are there to make saver fares look attractive.

 

[cssaus]

I recently did a SYD to LAS return trip and paid for a flexi economy fare. I needed to travel on specific dates and at the time of booking there weren't any saver business fares on offer.

The upgrade for the transpacific sectors cost me 45,000 points each way and I did save quite a bit of money on the cost of the fare. My only gripe is that the ability to upgrade didn't include the LAX to LAS sectors even though flying on VA flight numbers. It wasn't too much of an issue for the LAX to LAS sectors travelling in economy but it would be nice to be able to upgrade with points if travelling to the east coast.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

They only make sense in specific circumstances:

1. Want to upgrade to J
2. Need the *actual* flexibility for some bizarre reason
3. Want the extra SCs and the $ difference is low
4. Book late and they are all that is left.

Is it "worth it" in a generic sense? No. But are there times when it makes sense? Yep.

This post from 777 represents my thoughts nicely.

I recently bought a flexi OOL-PER for $773. Was it worth it? It was bought 1.5 hours before departure and was the cheapest left. As I bought it and flew it, I guess it was worth it.

The thing I was more despondant over, was the fact that even though the GCC was prepared to point upgrade me in under the usual time frame, all those point-rich AFF SC runners had grabbed all the J seats and left not a single one for me .

 

[KCMil]

You can now upgrade from flexi to J up to 40 min before departure, this I am told is now at MEL, BNE, SYD and OOL lounges. And this doesn't require upgrade seats to be available. It was explained to me as day of operations upgrades or alike. This means that even if there is only one seat left, you can upgrade to it. But only at the lounges and with points or comp upgrades.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

You can now upgrade from flexi to J up to 40 min before departure, this I am told is now at MEL, BNE, SYD and OOL lounges. And this doesn't require upgrade seats to be available. It was explained to me as day of operations upgrades or alike. This means that even if there is only one seat left, you can upgrade to it. But only at the lounges and with points or comp upgrades.

Good to know. Are you saying the MEL trial has been extended to those other lounges? The flt I took was xSYD and there were zero seats left on the 73W (8/8 occupied). I did have the opportunity to xMEL but there was only 1 seat in any bucket left and I wasn't prepared to risk flying to MEL (it landed 1 hour later in PER and I was on a tight schedule) only to get told no seat left! I did also try at OOL and SYD hopeful of a late scratching, but to no avail! It'll be great when all coast to coast goes A330 and all the lounges can do point upgrades!

 

[bawbag]

You can now upgrade from flexi to J up to 40 min before departure, this I am told is now at MEL, BNE, SYD and OOL lounges. And this doesn't require upgrade seats to be available. It was explained to me as day of operations upgrades or alike. This means that even if there is only one seat left, you can upgrade to it. But only at the lounges and with points or comp upgrades.

Excellent news, will test this theory next week in Melbourne. Love the fact that availability doesn't come into it too.

 

[KCMil]

Seems the trials must be going okay. I've used it three times now, on first two occasions I got the last seat in J and catering not assured, but got a meal every time. Word was it will go network wide, but who knows how long that will take. It is good though to be able to avoid that 4hr prior through Velocity phone call. Particularly nice at the end of a long day when you suddenly think, I really want some space. I'm finally managing to use up some points which I guess is what Velocity want us to do.