BNE-LAX-BOS RT what's a good fare?

[AmeriAus]

Did you get it all on the same ticket?

Yes, Didn't want to run the risk of missing connections and paying for flights/baggage

 

[Quickstatus]

On the V America and Delta website there were flights BOS to LAX on January 4.

Im not sure why that's the case but would not be surprised that the problem lies on the Virgin Australia site.

have you tried ringing VA to see if there is a glitch or if they can see availability on Jan 4?

 

[AmeriAus]

On the V America and Delta website there were flights BOS to LAX on January 4.

Im not sure why that's the case but would not be surprised that the problem lies on the Virgin Australia site.

have you tried ringing VA to see if there is a glitch or if they can see availability on Jan 4?

We did and were told that the delta flights were showing on her system at a cost of $9000 for the whole economy trip (3 pax) and becuase the fares didn't align with the VA fare buckets the website woudlnt show them. We just decided to come back on Jan 5 and prefer virgin America over delta anyway.

We also told her the flights were most definitely available on the delta site (she told us "something must be on in LA as there are no seats on the plane") but we wanted to have the option to upgrade the return long haul fares as buying in flexi and knew if we buy anyway other than direct from virgin we lose that option.

 

[Quickstatus]

Sounds like a glitch or just an example of the poor quality of the VA website/IT systems.

"Must be something on in Nov " - TRavel agents love to fallback on this excuse. Usually this means that the problem is on their end.

VA have never been good at publishing codesharing fares onto their website.

One reason why in US I buy DL flights via Delta.com on a separate PNR.
Apart from the risk of missing a connection into the next PNR every other aspect is as though it's on one PNR including bagcheck.

As you say it may be more expensive but I don't have to lock in the US Domestic itinerary until a lot later. I can book the transpacific flights at the best rate early. Additionally there is often for early birds not a lot of price difference between an economy and first class. And Delta now has ComfortPlus which is an economy seat with more legroom which is not sold on VA. Interestingly VA pays premium economy SC for C+ seats only if it has a VA flight number, but I've never been able to find it via VA.

 

[grubbidok]

If you have VA status I would fly DL as the US partner, not VX. VX is good in business, but not good in economy, and VA elite doesn't get you much else.

$5600 is a pretty good (or at least standard) price. BOS for some reason tends to have more expensive flights than other US cities (it is prob the largest US city that is not an airline hub - I used to live there). If JetBlue do the route their is competition and lower price, but not for most routes.

Our little one (Miss 2) has done ~50 flights so far, inc ~8 long haul and ~12 domestic US. We found the hub and spoke model in the US (i.e. LAX-MSP/ATL-BOS v LAX-BOS) was often better. Also as a general rule we find that flights between 4-6hours bring the 'witching time' (i.e. anything under 4 is okay, as is anything over 6, but between then and it's on! The prep for landing/take-off is disruptive but 6hrs or more often results in napping and more free time to walk the aisle etc and just a more relaxed experience over all). As the planes used for US domestic flights aren't the same as the international birds, and she generally responded better to having a run around between shorter hops. Have found that They also tend to be cheaper.

I also find half the time on the DL site I get a Trans-Pacific flight with a VA code anyway (and find VA often registers a VA operated flight as VA rather than DL code anyway, even with a DL code).