J to Hawaii

[markis10]

We have a member currently on the HA service (literally) who will be taking JQ back, if you check the off topic thread for details, a PM might garner an up to date opinion of the choices!

 

[Noob]

sssshhhh ... in poker it would be called bluffing. I'm just trying to razz them. I agree with you. I'll just book via HA website. I just have a bee in my bonnet about it. DJ are stuck between their old LCC 'mentality' and wanting to be a 'full service' carrier.

my point is, you don't have to scratch too deeply to find it's a lot of window dressing at the moment. they will get it right eventually I am sure, I hope they do - QF need a kick in the teeth.

This is more of an issue with their booking system which is being updated and takes time (sabre).

It has only been 12 months since the launch of Virgin Australia - it would be virtually impossible to work any quicker than they are...

 

[maninblack]

This is more of an issue with their booking system which is being updated and takes time (sabre).

It has only been 12 months since the launch of Virgin Australia - it would be virtually impossible to work any quicker than they are...

You Can Not Be Serious! - YouTube

 

[dandandan]

Apparently you can also not book a group booking through Virgin on a code share operated by HA.

This is more of an issue with their booking system which is being updated and takes time (sabre).

It has only been 12 months since the launch of Virgin Australia - it would be virtually impossible to work any quicker than they are...

 

[dandandan]

This is unbelievable, I am holding back the expletives...we tried booking 11 J flights with Virgin today, combination of 3ex SYD and 8ex BRIS to Honolulu return and my father was told they could not do it even on Group booking number. Rang them myself and let them know how you could book VA ticketed flight with bestflights and was told it was not currently available because of some interline agreement (cough). My father ended up booking 11 with HA ex Sydney because of some weird issues booking the VA ticketed flights through bestflights (have to find out from him what exactly). Amazingly right now you can book the J flights to Honolulu ex Brisbane, Sydney still not working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now he has to cop 8 return domestic BNE-SYD tickets (either $1,680 in Y on saver or $3,344 in Y on flexi or $8,560 in J) on top of the HA J flights which were in total $2,283.95 more expensive for same flights on HA ticket! not to mention no plat double points bonus and so on. DISGRACE.

Apparently you can also not book a group booking through Virgin on a code share operated by HA.

 

[maninblack]

DISGRACE

Just thought I'd quote you

 

[dandandan]

So Sydney bookings to Honolulu are up and running on the Virgin website now and available for J as well for those who were still looking to book, possibly member "bigjobs". Very frustrating we get told today by group booking it was not possible than a matter of hours later it is! Our aim now will to be to rebook VA ticketed flights with the assistance of Virgin for all the added benefits and to save over $5,000 which is the $2,000 more paid for HA ticketed flights and $3,000 we will have to pay for flexi domestic trips from Syd to Bris. Our group has 7 silvers and 1 Plat so hopefully Virgin realise this problem, our loyalty and assist us. We keep you posted on outcome.

This is unbelievable, I am holding back the expletives...we tried booking 11 J flights with Virgin today, combination of 3ex SYD and 8ex BRIS to Honolulu return and my father was told they could not do it even on Group booking number. Rang them myself and let them know how you could book VA ticketed flight with bestflights and was told it was not currently available because of some interline agreement (cough). My father ended up booking 11 with HA ex Sydney because of some weird issues booking the VA ticketed flights through bestflights (have to find out from him what exactly). Amazingly right now you can book the J flights to Honolulu ex Brisbane, Sydney still not working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now he has to cop 8 return domestic BNE-SYD tickets (either $1,680 in Y on saver or $3,344 in Y on flexi or $8,560 in J) on top of the HA J flights which were in total $2,283.95 more expensive for same flights on HA ticket! not to mention no plat double points bonus and so on. DISGRACE.

 

[straitman]

I got this response from the Virgin rep today:

Hi Bill, thanks for flagging this.

Our eCommerce team are aware of the issue and this hopefully should be rectified in the next day or two. However, J class inventory may not be available regardless; our team is investigating.

 

[JohnPhelan]

Does the HA/VA code make any difference to lounge access? I seem to remember reading that there were some issues for the VA codeshare with lounge access in Sydney...

You remember correctly. On the VA flight number, you get no lounge access, irrespective of class of travel or VA status. If you go on the HA flight number, you get lounge access in SYD (NZ lounge) and HA if travelling in J class.

This - along with frustrating booking glitches - is what recently caused me to cancel a VA booking and rebook it on the HA flight number instead.

 

[maninblack]

I got this response from the Virgin rep today:

Hi Bill, thanks for flagging this.

Our eCommerce team are aware of the issue and this hopefully should be rectified in the next day or two. However, J class inventory may not be available regardless; our team is investigating.

How bizarre. What does this actually mean?

btw J class customers traveling on a VA ticket to HNL (yes some people were able to get tickets in the past) do get access to the Koru Club at SYD but Platinums in Y do not. International Lounge Access | Virgin Australia

Just tried a dummy booking and it just returns you to the search page with no result at all and no explanation. Wow the cheap n' cheerful window dressing is really coming apart.

 

[markis10]

How bizarre. What does this actually

It means they are fixing the problem but to keep in mind J lass availability may change in that time.

 

[maninblack]

It means they are fixing the problem but to keep in mind J lass availability may change in that time.

That's not quite how I read it. I think you are too kind.

 

[zzzhobbes]

For a decent J experience you may be better off booking NZ via AKL - at least the leg from NZ to HNL should be good.

I agree with greenish the Air NZ flight is the best but unfortunately the longest with an overnight stay in Auckland

 

[UA_SYD]

This was fixed up on Wednesday. Was due to a 'bug' on their systems not allowing you to select class when booking/not displaying J inventory.

From a quick search on a couple random months, Oct/Feb.. there is definitley availability showing again.

 

[dandandan]

This was fixed up on Wednesday. Was due to a 'bug' on their systems not allowing you to select class when booking/not displaying J inventory.

From a quick search on a couple random months, Oct/Feb.. there is definitley availability showing again.

Yes I reported on Wednesday that this was fixed as per extract of my post below. Was called by group bookings yesterday and told the information they told us was correct in that they still can't make group bookings for this route on the code share with Hawaiian but they could do it via LAX!. Was also told that 8 tickets ex Brisbane and 3 tickets ex Sydney is not a group booking. Different story to what I was told when rang normal booking number to see what was going when I discovered we could not bring up these flights in J or Y when we first initially looked. Was told it could be book over the phone with them and when I said it was a combination of 11 tickets, I was told group booking would have to be contacted. I still think this is a joke.


So Sydney bookings to Honolulu are up and running on the Virgin website now and available for J as well for those who were still looking to book, possibly member "bigjobs". Very frustrating we get told today by group booking it was not possible than a matter of hours later it is!

 

[UA_SYD]

Yes I reported on Wednesday that this was fixed as per extract of my post below. W

Oops, missed that.. sorry.

Might be relevant but Ive been informed they only obtain very limited inventory (i.e. few seats per flight) to sell as J/codeshare.. so that might be a factor in not being able to book a group.

 

[dandandan]

I can do a dummy booking for 9 seats now;

[h=3]Departing Flight - Sydney to Honolulu - Tue 26 Mar 2013[/h]

Departing	Arrival	Flight	Fare Type	Passenger Type
21:20 Sydney	10:10 Honolulu	VA6970Operated by Hawaiian Airlines	Business Deal	9 Adults x $1439.00

	Duration	Operator	Equipment	Cabin
VA6970	8h50m	Hawaiian Airlines	Airbus Industrie A330-200	Business class

Taxes and charges	$973.89
Departing FlightTotal	$13924.89

[h=3]Returning Flight - Honolulu to Sydney - Sun 7 Apr 2013[/h]

Departing	Arrival	Flight	Fare Type	Passenger Type
11:50 HonoluluSun 07 Apr	18:20 SydneyMon 08 Apr	VA6971Operated by Hawaiian Airlines	Business Deal	9 Adults x $1439.00

	Duration	Operator	Equipment	Cabin
VA6971	10h30m	Hawaiian Airlines	Airbus Industrie A330-200	Business class

Taxes and charges	$451.89
Returning Flight Total	$13402.89

Flight Total	$27327.78
Velocity Points earned on this flight	View

[h=3]Upgrade your flights[/h]

Oops, missed that.. sorry.

Might be relevant but Ive been informed they only obtain very limited inventory (i.e. few seats per flight) to sell as J/codeshare.. so that might be a factor in not being able to book a group.

 

[dandandan]

Just wondering who informed you that?

I discussed earlier that we tried bestflights and they could not do all on one booking and my father was concerned about not being able to get remainder of seats on same flight in next booking so we did not use them.

So maybe there is no group bookings or limited as you say however I find it strange that VA and HA are partners and VA can't apparently make a group bookings on HA code share but I can book up to 9 online now, which is not really limited. Person that called me yesterday said they could make group bookings with all other partners. I am sure if the person I spoke to on the normal guest booking number had not told us to go to group bookings that we could have put the 8 ex Brisbane on hold and then tried to get the 3 ex Sydney for the same dates, flights etc.

Does anyone know if 3 leaving SYD and 8 leaving BNE and going to the same destination of Honolulu not considered a group booking? On the main flight everyone does have to leave out of SYD so the SYD-BNE are really just connecting flight.

Might be relevant but Ive been informed they only obtain very limited inventory (i.e. few seats per flight) to sell as J/codeshare.. so that might be a factor in not being able to book a group.[/QUOTE]

 

[maninblack]

I cannot see how it is fixed. Just tried a dummy booking and it still just returns you to the search page with no result at all and no explanation. DUD. I can make a booking to LAX no problem so it's not browser related. I can only assume that they do not want customers.

 

[UA_SYD]

Annoyingly as mainblack said, it looks like its not working..again.. And looks to be still only for J to HNL. When I checked yesterday was working fine.

My contact at virgin informed me it had been fixed and they'd had many complaints about it, took almost two days to get to bottom of it.

Was your challenge actually including the connecting domestic sectors, I.e. not the SYD-HNL part?

I suspect this may not get resolved again till Monday now.. Which is very frustrating.

I assume you talked directly to the plat desk? If you can bare the frustration maybe call again and explain the situation and ask that they follow up with you on Monday. Make sure you get the agents name, I've had a few probs with agents not making any notes on my account in the past and having to rehash everything again.

The group booking info is not clear, I am not an expert but your plans would require two separate bookings regardless if group or two individuals. Is the problem that you want them all on one PNR or that they couldn't handle the transaction in one call?
regardless I think it shouldn't be that hard for you.
Again, plat desk should be doing all this running around for you.

I will try my contact again and ask for more specific explanation, but don't want to cross the boundaries of friendship too much.

Best of Luck getting resolved.