United Airlines new Virgin Australia/Velocity Partner

[dandandan]

A heads up for anyone looking to travel to the US over Christmas - there are 3 J award seats from SYD to SFO on 25/12, a whopping 8 from SYD to SFO on 26/12 (there were 9 but I changed my flight to be non-stop ) and 5 on 18/12.

There was originally 7 on 25/12.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Does anyone know whether VA plats are allowed a carryon on a domestic UA basic economy fare?

 

[PeterE]

United accepts the following items, per customer to be carried on the aircraft at no charge:

• - One carry-on bag no more than 45 linear inches or 114 linear centimeters (L+W+H) or 14 inches x 9 inches x 22 inches (22 x 35 x 56cm)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

United accepts the following items, per customer to be carried on the aircraft at no charge:

• - One carry-on bag no more than 45 linear inches or 114 linear centimeters (L+W+H) or 14 inches x 9 inches x 22 inches (22 x 35 x 56cm)

Yes, but for basic economy fares they are limited to one small item only, just 9x10x17 inches.

 

[MELso]

Yes, but for basic economy fares they are limited to one small item only, just 9x10x17 inches.

Unless you're UA Premier, *A Gold or hold the right credit card. https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/inflight/basic-economy.html

 

[Atleastonce]

Question re united flights out of USA to other destination (not Australia). I am looking for usa domestic and North America to South America. I have a heap of velocity points and can get Australia to North America on velocity website. Is it possible to get reward flights on united network, using velocity by calling velocity???

 

[bcworld]

Question re united flights out of USA to other destination (not Australia). I am looking for usa domestic and North America to South America. I have a heap of velocity points and can get Australia to North America on velocity website. Is it possible to get reward flights on united network, using velocity by calling velocity???

Yes you'll find them online...have you looked?

 

[drakcir]

Question re united flights out of USA to other destination (not Australia). I am looking for usa domestic and North America to South America. I have a heap of velocity points and can get Australia to North America on velocity website. Is it possible to get reward flights on united network, using velocity by calling velocity???

You can search them on the VA website.

 

[mitchd]

Tacking onto the last question, I am wondering if calling Virgin would help me in the following situation. I want to book reward economy flight from LAS to BNE. The stopover is at SFO, and with money through United there is an option of a ~3 hour or ~6 over stopover. When finding the reward flights on the Virgin website, only the ~6 hour stopover shows up. Does anyone have experience or knowledge if calling Virgin presents more options when booking?

 

[tm.smile]

VA agents can only see what is available online.

 

[bcworld]

Tacking onto the last question, I am wondering if calling Virgin would help me in the following situation. I want to book reward economy flight from LAS to BNE. The stopover is at SFO, and with money through United there is an option of a ~3 hour or ~6 over stopover. When finding the reward flights on the Virgin website, only the ~6 hour stopover shows up. Does anyone have experience or knowledge if calling Virgin presents more options when booking?

If the 3 hour connection was available it would've shown online.

 

[Atleastonce]

Yes you'll find them online...have you looked?

Yes I have looked and you only get the selection for Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific when selecting “from” city. North America is only a “to” selection so I can’t select as an example Houston to Las Vegas on the velocity booking website.

Post automatically merged: Jan 7, 2024

You can search them on the VA website.

How?, I don’t get the option to select anything other than Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific for the “from” flights.

 

[serfty]

How?, I don’t get the option to select anything other than Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific for the “from” flights.

You have to select "use velocity points".

 

[ChrisFlyer]

It looks like VA has also added more destinations for UA reward seats to the website. Frustratingly, when it first came about, you couldn't search LAX-SFO as a reward route, because when you'd selected one city, the other would disappear. Now you can actually search it.

If there are still United routes that don't show online, you can book by calling Velocity.

 

[Jurahn]

If I understand @Atleastonce's question correctly, the problem is I think they are wanting to add an internal domestic flight within the US to their itinerary, not a flight from the US back to Australia?

I have a similar issue in looking for flights for a holiday I'm taking to the US in 2025 (was 2024, but had to be delayed). I need to fly into Cody, Wyoming, but on the Velocity site can only get as far as Denver. Cody does not come up as a destination or able to be selected as a starting point. (as per @bcworld's very helpful post below, this is for a revenue flight, not rewards).

I can book all the way to Cody through United, who are usually the only airline who fly in there for much - if not all - of the year, however I cannot book the same through the Velocity website, and booking the Denver-Cody return flights separately with United are hideously expensive, regardless of the time of year, as there's a very limited number of flights (2in/out each day) except for a couple of months in summer.

 

[bcworld]

If I understand @Atleastonce's question correctly, the problem is I think they are wanting to add an internal domestic flight within the US to their itinerary, not a flight from the US back to Australia?

I have a similar issue in looking for flights for a holiday I'm taking to the US in 2025 (was 2024, but had to be delayed). I need to fly into Cody, Wyoming, but on the Velocity site can only get as far as Denver. Cody does not come up as a destination or able to be selected as a starting point.

I can book all the way to Cody through United, who are usually the only airline who fly in there for much - if not all - of the year, however I cannot book the same through the Velocity website, and booking the Denver-Cody return flights separately with United are hideously expensive, regardless of the time of year, as there's a very limited number of flights (2in/out each day) except for a couple of months in summer.

Looks fine to me...either standalone or as part of an international itinerary.

EDIT: oh, i guess you mean as a VA codeshare rather than an award?? At a guess the codeshare agreement does not extend to specific UA subsidiaries.



Thanks for the heads up...I want to go to Yellowstone sometime soon and this is useful!

 

[Jurahn]

Looks fine to me...either standalone or as part of an international itinerary.

EDIT: oh, i guess you mean as a VA codeshare rather than an award??

View attachment 364561

Thanks for the heads up...I want to go to Yellowstone sometime soon and this is useful!

Yes, as a codeshare revenue flight, not with points so I'd never searched with the latter - how bizarre that Cody comes up as an available destination for rewards seats, but not as a revenue fare! Only dates scattered here and there too of course, being rewards seats, so availability is limited and I'll have to fly in/out on specific dates.

But wouldn't a codeshare agreement still apply for rewards seats as well, or is that not usually the case?

 

[Atleastonce]

Yes you'll find them online...have you looked?

You have to select "use velocity points".View attachment 364541

If I understand @Atleastonce's question correctly, the problem is I think they are wanting to add an internal domestic flight within the US to their itinerary, not a flight from the US back to Australia?

I have a similar issue in looking for flights for a holiday I'm taking to the US in 2025 (was 2024, but had to be delayed). I need to fly into Cody, Wyoming, but on the Velocity site can only get as far as Denver. Cody does not come up as a destination or able to be selected as a starting point. (as per @bcworld's very helpful post below, this is for a revenue flight, not rewards).

I can book all the way to Cody through United, who are usually the only airline who fly in there for much - if not all - of the year, however I cannot book the same through the Velocity website, and booking the Denver-Cody return flights separately with United are hideously expensive, regardless of the time of year, as there's a very limited number of flights (2in/out each day) except for a couple of months in summer.

Thank you, this worked by selecting points. I was looking on my iPad and could not select points options until I went through a destination search then edit itinerary, which then brought up the ability to search domestic flights within USA.

 

[jpp42]

But wouldn't a codeshare agreement still apply for rewards seats as well, or is that not usually the case?

Don't get operating subsidiaries and codeshare mixed up, these are two different things entirely. Flights to Cody and other smaller airports that are under discussion here use UA codes and are treated completely as UA for revenue purposes, thus reward seats may be available, even though they are operated by a subsidiary/contractor (i.e. "Skywest d/b/a United Express"). This is the same thing as in Australia where Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) and various Qantas subsidiaries operate flights under their respective parent airline's code. The operating contractor is more of a backroom detail that doesn't directly impact your experience - you still deal with United for check-in/customer service, the staff usually wear United uniforms - for all intents and purposes it's a United flight. (The famous "doctor-dragging" incident involved an operating contractor but United themselves took full responsibility as their brand was on the plane.)

Codeshares are a different arrangement where a totally independent airline operates flights under its own metal, and another airline like United adds its code ("markets" the flight), for example flights from DEN to FRA on Lufthansa may have a United codeshare attached. These flights are not available to Virgin Australia reward members as they are Lufthansa flights. The flight in this case is operated entirely by Lufthansa, you check-in with Lufthansa, everything is Lufthansa service levels and uniforms/livery, it's just that you bought your ticket through United's web site as a sales agent. (You can buy United revenue flights this way through Virgin Australia.)

BTW, depending on where you are going in Yellowstone, consider Jackson Hole (JAC) as an alternate. It has direct flights to LAX at certain times of year, convenient to Australians connecting from SYD/MEL. There's also IDA (Idaho Falls) with scheduled commercial service, though this would be similar to Cody with service only to/from Denver.

 

[Jurahn]

Don't get operating subsidiaries and codeshare mixed up, these are two different things entirely. Flights to Cody and other smaller airports that are under discussion here use UA codes and are treated completely as UA for revenue purposes, thus reward seats may be available, even though they are operated by a subsidiary/contractor (i.e. "Skywest d/b/a United Express"). This is the same thing as in Australia where Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) and various Qantas subsidiaries operate flights under their respective parent airline's code. The operating contractor is more of a backroom detail that doesn't directly impact your experience - you still deal with United for check-in/customer service, the staff usually wear United uniforms - for all intents and purposes it's a United flight. (The famous "doctor-dragging" incident involved an operating contractor but United themselves took full responsibility as their brand was on the plane.)

Codeshares are a different arrangement where a totally independent airline operates flights under its own metal, and another airline like United adds its code ("markets" the flight), for example flights from DEN to FRA on Lufthansa may have a United codeshare attached. These flights are not available to Virgin Australia reward members as they are Lufthansa flights. The flight in this case is operated entirely by Lufthansa, you check-in with Lufthansa, everything is Lufthansa service levels and uniforms/livery, it's just that you bought your ticket through United's web site as a sales agent. (You can buy United revenue flights this way through Virgin Australia.)

BTW, depending on where you are going in Yellowstone, consider Jackson Hole (JAC) as an alternate. It has direct flights to LAX at certain times of year, convenient to Australians connecting from SYD/MEL. There's also IDA (Idaho Falls) with scheduled commercial service, though this would be similar to Cody with service only to/from Denver.

Thanks for the detailed explanation, very helpful ! I've booked and flown numerous codeshare flights in the past on various airlines, but found it confusing that a destination would be available to book as a reward seat, but not as a revenue fare. Unfortunate, but there it is..

I'm not actually going to Yellowstone, I'll be spending a couple of weeks on a ranch a couple of hours from Cody so unfortunately other airports aren't an option to get there unless I hire a car. Two problems with that - one is the cost or a rental in the US these days. When I was planning to go this year, I looked at going into Billings as they have more flights and then driving from there, but it was going to cost me around $2000USD, it appears a one-way dropoff isn't an option and I'd be paying that out for a vehicle that's just sitting there for two weeks, as I don't need one at the ranch. Other issue is the time I'm going (early May), if recent hard winters - and getting snow well into spring - are anything to go by, roads and mountain passes in Wyoming can be closed or impassable (as per a friend who lives in Idaho), and I can't risk not being able to get to the ranch.