VA international and Melbourne

[darraghk]

I was surprised not to see such little reaction to VA moving their Melbourne - LA flight to Brisbane. I just got back from a return trip to the US and had to travel via Sydney.
Never again!!! The weather in Melbourne meant we nearly missed our LA flight, my VA loyalty is seriously waining after this experience.
As far as I know Delta or another partner don't have a direct flight? For either work or personal travel the extra hop adds too much unnecessary time and risk of delay/cancellation as well. Back to Qantas next time I think.
As an aside my wife and I are both platinum and didn't even get as much as a hello on the return (flying economy). Melburnians not feeling the love!!!

 

[AIRwin]

Try NZ via AKL next time?

 

[Clivem]

I..........Melburnians not feeling the love!!!

Can you speak up? Us Brisbanites just can't quite hear you over the sweet sound of those lustrous big gorgeous 777 engines spooling up EVERYDAY now ........Might not be 'love in Melb' but its 'warm steamy orgy' in this neck of the woods Daily BNE - LAX oh yeah .......saw VA7 lift off right on the dot this morning while waiting for my flight ....sweet.

 

[Quickstatus]

Why dont you fly United MEL-LAX direct on their Plastic-fastastic dreamliner.

UA 99 MEL-LAX
UA98 LAX-MEL

Be aware the 787 is not much bigger than a 767

And UA squeezes 9 abreast on the 787 which is a narrower than Virgin's and United's 9 abreast 777

 

[darraghk]

I wanted to be on VA metal to get the double points offer but next time I won't bother. NZ would be my preferred partner but it still means an extra unnecessary hop.
If I want to go to East Coast US, two hops is a lot better than three!!!

 

[darraghk]

That is my point UTD will now be the cheapest and quickest route to LA. This means it will be difficult to avoid them for work travel.
Farewell VA!!

Why dont you fly United MEL-LAX direct on their Plastic-fastastic dreamliner.

UA 99 MEL-LAX
UA98 LAX-MEL

Be aware the 787 is not much bigger than a 767

And UA squeezes 9 abreast on the 787 which is a narrower than Virgin's and United's 9 abreast 777

 

[soorox]

You have plenty of options non-stop, QF will increase to x10 weekly from JAN (up from x1 Daily) and UA will go daily from MAR (Up from x6 weekly). If I were you I would definitely change my loyalty if you are mainly looking at US flights in the future. UA is better now with the 787's but I would much rather take QF's A380 or 744 service. I'm also liking QF95's later departure in the evening, hopefully if it is successful QF could make it daily!

As others have also mentioned, NZ is also a good option, NZ offers MEL pax 77W services all the way to LAX - then I think it would better better to join Krisflyer or Airpoints rather then stick with VA's Velocity as you can earn credits and points with VA and also *A carriers.

 

[blackcat20]

I'm pretty disappointed, having done two trips this year from Melbourne in their J class.

 

[Quickstatus]

You have plenty of options non-stop, QF will increase to x10 weekly from JAN (up from x1 Daily) and UA will go daily from MAR (Up from x6 weekly). If I were you I would definitely change my loyalty if you are mainly looking at US flights in the future. UA is better now with the 787's but I would much rather take QF's A380 or 744 service. I'm also liking QF95's later departure in the evening, hopefully if it is successful QF could make it daily!

As others have also mentioned, NZ is also a good option, NZ offers MEL pax 77W services all the way to LAX - then I think it would better better to join Krisflyer or Airpoints rather then stick with VA's Velocity as you can earn credits and points with VA and also *A carriers.

Although Kflyer won't have the SC options of the VA/DL tieup but if not looking for Tier Status then KFlyer and APoints good option

 

[jpk]

It annoyed me a lot! I tried going via BNE but the transfer was painful - we got in over an hour early, VA refused to put me on an earlier BNE-MEL flight despite there being seats and being on a fully flexible Y fare (her comment was "the lounge is really nice, I don't know why you would want to go earlier and miss it". Then you have to take the train, which was a 25 min wait at that time. Then I sat in the lounge for 4 hours till my flight.

Going outbound, the timings are dreadful and it won't take much to misconnect. I booked QF for my next trip.

 

[AIRwin]

Then you have to take the train, which was a 25 min wait at that time.

Try the T-Bus next time?
http://www.bne.com.au/sites/all/files/content/files/BAC137 Skygate Timetable v4.pdf

 

[robd]

Can you speak up? Us Brisbanites just can't quite hear you over the sweet sound of those lustrous big gorgeous 777 engines spooling up EVERYDAY now ........Might not be 'love in Melb' but its 'warm steamy orgy' in this neck of the woods Daily BNE - LAX oh yeah .......saw VA7 lift off right on the dot this morning while waiting for my flight ....sweet.

Boooooo

 

[docjames]

Disappointing but at least with UA nonstop to LAX there's at least some competition in the market in MEL to keep QF pricing under some semblance of reasonableness!

It's at this point where it's a shame VA are currently welded to the 777 as the 787 would allow them to service LAX form all three east coast cities, plus with a few more would be "right size" to tap into some routes to Asia.

I don't doubt it's been looked at by VA management, but the the queue for 787s and to capex required we may be waiting a while.



I would assume VA have done the numbers and a service going daily in one city (BNE) now adds up better than alternating between the two with a "stronger" competitor (UA) now in MEL than when they launched MEL-LAX.