Well, we're back from our trip to Japan (which was great by the way! Peak cherry blossom). Managed to get our requested seats (window and aisle) all the way except that on the A380 flight from SIN to NRT it was chokka block full so I had an aisle seat near the front and hubby got his window seat near the back. The rest of the flights were A330 and we got 2 seats window and aisle together.
I would not book it as a VA flight number again, it just wasn't worth the worrying about not being able to do on-line check in and having to arrive 3 hours before the flight to give ourselves the best chance of better seats.
As suggested by previous posters I flashed my Velocity gold card at every point and had no problems with Lounge access or Priority gates or Business class queue for checking in. However we did get no priority whatsoever with seating and were well away from the front! It didn't really matter though and all flights were full or almost full so it would have made no difference anyway.
Silver Kris lounge in Perth, Gold Kris lounge in SIN and no lounge access in KIX.
Still, what we did discover was that the prices in KIX are not excessive like they are in almost every other airport. Starbucks coffees cost exactly the same as they had everywhere else in Japan and even the souvenirs in the shops didn't seem overpriced when I blew our remaining Yen. Why is it sooooo expensive for a coffee at the airport in Perth but they manage to charge normal prices in KIX? Don't answer that, I know all the "reasons", it just p*sses me off. :!:
