Book Singapore or Virgin?

[Willsmere]

Hi, just looking into booking a fare to asia return from Melbourne. Using the Virgin website and then Singapore Airlines, what essentially seems to be the same flight (and flexi seats) code shared is $1577 on Singapore or $1709 on Virgin. Any difference? in that if I book Singapore and put my velocity number in ,will SC's and points flow seamlessly? Just wondering why the difference? Thanks.

 

[Aus ATC]

If you are chasing status credits, booking direct with Singapore can generally get you "full economy" (Flexi) fares at good prices (I have done it myself).

The benefit of booking the Virgin code share (if also a Flexi fare) will be extra points based on your Velocity status, and Virgin flight segments (if you need them).

Comes down to a value judgement - is the extra $132 worth it for the Virgin flight segments and additional points?

No problems with points/status credits posting to your VFF account if you book on the SQ code.

The other consideration is seat allocation. No problems choosing seats if booked via SQ. I can't comment on this if booked via VA though.

 

[Comoman]

The other consideration is seat allocation. No problems choosing seats if booked via SQ. I can't comment on this if booked via VA though.

I can comment - damn near impossible. Need to get the SQ booking reference from VA, then login to SQ system. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Very frustrating so I always book direct with SQ.

 

[bullerdude]

Via Singapore
- Status Credits
- Less points
- Seat Selection
- Upgrade options
- Exit row type seat purchase options

Via Virgin
- Status Credits
- More points (up to double sometimes if Platinum)

Really depends on your needs.

 

[Willsmere]

Via Singapore
- Status Credits
- Less points
- Seat Selection
- Upgrade options
- Exit row type seat purchase options

Via Virgin
- Status Credits
- More points (up to double sometimes if Platinum)

Really depends on your needs.

Thanks to everyone,good comments. I'm really using the opportunity for SC's. I'm Silver and the trip in flexi seats should bump me to Gold. So it sounds like I will get the exact same SC's but the only thing I miss out on would be the 50% bonus points (for Silver) if I booked thru Singapore airlines? That sound right? If so, looks like I'll book thru Singapore.

 

[rtyuiop]

Booking via VA also gives you eligible sectors. Going via SQ (no choice, as I was going through a corporate travel agent) ended up with me downgrading from plat to gold this year .

Having said that, no seat selection/exit row purchase going via VA is an almighty pain, and I will probably be going through SQ when I have a choice just due to that!

 

[Willsmere]

Booking via VA also gives you eligible sectors. Going via SQ (no choice, as I was going through a corporate travel agent) ended up with me downgrading from plat to gold this year .

Having said that, no seat selection/exit row purchase going via VA is an almighty pain, and I will probably be going through SQ when I have a choice just due to that!

Thanks for that. Just to confuse things, what is an eligible sector ?

 

[rtyuiop]

You need 4 VA sectors in your membership year for gold, and 8 for platinum - without those, you can have as many SCs as you want but no status.

They can be a problem for people (like me) who mainly fly international, given VA seems to have given up any plans to be a anything but an insignificant international carrier on it's own. It did actually make me think about flipping back to QF this year...

 

[Willsmere]

You need 4 VA sectors in your membership year for gold, and 8 for platinum - without those, you can have as many SCs as you want but no status.

They can be a problem for people (like me) who mainly fly international, given VA seems to have given up any plans to be a anything but an insignificant international carrier on it's own. It did actually make me think about flipping back to QF this year...

Ah,ok. Thanks. I think I have a tonne of eligible sectors as I use family pooling. Was worried that a certain leg like Mel-Singapore would be an in eligible sector and I would get no points but I had that wrong. I'm the opposite to you, do mainly domestic so have lots of sectors accrued.

 

[greglow]

Yes, wish I'd read this earlier. Booked with VA (and paid more), and wish I hadn't. Plat members on VA are worse off in terms of seating, etc. than people with no membership of either airline who book directly with SQ.

When booking with VA, you can't allocate seats. You need to ring VA and they'll tell you the number and booking ref for SQ. You call them, and they say you can't preallocate any of the seats that you'd want to allocate. They say they are only done 48 hours ahead, and that they'll note your preference. When 48 hours before comes around, I found you can't do allocation via the website. Because I booked with VA, those options are greyed out. (They would be available for anyone else that booked on SQ). Tried to call SQ and gave up after over half an hour of recorded messages with no hint of how long it might be, or where you are in the queue. Eventually got through to them the next day, and all decent seats are already gone.

What annoys me is that I could have purchased QF flights for much, much less (2/3 of the price) and had all the normal options available. Purchased VA tickets through loyalty but clearly a big mistake.

It's quite pathetic really. The airlines need to get their act together and fix the relationship/agreement.

 

[Willsmere]

I keep coming up with more questions!!! Just went to book on Singapore site and they have 3 economy fares, "saver" "flexi saver" and "flexi". The flexi saver is the fare cheaper than virgin but will I get full economy SC's? Is there somewhere when booking I can see the fare code of the flight? Thanks agian, hopefully get this sorted shortly.

 

[Aus ATC]

I keep coming up with more questions!!! Just went to book on Singapore site and they have 3 economy fares, "saver" "flexi saver" and "flexi". The flexi saver is the fare cheaper than virgin but will I get full economy SC's? Is there somewhere when booking I can see the fare code of the flight? Thanks agian, hopefully get this sorted shortly.

If you select the fare you are interested in then proceed to the next page, it will show you the fare class. You are looking for S, Y, B, E, M, H, W, or L. It will probably be a W class fare.

 

[Willsmere]

I keep coming up with more questions!!! Just went to book on Singapore site and they have 3 economy fares, "saver" "flexi saver" and "flexi". The flexi saver is the fare cheaper than virgin but will I get full economy SC's? Is there somewhere when booking I can see the fare code of the flight? Thanks agian, hopefully get this sorted shortly.

Think I sorted it, Virgin site says full far economy on singapore flights that are S,Y,B,E,M,H,W. The flights I looked at are H and W so good to go!

 

[Jurahn]

Ah,ok. Thanks. I think I have a tonne of eligible sectors as I use family pooling. Was worried that a certain leg like Mel-Singapore would be an in eligible sector and I would get no points but I had that wrong. I'm the opposite to you, do mainly domestic so have lots of sectors accrued.

Your Velocity account will show the number of eligible sectors you've accumulated to date, so you should be able to see whether you have enough for Gold - sounds like you probably have enough anyway. However just something to note with family pooling (if you're not already aware of this) - if another family member is pooling to your account, you will get their SCs and/or points (depending on how you've set it up), but you will not get their eligible sectors. The eligible sector is only allocated to the person who actually took the flight.

 

[Moopere]

I noticed the price difference recently too - had to do a dash to HKG with my wife. As the need to fly emerged very late and my dates were fixed I only had Flexi available all the cheap seats were gone. The difference in price I saw, about $200 each, was due to the VA flight booking into full flex whereas the cheaper option on SQ was their 'flexi saver' ... apparently not available as a code share with VA.

I'm going to post elsewhere on this specific flight, but I was happy with the result booking codeshare with VA for these reasons:

- No status with SQ
- Needed SC's with VA to retain VA Gold
- As it turned out excellent status recognition from SQ on my existing VA gold - got all the expected benefits for myself and was no problem with my no status missus tagging along.

For what turned out to be <AU$400 extra it was worth it to me.


Not being able to choose a seat was a bit of a pain, but, whether by luck or status, I don't know, but out of 4 segments we sat up the front (in economy) for 3 of them and all flights were full - no complaints.

 

[greenfish]

Moopere, I think you'll find you'd have earned the same SCs whether booked as VA Flexi or SQ Flexi Saver. So I'm not sure you actually got anything for the extra $400.

 

[Moopere]

Moopere, I think you'll find you'd have earned the same SCs whether booked as VA Flexi or SQ Flexi Saver. So I'm not sure you actually got anything for the extra $400.

Its a fair comment actually - I was pretty rushed before this flight and remember reading somewhere about needing to have a 'VA ticketed' flight ... however, looking back over it now I can't find any specific reference to this so it seems increasingly likely that I picked up that line from somewhere else and was mistaken about any same requirement for the SQ/VA partnership.

 

[Willsmere]

Moopere, I think you'll find you'd have earned the same SCs whether booked as VA Flexi or SQ Flexi Saver. So I'm not sure you actually got anything for the extra $400.

Yes, I didn't quite get what Moopere was saying there. I booked the flexi-saver fares on SQ and checked the flight codes and they both qualify for full economy SC's on VA, and as others said when I booked it was nice and easy to choose seats.

 

[greenfish]

Well Moopere will earn the status bonus miles by booking on the VA code, so it isn't all bad

 

[Moopere]

Heh - this is why I hate booking tickets in a big rush

Looks like I probably scored VA FF points (+status bonus) for my 400$ ... hehehe. 22144 VA points (est value to me $664). Because I don't travel a lot on SQ I can't really ever use Kris points, however, now that they can be transferred across to VA it sort of changes the equation.