On Tuesday I wrote about how Delta was no longer showing Virgin Australia award availability. Not only did Virgin Australia award availability disappear from Delta’s website, but it wasn’t bookable via Delta’s call center either.
Some even reported being told by Delta SkyMiles agents that the partnership between Delta and Virgin Australia had been discontinued (not that SkyMiles agents are ever a reliable source of information).
That seemed unlikely given that the two airlines are in the process of renewing their partnership, but then again we’ve also seen some partnerships which don’t include reciprocal mileage redemptions.
Anyway, via a Delta spokesperson, it appears as if this is an error, and that Virgin Australia award space will be bookable through SkyMiles again as of tomorrow, Saturday, March 28, 2015:
A flight information filing error that was not allowing the inventory to be pulled upon request as normal. It will be corrected on Saturday as the updated info will be loaded.
That’s great news, given that Virgin Australia is one of the best uses of SkyMiles, given that they release the most saver level business class award space between the US and Australia. Virgin Australia is also one of the reasons that I think SkyMiles have actually gone up in value, at least relatively.
I look forward to giving Virgin Australia a try once they introduce their new business class product!
Get ready to redeem your SkyMiles for Virgin Australia’s new business class
Ben, thanks for the information
I have a VA award flight booked via SkyMiles and all flight info for my VA flights randomly disappeared and I was unable to see seat maps so I panicked and thought I'd lost my seat assignment (who wants to end up in a middle seat in business class!?). I called to make sure my original seat assignment was there and the agent said that they could still see, so I don't know what happened there.
@Luis - expect the new J class by December 2015, with the entire fleet done (they only have a few 77W aircraft) by early 2016.
When is Virgin going to start flying this new J class?
@ Luis -- On the 777 I believe they should it by next year.
Ben,
Happy Friday! I have a trip to Nadi from Melbourne on VA next month. I spoke with one of their agents and he told me it can be credited to Virgin America.
What other partner airline(s) can I credit my miles.
@ Tiara -- You could also credit to Delta SkyMiles and Singapore KrisFlyer.
@Lucky
Delta was no lowering showing
Delta was no longer showing?
@ No Name -- Fixed, thanks!
@patricia
i did exactly that award couple of years ago... JFK-LAX in Delta coach (all that was available) and LAX-BNE on Virgin. i paid $79 to Delta to upgrade to eco+ and it was totally fine for 5 hrs... plus i was excited for *A lounge and Virgin so it really was not too bad in my mind.
VA will be fun, but getting Level 1 saver seat on DL from anywhere to LAX will be the big challenge
From JFK ? Absolutely forgetaboutit.
Regardless of how amazing VA's new J might be, a 6 hour ride in econ to LAX to connect to that 77W completely diminishes the value of the award.
@ patricia -- Fair enough, but what the alternatives between the US and Australia, really? Not many alternatives. Ultimately it's not too tough to find some saver space domestically with a connection if you're flexible. Agree it's frustrating, but don't think it completely diminishes the value of the award.