Lufthansa / Virgin Australia
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at 07:09 by paulkaz.
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GeordieTravellerParticipantI am hoping the hive mind of BT can help. I am looking at a Lufthansa itinerary in J to Sydney that includes a leg on Virgin Australia but I can’t seem to find anything around their relationship. Is this a straight forward codeshare with reciprocal lounge etc?
For clarity the itinerary is being sold directly by Lufthansa rather than via Kayak or similar.
12 Nov 2019
at 22:46
TascleanParticipantLufthansa aren’t a partner to VA – see the list here on the VA’s freq flyer program called Velocity : https://experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com/partners-offers/all-partners#460088836
VA is part owned by HNA CHina, SQ and Etihad with only about 10% of its publicly listed shares avail as float. Its the second largest domestic carrier behind Qantas. Plenty of us in Aust wish that ownereship would rationalise itself and allow VA membership of, say, Star Alliance.. Then we’d all know exactly where we stand on codeshares, lounge access etc. Right now there is only a patchwork of Intl relationships, SQ being most extensive.
What flight are you being offered by LH that’s on VA metal ? Something from SE Asia, or an internal Aust VA flight to Syd ? If its J then you’ll have access to the VA domestic lounge or their assigned/contract partner lounge outside Aust. Cud be you are getting VA offered thru their SQ connection (and thus LH/SQ) ?
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13 Nov 2019
at 00:41
cwoodwardParticipantLH don’t of course fly to Sydney
They do however codeshare with Cathay down to Australia via HK and Cathay code share within AU with Qantas.
This info may or may not be helpful as does not include Virgin AU unless they also codeshare with LH within AU13 Nov 2019
at 04:40
EU_FlyerParticipant[quote quote=977673]Plenty of us in Aust wish that ownereship would rationalise itself and allow VA membership of, say, Star Alliance.. Then we’d all know exactly where we stand on codeshares, lounge access etc. Right now there is only a patchwork of Intl relationships, SQ being most extensive.[/quote]
Great point. A major problem for VA is that they have Delta pulling them in one direction and SQ in the other with HNA in the middle. I’d say they’re more likely to join Skyteam together with Virgin Atlantic given Delta’s interest in the latter. SQ won’t be happy though and they may well walk away. Likewise for Delta if they join Star Alliance. So the dilemma for the new CEO continues.
13 Nov 2019
at 08:31
AMcWhirterParticipantGeordieTraveller – I find this strange because Lufthansa works with other Star carriers plus CX when travellers want to book flights from Europe to Australia.
If you would be able to provide more details of your *exact route* and an idea of when you might be travelling we may be able to offer more advice.
I know that travel agents can link airlines which have, officially, no agreements with one another. But you say that these flights “were being sold directly by Lufthansa” and I assume these tickets were being offered for sale in the UK or mainland Europe.
I say that because Aussie agents are skilled in combining carriers which, officially, cannot be combined.
For example when a relative flew SYD-LHR earlier this year the flights were with Virgin Australia and Virgin Atlantic via HKG. It was business class and marketed at a keen price.
Yet at that time both airlines had not officially reached agreement (with the regulators) to sell such a ticket direct to the public.
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13 Nov 2019
at 12:05
TimFitzgeraldTCParticipantVirgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia have had corporate fares for ages to Australia via LAX or HKG. Some of the fares in Business are very good, though connections not always that great (on return in HKG especially).
There are lots of interesting fare options and airline combinations into Australia for people prepared to take 3 flights via Europe and Asia when you can find the right availability using likes of AY into Asia and then SQ/TG/CX onto Australia for example. Used to be AF would have fares with SQ / MH for last legs so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if there is a fare construction that allows for LH and VA. A quick look at LHR-SYD on Lufthansa does give LH flight numbers to SIN and the VA to Sydney but that is actually a codeshare and operated by SQ
So might be worth talking to a specialist in this area, or the airline themselves.
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13 Nov 2019
at 14:11
AMcWhirterParticipant[quote quote=977791]A quick look at LHR-SYD on Lufthansa does give LH flight numbers to SIN and the VA to Sydney but that is actually a codeshare and operated by SQ[/quote]
Thanks Tim. Mystery solved. After all these years ‘code-share confusion’ still exists.
13 Nov 2019
at 15:50
GeordieTravellerParticipantThanks all.
The itinerary Lufthansa were offering was indeed via HKG with the final leg being on VA metal.
As i’ve not flown VA yet I think I will give it a go as their business product looks excellent.
13 Nov 2019
at 20:15
GeordieTravellerParticipantThe route was NCL > MUC > HKG > SYD.
I realise Emirates would be a more direct routing but for this trip is out of range.
13 Nov 2019
at 20:19
GeordieTravellerParticipantI booked the NCL to SYD routing yesterday, less than £3k in J which I thought was pretty good value for a UK departure.
16 Nov 2019
at 19:43
paulkazParticipantGeordieTraveller that’s a great price. We’d pay the equivalent of £2k just for Syd Hkg return. Here’s a review to whet the appetite.
Virgin Australia A330 Business Class Hong Kong to Sydney Review
17 Nov 2019
at 07:09 -
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