V-Flyer

From VS

VSbulletin: Austin route update – 27 Oct 2023
Our route between London Heathrow and Austin has been proudly operating since May 2022, but following a persistent softening in corporate demand, specifically the tech sector, we have taken the difficult decision to suspend services between the two cities.

The last services to and from Austin will operate on 07 January 2024 and bookings affected by cancellations after this date will be updated in your GDS on Saturday 28 October 2023.

This is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.  We would like to wholeheartedly thank you for your support and great partnership over the past 18 months, we couldn’t have done it without you.

wow.... luckily i booked the dark side for Feb

I am livid! My wife and I are booked to Austin in UC (reward seats using a CC voucher) in April for the eclipse.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what our options are now. Is there going to be a way of re-routing, or is it best just to take the refund?

DoomWolf wrote:Does anyone have any suggestions as to what our options are now. Is there going to be a way of re-routing, or is it best just to take the refund?

There was a further paragraph on the VS Trade notification so will be worth giving them a call;

For any customers scheduled to travel whose flight has been cancelled, rebooking options may be available but should this not be suitable, ticketed customers can receive a full refund.

"persistent softening in corporate demand"

It's hardly surprising. The current prices that are clearly aimed at businesses are simply getting out of hand.

For my destinations, I can get an upper fare inc a Sat night stay for a little over £3k. Don't want to stay a Sat night so you can get back to the family for the weekend? Then you can expect to more than double that to almost £8k! And that's only and I fare. When I 1st started doing reasonably regular trips in upper around 2017, the same non Sat night stay fares were about £4.5k and it included a chauffeur back then.

As a result, even my rather generous travel policy is getting trimmed. And who can blame them?

matt.hibb wrote:"persistent softening in corporate demand"

It's hardly surprising. The current prices that are clearly aimed at businesses are simply getting out of hand.

Completely agree I’ve been monitoring flights to LAS for a mid January departure but with £6-11k flight fares and only 2 seats sold in J clearly this NEW dynamic pricing system is in need of tweaking. BA offer return for £2.3k on there A350 new Club Suite product, BA also deployed the Club Suite product on the AUS route too.

Costing aside, it’s a tier 2 city with some tech companies. It has always been too niche to warrant a BA & VS flight. Earlier this year, we toyed with the idea of going to COTA and there was ample UC reward availability on every day in the lead up to the F1… we thought then this route was getting canned.

Apparently VS will be redeploying the spare A/C from this route cancelation on extra BGI and MIA flights. DXB also going daily again for W24.

I’ve spoken to Virgin and no re-route options available as it’s a reward booking using a CC companion voucher. I’m going to have to get the refund and rebook on BA for more cost in a lesser cabin. Thanks a lot Virgin! I’ll be back to over 400k points with little chance to use them

Is there an option to fly to a different US city using your current booking and use some of your remaining points to book an internal connection with Delta?
When I’ve had a flight (booked with points) cancelled I’ve been moved onto an alternate flight with no reward availability-just needed to be availability in the same cabin. Admittedly it was the same direct route with VS.

Just a thought,

David

BA is looking too expensive an option now at more than £3k in PE (we’d paid £2k in taxes and fees for the VS flights in UC). Another option is American Airlines via Dallas at £2,200. Oddly the direct flight to Dallas alone is over £3k, but about £1k cheaper to add the connection to Austin. My only concern is whether a 1.5 hour layover is long enough to get through US immigration and collect and recheck baggage for the connecting flight?

DaveVal wrote:Is there an option to fly to a different US city using your current booking and use some of your remaining points to book an internal connection with Delta?
When I’ve had a flight (booked with points) cancelled I’ve been moved onto an alternate flight with no reward availability-just needed to be availability in the same cabin. Admittedly it was the same direct route with VS.

Just a thought,

David

That’s what I asked three different VS agents, but they can’t find any connecting flights that can be booked with points. I’ve asked them to look at different days, departures from LHR and MAN and different airports in the US.

From the T&Cs

21.3 Flight disruption

(a) We take all reasonable measures to avoid disruption to our services (such as cancellations, delays and denied boarding). In order to minimise any disruption we might arrange for your flight to be operated on another type of aircraft or by another carrier.

Where your flight that is operated by us is cancelled or delayed by at least five hours, you may choose between:

(i) travelling as soon as possible on another of our scheduled flights. Travel is subject to availability of seats in the same class of service for which you originally purchased your Ticket;

(ii) travelling at a later date that is convenient to you on another of our scheduled flights. Travel is subject to availability of seats in the same class of service for which you originally purchased your Ticket and the revised travel date must be within the validity period of your Ticket; or

(iii) a refund of the unused portion of your Ticket.

Wondering if you could ask VS to route you to Atlanta, then book Delta First for 55k points plus $11 taxes each? 6 direct flights per day available with points on some dummy dates I tried. As your bookings is a reward booking they may be able to re ticket on one PNR to allow for delays.

Sorry your I was typing when you posted. Once I wanted a connecting flight with an overnight stay at Atlanta. The website booking engine didn’t offer this and two agents said they couldn’t book it. I used the chat function and presented the agent with the exact dates, flight numbers and times I wanted to book and they were able to book it for me.

And to answer your question, I’d be uneasy with a 1.5 hr layover to clear immigration etc and get to the gate for my next flight. But if there’s multiple connecting flights with same airline on a single ticket, less of an issue.

BA are also reducing their daily service to AUS from it's currently daily to x6 from Nov then x5 from Jan; which will reduce capacity and thus force fares higher on that route even further.

DaveVal wrote:From the T&Cs

21.3 Flight disruption

(a) We take all reasonable measures to avoid disruption to our services (such as cancellations, delays and denied boarding). In order to minimise any disruption we might arrange for your flight to be operated on another type of aircraft or by another carrier.

Where your flight that is operated by us is cancelled or delayed by at least five hours, you may choose between:

(i) travelling as soon as possible on another of our scheduled flights. Travel is subject to availability of seats in the same class of service for which you originally purchased your Ticket;

(ii) travelling at a later date that is convenient to you on another of our scheduled flights. Travel is subject to availability of seats in the same class of service for which you originally purchased your Ticket and the revised travel date must be within the validity period of your Ticket; or

(iii) a refund of the unused portion of your Ticket.

Wondering if you could ask VS to route you to Atlanta, then book Delta First for 55k points plus $11 taxes each? 6 direct flights per day available with points on some dummy dates I tried. As your bookings is a reward booking they may be able to re ticket on one PNR to allow for delays.

Thanks for your help on this. Out of interest, what dates did you check? I can only see Delta economy on the days I’m looking at (4th or 5th April departing and 15th or 16th returning).

If I was able to book a connecting flight on Delta economy, how would that affect the baggage allowance if it’s on the same PNR as a VS UC flight?

Sorry, can’t remember which dates I used-was mainly checking if and how often Delta flew between Atlanta and Austin.

Suspect others will know for sure re bags-I think if connecting from UK, Upper baggage rules apply to Delta leg.

mikethe3rd wrote:Costing aside, it’s a tier 2 city with some tech companies. It has always been too niche to warrant a BA & VS flight. Earlier this year, we toyed with the idea of going to COTA and there was ample UC reward availability on every day in the lead up to the F1… we thought then this route was getting canned.

I must admit, it seemed a strange route to introduce at the time when there were other routes going begging, both from the UK and elsewhere. I recall one of the teasers saying it was a DL hub, but Austin is anything but.

It goes to show how some routes can only sustain one airline serving it.

I wonder San Diego would have been a better prospect?

BA are increasing their flight to twice daily next summer, and at least you have LAX & SFO in the state as alternative inbound/outbound airports for people touring the region.

San Diego is a decent sized port of departure for Cruises (mainly Disney West Coast cruises) but not sure there would be enough demand for a direct flight?

After speaking to multiple VS agents (the most helpful ones seem to be on a Sunday when you always seem to get through to someone with a Welsh accent), there weren't any good options for re-routing. Part of the problem was that my wife's booking was on a companion ticket which prevents adding Delta connections and other options weren't allowed as only Delta economy was available which can't be mixed with UC on the same ticket.

The closest we could get when trying from scratch was MAN to ATL with a DL first connection to Austin (arriving after midnight), but having to return from JFK and no AUS to JFK points flights were available which would have meant paying for a separate flight. We've ended up taking the refund and booking PE seats on American Airlines from LHR to DFW with the connection to AUS after a 2.5 hour layover. On the way back it's a 1.5 hour layover but that should be ok as there's no immigration to clear. We also had to go a day earlier and come back a day later as it seems a lot cheaper avoiding flying on a Friday or a Monday. No UC seat, Clubhouse or Revivals, but at least we still get there.

Thanks all for the help and advice, it's much appreciated.

Hi,
I am glad that you are all sorted but am I missing something? I thought that if your flight was cancelled then the airline has to book you on an alternative. Whether it was a reward seat originally or CC voucher surely that becomes irrelevant. If there are cash seat alternatives then the airline has to provide them. They are not just looking for reward availability. Is this not the case?