V-Flyer

http://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/som ... campid=237

Why are they using the hashtag VAnotBA, they are VS?

Probably because it sounds better.

A brave campaign!

Certainly seeing not just price matching BA or beating by £1 (as used to be quite common) but seem to be a lot of flights where VS are beating BA by tens or even hundreds of pounds on Upper v Club World fares .... so maybe a two day hidden sale going on too (and if BA 'cotton on' and target a few routes with extra discounts to clear inventory in the next couple of days VS will move prices with them so you maybe won't have to take up the offer to benefit from the effects of the offer).

BA have been showing what look to be artificially high CW flights since the last sale ended - LGW to TPA inflated by £600 - 700, so I'd suspect there's due to be another 'sale'. I did smile when I read what VS are offering though, and wish I could take advantage of it. I'd be more than happy to be poached!!!

TimCrawley wrote:Certainly seeing not just price matching BA or beating by £1 (as used to be quite common) but seem to be a lot of flights where VS are beating BA by tens or even hundreds of pounds on Upper v Club World fares .... so maybe a two day hidden sale going on too (and if BA 'cotton on' and target a few routes with extra discounts to clear inventory in the next couple of days VS will move prices with them so you maybe won't have to take up the offer to benefit from the effects of the offer).

Hi Tim,

Do you have any examples of the good UC fares? Looking for something in September but most routes are showing £3,000!

Thanks,

Mike

What route Mike?

Hi Mike,

I must admit I wasn't looking so much at September myself but for that month there were some sub 3000 offers around if you browse the ITA matrix for that month.

So for September there’s still some examples VS haven’t matched on yet (Like LGW-ANU still showing VS fares in the £4000 range while BA at £2012 – so the VS deal with BA fares is goer for these). VS are already price-matching BA on LGW-UVF around the £2-2300 mark in September and in some cases beating BA by £300+ on LGW-GND via UVF (and beating by £600+ if you don’t mind a Liat to BGI on the way back) around the £2000 mark but seems a very solid price match at £1979 throughout September on LGW-BGI which, while not a massive sale of the £1500 style fares it’s still a better price than ‘normal’).

Not much on the TATL routes but must say I haven't got much interest in those at present but still worth you looking on ITA / GoogleFlights if that's your interest (though you can always 'rough it' in Norwegian 'Business' class for £1000 on LGW-BOS in September and let us know what you think! But then again, the VS UC MAN-BOS are still around for just under £1500 in September too).

What they don't say is that they will price match the ticket from BA so you may end up getting £50 off a higher fare with VS.
The other problem would be if you have a non refundable ticket with BA - which most will be.
A well timed publicity grabbing offer that puts VS in a good light but probably will not get a huge take up - therefore the perfect offer in marketing terms.

It's targetting folks who have made a booking with BA within 24 hours - like VS they have a cooling off period that allows you to cancel without penalty.

SlimpyJones wrote:What route Mike?

TimCrawley wrote:Hi Mike,

I must admit I wasn't looking so much at September myself but for that month there were some sub 3000 offers around if you browse the ITA matrix for that month.

So for September there’s still some examples VS haven’t matched on yet (Like LGW-ANU still showing VS fares in the £4000 range while BA at £2012 – so the VS deal with BA fares is goer for these). VS are already price-matching BA on LGW-UVF around the £2-2300 mark in September and in some cases beating BA by £300+ on LGW-GND via UVF (and beating by £600+ if you don’t mind a Liat to BGI on the way back) around the £2000 mark but seems a very solid price match at £1979 throughout September on LGW-BGI which, while not a massive sale of the £1500 style fares it’s still a better price than ‘normal’).

Not much on the TATL routes but must say I haven't got much interest in those at present but still worth you looking on ITA / GoogleFlights if that's your interest (though you can always 'rough it' in Norwegian 'Business' class for £1000 on LGW-BOS in September and let us know what you think! But then again, the VS UC MAN-BOS are still around for just under £1500 in September too).

Sorry, I should have been specific. Was looking for any TATL route out of London. Preferably LAX, but would make do with any of them. Everything seems to be at the £3k point at the moment. Was looking for something sub £2k. I'll keep an eye out, they don't often stay at £3k for too long. Seems to every carrier with a real business product, too.