why no VS flight sale prices to tempt PAX?

If VS are really short on $, can someone explain why they are not running a sale/promotion for late this year and Q1 next, to tempt Passengers back and get some much needed cash into their coffers?

At the moment, all tickets seem near full fare, even for basic routes like LON>NYC.

Seems a 'no-brainer' to me, and would really help their cash flow very quickly.

It's a fair question - my interpretation would be that getting people buying tickets isn't really about price at the moment its more around confidence. Confidence in terms of safety and in terms of the various restrictions around the world on being able to travel. Therefore whether rtn Economy flights to New York are coming out at £480 vs £320 won't change too much in terms of booking volumes.

Pricing is also dynamic - so maybe these low prices will trickle through once the dust settles and the landscape is clearer e.g. we know more about US restrctions.

All true. But they seem to believe we (the UK) might be vaccinated by Christmas, and regardless, people could be prepared to take a punt for then, or early spring break. (free rebooking is allowed too, so its not a huge risk)

VS badly need the cash, and my goodness, we'll need a break by then!

Do bookings mean that cash actually filters through to VS? I seem to recall that earlier on in the lock-down when SRB was actively touting for state aid / saying VS may fold without it, there was word that the major card companies (so Visa / MasterCard / Amex) were with-holding transferring funds to VS until the very last day they could under the settlement rules. This - apparently - made the chargeback procedure much easier for them, as they still had the funds, so no need to involve Virgin.

Then there was also VS offering PayPal as a payment option - if you chose this, VS got the funds straight away, thus bypassing any card company & left you having to use PayPal's refund procedure.

A lot of flights were almost full to certain destinations and after getting g rid of the 747’s , especially on the Orlando route, there was enough seats for passengers originally booked. Nearly everyone I know has moved their holiday to later this year or early next year. Maybe that is having an impact .

[mitchja]

It’s way more complicated than just offering sale fares to tempt pax back though.

There seems to this big mid-conception surrounding the ‘end’ of this COVID-19 outbreak; in that we all wake up one morning, the COVID-19 is gone and everything springs back to normal (or how things where before this all started) including people’s travel habits.

Unfortunately, it is not going to happen like that.

A lot of people have now lost confidence in travel and especially flying and cruise ships (which airlines rely on).

Many people have also been hit hard financially by COVID-19 so holidays and especially holidays abroad are now the last thing on a lot of people’s mind.

It’s going to take time for that confidence to return.

The demand for flights going forward is going to be much lower now than previous levels and will take time to come back, years rather than months as well.

Look at the current VS fleet as an example. 7 x 744’s gone now along with (so far) 2 x 333’s now in long-term storage. That’s over 3700 less seats flying per day compared to earlier this year. That’s over 111,000 less seats per month now available going forwards. VS have not done that because they wanted to, they have done it to trim down operating costs and ultimately survive going forwards. It’s the same reason why VS (and many other companies) are making staff redundant unfortunately.