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Delays to Virgin Australia flights VA1 and VA2

25 replies
Traveller14

Traveller14

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Traveller14

Member since 17 Sep 2015

Total posts 73

Could VA2 be intentionally delayed to collect delayed domestic us transit passengers to avoid over night accomodation costs? Any one know if the flight has mainly point to point passengers? No excuse but an explanation.

Can';t be definitive but given that USA has 315 million plus residents and multiple large cities that attract Australians in droves, it makes sense that many would be connecting to and from cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Los Vegas, Portland, Chicago, Boston, Vancouver (Canada) and even New York or Miami.

anwakefield71

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anwakefield71

Air New Zealand - Airpoints

Member since 26 Oct 2014

Total posts 3

LAX has serious terminal upgrades which will take a number of years to finish and with that construction of skyrail tunnels has caused all airlines to be delayed.I think it is unfair to say its a VA issue as they are the no.1 product across the pacific.

Yes, LAX is upgrading but don't blame it on that.
NZ001 LHR-LAX always goes out of T2 on time every day
NZ002 LAX-LHR goes out of TBIT on time every time I've flown.
BA/VS/NZ fight to get their flight plans in. However, BA last departure to LAX on A380 always leaves 30 mins late cause they use the full length Of main runway.
VS have relied of giving customers gimmicks.
I hope VS's 787 problems on whole 787 fleet takes them down.
We need a new entrant to the premium market for the LHR-LAX.
Pity BA didn't change their Club Class on new Aircraft. They'll learn?


cssaus

cssaus

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cssaus

United Airlines - Mileage Plus

Member since 29 Jan 2011

Total posts 81

Just checked today's VA1 departure. Was scheduled for 9.30am, actual departure was 10.40am resulting in a scheduled late arrival into LAX at 648am. Makes for a stressful connection time out of LAX!


lw1962

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lw1962

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 26 Apr 2016

Total posts 6

I just checked VA2's history for the last week. There were serious delays out of LAX on many flights, but I do not blame VA for this. What I did notice, however - is the pretty impressive flight times for the LAX-SYD legs. You can clearly see they made every effort to make up lost time on many flights. I don't create tight itineraries as a general rule - so late departures are not something I tear my hair out over. And if I'm flying business class - well it just means another scotch in the Lounge.......ho hum.

mdart86

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mdart86

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 12 Nov 2012

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You should look at Flight Radar 24 more often...

The QF flights out if LA are regularly delayed as is the flights out of Australia...

Russjking

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Russjking

Member since 12 Aug 2017

Total posts 31

Perhaps the airlines should factor for typical delays and make the flight times more realistic. It would mean arrival times appear later but no one ever complains about being an hour early.

I think that they do this in the UK on domestic flights where they advertise longer flights to compensate for the overcrowding in and out of Heathrow. Even so some flights are late but there is at least a buffer. The incentive over there, apart from the population having a reputation for complaining, is that EU regulations come in very quickly for compensation. That doesn't happen with Australian flights.

Last editedby Russjking at Jul 23, 2018, 08:26 PM.
BJ01

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BJ01

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 07 Dec 2015

Total posts 57

I certainly hope that my VA1 flight on the 24th won't have any serious delays, I have a connecting DL flight to JFK departing at 7.55am. Fortunately I'm only traveling with carry-on but there's still a risk I might miss the connection.

What's the procedure with missing a connection (even once checked-in), who is responsible for ensuring I get on another flight VA or DL?

That's a seriously tight connection for LAX, less than 2 hours. My experience with connecting at LAX (as a J pax and often without checked luggage) is anything under 3 hours and you are dancing with the devil. There are so many variables at that airport that I just don't risk it anymore. I always book the DL @ 0920 to JFK coming off VA7 or VA1 and I've had that nearly go pear shaped earlier this year off VA7. Good luck!

Blake

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Blake

Member since 03 May 2017

Total posts 39


That's a seriously tight connection for LAX, less than 2 hours.

I wouldnt book a 2 hour transit anywhere! thats just asking for trouble :)
unless its on a single ticket, then it becomes the airlines problem.
cssaus

cssaus

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cssaus

United Airlines - Mileage Plus

Member since 29 Jan 2011

Total posts 81

Well my fears about the delay with my VA1 flight to LAX yesterday came to fruition.

The VA2 flight was late getting in causing the VA1 departure to be slipped by just over 90 minutes meaning that I was unlikely to make my connection to JFK. Needless to say I scrambled to protect myself by having VA put me on a later flight. Lo & behold when I arrive in LAX and go to the Delta re-check desk they tell me that my original connection flight was being delayed by 90 minutes and I was put back onto my original LAX-JFK flight.

Speaking to one of the flight attendants on the VA1 flight I was told that the issue of the delays to VA1/VA2 is being looked into by management. As some might know, VA2 used to get in much earlier than it does now allowing for adequate time to prepare the plane for its VA1 departure. I still can't understand why VA2 should have a delayed departure time out of LAX when it's parked for most of the day. I guess I will get to experience VA2's punctuality next week when I fly back to SYD.
cssaus

cssaus

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cssaus

United Airlines - Mileage Plus

Member since 29 Jan 2011

Total posts 81

I flew back into Sydney this morning on VA2. I think the problem with the delays to VA2's departure out of LAX is due to gate assignments.

In the past when I've caught VA2 from LAX, it was using a regular gate off the main terminal. On my flight last nite the flight was leaving from Gate 142 which is a gate situated at the far end of the terminal where you are taken by bus out to the plane parked at a remote stand.

Can I say that it seemed complete chaos around the gate as passengers were being directed onto the bus. Priority Boarding didn't seem to have any effect on an orderly departure process as compared to when the flight used to depart from one of the main gates inside the terminal.

Checking on-time departures for the past 7 days, only 2 flights were considered to have departed without delays. As a consequence of delays out of LAX there is a knock-on affect for VA1 departures being late because of the time it takes to turn the flight around.

This time last year, VA2 used to depart from LAX at 10.35pm arriving at 6.20am, now it's scheduled for 11.45pm arriving at 7.30am. VA1 is scheduled to depart SYD at 9.30am. With the change in times, I'm told it's really tight to turn the plane around in two hours where as last year the turn around time allowed for 3 hours.

Based on the above, no wonder there are all these delays.

cssaus

cssaus

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cssaus

United Airlines - Mileage Plus

Member since 29 Jan 2011

Total posts 81

Was curious to see what the latest situation was with VA2 LAX-SYD.

There hasn't been one on-time departure in the past 7 days!! Closest to an 11.45pm departure was on Aug 11 when the flight departed at 12.06am.

Needless to say there's been corresponding on-time departure issues for the turn-around flight VA1 SYD-LAX.

Anyone know what VA are doing about this??

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