Less than a month after teasing the routes, Virgin’s new European codeshares have the official seal of approval.
Virgin Australia passengers will now be able to jet off to Paris, Milan and Rome on newly-minted partner Qatar Airways, with codeshare agreements to the trio of European cities receiving the official rubber stamp this week.
Qatar Airways currently flies from its Doha hub to Paris – with some of those services on its flagship Airbus A380 – and Nice, along with Italian the draw cards of Rome and Milan.
Virgin already has codeshare agreements for France and Italy in place with Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines – both of which fly to Paris, Rome and Milan – but applied to Australia’s International Air Services Commission for “the use of capacity for code sharing with Qatar Airways.”
Under the determination, a VA flight number will be placed on Qatar Airways services, allowing travellers to book their entire journey as a single itinerary with seamless ticketing.
They also typically unlock additional benefits for frequent flyers, such as a larger haul of points and status credits.
As previously reported, Qatar Airways will soon begin double-daily flights to Melbourne, with one of those incorporating a leg to Canberra.
This has the potential to open up more seats, including Qatar’s superb business class Qsuites, for Virgin’s Velocity members to book with their points.
QF
11 Jul 2014
Total posts 798
Would be a smart move Milan for example has the 2nd largest EasyJet base in Europe. Sydney to Milan and then connect anywhere in Europe via EasyJet
Virgin Australia – Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 576
I reckon it’s a better choice than Rome.
QF
11 Jul 2014
Total posts 798
I agree you only do Rome so many times…..
15 Jul 2022
Total posts 1
Would it break the etihad alliance with virgin australia.
Qantas – Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Nov 2017
Total posts 316
At this stage Etihad and Virgin are still partners, however the Paris and Milan codeshares according to VA’s IASC application (on the IASC website) had requested that QR to replace the EY codeshares to those destinations.
So could this mean VA are slowly phasing out the EY partnership?
Virgin Australia – Velocity Rewards
15 Nov 2018
Total posts 4
Get it happening asap, I love it, I have QR Gold to maintain.
30 Aug 2018
Total posts 12
I didn’t realise VA has codeshare with SQ & EY to CDG (or Europe per se)? I can’t book any European trips (revenue tickets) on VA website atm. Am I missing something?
Qantas – Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Aug 2022
Total posts 2
I wonder if this would affect the ability to enter the Al Mourjan Business Lounge in Doha if you have a VA flight number, even if operated by QR?
06 Aug 2018
Total posts 1
So does this explain why the availability of Qatar flights has disappeared from Qantas Frequent Flyer Rewards ?
21 Apr 2019
Total posts 22
Wondering if redeeming flights using VA is an option?
22 Jan 2019
Total posts 6
I was doing some random reward flights searches this morning and reasonable amount of QR availabilty, in Y anyway not so much at the pointy end.
They will have to be ‘some’ availablity for QF FF as part of the OW alliance. How much though is the killer.
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