Originally Posted by
Boraxo
Makes sense if you pay for international travel and aren't fed up with your legacy carrier's service. But for those of us who live in Virgin territory, i.e. SFO and fly mostly domestic to world-class cities like NYC, Vegas, etc. the superior product will be very attractive.
Vegas...world-class city...
Forget about Vegas for a moment...SFO-LAS is a short hop. Whoever gets me there on-time wins the business. But SFO-JFK - that's a route where the existing carriers (UA, AA, etc.) compete with their "premium domestic" service. The three-cabin planes, the best they have to offer short of international.
So thinking about that, will VX F compare favorably to to UA or AA J? Is that how they will eventually be pricing it? VX Y appears inferior to UA E+ and maybe on-par with AA's LRTC. So to me, the value on VX is if I'm buying F tickets. VX has clearly given the nod to UA in terms of the back of the bus - I don't think they have plans for any 35 or 36 inch service in Y.
Agreed. But even a program like UA Mileage Plus - which theoretically offers "maximum choices" - is a sham when there is zero saver award inventory in business class on the most popular international routes.
Yeah...I know all of the big programs are a bit hit and miss on availability. Maybe it's because I usually don't fly at max-peak holiday times, but I usually have good luck with UA and AA. I just recently finished planning and booking an 8-segment int'l F itinerary and was able to get everything I wanted. My only complaint for UA: it would have been very, very difficult to book this without "outside" help. (Namely, using ANA to sift through all of the options first, because UA phone agents aren't that proactive or creative.)