Flying V Australia Melbourne-Sydney-LA

[StephAus]

I know quite a few of us Aussies have flown V Australia, so can anyone tell me:
In Melbourne, do I check in with Virgin Blue or with V Australia?
Do I need to pick up my luggage in Sydney and check in again?

I must sound stupid, but this whole domestic to international thing has thrown me!

 

[ColB]

I flew Melb - LAX direct, so it was V Australia desk at Melbourne for me. No Sydney stop.

 

[CairnsGirl]

Hi Steph,

Not sure if I can be any help or not.

I will be flying with V Australia in September from Cairns via Brisbane for my flight to Los Angeles.

I will be checking in at the Virgin Blue desk in Cairns as there is no V Australia check in up here. From what I have read on the web site they will transfer my luggage to the international at Brisbane and we will be transferred over by bus.

I think if I was you I would give them a call and check to see what you should be doing

 

[OzCath]

Pretty sure you will need to check in at domestic with Virgin Blue. Your bags will go all the way through to LA. As Cairnsgirl said just give them a call to put your mind at ease.

 

[aussietravellers]

It really depends if you are on a Virgin Blue flight from Melbourne to Sydney then a VAustralia flight from Syd to LAX. If your Melb/Syd flight is operated by Virgin Blue (which you can find out if you go to VAustralias website and pretend to book your same flight. When it comes up with the different flights for you to choose and you see yours, if you just run your curser over the VA flight number and it will say operated by Virgin Blue or by VAustralia.

If it is operated by Virgin Blue then you will check in at the Virgin Blue domestic area, but they will check your bags right the way through to LA and they will usually give you your boarding passes for the Syd/LAX flight too, so you won't have to collect the bags until you arrive in LAX. Then when you get to Syd, you will just have to make your way over to the international terminal and head through customs.

 

[StephAus]

Thanks everyone!

I did call them up to check, and OzCath and aussietravellers are right I do have to check in with Virgin Blue, and they will check my bags through to LA. Which is a good thing since our layover in syd is less than 2hrs and having to check in, etc all over again was having me worried . But it's all good now.

1 week to go

 

[OzCath]

Have a great time!! Look forward to hearing all about it when you come back.

 

[melbarkwith]

Have a great time!
V Australia were absolutely awesome, we would very happily fly with them again.

 

[StephAus]

Good to know mel. It sounds like the 14 hours won't be completely unbearable!

Leaving Sunday. So excited, but at the same time totally dreading the flight

 

[SnowWhite09]

Thanks everyone!

I did call them up to check, and OzCath and aussietravellers are right I do have to check in with Virgin Blue, and they will check my bags through to LA. Which is a good thing since our layover in syd is less than 2hrs and having to check in, etc all over again was having me worried . But it's all good now.

1 week to go

Hi StephAus,

We flew from LA from Adelaide via Sydney and they checked our bags in here in Adelaide through to LA and flew Virgin Blue to Sydney. But we still had to check in for our international flight at Sydney airport where we got our boarding passes etc for an our international flight. This may have changed, or be different coming from Melbourne, but I just wanted to let you know that that was our experience.

Don't dread the flight - VAustralia were fantastic. Good in-flight entertainment, great food and excellent service.

I hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

[Mellby]

I'm flying Mel (via Bris) to LAX in a couple of months on V Australia.

I'm flying over alone and considering paying the extra for an exit row seat as I'm nearly 5'10"

Has anyone done this? Is it worth the extra $150 per trip?

Thanks