V Australia and Virgin America sign Interline Agreement

Virgin Blue’s international airline, V Australia, and US-based Virgin America, have signed an Australia-U.S interline agreement that will offer seamless travel on the networks of each carrier and across the trans- Pacific route.

The agreement will allow travellers to purchase a single ticket for travel in the U.S and Australia on either carrier.

The new interline arrangement is live now (for travel agents bookings on the GDS system and 8 June for anyone booking via the airline’s website) for travel from Monday 8 June 2009.

Virgin America and V Australia share Los Angeles World Airport’s newly redesigned Terminal 3. Travellers arriving at LAX on V Australia international flights will come through the Tom Bradley International Terminal before being directed to Terminal 3 - a short walk to the Virgin America gates.

Both airlines will transfer baggage between connecting flights and to the final destination once passengers arriving on V Australia’s international flight have collected their checked bags and cleared customs.

The interline partnership offers more choice for V Australia Guests to connect to and from a wide range of Virgin America destinations including Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Boston and Washington DC.

Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, “We are delighted to be formally partnering with Virgin America to offer great travel benefits not only from Australia to the US on V Australia but beyond Los Angeles across Virgin America’s extensive and expanding route network.”

V Australia offers a three class trans-Pacific travel option with direct flights from Brisbane and Sydney to Los Angeles, with direct Melbourne-Los Angeles flights scheduled for September this year (subject to regulatory approval). Virgin America also offers a three class domestic US service.

The interline agreement will make it even easier to fly around the world on Virgin Airlines with V Australia to Los Angeles, Virgin America to five cities, Virgin Atlantic US connecting gateways to London, then back through Asia to Sydney, again on Virgin Atlantic.

Passengers will, later this year, be able to earn Velocity Points when flying on Virgin America and will also be able to redeem Velocity Points for flights on Virgin America.

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