SAA-VA codeshare good news for agents

SAA announced a new
codeshare agreement
with Virgin Australia
on February 6.
The agreement, which
saw through-fares going
on sale on February 7
for travel on February
11, gives SAA customers
access to 44 destinations
across Australia, including
Brisbane, Adelaide and
VA’s hubs in Melbourne
and Perth. SAA ies daily
between Johannesburg and
Perth.
According to SAA
spokesperson Tlali Tlali,
the SAA/VA partnership
only covers operations for
the SAA ight to Perth and
not operations over Sydney
own on Qantas as SAA
has an existing relationship
with Qantas covering the
east coast.
“SAA will y passengers
from Johannesburg to Perth
and onwards on an SAA
ticket and ight number
on VA-operated ights
from Perth to Melbourne,
Adelaide and Brisbane.”
Kendy Phohleli, SAA
acting gm: commercial,
said the codeshare
agreement offered SAA
customers seamless travel
to primary destinations
across Australia and the
ability to earn frequent yer
miles through the Voyager
programme. Voyager miles
will only be earned on an
SAA itinerary with an SAA
code when travelling on VA
segments.
Baggage from South Africa
will be checked through
to the nal destination as
SAA has through-check
agreements with both
Qantas and VA. However,
passengers will have to
clear customs at rst port
of entry, even though bags
are tagged to the nal
destination. They will then
drop their bags off at a
dedicated point for transfer
to the connecting domestic
ight. Customers will also
receive boarding passes
from Johannesburg to their
end destination in Australia.
Laurie Wilkinson, owner
of Sure Travel Studio, said
the SAA/VA codeshare was
good news for South African
travellers, agents and the
two airlines. “Travellers
have the advantage of
more competitive throughfares.
It’s advantageous to
the airlines because they
attract more people on to
their direct services instead
of losing business – in
the case of Australia – to
the likes of Emirates and
Etihad, for example. And
because of the complexity
involved, it’s good for travel
agents because travellers
need more assistance
navigating all the routing
possibilities to get the best
possible fare,” he said.