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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Virgin is extending its same-day free flight \u201cfly ahead\u201d changes to economy passengers travelling on Flex tickets.<\/p>\n The feature allows customers flying on Flex economy fares to rebook on earlier flights without paying a fare difference or an additional fee.<\/p>\n It was previously only available for Virgin\u2019s Velocity Gold, Platinum and Platinum Plus members. Flex tickets are an economy fare that includes a checked bag and typically allow changes for a fee.<\/p>\n Qantas\u2019 equivalent feature prompts passengers to move to earlier flights when potential disruptions loom. Qantas has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n Virgin said the move is aimed at helping travellers, particularly business travellers, avoid additional flight change costs, \u201camid a backdrop of high inflation\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article Passengers within a two-hour window can make the change, on flights within the Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne triangle.<\/p>\n When requesting Fly Ahead on the Virgin Australia app, customers can ask for the immediately preceding available flight on the same route. The flights are subject to availability.<\/p>\n Importantly, the request must be made through the Virgin Australia app or at the airport to avoid a change fee or fare difference. That means customers making the change through the Virgin website will still face fare costs or change fees.<\/p>\n By enabling passengers to fly sooner and avoid end-of-day congestion and delays, Virgin\u2019s move is both a response to consumer demand and a way to help it manage its seat inventory better.<\/p>\n A round-trip flight from Sydney to Melbourne on July 8 would run $301 on a Flex ticket, $241 on Lite fare (carry-on luggage only), a Choice ticket (in which you choose a seat and check a bag) costs $261, and Business class is $459.<\/p>\n Virgin Australia said that even with Fly Ahead available only to higher-tier customers, 44,000 passengers moved to earlier flights over the past year.<\/p>\n Belt-tightening is being seen across domestic travel, where both Virgin and Qantas Group have trimmed flights amid the recent fuel price shock.<\/p>\n Related Article Australia\u2019s domestic passenger traffic shrank 0.1 per cent in May, compared with May 2025, according to the International Air Transport Association, as passenger capacity also thinned by 0.3 per cent in the same time.<\/p>\n Globally, revenue passenger kilometres \u2013 or passenger traffic \u2013 was down 2.2 per cent compared to May 2025 thanks to the impact of war in the Middle East, fuel price rises and economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Flying](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bc50249be735db27e8de0aa587fd41611df76ef7.jpeg\")
Flying ahead: Virgin Australia.<\/p>\n![\"Rome\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fcea22444e78fa7ab5b07f8696062895f1d6a96e.jpeg\")
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The request must be made through the Virgin Australia app or at the airport to avoid a change fee or fare difference.Louie Douvis<\/p>\n![\"VietJet](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c36ee6fa8d1216f78e785f6febe166b049e841b1.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6d9ecb063feb3ba3ecf4285d83ed48eb9b67f554.png\")
Chris Zappone<\/a> is a senior reporter covering aviation and business. He is former digital foreign editor.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-773559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}