One of the two airlines in Australia is Virgin Australia. Qantas and American Airlines have a joint venture. Most airlines outside of the oneworld alliance look for domestic feed for their long haul Australia routes with Virgin Australia.
United Airlines was left in the cold after Virgin Down Under and Delta Air Lines formed a joint business venture. Local market passengers have largely been the only ones who have survived the Australia flights.
That is changing. The partnership between United and Virgin Australia will begin in early 2022. Virgin Australia will no longer partner with Delta.
The United-Virgin partnership will offer.
You can earn and burn miles on both airlines. United MileagePlus members will be able to connect to other destinations in Australia as part of the same award, which will include flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles to Sydney.
Priority check-in, boarding, baggage, and security as well as extra baggage allowance and lounge access are perks of the elite.
Virgin Australia will start selling United codeshares on its website, but only after selling other airline partner code shares online.
Virgin Australia used to be a great partner for Delta miles on flights between the US and Australia. In the past it was possible to get multiple business class redemption seats most of the time. They began limiting availability to within two weeks of travel most of the time, severely curtailing redemption options between the U.S. and Australia because they had been the primary way to redeem at the saver level.
Virgin Australia stopped flying to Los Angeles a year ago, and Delta suspended its joint venture with the airline. Delta had only one U.S. flight with United, so it makes more sense for them to be a partner. United has a domestic Australian partner.
Virgin Australia became an Air Canada Aeroplan partner earlier this year so it isn't surprising.
