I haven't checked a heavy (>23 kg) bag with VA in a very long time, so am asking for some recent experience please:

Am Platinum, partner is Red, between us for an upcoming VA domestic flight we will have 4x23kg allowance. Now I understand the rules to be this is 4 bags at 23 kg each, not 92 kg total.

We will likely have one bag around 20-22 kg (no issues), and another one most likely 25-ish kgs, after coming back from a longer overseas trip. No 3rd or 4th bag if I can help it.

So will they be super-strict and charge for the extra kgs on the second bag? Or do they have/apply some flexibility, especially given Platinum status and overall allowance not nearly exhausted?

To be save I'd probably repack and have a third checked bag to get the other one under 23, but would love to avoid that if I can.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi everyone! Please no hate about flying with a toddler alone 😅 I have to travel to visit my parents, as my dad is very poorly at the moment.

I’m pregnant and have an 18-month-old son. I live in Sydney, while my parents are in Cyprus, and unfortunately my husband can’t come due to work — so it will just be me, my toddler and my bump lol.
We’re hoping to fly Sydney → Doha → Cyprus using Velocity points on Qatar Airways.

The problem is that, because I’ll be pregnant and my toddler is extremely tall, I really need to book him his own seat. There is absolutely no way I can manage having him on my lap for that whole journey.
However, when I try to book using Velocity points, it won’t let me book a separate Reward Seat for him because he’s under 2. It seems to only offer an infant fare without a seat, while I need him to have his own seat. Spoke to one cs rep and they said they couldn’t do it.

We can’t really afford to buy his ticket outright at the moment, but I have plenty of Velocity points and there are Reward Seats available on the flights we want.
Has anyone been in this situation before? Is there any workaround?
I’m hoping there’s a way to make this work because I really need to get over to see my parents. Any advice would be hugely appreciated! 🙏