Article: Velocity Teases More Partner Airline Benefits

[AFF Editor]

Velocity Teases More Partner Airline Benefits is an article written by AFF editorial staff:

Virgin Australia Teases More Partner Airline Benefits

Qatar Airways, Air Canada & Hawaiian have hinted that more reciprocal status benefits are on the way for Velocity Frequent Flyer members.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[henrus]

Pulling apart the article...

The Air Canada benefits would be welcome, it wouldn't hurt to offer an extra checked bag, priority through the airport (check-in/security/boarding) plus lounge access in Australia!

Additionally I find it amusing that VA is now a UA "preferred partner" but reports on AFF indicate that many UA agents have no idea UA/VA are partners and therefore are being charged for baggage. At this stage VA status isn't showing in the UA system correctly which causes these issues. Furthering this it'd be great if they could expand lounge access to cover domestic only flights (Star Alliance Gold's get this) and UA status holders get this when flying VA so it seems like VA status holders are getting the raw end of the bargain.

The Qatar partnership is also a bit lacklustre, as a QF gold I get free QR seat selection however if I switch the frequent flyer number out to a VA number the free seats vanish. Additionally the lack of extra checked luggage is a notable benefit missing from the QR/VA partnership (QR status holders get extra luggage on VA).

Finally it'll be interesting to see what benefits VA/HA can come up with. Things like priority check in, security, boarding and a free checked bag would be good but I can't see them rolling out wide scale lounge access. Until recently even HA's only Platinum members (they have two tiers Gold and Platinum) didn't even get lounge access at overseas airports. Within Hawaii the lounges are so busy anyway that there'd be little benefit even giving VA elites access.

 

[Bagpuss]

Would be great if they actually started selling codeshare flights with Singapore Airlines. Unsure of the day as they received ACCC approval.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Furthering this it'd be great if they could expand lounge access to cover domestic only flights (Star Alliance Gold's get this) and UA status holders get this when flying VA so it seems like VA status holders are getting the raw end of the bargain.

The Qatar partnership is also a bit lacklustre, as a QF gold I get free QR seat selection however if I switch the frequent flyer number out to a VA number the free seats vanish. Additionally the lack of extra checked luggage is a notable benefit missing from the QR/VA partnership (QR status holders get extra luggage on VA).

Finally it'll be interesting to see what benefits VA/HA can come up with. Things like priority check in, security, boarding and a free checked bag would be good but I can't see them rolling out wide scale lounge access. Until recently even HA's only Platinum members (they have two tiers Gold and Platinum) didn't even get lounge access at overseas airports. Within Hawaii the lounges are so busy anyway that there'd be little benefit even giving VA elites access.

UA doesn't give lounge access to its own Golds, so I can understand why they aren't chomping at the bit to offer it to VA. The only reason Star Golds get it is because the alliance forces them to, notwithstanding however UA chooses to treat its own members.

Will be interesting to see if the QR glitch you noted is fixed... I think most can appreciate initial teething issues but there appears to be a bit of a pattern where VA's international partnerships are poorly implemented among many partners (Etihad and formerly Delta being two outliers). Weird QR didn't reciprocate on the baggage --- but another example of VA offering more to a partner's elites than that partner is willing to offer VA's.

As for HA, the benefits you note would be appreciated, but ultimately, given their lounges are only in Hawaii and not much to write home about, it's not a huge one. Same issue at HA as UA in terms of how they don't offer access even to their own members, and unlike UA, HA doesn't have any alliance rules hanging over their head in relation to how they treat any of their other partners.