4-12 Weeks to claim Etihad points on Velocity???

[Virgin Australia]

I will give the VA call centre one more chance to sort this out.

Failing that, I will stage the worlds most epic hissy fit - of which I am more than capable

View attachment 2634

Well we don't want any hissy fits!
Can you PM some details as some of the guys have suggested?

I certainly can't comment on WHY the lack of points be allocated as they should, hasn't happened, but I can help fix it.

Where members input their membership numbers as they should, the process does work (with the exception of a few gremlins that enter from time to time).

When the process isn't followed, it does take a little bit more time and effort due to all airlines being different (which we all know) but we are working through these issues.

Some would say that maybe some of the AFF community enjoy being part of the solution to having these fixed? (Some might also say they are glutton for punishment!)

Will watch out for your msg.

 

[wyvern]

Having PM'd the details last week, my points and SCs have credited over the weekend. I don't know if the two are linked, but if so, Virgin Australia thanks very much for your help.

There does seem to be an issue with the credit of these points and I hope that this can be rectified. In my case the details were input because status was recognised on the BP. I will be taking the return half of my LHR-SYD EY-booked flight mid July, and look forward to points crediting more smoothly.

I would also like to see more integration between Velocity and codeshare airlines, such as the introduction of advance seat selection/access to blocked seats for VA status flyers. It would also be great if EY introduced PE on flights codeshared with VA, so you could book PE all the way through to European destinations.

My one experience to date would suggest EY need to improve their onboard service (the ground service was really good), but maybe my return flight will be an improvement. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[notzac]

There does seem to be an issue with the credit of these points and I hope that this can be rectified. In my case the details were input because status was recognised on the BP. I will be taking the return half of my LHR-SYD EY-booked flight mid July, and look forward to points crediting more smoothly.

I also look forward to EY sectors crediting promptly (and without any manual prodding!)

I would also like to see more integration between Velocity and codeshare airlines, such as the introduction of advance seat selection/access to blocked seats for VA status flyers.

That would be several kinds of awesome -- however, I don't think even EY allows access to 'better' seating by status, which is a crying shame if true.

It would also be great if EY introduced PE on flights

YES!

[size=-2]That, or VA needs to establish a fleet of A332s in AUH for key European destinations [/size]

 

[notzac]

Actually, seeing as this thread has caught the attention of Virgin Australia -- when placing a reservation with VA that includes codeshare sectors with EY, is there any difference in the speed of the sectors crediting to my Velocity account in how the number is entered? That probably doesn't make a great deal of sense, but..

In my next booking with VA/EY, I have the FQTV number entered as VA/21217***** .. would this credit to my account faster if it was entered as DJ/21217***** :?:

 

[wyvern]

when placing a reservation with VA that includes codeshare sectors with EY, is there any difference in the speed of the sectors crediting to my Velocity account in how the number is entered?

As far as I can remember I used DJ when booking; in the ETR emailed to me by EY after I had made a flight date change (you don't get a proper ETR on booking) the number is shown with no prefix; and on my boarding passes the number was shown with VA prefix and had picked up the word 'Gold'.

I don't think even EY allows access to 'better' seating by status, which is a crying shame if true.

I have not been able to pre-select on the VA sector on either journey - VA said that as it was an EY ticket number they could not see the booking, EY said that as it was a VA flight they could not see the seats. It is a shame they cannot put a process in place to overcome this and let status pax booked on a EY-issued codeshare pre-select seating on VA sectors.

For the the outward AUH-SYD VA sector, the better seats were not available when I checked in online at T-24, or at the EY LHR business class check-in, however at the EY lounge at AUH more seats were available - though EY still could not access the best seats and suggested I ask at the gate.

For the EY sectors, on the outward I was not able to pre-select, but for my return I have managed to get an aisle seat in a set of two in the second row of the Y cabin by phoning up EY and asking - I don't know if that is because of VA status or not. The bulkhead seats are apparently not allocated until check-in at the airport, buy on the outward they may have possibly been taken by EY frequent flyers with seat blocking as the rows were not available, but not fully occupied either.

 

[Hilius]

Actually, seeing as this thread has caught the attention of Virgin Australia -- when placing a reservation with VA that includes codeshare sectors with EY, is there any difference in the speed of the sectors crediting to my Velocity account in how the number is entered? That probably doesn't make a great deal of sense, but..

In my next booking with VA/EY, I have the FQTV number entered as VA/21217***** .. would this credit to my account faster if it was entered as DJ/21217***** :?:

Been wondering the same thing since I'll be booking some big flights with EY shortly. I think I'm going to enter my number under VA, since there's a good chance that Virgin will have migrated its DJ flight numbers to the VA code by the time I take the flights, and I don't want to give the EY systems any chance to get confused by an airline code that no longer exists.

 

[RB]

I pm'd Dean last night re our points not posting. This morning I had a reply to the message & the points & status credits are now posted-excellent

 

[anat0l]

Would it be rude of me to PM Velocity Rewards to look into a manual claim that hasn't been effected for a MH flight I took in February?

I was thinking of calling Velocity first, but perhaps this might be a more astute and effective solution.

 

[Misha]

Would it be rude of me to PM Velocity Rewards to look into a manual claim that hasn't been effected for a MH flight I took in February?

I was thinking of calling Velocity first, but perhaps this might be a more astute and effective solution.

I don't see how it is rude. He is usually happy to help out those of us on here with Virgin issues. Worst case scenario: he tells you he can't help and you go off to the call centre! What do you have to lose?

 

[haydensydney]

SO - I received the below email from Velocity. Apparently I've redeemed the points elsewhere, though I'm curious to know where these are exactly as I do not have ANY membership with any of the EY partner airlines??

Dear Mr haydensydney,

I'm just getting back to you about those missing Points from your Etihad Flights.
For the flights detailed below, Im sorry to say that we are unable to credit into your account as the mention flights has been creditted to another frequent flyer programme.

Departure Date : xx_
Flight number : EY00020
Origin : London
Destination : Abu Dhabi

Departure Date : xx_
Flight number : EY00454
Origin : Abu Dhabi
Destination : Sydney

Departure Date : xx_
Flight number : EY00455
Origin : Sydney
Destination : Abu Dhabi

Departure Date : xx_
Flight number : EY00019
Origin : Abu Dhabi
Destination : London


In putting together the claiming procedure efficiently, it is best that you quote your Velocity Membership Number on the documents that you sent in.

If there's anything else I can help with feel free to drop me a line at this email address, or give us a call on the number below.

 

[777]

On the upside i flew PEK-AUH-YYZ in EY J on 11 Jun and back on the 16 Jun. Quoted my Velocity number when i booked and the points (and the 560 SCs!) credited without any problem at all this morning. That's 17 days since the first flight and 11th since the last. Certainly less than the 4-12 weeks outlined here.

OTOH I'm still chasing QF for the points on my CX HKG-PEK leg on the way over and have largely given up.

 

[haydensydney]

Note: The Kind Virgin Australia is looking at this for me, so I hope there will be a resolution soon...

(There must be someone at Velocity that has dealt with this type of situation previously, and if so: knows how it got resolved.... I'm not prepared to walk away from the points, as the status credits will get me to Gold - so I will be fighting this one until it's sorted)

 

[haydensydney]

Update

So... Virgin Australia has been helping me with this, and the reply is:

...all of these flights were credited to is GRP account xx_xx_xx_X...

Does anyone know what GRP is? The account number isn't ringing any bells either. Further, I do not hold any memberships with any EY partner airlines?

Confused much.

 

[haydensydney]

Because GRP looks errily similar to "Guest Rewards [Program]" I hopped on the phone to the EY contact centre, and happened to land myself someone who half knew what I was talking about. The number does come up in their system as a ETIHAD GUEST (??) with my name, Hayden, but with an address in the USA, with a different email address etc etc etc.

Anyone who knows me, knows that my surname is a one of a kind. I am also a genealogy fanatic, so know without a doubt there isn't another Hayden xx_X floating around.

So... the consultant said I should send a email to [email protected] and outline the issue. What a complete and utter balls up this is becoming - I'm shocked that this is becoming such a long drawn out affair. Ridiculous.

In April / May this year, my partner and I flew Etihad SYD-LHR-SYD.
I was wanting my points for these EY flights to be credited to my Virgin Australia Velocity programme (Member number xx_X) however I have not seen points arrive in my Velocity account.
When I questioned Velocity about this, they submitted a claim to EY who advised them that"this has been rejected since all of these flights were credited to his GRP account xx_X".
I have since spoken with the EY call centre, who have advised that there is a member xx_xx_ - but this not me. The call centre consultant said that this member lives in the United States (I live in Sydney, Australia?).
I would like my points credited to the Velocity programme. Please assist me as this has been difficult to resolve to date.

 

[wyvern]

I sympathise and I hope you get your points. Hopefully VirginAustralia will be able to help. I think a problem this complicated will need more than the frontline staff to deal with it. The mess suggests that the back office processes are far from automated and that people are pushing bits of paper round the back office (and maybe losing some of them in the process).

In your case haydensydney, it would seem as if Etihad have just looked up your name on their computer, found an existing customer with your name and given them the points. Not ideal!

In may case, the points credited on 22 June (for a flight on 3 May), after multiple attempts to correspond with VA through the retro email, gold email and PMing VirginAustralia from FlyerTalk. The points credited 24 hours after I had emailed VirginAustralia following a PM exchange, but I do not know if the credit was due to the PM, the email to VirginAustralia l that followed, it or one of the emails to gold and retro preceeding it. None of the emails have been answered for the last month (I appreciate VA have had a fee issues to deal with, but I think they could at least autorespond to emails).

And then on 29 June I got two emails from Velocity - one for the return date of the flight which I have obviously not flown, and one for the outward, both saying that they could not find any flight activity. Now there clearly was flight activity on the outward as I was on the plane, my number is on the BP and it shows up as Velocity Gold, and the points have credited to my account. And there has clearly not been on the return, as the flight is on a future date! So either the process is so automated that no-one actually reviews these emails before they are sent, or the people who send the emails so bored/clueless that they do not even read what they are sending and check that the flight dates are not in the future, and that the points have not already showed up in the flyer's account (which you would think they would do, in case retro claims ever result in a double credit). And as my original email is of course not appended below the email I received, I can't tell to which of my emails they are responding to. Not good enough really!

But the most insulting thing in the emails from gold is yet again a reminder to be sure to quote the Velocity number when booking and a request to send the BP and e-ticket receipts in. Well I did put my number in the booking, as is evidenced by my Velocity number and status being on the BP, and I sent the BP and ETR scans in with my first emails to gold and retro, which they seem to ignore. I have pointed this out to them in my replies, which they also seem to ignore.

I am due to fly back on under 2 weeks and I am afraid I have no faith in the system crediting me the points.

Hopefully VA can sort out these processes with all its codeshare partners - if so, I might be crediting my SQ miles to VA in the future. If not I will be sticking firmly with Star Alliance crediting when flying SQ, and I will probably not book an EY/VA codeshare again.

 

[notzac]

A small update .. my most recent EY flight from the 29th of June credited (without any prompting) to my Velocity account on the 8th of July .. took its sweet precious time, but definitely better than not crediting at all unless I e-mailed in the boarding card. The FQTV number was prefixed with the 'VA' code in the booking (uncertain if there's any difference between VA and DJ as the FQTV code when flighting with EY, noting that you can only use the DJ code with NZ flights).

 

[wyvern]

From what I now understand the flights flown only come across to Velocity from EY every 2 weeks, which seems less frequent than would be ideal given the scale of the partnership. I also now understand that my initial points credited properly only after VirginAustralia's intervention - many thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing if the process works properly on my flight back.

 

[goldfishinabowl]

I've had similar issues! Only red status here unfortunately. It's all a little frustrating. In pasting these here I think I've just noticed they have one of the flight numbers wrong too. In their first response to me they mention a "fourth flight" and I only took two flights. I sent in the two boarding passes. Here's the email exchange:

Dear Velocity

I'd appreciate it if you could please process a retroactive points claim
for flights from Sydney to Paris with Etihad (if it's eligible for
points/or at least status credits, and if it isn't already being
processed - I'm not sure the number was properly attached to the
booking). Attached is the e-ticket and scans of the boarding passes.
My Velocity number is xx_X.

thanks very much
xx_X


Dear Mr xx_XX,

I'm just getting back to you about those Points from your Etihad flights. We've been in touch with Etihad on your behalf and are just waiting on their confirmation of a few details. Once we get an answer, we should be able to credit your Account.

In regards to your fourth flight, we are unable to accept the bag tag, simply because it does not provide enough details. If you wish, you can call Etihad and request for an itinerary to be sent to you so we can process this flight and credit Points into your account.

*What happens next*
This confirmation step occasionally takes longer than we'd like - anywhere from six weeks to three months - but rest assured that we'll follow up regularly with Etihad until we get a result.


We really appreciate your patience while we sort this out for you. If there's anything else I can help with feel free to drop me a line at this email address, or call the number below.

Kind regards,


Bridget
from Velocity Rewards


On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 3:45 AM, [email protected] <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Membership number
>
> Dear Mr xx_X,
>
>
> I'm just getting back to you about those missing Points from your Etihad
> Flights.
> For the flights detailed below, Im sorry to say that we are unable to
> credit into your account as the mention flights cannot be found in our
> database.
>
>
> Departure Date : February 2011
> Flight number : 00451
> Origin : Sydney
> Destination : Abu Dhabi
>
>
> Departure Date : February 2011
> Flight number : 00031
> Origin : Abu Dhabi
> Destination : Paris
>
>
> Please email us the copy of :
>
> 1. boarding passes / ticket stubs
> 2. E ticket / Itinerary
>
>
> Once we receive the above, we'll confirm those details with Etihad Airlines
> and get back to you as soon as we can.
>
> Please email us at [email protected]
>
>
> In putting together the claiming procedure efficiently, it is best that you
> quote your Velocity Membership Number on the documents that you sent in.
>
> For the latest news about what's cooking with Velocity, including what your
> Points balance is, visit us online at http://www.velocityrewards.com.au -
> and if there's anything else we can help with, give us a call on the number
> below.
>
> Annie
> from Velocity Rewards

Dear Annie

My original email to you on 9 February had both of these attached - not sure
what you were working off it you weren't looking at these? Would you like me
to resend them to you?

xx_X

Dear Mr xx_X,

Thank you for your recent correspondence.

Our Partner Retro Team will review your Etihad Airways missing points claim.

If possible please assist us by forwarding us your eticket and boarding passes.

Once again please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Should anything else crop up that you feel we should know about (or do something about) please get in touch ASAP.

So thanks once again, we really do appreciate your email. If you need further help, feel free to drop me a line at this email address, or call the number below.

Kind regards,


Mira
from Velocity Rewards


Dear Mr xx_X,

Thanks for sending through your Etihad Airways booking info. We've been in touch with them on your behalf and are just waiting on their confirmation of a few details. Once we get an answer, we should be able to credit your Account.

*What happens next*
This confirmation step occasionally takes longer than we'd like - anywhere from six weeks to three months - but rest assured that we'll follow up regularly with Etihad Airways till we get a result. (And of course will let you know as soon as those Points land - via your statement.)

If there's anything else I can help with feel free to drop me a line at this email address, or call the number below.

Kind regards,


xx_X
from Velocity Rewards

 

[haydensydney]

I sent a email to Etihad two weeks ago, and still no reply. This is irritating me that it's such a drama (also find it quite interesting that Velocity have just washed their hands clean of this: they could go in to bat for me and liaise with Etihad on my behalf - but no)...

Further, received my new "red" velocity card in the mail the other day - which just seemed to rub salt into the wound!

 

[wyvern]

I sent a email to Etihad two weeks ago, and still no reply. This is irritating me that it's such a drama (also find it quite interesting that Velocity have just washed their hands clean of this: they could go in to bat for me and liaise with Etihad on my behalf - but no)...Further, received my new "red" velocity card in the mail the other day - which just seemed to rub salt into the wound!

That's really bad. Did you try PMing Virgin Australia?