AMEX Velocity Plat Card (Free J Seat)

[Airbumps]

Hey guys,

I'm looking at taking up the new AMEX Velocity Platinum card and reading through the details was surprised to notice that they offer a buy 1 get 1 free deal for a J ticket international to the USA as long as both people are travellng together.

On the surface this seems like a great deal and is quite possibly worth well over $6000.

Questions for the board ; Has anybody taken the card and attempted to redeam this flight? I'd be interested to know how hard it is to find open seats, and secondly, I assume by the wording of the advertisment that this is not limit to once a year as it states..

Two-for-one Business Class Flexi fares[SUP]4[/SUP] you and a guest travelling together, fly for the price of just one passenger (plus taxes and surcharges) every time you fly on a Business Class Flexi fare with V Australia and on codeshare flights with Delta

Anybody taken up this card?

Cheers guys,

Kael

 

[Deleted member 29185]

It has to be Business flexi so for example, BNE-LAX is around $7100 each so 2 for 1 would seem to mean that's the price for 2. The same flight offers Business Deal at about $4300 or $8600 for two so the answer is yes, cheaper, but not so much as imagined ($1500 as opposed to $7100) but the other benefit of course is that it also has a higher points/SC earn and is more flexible however I'm unsure if the freebie seat earns SCs.

I've no idea how good VA is compared to other airline miles/SC earn/$. I guess that's a whole science unto itself!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Slightly OT, I received the AMEX Platinum offer recently in the mail and I note the offer with 30 000 points has been extended to 31-12-2011 (I think it was originally advertised to end by this Friday).

 

[Airbumps]

It has to be Business flexi so for example, BNE-LAX is around $7100 each so 2 for 1 would seem to mean that's the price for 2. The same flight offers Business Deal at about $4300 or $8600 for two so the answer is yes, cheaper, but not so much as imagined ($1500 as opposed to $7100) but the other benefit of course is that it also has a higher points/SC earn and is more flexible however I'm unsure if the freebie seat earns SCs.

I've no idea how good VA is compared to other airline miles/SC earn/$. I guess that's a whole science unto itself!

Your quite right, I didn't realise that there was such a big difference in price between Business Flexi and Business Deal. A random check of dates for Feb/March next year MEL-LAX in Business Flexi is giving me a RT of over $14,000

A little too expensive to take the chance on maybe getting a second ticket for free.

Cheers,
Kael

 

[cityflyer369]

It would be good to know if both passengers will earn points and SC for flying in J. For me, this would make quite some difference.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

It would be good to know if both passengers will earn points and SC for flying in J. For me, this would make quite some difference.

FWIW, I imagine (no evidence here) that points would definitely be awarded as they as based on $ spend. How those points are divvied up will depend on how they class the fare bucket, I'd say. If it is a genuine full J class fare x 1 and a totally free full J class fare x 1, I'd say the paying member would accrue all the points.

SC's is what I'm not very sure about. They are supposedly awarded by miles flown and in the absence of any other conditions I'd assume they should be accrued by both flyers. The only exception may be if they allocate the "free" seat a fare code that is perhaps a reward designation, then that may preclude that seat from accruing SCs.

The worst scenario would be if both seats are allocated a reward fare code (50/50 so to speak), it may then preclude both seats from not only earning SCs but also points! Be nice to hear from anyone who has tried it out. Do we have a V OZ rep on site?

 

[cityflyer369]

FWIW, I imagine (no evidence here) that points would definitely be awarded as they as based on $ spend. How those points are divvied up will depend on how they class the fare bucket, I'd say. If it is a genuine full J class fare x 1 and a totally free full J class fare x 1, I'd say the paying member would accrue all the points.

SC's is what I'm not very sure about. They are supposedly awarded by miles flown and in the absence of any other conditions I'd assume they should be accrued by both flyers. The only exception may be if they allocate the "free" seat a fare code that is perhaps a reward designation, then that may preclude that seat from accruing SCs.

The worst scenario would be if both seats are allocated a reward fare code (50/50 so to speak), it may then preclude both seats from not only earning SCs but also points! Be nice to hear from anyone who has tried it out. Do we have a V OZ rep on site?

The Plat card feature is about international flights, i.e. VA flights. The points for these are calculated on the basis of the miles flown. This is why it would be good to know if both passengers get the miles. (Which would make sense in my opinion because, as I understand the card feature, both passengers get a ticket in the same booking class.)

Regarding SCs, these are awarded on the basis of miles flown, too, but according to a table similar to what QF's table (i.e. the number of SCs depends on the "zone" the length of your flight is in).

I agree, it would be good if our VA rep could say a word about this. (If both passengers get the miles and the SCs, I would consider this card feature attractive, otherwise not really. I have to pay my flights myself and no company that would pay a flexi business fare for me.)

 

[Deleted member 29185]

The Plat card feature is about international flights, i.e. VA flights. The points for these are calculated on the basis of the miles flown.

Yes indeed. Sorry, I was having a domestic spasm. So it comes down to what fare type these are sold as. If indeed they are both full flexi J, then availability should be no more difficult then outright purchase.

 

[pshepvic]

My understanding (from being one of the AFF-5 that attended the launch lunch with VA and Amex for the product) was that it is treated as a normal fare so would earn SCs and points - there is another thread that goes through all the details - I'm on the iPhone app otherwise I'd look it up and confirm for sure.

The main benefit is when you want to book a fare for 2 people closer to the date of travel - that's when you'll make significant savings.

On a similar note - does anyone know if you earn points and SCs with the 2-for-1 domestic flights on the Virgin Flyer credit cards?

 

[cityflyer369]

Re VISA:
It has been mentioned elsewhere that you do.

 

[leemin]

On a similar note - does anyone know if you earn points and SCs with the 2-for-1 domestic flights on the Virgin Flyer credit cards?

IME, yes and yes.