"Bonus Confirmed Complimentary Upgrade"?

[Coathanger]

Logged in and discovered mine today...a very pleasant surprise.

Given the expiry date of 15 August 2013 am I safe in assuming that it will remain even if my Gold status lapses?

 

[n17]

I received a thank you pack in the post today from Neil Thompson (Velocity CEO) with a card offering 1 complimentary flexi to business upgrade. Nice freebie as its a fare upgrade rather than the 4 sector upgrade I get as a platinum

 

[futaris]

Given the expiry date of 15 August 2013 am I safe in assuming that it will remain even if my Gold status lapses?

Would be nice to know, as I won't be requalifying for Gold either...

 

[anat0l]

Like others I have received a "bonus complimentary upgrade" (works just the same as the other 4 complimentary upgrades I got as a Platinum, except within 10-30 days those upgrades are going to go bye-bye). And I also received the small packet from Virgin detailing what I just received, along with the postcard set reminding me of my Platinum benefits.

(For the reference I'm a status matched Platinum with no hope of requalifying. I also received the requalify with 2 x J return flights, but I couldn't afford to take them up on the offer.)

Reminds me a lot of the late bmi's Diamond Club requalification pack, which was also a set of postcards except they were bigger and in a slightly nicer little velcro dot pouch.

I'm not sure what's the point of sending out the postcard pack, even if it is to say "thank you". They could've achieved the same thing via email, and I do not think there is much difference in the "human factor" by opting for the more romantic and dedicated print in the mail. Unless they were going to follow all the other charities around that are trying to entice donations by providing in the mail free stationary (e.g. self-addressed mailing labels, patterned envelopes, stickers etc.), but you can't even re-send the postcards. Ah well

 

[ChrisCunard]

Just got status matched recently and now this - love it!

 

[wallacej]

Got the bonus of course like others. Waiting on my special pack in the mail

FYI Just tried to use one of them to upgrade a flexi mel-singapore-can and was informed that I could not and that they were for domestic...intersestingly though, they would also be available for short haul international!! I guess this would be to New Zealand.


....sent from the place closest to the airport I just arrived at.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Got the bonus of course like others. Waiting on my special pack in the mail

FYI Just tried to use one of them to upgrade a flexi mel-singapore-can and was informed that I could not and that they were for domestic...intersestingly though, they would also be available for short haul international!! I guess this would be to New Zealand.


....sent from the place closest to the airport I just arrived at.

I wasn't aware Virgin Australia were flying the Melbourne to Singapore route.

 

[wallacej]

Using singapore air, codeshare


....sent from the place closest to the airport I just arrived at.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Using singapore air, codeshare


....sent from the place closest to the airport I just arrived at.

well then it would seem fairly obvious that you can't use a Virgin Australia upgrade on SQ

 

[markis10]

I'm not sure what's the point of sending out the postcard pack, even if it is to say "thank you". They could've achieved the same thing via email, and I do not think there is much difference in the "human factor" by opting for the more romantic and dedicated print in the mail. Unless they were going to follow all the other charities around that are trying to entice donations by providing in the mail free stationary (e.g. self-addressed mailing labels, patterned envelopes, stickers etc.), but you can't even re-send the postcards. Ah well

Marketing 101, remind your customer of whats on offer the week the competition is announcing changes to their offering , pretty clever really, and by doing it via mail it will get noticed, email marketing tends to only get a 5% notice rate, hard copy is closer to 50% for similar campaigns. When you are already emailing folks on a year round basis, doing something different is a good idea!

 

[Justinf]

I got one too and I am but a lowly Gold.
It is for flexi fares isn't it?
ie, you can't upgrade to J from a saver?

 

[QF WP]

Yes, they must be Flexi to Business (as I have highlighted below in red)....as described here from the T&C's: (other than inserting "any member who has a CFU" rather than "Platinum members are"):

Complimentary Fare Upgrades
13.14 In each Total Benefit Period, Platinum Members are entitled to redeem a Complimentary Fare Upgrade from a Flexi Fare to a Premium Economy Class or Business Class fare on four Virgin Australia domestic Sectors (Complimentary Fare Upgrade).
13.15 Complimentary Fare Upgrades can be redeemed by calling the Velocity Frequent Flyer Membership Contact Centre, either at the time of booking or to upgrade an existing booking. Complimentary Fare Upgrade requests may be made anytime up to 4 hours prior to the departure of the nominated flight.
13.16 Complimentary Fare Upgrades will expire if not redeemed (by making a booking in accordance with clause 13.15) before your next Review Date. The travel dates for Complimentary Fare Upgrade flights are not required to be within the current Total Benefit Period.

 

[amaroo]

I received a thank you pack in the post today from Neil Thompson (Velocity CEO) with a card offering 1 complimentary flexi to business upgrade. Nice freebie as its a fare upgrade rather than the 4 sector upgrade I get as a platinum

Got one today.

Nice little package with 6 postcard images.....the first one is priority boarding

 

[Jama]

If this is REPLACING the 4 upgrades a year for Platinum, as someone stated, give one extra this year and take away 3 every year after that. How is it considered a bonus ? Is this really correct ?

 

[markis10]

If this is REPLACING the 4 upgardes a year for Platinum, as someone stated, give one extra this year and take away 3 every year after that. How is it considered a bonus ? Is this really correct ?

That benefit will no doubt be enhanced one day, but it's purely a bonus at present.

 

[tuapekastar]

If this is REPLACING the 4 upgardes a year for Platinum, as someone stated, give one extra this year and take away 3 every year after that. How is it considered a bonus ? Is this really correct ?

Relax. I see nothing to suggest this is so. It is labelled a 'bonus' - hence should logically be in addition to existing benefits, rather than replacing any of them.

 

[DSFlyer]

The information in the mail clearly says this is a bonus and the platinum membership still provides 4 complimentary upgrades each membership year.

 

[JohnK]

Anyone not get one?

I wonder if I can use this later when I drop back to Gold as it has an expiry of 16 August 2013. I have already used 2 of the complimentary upgrades for Platinum and about to use the other 2. It is not as if Virgin have not made any money out of me. On the contrary I have spent ~$2,000 to secure VA Gold until September 2014.

 

[Newk]

Wow..I got one too. I was a comped gold from QFF. Did a few flights only as Qantas very adroitly offered me DSC to make WP a possibility, so went with them.
But then got do the 2 business flights to- keep-status offers.
I have a few flights booked on Virgin. I was considering switching them to Qantas to make WP easier to keep this year, but may now keep them

I must say competition is a wonderful thing

Honestly I think long term I will stick with Q, but appreciate the wooing that is coming my way

 

[TonyHancock]

If my travel was purely domestic, or even predominantly domestic I would fly DJ. The whole loose international tie up arrangement is the thing that prevents me from switching 5000 SC's of travel to VA/DJ. As it stands I'll aim to keep VA/DJ Platinum status and keep flying them domestically............but I do need to keep QF WP1.

The bonus offer + the 4 comp upgrades are might fine and well worth keeping.