Booking direct with Air NZ

[ajobbins]

My wife and I are looking to take a trip to NZ in Feb. At the moment, for the same dates the return trip is about $200 cheaper (same flights) to book via Air NZ than through Virgin. If I book direct with NZ, will I still earn status points with VA if I provide my Velocity FF#?

I am gold, so assume I will be able to use NZ lounges etc?

 

[thompo]

Yes! I do it all the time, especially since you can seat select after entering your VA SG#. AirNZ also have lots of one way sales depending if you book on .co.nz or .com.au so it always pays to check both and split the trip if necessary.

 

[ajobbins]

Yes! I do it all the time, especially since you can seat select after entering your VA SG#. AirNZ also have lots of one way sales depending if you book on .co.nz or .com.au so it always pays to check both and split the trip if necessary.

Excellent, thanks! So the NZ booking system will recognise my VA gold status directly?

 

[Cessna 180]

Yes.
I did it again today. Your boarding pass will have Va-g on it.

Straight into the Koru club as you desire.

The points and credits at one stage were posting quicker than on V themselves a while back, but I did have an issues a couple of weeks ago with Sc posting, but a couple of emails later and they were in my account.

The service is much better on NZ than VA too.

 

[Gianni S]

Assuming since your gold you already know about eligible sectors and SC points

You will earn Status Points, however booking direct through Air NZ will not get you Eligible Sectors towards status if that makes sense.

i.e
You need to fly 8 eligible sectors to reach platinum from gold + 800 SC points , so you will earn towards the 850 SC points.. but you air new zealand flight will not count towards the eligible sectors. To get eligible sectors they need to be booked and flown directly with VA

 

[Coxyb76]

Also be aware that you will not receive the same points allocation from AirNZ which can sometimes be lower and you will also not receive your 75% bonus points. Just need to way up if the sectors and additional points via Virgin are worth the extra $$$.

 

[ajobbins]

Also be aware that you will not receive the same points allocation from AirNZ which can sometimes be lower and you will also not receive your 75% bonus points. Just need to way up if the sectors and additional points via Virgin are worth the extra $$$.

Almost certainly not given the VA ticket would be an amost 30% premium on the price for the same flights. With the status credit earn be the same?

 

[Coxyb76]

Yup SC is the same.

 

[ajobbins]

Supplementary question: If I booked a seat only fare on NZ - would my Gold give me a free bag, or do I need to buy a seat with a baggage allowance?

 

[Jack_OC]

Supplementary question: If I booked a seat only fare on NZ - would my Gold give me a free bag, or do I need to buy a seat with a baggage allowance?

I don't think Velocity Gold (or even Platinum) gets you any kind of additional baggage allowance with NZ, regardless of what fare class you book. In fact, AFAIK, even people with status on NZ's own FF program don't get a free bag on a Seat only fare.

 

[AviationNZ]

Supplementary question: If I booked a seat only fare on NZ - would my Gold give me a free bag, or do I need to buy a seat with a baggage allowance?

I don't think Velocity Gold (or even Platinum) gets you any kind of additional baggage allowance with NZ, regardless of what fare class you book. In fact, AFAIK, even people with status on NZ's own FF program don't get a free bag on a Seat only fare.

You'd need to book through VA to get any applicable extra luggage allowance, so if you book on the NZ website, then no, you won't get any extra allocation.

In any case, Jack3193 is correct, no one (including NZ FFer's) get's a free bag when booked on a Seat only product. You need to firstly be booked on a product which includes some luggage to any extra allocation.

 

[ajobbins]

You'd need to book through VA to get any applicable extra luggage allowance, so if you book on the NZ website, then no, you won't get any extra allocation.

Cheers. I'll just book one of the seats with a bag each way then direct with NZ. Only need one checked between the two of us for a two week trip. We usually fly carry on only for trips up to a week or so, so a single checked bag is enough for longer trips.

 

[AviationNZ]

Cheers. I'll just book one of the seats with a bag each way then direct with NZ. Only need one checked between the two of us for a two week trip. We usually fly carry on only for trips up to a week or so, so a single checked bag is enough for longer trips.

I'm pretty sure you can mix and match. So if you only need one bag, one of you can book Seat only, and the other book Seat+Bag, all within the same booking/PNR.

 

[ajobbins]

I'm pretty sure you can mix and match. So if you only need one bag, one of you can book Seat only, and the other book Seat+Bag, all within the same booking/PNR.

Yup you sure can, which is what I will do.

 

[thompo]

Earlier this year I flew across the Tasman ex-SYD on NZ metal but booked VA, the booking was Seat only but my VA-G gave me a free bag. It took the checkin person a few minutes to get around it but it worked in the end. I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Jack_OC]

Earlier this year I flew across the Tasman ex-SYD on NZ metal but booked VA, the booking was Seat only but my VA-G gave me a free bag. It took the checkin person a few minutes to get around it but it worked in the end. I wouldn't count on it.

If you book a VA ticket, you are definitely entitled to a free bag on a seat only fare (the "Go fare") as a Velocity Gold. However, the same is not true on an NZ ticket. AFAIK, it makes no difference who operates the flight, the deciding factor is whether you book the VA or NZ code.

 

[serfty]

... and to be clear, it is not the 'ticket' number that dictates luggage.

AirNZ tickets start with 086-, VA tickets with 795- ...

It is the flight number's prefix for the relevant segment (this denotes the "Marketing Carrier" NZ for AirNZ and VA for virgin Australia) that is important.

 

[ajobbins]

So...my booking as gotten a little more complex, because who needs to keep things simple

I booked direct with NZ for both my wide and I using my VFF# and her VFF#. I have VA gold, she is VA nothing. We are both Airpoints nothing (Jade?). All well with that, NZ recognises VA gold, applies benefits accordingly.

THEN

A friend who is an NZ Gold Elite had a short haul recognition upgrade he wasn't going to be able to use before expiry, so offered it to me But in order to apply it I had to a) split the PNR so my wife is still on the original PNR and I am on a new PNR (for both inbound and out) and b) Have my NZ Airpoints # added to FQTS but leaving my VFF# as FQTV as I need the points to lock in full gold (on pilot).

This has allowed me to apply for the RU (I won't know if it will clear or not until closer to the flight, which is still a couple of weeks away), but has also meant that NZ no longer see me as a 'gold' as the status "read" from FQTS is my Airpoints Nothing. The RU is for the return leg (didn't see the point using it on a 767 over when it's a 773 back), so I don't want to change the FQTS and risk it breaking the RU application.

BUT

1) I assume flashing my VA Gold card with the BP at the NZ lounge in MEL will get me (and wife) access?
2) Can I leverage any other gold benefits without my gold as FQTS? If I check in with an agent can they manually priority tag bags, expresspath (Is that a benefit you get as VA gold on NZ?), priority boarding, etc?
3) For the above, given wife is now of different PNR - will anyone care if she 'tags along' with me on any benefits (e.g. expresspath - if applicable), boarding?

Coming back is less of an issue as either the RU clears and I am in Biz with associated benefits, or it doesn't and I swap back to VFF in FQTS.

 

[ajobbins]

I didn't get a response to my last update, but through I would post the outcome here now I have flown all sectors.

I checked in at MEL at the Air NZ Premium check in desk. With my NZ# in FQTS and VA# in FQTV she could see I was "Gold" on the computer, but said it didn't seem to allow "Gold" privileges, which was what I expected.

However, the boarding pass printed with "VA-G", showed the Express Path logo and bag tags printed with "PRIORITY". I wish MEL had ExpressPath cards like SYD does rather than printing on the BP as they are handy to bank and the airport was so quiet Express wasn't even open or needed. My BP scanned RED at the Koru lounge but they just took a look at it, saw it marked VA-G and let both my wife and I in with no issues.

On the return leg I checked in at AKL at a Kiosk in the premium check in area. The BP printed with the same VA-G and bag tags again printed with Priority. No Express path needed at AKL with NZ as you just take the special elevator and have your own lane. Again, the BP scanned RED at the Koru lounge but they glanced and let me and wife in.

I had a short haul RU lodged (hence the NZ FQTS) which cleared after check in, and I left the lounge briefly and when I came back the door agent had a new BP for me, and was then able to move me even further up to 2K.

So a pretty good experience really with dual numbers on the PNR, only hitch really being the RED scan at Koru requiring manual confirmation. We had internal flights too but booked exclusively with VA# and BP scanned GREEN at domestic Koru lounges.

All points and status credits were in my VA account as expected within 48 hours of the flight.

 

[serfty]

Good to read. It's similar to what I did as I dropped from *E to *nufin, with my final 2¢ due to expire in May - using my last 7 RU on AirNZ flights while crediting to Velocity. (I would not change until in the Koru/Business lounge.)

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