Complimentary Upgrades now attract a service fee?

[serfty]

Effective for Upgrades Using Points redeemed on or after 8 April 2014, for travel on or after 8 April 2014. Change or cancellation of an Upgrade Using Points more than 24 hours before the flight's schedule departure.

$35 or 4,500 Points per person/oer booking* *Fee will be waived for Members who hold a Platinum Membership Level at the time of change/cancellation.

That's either badly worded or is plain wrong.

To apply an upgrade using points should be a different thing from changing or cancelling.

By that wording, no fee should be charged ever when applying a points upgrade.

Also, one "Changes a Booking" (which may have an upgrade 'attached'), one does not "Change an Upgrade".

 

[Jurahn]

I have gone back through all my emails from Velocity and the only hyperlink I can find relating to fees is the one regarding changes and cancellations, it came into effect on April 8th.
Upgrade Cancellation and Amendment Policy | Velocity Frequent Flyer

I firmly believe that this is a mistake by VA and VFF rep on Facebook and they should apologise to you if this is the case.
You should still send a copy of your original post to the Velocity Rep here on AFF.
Complimentary is just that IMO, free of charge. This seems to be a case of incorrect interpretations of rules and reflects very poorly on VA staff training

I've also had a look back through my emails from Velocity and cannot find anything relating to a fee being introduced for using complimentary upgrades, only the hyperlink re changes and cancellations that Princess Fiona has provided. Like everyone else here has probably been doing, I've trawled through the Velocity website and there is nothing listed on the upgrade information pages, nor in the terms or conditions or anywhere else for that matter about it either - I'd be pretty horrifed if VA HAD introduced a fee for using the complimentary upgrades! Will be interesting to see the response from the VFF rep (whom I have found to be extremely helpful with issues I've experienced) so I'm sure they can clarify this.

 

[R36snowbound]

In the last 4 weeks, I have redeemed one upgrade using points (from a flexi fare) and redeemed two complimentary upgrades (also from flexi fares).

No charges were paid nor was I informed that a fee for requesting either upgrade was meant to be payable.

The upgrade system that Virgin currently provides a good point of difference V Qantas (the 4 complimentary upgrades per year for platinum). On the other hand, VA does not offer life time gold status like QAN does.

IF Virgin start to further "enhance" / tinker with their platinum benefits, regular flyers maybe tempted to work towards achieving life time gold with QAN (which has great long term benefits) compared to VA's short term benefits (4 complimentary upgrades each year and 4 guaranteed reward seats per year for a family holiday).

 

[Jousams]

As some of you may remember I was charged $35 a while back and I shouldn't have been as I changed a comp upgrade before the changes came in.

When talking to the PLAT LINE, the lady told me that I would be charged $35 going forward for changes to comp upgrades, Although the new T&C clearly state that I won't.

Told some of my plat colleagues about the (incorrect) new rules...


Getting real tired of this...

 

[hummel]

As some of you may remember I was charged $35 a while back and I shouldn't have been as I changed a comp upgrade before the changes came in.

When talking to the PLAT LINE, the lady told me that I would be charged $35 going forward for changes to comp upgrades, Although the new T&C clearly state that I won't.

Told some of my plat colleagues about the (incorrect) new rules...


Getting real tired of this...

I must apologise AFF'ers, I was just looking for reasonable flexi fares to use my 4 upgrades (expiring in June) however because I wasn't happy with the prices I pressed modify search...
and now the website is broken.

 

[Velocity Frequent Flyer]

Hi all, I'd like to apologise for the confusion and provide some clarification. I can confirm there is no fee to redeem a complimentary upgrade.

 

[alex_au]

Thanks VFF for the PM and clarifying and following up the misinformation with the relevant staff. Much appreciated.

 

[N860CR]

I can understand one staff member making a mistake... But this has been a bit more than that. It suggests to me there are serious, systematic training issues at the VA Brisbane call centre.

 

[bullerdude]

Hi all, I'd like to apologise for the confusion and provide some clarification. I can confirm there is no fee to redeem a complimentary upgrade.

Thanks VFF for getting back to us promptly!! Now any chance we can get a sentence on the website that states there is no fee for redeeming upgrades to avoid any future issues

 

[Intra]

What then exactly is going to be attracting these new "fees" that staff are confusing us with...

Appreciate though the clarification

 

[Velocity Frequent Flyer]

Hi Intra, happy to explain further. All member were advised of the introduction of the Upgrade Cancellation and Amendment Policy in an email on 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Mar and subsequently in member statements. A Red, Silver or Gold member who cancels or amends an Upgrade Me Points booking at least 24 hours before departure will incur a service fee of 4,500 Points or $35. This fee is waived for Platinum members. Any member who cancels an Upgrade Me Points booking less than 24 hours before departure will forfeit the Points used. A Platinum member who cancels a complimentary upgrade at least 24 hours before departure will be refunded their complimentary upgrade at no charge however if the cancellation is made less than 24 hours before departure, the complimentary upgrade will be forfeited. For changes to complimentary upgrade bookings, these can be made at least 24 hours before departure at no charge however if less than 24 hours before departure, the complimentary upgrade will be forfeited.

 

[RooFlyer]

I can understand one staff member making a mistake... But this has been a bit more than that. It suggests to me there are serious, systematic training issues at the VA Brisbane call centre.

Virgin simply taking a profitable leaf out of the Qantas manual. When they took 'MASAs' off their web site, and you had to phone, the phone service fee was (supposed to be) waived. But people were still being charged it months and months later.

 

[Jousams]

Hi Intra, happy to explain further. All member were advised of the introduction of the Upgrade Cancellation and Amendment Policy in an email on 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Mar and subsequently in member statements. A Red, Silver or Gold member who cancels or amends an Upgrade Me Points booking at least 24 hours before departure will incur a service fee of 4,500 Points or $35. This fee is waived for Platinum members. Any member who cancels an Upgrade Me Points booking less than 24 hours before departure will forfeit the Points used. A Platinum member who cancels a complimentary upgrade at least 24 hours before departure will be refunded their complimentary upgrade at no charge however if the cancellation is made less than 24 hours before departure, the complimentary upgrade will be forfeited. For changes to complimentary upgrade bookings, these can be made at least 24 hours before departure at no charge however if less than 24 hours before departure, the complimentary upgrade will be forfeited.

Thanks for clearing that up guys.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

yet another example of VA T&Cs that fail to convey the intent of the condition and yet another example of VAs pathetic call centre staff training.

Which airline.......VA.....QF......VA.....QF

 

[serfty]

Hi Intra, happy to explain further. All member were advised of the introduction of the Upgrade Cancellation and Amendment Policy in an email on 5[SUP]th[/SUP] Mar and subsequently in member statements. A Red, Silver or Gold member who cancels or amends an Upgrade Me Points booking at least 24 hours before departure will incur a service fee of 4,500 Points or $35. This fee is waived for Platinum members. Any member who cancels an Upgrade Me Points booking less than 24 hours before departure will forfeit the Points used. A Platinum member who cancels a complimentary upgrade at least 24 hours before departure will be refunded their complimentary upgrade at no charge however if the cancellation is made less than 24 hours before departure, the complimentary upgrade will be forfeited. For changes to complimentary upgrade bookings, these can be made at least 24 hours before departure at no charge however if less than 24 hours before departure, the complimentary upgrade will be forfeited.

To be clear on this - is there to be a fee charged when redeeming an "Upgrade Me Points" award?

(I am not referring to amending or cancelling an "Upgrade Me Points" booking - that has been made very clear with your post and thank you for that.)

 

[Velocity Frequent Flyer]

Hi serfty, no fee is incurred for an upgrade using Points (Upgrade Me Points).

 

[straitman]

yet another example of VA T&Cs that fail to convey the intent of the condition and yet another example of VAs pathetic call centre staff training.

Which airline.......VA.....QF......VA.....QF

Is this any worse than what you get from Qantas :?:

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Is this any worse than what you get from Qantas :?:

Hence the dilemma......VA or QF.

In all honesty though, the question should not be which is worse, it should be why are so many businesses and Gov't departments expected to be so very clear on their T&Cs yet airlines tend to want to hide things in T&Cs (which recently was pointed out may be a breach of trade practice legislation) and or aren't capable of writing plain easy to understand conditions (in fact not understandable even by themselves).

VA shouldn't be acting on your premise that they are or are not worse than QF, they should be worried about why their call centre staff are making judgement calls on T&Cs which clearly are not overly transparent. I also wonder about how many people have paid up on incorrect demands for $35 and are not aware that they were not required to. I also wonder how many people paid double invoices without them picking it up when VA double dipped on CC transactions, I wonder how many people paid over and above the advertised 241 deal on VM flight rewards before they made their intentions clear. Fact is, advertised benefits which are not delivered is illegal and simply asking whether or not they are any different to QF is totally irrelevant.

 

[LACE]

I booked a complimentary upgrade this morning and definitely no fee.

 

[JohnK]

Is this any worse than what you get from Qantas :?:

No but it is quite clear that things are not as rosy as reported on the other side. Are they?