Hello Platinum :-) Missing SC's :-(

[djchuckles]

So I made it to Platinum - the heard way (lots of flights, with a little helping hand of double SC's etc.)

My partner and I flew SYD to SIN on the 17th which gave me 2 lots of 60 SC's which took my rolling SC balance to 1040 - which triggered the upgrade - though the SC's didn't hit my account til the 19th, and my Platinum year was effective from the 19th. I understand and accept (slightly begrudgingly) that the 40 SC's which took me over the 1,000 mark are lost in the Velocity abyss but the next bit I'm a bit peeved about.

On the 18th - we both flew SIN to JHB which netted me 2 lots of 80 SC's - these were recorded in the system after my upgrade (see table below) but with an (correct) activity date of 18th Sept. As such - they haven't counted towards me 800 SC's required to renew Platinum (and likely neither towards my partner gold 500 SC's needed). I have emailed Velocity but is this something they'll be able to resolve? Otherwise I have 200 SC's missing in the black hole

19 Sep 12 18 Sep 12 Pooled from Velocity Member xx_xx_xx_x 80 5,379 0 5,379
19 Sep 12 18 Sep 12 Singapore-Johannesburg 80 5,379 0 5,379
19 Sep 12 19 Sep 12 Status review - see Account Details 0 0 0 0
18 Sep 12 17 Sep 12 Pooled from Velocity Member xx_xx_xx_x 60 3,912 0 3,912
18 Sep 12 17 Sep 12 Sydney-Singapore 60 3,912 0 3,912

 

[dandandan]

I remember your dilemma from another thread, I would try ringing the Platinum line and hopefully you will be able to sort it out quicker.

So I made it to Platinum - the heard way (lots of flights, with a little helping hand of double SC's etc.)

My partner and I flew SYD to SIN on the 17th which gave me 2 lots of 60 SC's which took my rolling SC balance to 1040 - which triggered the upgrade - though the SC's didn't hit my account til the 19th, and my Platinum year was effective from the 19th. I understand and accept (slightly begrudgingly) that the 40 SC's which took me over the 1,000 mark are lost in the Velocity abyss but the next bit I'm a bit peeved about.

On the 18th - we both flew SIN to JHB which netted me 2 lots of 80 SC's - these were recorded in the system after my upgrade (see table below) but with an (correct) activity date of 18th Sept. As such - they haven't counted towards me 800 SC's required to renew Platinum (and likely neither towards my partner gold 500 SC's needed). I have emailed Velocity but is this something they'll be able to resolve? Otherwise I have 200 SC's missing in the black hole

19 Sep 12 18 Sep 12 Pooled from Velocity Member xx_xx_xx_x 80 5,379 0 5,379
19 Sep 12 18 Sep 12 Singapore-Johannesburg 80 5,379 0 5,379
19 Sep 12 19 Sep 12 Status review - see Account Details 0 0 0 0
18 Sep 12 17 Sep 12 Pooled from Velocity Member xx_xx_xx_x 60 3,912 0 3,912
18 Sep 12 17 Sep 12 Sydney-Singapore 60 3,912 0 3,912

 

[djchuckles]

So Velocity replied and they've added an extra 160 SC's (for the ones earnt on 18th). This has actually taken my balance to 1360 (rather than the 1200) but maybe that's the only way they can make the 160 count in this year.

Wonder if it will mean my partner gold occurs sooner

 

[dandandan]

I think you will see a base points adjustment transaction of -160 for the 19th pretty soon to though, if not you are lucky!

I had a retro claim for a VX flight which was credited to the wrong month due to American date format, Feb instead of May. I am glad I got fixed though because I got to Platinum on 1,001 and the return flight when I got to Plat counted for the new qualifying year.



[TABLE="width: 513"]
[TR="bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]30 Jan 12[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]02 May 11[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]San Francisco-San Diego[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent, align: right"]2

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 513"]
[TR="class: alt, bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD="bgcolor: #E9E9E9"]30 Jan 12[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E9E9E9"]05 Feb 11[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E9E9E9"]Base Points Adjustment[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E9E9E9, align: right"]-2

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 513"]
[TR="class: alt, bgcolor: transparent"]
[TD="bgcolor: #E9E9E9"]09 Jun 11[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E9E9E9"]05 Feb 11[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E9E9E9"]San Francisco-San Diego[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #E9E9E9, align: right"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

So Velocity replied and they've added an extra 160 SC's (for the ones earnt on 18th). This has actually taken my balance to 1360 (rather than the 1200) but maybe that's the only way they can make the 160 count in this year.

Wonder if it will mean my partner gold occurs sooner

 

[almelb]

Hi everyone. First post.
I thought I would as briefly as I can share my experience with qualfying for platinum and having status credits (SC) earned after qualifying not count towards maintaining platinum due to late posting of SC.

My trip to Europe in July/August would have left me on 975 SC had they posted in a timely manner after I returned to Australia at the end of August. However, they never appeared and I lodged a retro claim.

In the meantime, points and SCs were added to my account from my flying and family pooling as follows, easily lifting me over the 1,000 qualification threshold:
SYD-SIN 60SC, SIN-SYD 60SC, SYD-PER 40SC, PER-MEL 40SC, MEL-PER 20SC, SYD-PER 40SC. All six sectors credited in a timely manner, which lifted me over 1,000 SC and put me at platinum for the first time. (woo hoo!)

However, when the retro claim for the European trip credited, they were backdated to the date flown, leaving the above flights in a sort of twilight zone where they did not help me qualify for platinum and were not counted towards maintaining platinum.

After several calls to Velocity, I was informed that after reviewing my case it was not possible to backdate any of my European flights and it would not be possible to count any of those subsequent flights for requalification. I was told if I was concerned closer to my review date about not reaching 800 SC, I could call them then to have the matter looked at again. No promises though.

Given that we are talking about roughly 200 SC, or 1/4 of qualification, it to me is not a trivial matter and I would have thought some flexibility could have been offered given the circumstances presented. Sad as it may be for me to say, it has taken away from the excitement of getting to platinum. Whether it ultimately costs me requalification or not, it just does not seem a very satisfactory outcome.

(apologies for the length of the post)

 

[dandandan]

This is a real problem and not something frequent flyers/customer's should have to sort out, besides being frustrating there is many a case of this happening. I think Virgin needs a training lesson for all staff on this matter so they are aware of what to do when this situation occurs, maybe the new I.T systems will fix this issue. You can't just have 200 SC's disappear! I would email the Virgin rep on here if you have had no success through other avenues, the rep or reps are really good and get things sorted.

Hi everyone. First post.
I thought I would as briefly as I can share my experience with qualfying for platinum and having status credits (SC) earned after qualifying not count towards maintaining platinum due to late posting of SC.

My trip to Europe in July/August would have left me on 975 SC had they posted in a timely manner after I returned to Australia at the end of August. However, they never appeared and I lodged a retro claim.

In the meantime, points and SCs were added to my account from my flying and family pooling as follows, easily lifting me over the 1,000 qualification threshold:
SYD-SIN 60SC, SIN-SYD 60SC, SYD-PER 40SC, PER-MEL 40SC, MEL-PER 20SC, SYD-PER 40SC. All six sectors credited in a timely manner, which lifted me over 1,000 SC and put me at platinum for the first time. (woo hoo!)

However, when the retro claim for the European trip credited, they were backdated to the date flown, leaving the above flights in a sort of twilight zone where they did not help me qualify for platinum and were not counted towards maintaining platinum.

After several calls to Velocity, I was informed that after reviewing my case it was not possible to backdate any of my European flights and it would not be possible to count any of those subsequent flights for requalification. I was told if I was concerned closer to my review date about not reaching 800 SC, I could call them then to have the matter looked at again. No promises though.

Given that we are talking about roughly 200 SC, or 1/4 of qualification, it to me is not a trivial matter and I would have thought some flexibility could have been offered given the circumstances presented. Sad as it may be for me to say, it has taken away from the excitement of getting to platinum. Whether it ultimately costs me requalification or not, it just does not seem a very satisfactory outcome.

(apologies for the length of the post)

 

[Stone]

I am in a similar situation. I've just qualified gold, and am still waiting onto a retro points claim with Singapore Airlines from June. I have just spent 45 minutes on the phone to the Velocity Call Centre to get the problem fixed - after 2 previous email based claims with phone follow up (with assurances of you will have the points in 7-10 days).

When the status credits come through they will be in limbo - not having counted towards the original qualification, and unable to count towards requalification. On current flying plans, I doubt I will reach platinum, so they won't achieve anything. It is frustrating that they don't have someone with Velocity who has the power to manually adjust the status credit issue date, particularly when it is a Velocity problem that has affected the customer.

 

[drewbles]

Hi everyone. First post.
I thought I would as briefly as I can share my experience with qualfying for platinum and having status credits (SC) earned after qualifying not count towards maintaining platinum due to late posting of SC.

My trip to Europe in July/August would have left me on 975 SC had they posted in a timely manner after I returned to Australia at the end of August. However, they never appeared and I lodged a retro claim.

In the meantime, points and SCs were added to my account from my flying and family pooling as follows, easily lifting me over the 1,000 qualification threshold:
SYD-SIN 60SC, SIN-SYD 60SC, SYD-PER 40SC, PER-MEL 40SC, MEL-PER 20SC, SYD-PER 40SC. All six sectors credited in a timely manner, which lifted me over 1,000 SC and put me at platinum for the first time. (woo hoo!)

However, when the retro claim for the European trip credited, they were backdated to the date flown, leaving the above flights in a sort of twilight zone where they did not help me qualify for platinum and were not counted towards maintaining platinum.

After several calls to Velocity, I was informed that after reviewing my case it was not possible to backdate any of my European flights and it would not be possible to count any of those subsequent flights for requalification. I was told if I was concerned closer to my review date about not reaching 800 SC, I could call them then to have the matter looked at again. No promises though.

Given that we are talking about roughly 200 SC, or 1/4 of qualification, it to me is not a trivial matter and I would have thought some flexibility could have been offered given the circumstances presented. Sad as it may be for me to say, it has taken away from the excitement of getting to platinum. Whether it ultimately costs me requalification or not, it just does not seem a very satisfactory outcome.

(apologies for the length of the post)

This is a real problem and not something frequent flyers/customer's should have to sort out, besides being frustrating there is many a case of this happening. I think Virgin needs a training lesson for all staff on this matter so they are aware of what to do when this situation occurs, maybe the new I.T systems will fix this issue. You can't just have 200 SC's disappear! I would email the Virgin rep on here if you have had no success through other avenues, the rep or reps are really good and get things sorted.

I fail to see any issues here. It's made quite clear that you earn SC's for the date of the flight, regardless of when it actually credits to your account. QF do it exactly the same way.

Whilst QF does have a lifetime status offering (at the moment at least), and VA does not, your points are not 'wasted' You know about partner gold and platinum yes? 1500SC's (from your first year) and you can gift someone gold. 2000 and you can gift them platinum.

If everyone could chop and change the way they earn their SC's, then the system would not function. VA do a 'rolling' 12 months so your SC's are going to be better off under that for qualification, but there's really no issue here IMHO.

 

[Stone]

I fail to see any issues here. It's made quite clear that you earn SC's for the date of the flight, regardless of when it actually credits to your account. QF do it exactly the same way.

Whilst QF does have a lifetime status offering (at the moment at least), and VA does not, your points are not 'wasted' You know about partner gold and platinum yes? 1500SC's (from your first year) and you can gift someone gold. 2000 and you can gift them platinum.

If everyone could chop and change the way they earn their SC's, then the system would not function. VA do a 'rolling' 12 months so your SC's are going to be better off under that for qualification, but there's really no issue here IMHO.

The issue is the delay in processing the retro claims. It is nearly 4 months since the flights that I am claiming for, and I have now contacted Velocity on four separate occasions (as well as raising it with the rep on this forum.) That is what is unacceptable.

 

[dandandan]

How do you see no issue? I think you have missed the point. In the case of Stone, they are disadvantaged in re-qualifying for Gold as quoting Stone "When the status credits come through they will be in limbo - not having counted towards the original qualification, and unable to count towards requalification".

If Stone could reach Platinum it would not be too much of a problem due to rolling status credits.

I fail to see any issues here. It's made quite clear that you earn SC's for the date of the flight, regardless of when it actually credits to your account. QF do it exactly the same way.

Whilst QF does have a lifetime status offering (at the moment at least), and VA does not, your points are not 'wasted' You know about partner gold and platinum yes? 1500SC's (from your first year) and you can gift someone gold. 2000 and you can gift them platinum.

If everyone could chop and change the way they earn their SC's, then the system would not function. VA do a 'rolling' 12 months so your SC's are going to be better off under that for qualification, but there's really no issue here IMHO.

 

[almelb]

You know about partner gold and platinum yes? 1500SC's (from your first year) and you can gift someone gold. 2000 and you can gift them platinum.

Hi drewbles,
Thanks for your reply. I was aware of partner gold and partner platinum and thought that could be a benefit. However, the Velocity terms and conditions state as follows (my emphasis added):
"13.20 When a Platinum Member earns 500 Status Credits over and above the required number of Status Credits to maintain Platinum within their membership period the Member is entitled to nominate a family member or friend who is a Velocity Frequent Flyer Member to a Gold level of Membership (Companion Gold Membership)."
So if I have read that correctly, it appears these extra status credits will not help me achieve partner gold as I have moved from gold to platinum. As I read it, I have to get to 800 first to maintain, then another 500 on top of that. Please advise if I have interpreted this wrong.

Cheers,

 

[drewbles]

Hi drewbles,
Thanks for your reply. I was aware of partner gold and partner platinum and thought that could be a benefit. However, the Velocity terms and conditions state as follows (my emphasis added):
"13.20 When a Platinum Member earns 500 Status Credits over and above the required number of Status Credits to maintain Platinum within their membership period the Member is entitled to nominate a family member or friend who is a Velocity Frequent Flyer Member to a Gold level of Membership (Companion Gold Membership)."
So if I have read that correctly, it appears these extra status credits will not help me achieve partner gold as I have moved from gold to platinum. As I read it, I have to get to 800 first to maintain, then another 500 on top of that. Please advise if I have interpreted this wrong.

Cheers,

It's 500 on top of initial qualification or re-qualification (so 1500 if you do it in your first year, and 1300 in subsequent).

If I mis-read I apologise. I read it as the 200SC's going to waste, when in fact, they're not. They will credit back to when they were flown, and then any other benefits that should have been bestowed should be. If not, then you speak to them about it.

The fact it's taking so long is poor yes, but it's not going to adversely affect benefits in the end, just in the interim (which is damn annoying yes).

 

[drewbles]

How do you see no issue? I think you have missed the point. In the case of Stone, they are disadvantaged in re-qualifying for Gold as quoting Stone "When the status credits come through they will be in limbo - not having counted towards the original qualification, and unable to count towards requalification".

If Stone could reach Platinum it would not be too much of a problem due to rolling status credits.

It's still not going to make a difference. Everything will be taken into account retrospectively. If the year has ended and WP was not attained, thanks to the 200 not crediting, when they do eventually credit, they will see that they should have attained WP and it will be sorted.

 

[dandandan]

It does make a difference so it is an issue! You even said it yourself. " If the year has ended and WP was not attained, thanks to the 200 not crediting, when they do eventually credit, they will see that they should have attained WP and it will be sorted"

they would also miss out on respective status bonus points amounts as well.

Stone and almelb has this also affected your required sector counts for status, I assume it would?

It's still not going to make a difference. Everything will be taken into account retrospectively. If the year has ended and WP was not attained, thanks to the 200 not crediting, when they do eventually credit, they will see that they should have attained WP and it will be sorted.

 

[almelb]

Stone and almelb has this also affected your required sector counts for status, I assume it would?

Yes, my eligible segments stands at zero as the flights concerned were all flown before the date velocity said I changed over from gold to platinum.

 

[drewbles]

It does make a difference so it is an issue! You even said it yourself. " If the year has ended and WP was not attained, thanks to the 200 not crediting, when they do eventually credit, they will see that they should have attained WP and it will be sorted"

they would also miss out on respective status bonus points amounts as well.

Stone and almelb has this also affected your required sector counts for status, I assume it would?

The only issue is missing out on WP benefits whilst waiting for the SC's to credit.

 

[djchuckles]

It's 500 on top of initial qualification or re-qualification (so 1500 if you do it in your first year, and 1300 in subsequent).

If I mis-read I apologise. I read it as the 200SC's going to waste, when in fact, they're not. They will credit back to when they were flown, and then any other benefits that should have been bestowed should be. If not, then you speak to them about it.

The fact it's taking so long is poor yes, but it's not going to adversely affect benefits in the end, just in the interim (which is damn annoying yes).

Not what I just got told. I upped to plat last month and have just hit 500 more SC's so phoned up to ask for my companion gold. But I was told it is 500 more SC's from when I maintain Platinum and that I need to get 800 SC's to maintain Platinum first - then 500 on top of that. So actually the fact that in the last 10 months I have earned 1660 SC's doesn't count