Platinum Reward Seat Guarantee

[henrus]

I know there are a few old threads about it but thought I'd bring up the guaranteed reward seats for family trip that Virgin Australia offers Platinum/Gold frequent flyers and provide a few details on my recent experience

I was recently able to use my benefit in a period over the school holidays to an international destination operated by VA. The process took almost 2 hours over the phone (I kid you not) about 20 minutes of that was waiting for the phone to be answered followed by a further 30 minutes on hold as the staff read the terms and conditions of the guaranteed reward seat deal.

Rather interestingly flights are booked into normal paid ticket fare categories (my reward ticket booked into E and L class) and whilst they require you pay the taxes by card, the remainder of the ticket is paid by a VA credit they apply to the booking.

Not sure if I should be concerned but the flights on the way over are booked into a "Go Plus" fare which whilst including a bag, doesn't include a meal (something a normal reward ticket would receive).

I'd be interested to hear if others have attempted to use it recently and if you had a faster experience than I did or if your ticket was booked into normally paid fare categories as well (instead of the usual X class).

 

[Muppet501st]

Sorry i cant help, but im watching this thread with interest.
May i ask the destination ?

 

[henrus]

Sorry i cant help, but im watching this thread with interest.
May i ask the destination ?

The destination is Rarotonga (via Auckland)

I'm very happy to get the flights and is my first time using the benefit. I believe that it's one of the most underrated benefits which hardly anyone seems to use.

Obviously using it long haul would be a much better deal however if you were to use if from Australia to Europe then you don't get a choice of airlines or times (VA pick based on price). So, in my opinion, your much better using it on routes that VA operates once a day.

A with a route like SYD - LHR you could end up going via LAX, AUH or SIN which makes planning and even stopover much harder whereas with a route like SYD-APW you'll end up on that one flight cause that's the only option.

 

[Muppet501st]

So the WP benefit can only be used on VA metal?

• from VFF site
• Once a year, be guaranteed to be able to redeem four return Economy Reward Seats to any domestic or international destination when travelling on any Virgin Australia marketed flight beginning with a 'VA' flight number.
• 
  
• from AFF article
• 
  Platinum Velocity members can also choose to fly to any international destination served by Virgin Australia or a codeshare partner
  

 

[henrus]

So the WP benefit can only be used on VA metal?

No it can be used on any partner that puts a VA flight number on their flight. If it's bookable on the VA website with a VA marketed flight then it's bookable under this deal.

I just used it on VA metal cause that was a place we were looking to book but in theory SQ, MI, EY, DL and even AC flights can booked under the deal however on a route like SYD-LHR (serviced by many partners) you won't get your pick of the airline it'll just be based on what's the cheapest on the website at the time.

 

[Muppet501st]

No it can be used on any partner that puts a VA flight number on their flight. If it's bookable on the VA website with a VA marketed flight then it's bookable under this deal.

I just used it on VA metal cause that was a place we were looking to book but in theory SQ, MI, EY, DL and even AC flights can booked under the deal however on a route like SYD-LHR (serviced by many partners) you won't get your pick of the airline it'll just be based on what's the cheapest on the website at the time.

Hmmm, just got off the phone with VFF and asked them about this and was told , it's only on VA flights ( metal)
Might be a case of HUACA

 

[henrus]

Hmmm, just got off the phone with VFF and asked them about this and was told , it's only on VA flights ( metal)
Might be a case of HUACA

Yep... The people I spoke to took almost an hour to figure out if only direct non stop flights were allowed.

The T&C's of the benefit are quite clear and "...to any domestic or international destination when travelling on any Virgin Australia marketed flight beginning with a 'VA' flight number"

SQ/EY/DL etc operated but VA marketed meets this criteria. Basically, as long as it can be booked as a cash fare on the website under a VA code then it can be booked under this deal.

Obviously, there are other requirements such as available reward space (there must not be any + or - 3 days from your dates) and that it can only be up to 4 seats in Economy class.

 

[deejo77]

Yes we are aware of this benefit and plan to use it next year to the USA if we can’t get the reward tickets when released, our preference is J but if we can’t get it Y will do on the ‘benefit’

 

[Gonetroppo]

Mr Troppo has just spent 1hr 16mins on the phone trying to use this benefit and we're not done yet. At first the rep insisted that the booking could not be made as there was business reward seat availability. After pointing out there was nothing to this effect in the T&C, and how would such a creative interpretation fulfil the guarantee of economy reward seats, the rep would not budge. We asked for the call to be escalated (and out of interest, checked business reward seat availability - none whatsoever funnily enough). After another stint on hold, the rep came back to us and said his supervisor would make an exception 'just this once'. We let that slide, but eyes did roll.

Flights then got sorted slowly, fortunately we were able to get the times/days we wanted for BNE-KUL on SQ. 220K points and ~$600 for 4 seats which makes for a nice break for the whole Troppo family. So far so good. While nearing the finish line, Mr Troppo notices the CC notification come through on his phone for 4x the $ amount. So now we're waiting for a call back. And another $600 just got charged to his card, so we've now paid 5x the total $.

 

[henrus]

After another stint on hold, the rep came back to us and said his supervisor would make an exception 'just this once'

Yeh I got a similar thing. Apparently, it wasn't clear if flights with connection were allowed (they thought it only applied to non stop flights). Before calling a few weeks ago I did search through AFF and found 2 threads one of which got the same "business seats available" story.

While nearing the finish line, Mr Troppo notices the CC notification come through on his phone for 4x the $ amount. So now we're waiting for a call back. And another $600 just got charged to his card, so we've now paid 5x the total $.

This doesn't surprise me. When you got the tickets you'll find the eticket looks like a paid booking. You'll be booked into paid fare classes and all the fare/taxes breakdown is the same.

The only things which point out it's a reward seat is the Endorsement/Restrictions section which will have something like
"NONEND/NONTRANS/VAONLY/REWARD/ANY SEAT GUARANTEED ECONOMY REWARD SEAT" and the payment section. It'll be broken down into two section one with your CC and the taxes amount and then another with the 'fare' component applied via a "VA credit".

It's easy to see how mistakes can be made because it seems like a very confusing process to have to apply credits to each booking but then also charge the taxes component to one card from each of the separate tickets. Obviously, the person you had on the phone put $600 in as the manual taxes but then the computers timed it by 4 (cause I only had one payment of ~$800 for all 4 of us combined).

 

[Bostonoz]

I just spent 2 hours as well for my guaranteed rewards seats on a VA code share flight to be told that as there are rewards seats 7 days either side of the date I want to book that I cannot use them ; I find the terms and conditions are interpreted by the call centre to ensure they can say no to you! Given this was the benefit of me staying platinum with VA rather than becoming a platinum one Qantas, my loyalty for VA is fast evaporating. To make it worse 3 of my family members are platinum VA and I have big VA business account, but its worth nought when you are dealing with that call centre.....

 

[henrus]

I just spent 2 hours as well for my guaranteed rewards seats on a VA code share flight to be told that as there are rewards seats 7 days either side of the date I want to book that I cannot use them ; I find the terms and conditions are interpreted by the call centre to ensure they can say no to you! Given this was the benefit of me staying platinum with VA rather than becoming a platinum one Qantas, my loyalty for VA is fast evaporating. To make it worse 3 of my family members are platinum VA and I have big VA business account, but its worth nought when you are dealing with that call centre.....

Yeh others in threads several years ago had said the same thing. To make matters worse the terms and conditions are unbelievably clear. I'd keep pushing as the T&C's clearly state and I quote

"(iii) allow for a seven day booking window for each Flight Sector (three days either side of the desired departure and return dates)."

Ask for a supervisor and don't take no for an answer because of how clear it is.

 

[Bostonoz]

Yeh others in threads several years ago had said the same thing. To make matters worse the terms and conditions are unbelievably clear. I'd keep pushing as the T&C's clearly state and I quote

"(iii) allow for a seven day booking window for each Flight Sector (three days either side of the desired departure and return dates)."

Ask for a supervisor and don't take no for an answer because of how clear it is.

 

[Bostonoz]

I asked for a supervisor and she was also inconsistent ; when it looked like I was getting close to something that would work she would come up with another reason ; eg it applies to flights there and back ie 3 days either side of both the departure and return ; she could fulfill on return but not on departure ; in the end i was so angry i quit ; seriously now looking at changing to QF

 

[maccaisking]

I am about to try and use this benefit. I have a return flight to HKG picked out, leaving in Jan and returning early Feb. Reward flights ARE available within the 3 day either side window, but not direct (I will be leaving from Syd, there are flights available from Syd - Mel - HKG). Has anyone had experience if this will be bought up as a blocker when I try and book? I also wondered if the flight will count as an eligible sector for retaining WP? I would have expected not as it’s a reward flight, but it appears from OPs booking that it is in a regular fare class and therefore may. I don’t need the SC, just the eligible sectors. Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[henrus]

Reward flights ARE available within the 3 day either side window, but not direct (I will be leaving from Syd, there are flights available from Syd - Mel - HKG).

You can try your luck but you might be knocked back.

My reading of the T&C's indicates that VA might fly you to MEL for free then pick up the reward seat from MEL (not sure how this works though). However as reward seats appear online you might have trouble getting this to happen.

I also wondered if the flight will count as an eligible sector for retaining WP? I would have expected not as it’s a reward flight, but it appears from OPs booking that it is in a regular fare class and therefore may. I don’t need the SC, just the eligible sectors. Thanks in advance for any advice

Not sure... My flight isn't for days and I highly doubt I'll get points but it's just interesting noting that it booked into regular fare classes (something I've never seen from a reward booking before).

 

[maccaisking]

You can try your luck but you might be knocked back.

My reading of the T&C's indicates that VA might fly you to MEL for free then pick up the reward seat from MEL (not sure how this works though). However as reward seats appear online you might have trouble getting this to happen.



Not sure... My flight isn't for days and I highly doubt I'll get points but it's just interesting noting that it booked into regular fare classes (something I've never seen from a reward booking before).

Thanks Henrus, how many days do you have? My flight is on 2 Jan so if you are fling before 2 July I might hold off a day or two. Would be quite ironic if they made me go through MEL. MEL is my start location, I was planning to fly to SYD to get the guaranteed reward flight and the daytime flight. Interestingly I noticed that some of the flights from SYD connecting through MEL are not available to book straight from MEL.

 

[grubbidok]

It may be the relatively simple route but we we've been able to easily book Bali flights this way during peak periods when nothing is showing up. Usually takes half an hour and the last one included meals (all have included meals, but the others were prior to changes). We were also able to choose SYD-PDS direct even when reward availability existed with a connection (though I have to admit we have pulled out the "but we have a child" card on this one and indicate that while the date was flexible the arrival time was not - i.e. don't care what day but it can't be middle of the night as we have 4hr drive after landing).

We used it once for LAX without an issue though had to cancel that trip.

We will probably try for HKG soon so can see if there is a difference.

 

[henrus]

Thanks Henrus, how many days do you have?

Sorry. The flights not until early next year. As it's during the school holidays (just by coincidence, could have traveled other times), it was necessary to book reasonably far out for accommodation to still be reasonable.

I was planning to fly to SYD to get the guaranteed reward flight and the daytime flight. Interestingly I noticed that some of the flights from SYD connecting through MEL are not available to book straight from MEL.

It'll depend on how they read the T&C's

"(b) If there is no direct flight available from the Platinum Member's desired airport of departure in Australia, VRPL may offer to fly the Platinum Member and their travelling guests to a more suitable Australian airport for departure, at VRPL’s expense."

The way I read it, If they wanted to they could book you a ticket from Sydney to Melbourne (at their cost) then you'd pick up the ticket from MEL (with no additional points difference as though the flight was direct from SYD-HKG).

grubbidok above said they got a direct flight despite their being reward space with a connection so I guess it'll depend on what the booking agents are willing to do.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes. Your hands aren't tied so if you call up and don't like whats offered then simply move on and book from MEL (or use different dates instead

 

[maccaisking]

Thanks for the advice, I have a couple of hours between kids in bed and soccer kick off so will try then. My plan B is flying MEL - CAN (Guangzhou, China). VA offer that route as a codeshare on SQ metal. The route never has reward flights available so it ticks that box, and CAN is my actual destination, but the flight times with SQ are less favourable. I assume there should be no issue with a multi leg booking, it stops in Singapore. When I search for the flight with VA it shows as an available destination, both legs have VA flight numbers,