Unwritten VA Platinum benefits?

[Happy Dude]

I heard a Perth based resident ask if they could be put up in a hotel due to the delay and the request was refused.

Agreed with the free upgrade was a surprise when I cheekily asked although it was interesting the 330 the following day wasn't loaded with menus, hot towels and the J bathroom was out of order.

Back to the topic - I also get Economy Plus for free on SYD-LAX flights. Currently it's 6/6 when asking at check-in. I believe that's a non advertised benefit for long haul.

I reckon they'd put you in those seats, at check-in, without asking if you hadn't pre-selected your seats. I was given "forward seats" at check-in on SQ recently without asking. Most definitely an unwritten benefit.

 

[ja1]

Interesting thread of people's experiences. My own (in terms of unwritten benefits) is simply that they do try to prioritise you as a WP or gold and the 'communication handbook/training' must have something in it around recognising status at a direct level.

My wife commented on it when we were flying SYD-LAX in economy earlier this year. They had given us a 'free' upgrade from standard economy (reasonable seats) to economyX (I did ask if it was possible, the checkin asked her supervisor if they could do that without a fee and noted my status). We ended up with an entire row each in EX which was really nice.. (not as nice as PE or J though .

During the flight and right at the end (landed, just before disembarking) the cabin staff came around to ask me how I was finding everything, did I need anything else and so on. Noone else in the cabin was being asked and my wife asked why I was getting the attention - turned out it was part of the WP followup - not really something that would happen or that you'd think to notice in J or even PE but a point being made when flying at the 'back' of the aircraft. Wife was extremely amused..

The biggest different WP seemed to make was access to lounges in the US when we had Delta connections. The rules there always seem to be slightly different or with different fees involved. In our case I was informed I had access to the Delta lounge but would normally need to pay a fee to bring in a guest but as I was a VA platinum they'd waive the US$29 fee..

cheers,

-j

 

[Jack_OC]

The biggest different WP seemed to make was access to lounges in the US when we had Delta connections. The rules there always seem to be slightly different or with different fees involved. In our case I was informed I had access to the Delta lounge but would normally need to pay a fee to bring in a guest but as I was a VA platinum they'd waive the US$29 fee..

This just sounds like a case of DL lounge staff not knowing the rules associated with Velocity status. It's a published entitlement for Velocity Gold or Platinum members to be able to bring a guest into DL lounges for free.

In fact, AFAIK, if Velocity status entitles you to access a lounge, you are always entitled to bring in at least one guest for free.

 

[Bagpuss]

Hamilton Island (Great Barrier Reef) airport has an airport lounge. Platinum members are allowed into the lounge, well to be honest it’s just a big room which has a TV and you can spread out and nor is it manned and doesn’t have any food or drinks offerings. However, check-in staff will tell you how to locate it on check-in.
As it’s not a Virgin/Velocity lounge it’s an unwritten benefit. I expect Qantas tiered members can access too.

 

[Saab34]

From a few recent pacific crossings, Econ X appeared to be quite empty most flights.

Especially on a red eye, I’d take a row of 3 seats in X anyday over PE. Problem with PE is even if you get vacant seats you cannot stretch our due to the stupid bulky armrest between every seat.

 

[grubbidok]

Hamilton Island (Great Barrier Reef) airport has an airport lounge. Platinum members are allowed into the lounge, well to be honest it’s just a big room which has a TV and you can spread out and nor is it manned and doesn’t have any food or drinks offerings. However, check-in staff will tell you how to locate it on check-in.
As it’s not a Virgin/Velocity lounge it’s an unwritten benefit. I expect Qantas tiered members can access too.

I thought this lounge was accessible to everyone? When we flew last year there was no door or signage to the stairs and no-one checking anything. It was just a comfy and spacious room upstairs that very few people knew about

 

[Bagpuss]

I thought this lounge was accessible to everyone?

Per my comment it is. Though check-in was only telling platinum people at check-in.

 

[Bagpuss]

Really is there's not any unwritten benefit.
It all comes down to what level of customer care the Virgin (or contractor) employee has for your situation if/when they are aware of your status.
Status does not reflect your spend with the airline nor your total loyalty when you think of it (hence many people have dual status with Virgin & Qantas).

 

[CPMaverick]

Surprise, surprise, I got an Op-Up to J on MEL-SYD yesterday. Flying on a Getaway fare. No explanation at all, but I know the plane was full or possibly oversold (my co-workers had a difficult time getting seat assignments). I can only assume the Op-Up was because of my Plat status. I even got a fully catered meal.

Pretty funny, because it was a Getaway fare and VA gives a measly 5 SC and no Plat bonus on these fares, I changed my FF# to Delta in the lounge about 10 minutes before boarding. I get more qualifying credits that way. I didn't even notice until I was at the gate that my new BP with the DL number had 1D on it. Didn't ask any questions.

So anyway, definitely an unwritten benefit is a possible op-up... but I won't be holding my breath for the next one.

 

[Jack_OC]

Surprise, surprise, I got an Op-Up to J on MEL-SYD yesterday. Flying on a Getaway fare. No explanation at all, but I know the plane was full or possibly oversold (my co-workers had a difficult time getting seat assignments). I can only assume the Op-Up was because of my Plat status. I even got a fully catered meal.

Pretty funny, because it was a Getaway fare and VA gives a measly 5 SC and no Plat bonus on these fares, I changed my FF# to Delta in the lounge about 10 minutes before boarding. I get more qualifying credits that way. I didn't even notice until I was at the gate that my new BP with the DL number had 1D on it. Didn't ask any questions.

So anyway, definitely an unwritten benefit is a possible op-up... but I won't be holding my breath for the next one.

I have also received op-ups to J on domestic flights with VA on I believe 3 occasions. Clearly that's a very small proportion of the number of flights I've taken, but I assume that's 3 more than I would have received if I didn't have Platinum status!

I've also had op-ups from EY, which I assume were also down to my VA Platinum status - and on two occasions they were J to F on long haul flights.

 

[darraghk]

Well, not an unwritten rule, but this past week I had a flight from CBR. Arriving in to CBR (from another flight) much earlier than anticipated. Checked on the mobile app and there were seats available in an earlier flight, so rocked up to the lounge and asked whether I could 'fly ahead'. Lounge lady said there were no seats! I double-checked the mobile app and went back to the counter about 10 minutes later. Another lady was there and said she could not move my flights and "fly ahead" was only possible by calling Guest Services.

I called guest services and successfully changed the flight to the earlier one, and as it was within one hour of the flight, asked me to go back to the counter to check in (they also emailed me a copy of the updated ticket with the new flight number).

Went back to the counter and told the lady at the counter about the changed flight and asked to check in. She was very upset about the changed and told me they should not have done that (she said because the flight was full!!) and I "must" travel on the original flight. She then proceeded to move me back to the original flight and gave me new boarding passes (this is the same lady who had told me earlier that she could not move my flights). And of course the seat I had booked weeks earlier had now gone...

I have done fly ahead in the lounge in Melbourne & Sydney loads of times, they were being lazy I think.

 

[ozstamps]

Pretty funny, because it was a Getaway fare and VA gives a measly 5 SC and no Plat bonus on these fares, I changed my FF# to Delta in the lounge about 10 minutes before boarding. I get more qualifying credits that way.

Never thought about that option. Agree 5 x SC is plain insulting.

How many DL credits/miles does one get on a short Virgin domestic flight?

 

[Jack_OC]

Never thought about that option. Agree 5 x SC is plain insulting.

How many DL credits/miles does one get on a short Virgin domestic flight?

This made me curious too. As far as I can tell, you earn 1 DL Medallion Qualification Mile (MQM) per mile flown on most VA economy fares (except "full fare" class Y or B, when you earn 1.5 MQM per mile flown).

That would mean you'd get 438 MQMs for MEL-SYD. However, you need 125,000 MQMs to qualify for top tier Diamond status with DL, or 75,000 MQMs to qualify as Platinum. 5SCs relative to a threshold of 800 is actually higher than 438 as a proportion of 75k (and significantly higher than 438 as a proportion of 125k).

I gather DL also has a minimum spend requirement on top of the MQM requirements - US$9k for Platinum and $15k for Diamond - and no family pooling. Plus of course with Velocity you can get 15 SCs on this route if you book Elevate fares, and it's not unusual for the cheapest fare available to fall into that category if you don't book well in advance.

I may be missing something, but I'm struggling to see how crediting to DL would be a better option for many people. I guess if you're already requalified as Velocity Platinum and you want to go for DL status as well it might make sense.

 

[CPMaverick]

The DL miles earned are paltry. But the MQM earns at the 500 minimum. To me, that is worth more than 5 SC. Not that either one is worth a lot.

Since I try to earn DL and VA status each year, it makes sense to credit DL on these fares rather than others. Because fares that earn 15 SC on VA still only earn 500 on DL. It's only really worth it if you are trying for DL status.

 

[Jack_OC]

The DL miles earned are paltry. But the MQM earns at the 500 minimum. To me, that is worth more than 5 SC. Not that either one is worth a lot.

Since I try to earn DL and VA status each year, it makes sense to credit DL on these fares rather than others. Because fares that earn 15 SC on VA still only earn 500 on DL. It's only really worth it if you are trying for DL status.

I didn't realise there was a 500 MQM minimum - but even still, 500 relative to a target of 75,000 is only marginally better than 5 SCs relative to a target of 800 (and 500 relative to a target of 125,000 is much worse than 5 relative to 800).

As I said earlier though, if you are trying for status in both programs and have already retained Velocity Platinum (or are very confident that you will) then I guess you may as well credit to DL!

 

[CPMaverick]

VA SC are easier to earn compared to DL MQM. For a reasonable cost you can get 30 SC on a short RT (MEL-ADL, MEL-SYD, etc). It's much harder to get 3000 DL MQM for the same reasonable cost. So, I don't see them as directly comparable.

And yes, I will requal for VA Platinum so it is somewhat just a matter of choosing which flights make the most sense to move over to DL.

 

[ozstamps]

I think all the major USA airline plans have the 500 MQM minimum, which is why when Virgin dropped from 10 to 5 on most domestic flights here, it looked really cheap. I am sure it is no incentive for many flyers and they will simply book Jetstar or Tiger - or use miles.

 

[serfty]

There are some easyish sweet spots.

MEL-xCBR/SYD-OOL can be had in flexi for $260 and earns 50SC ... it's also upgradable to Business for 4900 Velocity points per segment.

 

[CPMaverick]

There are some easyish sweet spots.

MEL-xCBR/SYD-OOL can be had in flexi for $260 and earns 50SC ... it's also upgradable to Business for 4900 Velocity points per segment.

Yes, this is exactly why DL MQM are worth more than just 100x a VA SC. You'll struggle to earn 5000 MQM for US$190.

And, as long as you earn DL status, MQM roll over. So they never 'disappear' like SC.

 

[Jack_OC]

I think all the major USA airline plans have the 500 MQM minimum, which is why when Virgin dropped from 10 to 5 on most domestic flights here, it looked really cheap. I am sure it is no incentive for many flyers and they will simply book Jetstar or Tiger - or use miles.

Velocity has a minimum SC earn too, and as a proportion of what’s required for top tier status, it’s better than 500 MQMs!