VA2.0 International Partners

[FlyingKangaroo]

it's been nearly 6 weeks that my missing points claims remain "pending."

Sigh - follow up: now we're at 10 weeks. I try not to be impatient but I feel it's time to call in.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

FlyingKangaroo, though, was the class of travel one that is eligible to earn VFF?
===
How many Points will I earn
Earn Points per mile flown when you travel in an eligible class on Hong Kong Airlines operated flights, with a HX flight number1.
The number of Velocity Points you earn with Hong Kong Airlines is based on the fare class and the number of miles you are travelling, so the higher your fare type, the more Points you earn. Use our Mileage calculator to determine the number of miles you will fly. Then, refer to the tables below to check your Points earn rate.
To make a booking please visit the Hong Kong Airlines website or contact your preferred travel agent and enter your Velocity Frequent Flyer Member details at time of booking.
Book now

Fare Type	Hong Kong Airlines (HX) Fare Class	Points Earn Rate Per Mile
Business Class	C, D	2
Business Class	J	1.3
Business Class	Z	0.8
Economy	Y	1.3
Economy	B, H, K, L, M	1
Economy	N, Q, T	0.5
Economy	S, X, V	0.3
Economy	W	0.1

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

FlyingKangaroo, though, was the class of travel one that is eligible to earn VFF?
===
How many Points will I earn
Earn Points per mile flown when you travel in an eligible class on Hong Kong Airlines operated flights, with a HX flight number1.
The number of Velocity Points you earn with Hong Kong Airlines is based on the fare class and the number of miles you are travelling, so the higher your fare type, the more Points you earn. Use our Mileage calculator to determine the number of miles you will fly. Then, refer to the tables below to check your Points earn rate.
To make a booking please visit the Hong Kong Airlines website or contact your preferred travel agent and enter your Velocity Frequent Flyer Member details at time of booking.
Book now

Fare Type	Hong Kong Airlines (HX) Fare Class	Points Earn Rate Per Mile
Business Class	C, D	2
Business Class	J	1.3
Business Class	Z	0.8
Economy	Y	1.3
Economy	B, H, K, L, M	1
Economy	N, Q, T	0.5
Economy	S, X, V	0.3
Economy	W	0.1

It was South African Airways in my case, and a K-fare, so upon just double checking, it should receive points and status credits. I don't know how VA verifies tickets on partner airlines --- if it requires manual confirmation from SAA, I'm not surprised it's taken forever. But it's probably time to follow up nonetheless.

I've also just realised the flight is eligible for even more status credits than I expected, so now I'm really motivated to get this sorted.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

It shouldn't take this long, in this day and age of internet and computers.
But as this is VFF and its now "mid range", and they are now flying cheap(ish), who knows whats holding up the processing.
If its SAA/if its VFF, who knows.
Hope it works out in the end though.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Update: pleasantly surprised.

I called in and as feared, they are indeed waiting on SAA to respond --- which will never happen. "The system is down, sir [forever]."

Noticing it'd been two months, she asked me to e-mail a copy of the e-ticket and boarding passes. Unfortunately I only had one of the boarding passes --- though it was at least the return which should substantiate the claim I flew the outbound.

She just called me back a few hours later to confirm that they've reviewed, and they can see from the one boarding pass that SAA had incorrectly put in Virgin Atlantic's VS code rather than their VA code, so obviously the ticket never would have correctly credited automatically. Since the actual number is obviously my VA number, she said they were just going to proceed and credit them, including the one without the boarding pass.

They're in the account.

BTW: this is the second time Velocity has asked me to send something in while they wait on the line for me to recite back the case number from the auto-reply e-mail for that individual agent to follow up on. This is impressive.

 

[henrus]

I called in and as feared, they are indeed waiting on SAA to respond --- which will never happen.

I get the impression that some of the older VA alliances are just on paper and not really existent (and before anyone says anything I mean more so than usual). Whilst in theory airlines like South Afrian Airlines and the HNA group are still partners good luck getting your VA benefits even remotely acknowledged.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I get the impression that some of the older VA alliances are just on paper and not really existent (and before anyone says anything I mean more so than usual). Whilst in theory airlines like South Afrian Airlines and the HNA group are still partners good luck getting your VA benefits even remotely acknowledged.

Yes, and certainly as noted above, that was the case for me trying to get lounge access with SAA. These airlines and/or partnerships are so niche that it'd be better to just dump these faux-relationships and focus on a limited few and implementing them correctly.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

BTW: this is the second time Velocity has asked me to send something in while they wait on the line for me to recite back the case number from the auto-reply e-mail for that individual agent to follow up on. This is impressive.

Veering OT, good security measure too, not the best, but its good that the phone and email convo can be conjoined.

 

[HS-TQE]

Yes, and certainly as noted above, that was the case for me trying to get lounge access with SAA. These airlines and/or partnerships are so niche that it'd be better to just dump these faux-relationships and focus on a limited few and implementing them correctly.

VA's secondary partners e.g Hainan, Etihad Airways, SAA, Hong Kong et al are really just there as options on the VFF chart and contribute very little to VA's bottom line.

Although to some extent they basically can sign a interline agreement with REX like DL has if they need a bit more Australian feed. It would go to the long collection of Virgin's 'seconds' for REX.

 

[bernardblack]

Isn't Etihad about the only partner who has a genuine status increment at the Velocity Platinum level now, with the First Lounge in AUH?

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Isn't Etihad about the only partner who has a genuine status increment at the Velocity Platinum level now, with the First Lounge in AUH?

I believe so. I'm also flying Etihad for the first time next month, so I look forward to that.

 

[henleybeach]

I flew etihad yesterday from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi and the boarding pass stated “velocity silver”
First time I have seen that on a etihad boarding pass

 

[jase05]

I flew etihad yesterday from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi and the boarding pass stated “velocity silver”
First time I have seen that on a etihad boarding pass

Have had VA Platinum clearly marked on my Etihad BP’s on the last couple of trips. I’m not sure when they started adding them.
I have always found EY to be great for status recognition and treatment of us

 

[HS-TQE]

Isn't Etihad about the only partner who has a genuine status increment at the Velocity Platinum level now, with the First Lounge in AUH?

I believe SQ is the other airline that prints VA status on their boarding pass per the linked thread below:

Velocity Gold Status and Singapore Airlines

Hi all, first post here! I am a Velocity Gold member and have a indepenant flight booked with Singapore Air. I know there is benifts with SIA but how do I access those? When I check in at the airport will it recongise my Velocity status (was provided during booking)? Or do I need to do...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I do admire EY trying to 'fight back' against QR, despite VA giving little to no attention to EY and treating them as a 'secondary partner' as they cosy up to QR.

 

[henrus]

Isn't Etihad about the only partner who has a genuine status increment at the Velocity Platinum level now, with the First Lounge in AUH?

There are a few incremental benefits but how genuine is up to you:

On Virgin Atlantic, VA Plats get arrival lounge access in London after any VS flight (no guest allowed).

On Singapore Airlines, the VA website listed (although may have been removed) that Plats get business class class check in at Changi whereas Gold's get the Star Alliance Gold queue (when I was plat no questions were ever asked at the J queues but they were always quiet anyway), plus plat get an extra 5kg baggage.

On Qatar Airways, VA Plat's get access to the Platinum lounge in Doha, whilst not as good as the real J/F lounges interestingly the current champagne in the plat lounge matches the real F lounge.

On Etihad in addition to the mentioned F lounge in AUH there is also an extra 5kg baggage for plat.

 

[encryptededdy]

I've got an ANA cash flight booked for September, unfortunately in the discount business "P" class. Hopefully VA starts allowing the crediting of NH flights (even if just for velocity points) by then.

 

[bernardblack]

There are a few incremental benefits but how genuine is up to you:

On Virgin Atlantic, VA Plats get arrival lounge access in London after any VS flight (no guest allowed).

On Singapore Airlines, the VA website listed (although may have been removed) that Plats get business class class check in at Changi whereas Gold's get the Star Alliance Gold queue (when I was plat no questions were ever asked at the J queues but they were always quiet anyway), plus plat get an extra 5kg baggage.

On Qatar Airways, VA Plat's get access to the Platinum lounge in Doha, whilst not as good as the real J/F lounges interestingly the current champagne in the plat lounge matches the real F lounge.

On Etihad in addition to the mentioned F lounge in AUH there is also an extra 5kg baggage for plat.

Sorry, yeah, I was thinking in terms of only ever travelling long-haul in J. So the VS Revivals Lounge and all baggage/check-in benefits are not incremental. But of course they would be if you're flying in Y/PY.

Is the access to QR Platinum lounges in DOH confirmed? I've seen it mentioned somewhere but as far as I can tell QR's website just uses the "and Oneworld Emerald" language, which doesn't strictly cover VA Plats.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I've got an ANA cash flight booked for September, unfortunately in the discount business "P" class. Hopefully VA starts allowing the crediting of NH flights (even if just for velocity points) by then.

Can I say, if you want to earn VFF points for sure, and not be half hearted as to if VFF will credit the points, is to put the points SQ KF, if you don't have one already.
As NH and SQ are in a full alliance, I would say that a lot more classes earnt in partners, will credit to each respective FF plan.
Then transfer the KF miles to VFF.
Granted you will lose some points in the transfer, a loss of 35%, as its not 1:1, but still better than flying in a non earning class.

 

[Bagpuss]

Just discovered if you make a booking on Delta to an Australian destination, excluding Sydney they will sell a Virgin Australia ticket, with a VA flight number so you should get Virgin Australia status credits etc. Odd that they have have very few REX flights available considering they are actually partnered with REX.

 

[AIRwin]

Odd that they have have very few REX flights available considering they are actually partnered with REX.

It's only an interline agreement?