Velocity Frequent Flyer Program Update

[CJEMNMAC]

The crazy thing about this is that it will encourage people to consistently redeem to Europe entirely on their partner, because it's cheaper than flying part of it on VA's own metal!

I think they have now fixed that problem on EY with http://www.australianfrequentflyer....elocity/new-ey-reward-seat-carrier-76311.html

 

[Cryptarcadian]

Hah! Well now it'll just encourage people to fly SQ all the way instead? This is just terrible. :evil:

 

[Pleb Status]

In a matter of days, redeeming on SQ has gone from one of the worst value options to probably one of the best (of partner airlines).

 

[Fiches Mouser]

In a matter of days, redeeming on SQ has gone from one of the worst value options to probably one of the best (of partner airlines).

Sure did – just cancelled and re-booked a VA award on SQ and got back 25,000 VFF points and even managed to save $30 in taxes (they also waived the cancellation fee due to a 'technical issue').

Made my week!

Now I'm tempted to blow the extra points on F instead. Unfortunately though, they require you to cancel the booking and re-book – meaning reward space could be lost on the J segment. Quite frustrating really!

 

[Cryptarcadian]

In case you were wondering, any VA domestic connections before/after a table 2 reward flight must be priced as two independent rewards, even if on the same itinerary. You can see this if you try a dummy booking online.

e.g. SYD-xMEL-AUH in J, VA + EY
Previous cost: 0 + 94000 = 94000
Current cost: 15500 + 104000 = 119500 (a crazy 25500 or 27% more)

The least they could've done was price the entire thing at the higher table rate, rather than charge at the higher rate and double dip. What a rort! :shock:

I know we're going to stop booking on EY anyway with the outrageous reward seat charge being introduced, but the same situation arises if you're connecting VA to SQ.

 

[Mattg]

In case you were wondering, any VA domestic connections before/after a table 2 reward flight must be priced as two independent rewards, even if on the same itinerary. You can see this if you try a dummy booking online.

e.g. SYD-xMEL-AUH in J, VA + EY
Previous cost: 0 + 94000 = 94000
Current cost: 15500 + 104000 = 119500 (a crazy 25500 or 27% more)

The least they could've done was price the entire thing at the higher table rate, rather than charge at the higher rate and double dip. What a rort! :shock:

I know we're going to stop booking on EY anyway with the outrageous reward seat charge being introduced, but the same situation arises if you're connecting VA to SQ.

FWIW, I believe QF does the same thing. I agree that it would be better if they just priced the entire itinerary at the higher rate (once).

 

[RAM]

To beat the EY cash per sector impost starting up post June 18 - I redeemed 2x J Eur one-way to get the outward leg done at the extreme date permissible.

Had a very knowledgeable VFF rep who mentioned that if I wanted to upgrade from J to F subsequently (as no F reward/guest seats available yet, they seem to be released 11 days after J by EY) then we will NOT have to pay the cash amount per sector even though the per sector cash amounts increase from J to F.

Will have to pay the increased 'taxes' component NOT the new impost.

Will need to pay the $60 change fee...

To put the new EY cash charge per sector into perspective - it will be 4x the cost we paid on the current 'taxes' for the Eur one-way flight.

Once the F reward seats become available we'll test out and see. Just in case, I've got the name, date, time and call length recorded if there are any problems - after all I relied on the advice given to make my booking.

 

[PDog]

Thanks for that info RAM. I am tossing up whether to gamble with this also as my travel dates aren't available yet. Will give VFF a call.
Is the $60 change fee per booking or ticket?

 

[Fiches Mouser]

In case you were wondering, any VA domestic connections before/after a table 2 reward flight must be priced as two independent rewards, even if on the same itinerary. You can see this if you try a dummy booking online.

e.g. SYD-xMEL-AUH in J, VA + EY
Previous cost: 0 + 94000 = 94000
Current cost: 15500 + 104000 = 119500 (a crazy 25500 or 27% more)

The least they could've done was price the entire thing at the higher table rate, rather than charge at the higher rate and double dip. What a rort! :shock:

I know we're going to stop booking on EY anyway with the outrageous reward seat charge being introduced, but the same situation arises if you're connecting VA to SQ.

Very annoying!

Equally, I spent a good ten minutes arguing with the GCC staff about pricing a MEL-SIN-CMB all as F (and accepting a downgrade), rather than the two J+F reward they were insisting on which is significantly more expensive. I know this isn't uncommon for FF programs, but just needlessly frustrating when I'm already happy to pay for F even though I won't be getting it.

Surely it can be done? I didn't HUACA but maybe I should have.

 

[RAM]

Thanks for that info RAM. I am tossing up whether to gamble with this also as my travel dates aren't available yet. Will give VFF a call.
Is the $60 change fee per booking or ticket?

Per booking per traveller. So in our case (got the VFF rep to confirm my understanding) as we have booked it as 2 x one-way SYD/EUR flights - even though there are two different flight numbers as the search/booking was quoted as SYD/EUR not SYD/AUH and AUH/EUR the cost would be 2 x 60 as for two people.

 

[RAM]

Very annoying!

Equally, I spent a good ten minutes arguing with the GCC staff about pricing a MEL-SIN-CMB all as F (and accepting a downgrade), rather than the two J+F reward they were insisting on which is significantly more expensive. I know this isn't uncommon for FF programs, but just needlessly frustrating when I'm already happy to pay for F even though I won't be getting it.

Surely it can be done? I didn't HUACA but maybe I should have.

In looking around recently, with just such a similar hope - it became clear that some partner airlines DO NOT allow it for reward/guest bookings. It MAY be different for points plus pay but I'd given up after 6 hours fruitless effort over several days.

Also, the EY search engine (really pretty good IMHO) specifically rejected searches for F on routes that did not fly planes with that class provided. Made me wonder just how some of the EU econocrats put up with the injustice!

 

[PDog]

Thanks again RAM for your prompting, I just called VFF and they confirmed if you are only changing the date and /or time the it's just the $60 change fee. If you change the route, the EY tax will apply. Now to work out where to fly home from.....!

 

[lobo76]

OK trying to read back and make sense of this but I was looking at redeeming flights to Europe - should I now book them like today and then change them, paying the $60 change fee?

 

[RAM]

OK trying to read back and make sense of this but I was looking at redeeming flights to Europe - should I now book them like today and then change them, paying the $60 change fee?

So,

1. Have you gone onto the EY guest booking page and seen what is available?
2. Then gone into the VFF redemption page to see if they are there?
3. Regardless, ring VFF and ask EVERY question you may have - just in case. Note down date, time, who you speak to and call length - somewhere that you will not lose it.

It is possible that I (and you may) got the wrong information and I will not be able to change dates without the big cash cost on top of the $60 per person - and then it becomes a battle to get it back due to information received.

If you (and YOU must make the decision based on YOUR ability to negotiate with VFF etc) feel comfortable after asking the questions - then go for it.

If not, balance the extra cost against the lack of worrying (if you're that way inclined).

If not stressful for you then go for it. Otherwise sleep better and average the extra cost over each day of better sleep!

 

[drewbles]

Had a very knowledgeable VFF rep who mentioned that if I wanted to upgrade from J to F subsequently (as no F reward/guest seats available yet, they seem to be released 11 days after J by EY) then we will NOT have to pay the cash amount per sector even though the per sector cash amounts increase from J to F.

This is exactly the opposite of what I was told:

"You will not be charged for date/time changes. You will only be charged the new fee if you change cabins up or down or change routing"

There's an entire thread on this here: New Charge for Velocity Bookings on EY

I posted in there the process they follow to do it, and they were reading from an internal memo directly to me. As it's actually ticketing a new cabin, they were adamant that the fee would apply (as it's a full re-ticket, just with the same PNR; date changes are not).

 

[PDog]

So today I've booked flights for May 17 that we don't intend to use until August. Had to make a fast decision as to where we'll fly out of!
Fingers crossed in a few months it costs just $240 to change our dates (4 x $60) and not the additional crazy amount... (I suspect we'll switch to SQ if that happens)

Thanks again for the help, will keep you posted with our outcome!

(now back to that EK AKL - MEL F bargain...)

 

[Cryptarcadian]

How far forward can you change the date? Can you roll it forward indefinitely at $60 a pop, or is it something like 12 months from original ticket issue?

 

[PDog]

How far forward can you change the date? Can you roll it forward indefinitely at $60 a pop, or is it something like 12 months from original ticket issue?

Pretty sure I saw 12 months from original travel date regardless of how many times it's moved, so not indefinitely. Best you can do is May 2018

 

[Cryptarcadian]

Thanks! I just looked it up too, and it says:

Your new booking must be for travel on the Virgin Australia network within 12 months of the date that the original ticket was issued (the "OTD").

It sounds ambiguous whether the OTD is the original booking date, or the original flight date?

 

[PDog]

Thanks! I just looked it up too, and it says:



It sounds ambiguous whether the OTD is the original booking date, or the original flight date?

hmmmm... I clarified that when I called today because I want to travel in Aug 17, but can see the confusion. I assume OTD stands for original ticket date, not original issue date, and the date of my ticket is May 17...

edited to add- am a little nervous the advice I was given was wrong & will be calling to reconfirm tomorrow