Velocity not honouring vs fights

[PA747GAL]

G'day,

We had a flight booked in Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic SYD-LHR-SYD earlier this year...when Virgin Atlantic announced they were pulling out of SYD our flights were rebooked SYD-HKG-LHR-HKG-SYD with the SYD-HKG-SYD now on CX.
I was assured I would still get my Velocity points as originally booked SYD-LHR-SYD. Unfortunately I didn't.
I contacted Velocity and they won't credit me the points.
Feel very let down...

Has anyone else had this happen?

 

[747800intercon]

This has happened a fair bit. Hopefully the official Velocity AFF rep can shed some light on this?

 

[cssaus]

Interesting.

I ended up having to fly SYD-HKG on QF and then VS to LHR. On the return my wife & I both flew LHR-HKG on VS and then QF to SYD. The flights on VS were in Z class (discounted upper class).

For the QF sectors I ended up putting in our QF FF numbers (which have now credited including class bonus) and I've submitted retro claims for the HKG-LHR-HKG sectors.

Have arranged to swap QF points for VA points with a "family member"

 

[PA747GAL]

Thank you both for your replies, support and sharing your experiences...
These fares were paid for in full - to VS directly back in October 2013 in good faith... wanting to stay loyal to Virgin (Atlantic and Australia).
I am keen to hear what the official Velocity AFF Representative has to say about the matter.

 

[straitman]

I am keen to hear what the official Velocity AFF Representative has to say about the matter.

I suggest you send the VA rep a PM explaining the situation and pointing at this thread just in case they have not read the thread.

 

[PA747GAL]

Hi Straitman, thanks - that's a good idea.
I'm just new to this forum and not sure who the VA Rep is, and how I go about sending them a message?
Pardon my ignorance... I am happy to be guided by you
Cheers

 

[straitman]

Hi Straitman, thanks - that's a good idea.
I'm just new to this forum and not sure who VA Rep is and how I go about sending them a message?
Pardon my ignorance... I am happy to be guided by you
Cheers

I will send them the PM, copy you in on it and also send you another PM so you can see the process.

 

[PA747GAL]

Many thanks, I really appreciate your kindness and support!

 

[TomVexille]

You may be ale to claim ORC (original route credit). However if you don't know what you're after specifically it is easy for the airline to fob you off.

 

[PA747GAL]

Hi TomVexille, Thanks for your reply!

I know exactly what I'm after, ORC is what I've asked for and supplied them explicit information - original booking PNR's and dates, you name it! Even gone so far as, to attach extracts for AUSBT articles (to jog their memory) stating that VS/VA would honour their part of the deal - specifically when being transferred to CX when VS pulled out.
Yet, they still fobbed me off.... Not very impressed

 

[TomVexille]

Well that's not ideal then. Hope you get a good result

 

[PA747GAL]

No it's not... oh well see what transpires. Cheers

 

[Deleted member 29185]

These fares were paid for in full - to VS directly

Could this be the problem? I'm not sure of the intricacies but it seems logical to me that if you booked with VS and paid VS to fly on VS metal, why would VA have to cough up the points when it goes sour, even if you had nominated VA as your preferred FF program?

Have you tried taking it up with VS?

 

[cssaus]

Could this be the problem? I'm not sure of the intricacies but it seems logical to me that if you booked with VS and paid VS to fly on VS metal, why would VA have to cough up the points when it goes sour, even if you had nominated VA as your preferred FF program?

Have you tried taking it up with VS?

That is my thinking too in that VS might credit the non-VS flights to their own FF but not necessarily honor the flight being credited to a partner such as VA. However, there's no reason for not crediting the HKG-LHR-HKG flights on VS to a an accredited partner.

Anyone else who was affected and was flying on a J award flight noticed that their booking class was changed from G to Z?

 

[Velocity Frequent Flyer]

Hi PA747GAL,

I can confirm that you can earn on the VS operated sectors you have flown. Therefore you should still be able to earn Points and Status Credits on your HKG-LHR-HKG sectors as they were operated by VS. Please PM me your Velocity number, VS booking reference and flight details if you need assistance to claim Points and Status Credits for these sectors and I will follow it up for you.

However, we are unable to credit Points and Status Credits for members who booked directly with VS and have subsequently been re-booked by VS on to a non-partner airline of Velocity such as CX as a result of VS ceasing to fly SYD-HKG. As you may be aware, despite sharing the Virgin brand, VS and VA are 2 distinct airlines and do not share booking data. For Velocity to credit Points and Status Credits based on the originally booked itinerary, this information needs to be validated and passed to us by VS. To date the necessary data we require have not been reported to us by VS. We recognise that this is not ideal for our members, and understand your disappointment, but Velocity is limited in what we are able to do in this scenario.

Finally, all members who were originally booked on VA codeshare services operated by VS will also be able to earn as you would have been re-accommodated by VA on to one of our partner airlines.

 

[PA747GAL]

Thank you. I have just sent you a PM but it's not showing up in my sent mail folder?
Can you please advise when you have received it.
Cheers

 

[cssaus]

Hi PA747GAL,

I can confirm that you can earn on the VS operated sectors you have flown. Therefore you should still be able to earn Points and Status Credits on your HKG-LHR-HKG sectors as they were operated by VS. Please PM me your Velocity number, VS booking reference and flight details if you need assistance to claim Points and Status Credits for these sectors and I will follow it up for you.

However, we are unable to credit Points and Status Credits for members who booked directly with VS and have subsequently been re-booked by VS on to a non-partner airline of Velocity such as CX as a result of VS ceasing to fly SYD-HKG. As you may be aware, despite sharing the Virgin brand, VS and VA are 2 distinct airlines and do not share booking data. For Velocity to credit Points and Status Credits based on the originally booked itinerary, this information needs to be validated and passed to us by VS. To date the necessary data we require have not been reported to us by VS. We recognise that this is not ideal for our members, and understand your disappointment, but Velocity is limited in what we are able to do in this scenario.

Finally, all members who were originally booked on VA codeshare services operated by VS will also be able to earn as you would have been re-accommodated by VA on to one of our partner airlines.

Thanks VFF for the confirmation, that's pretty much the way I expected it would work and so I earned QF miles for the QF flights I took between SYD & HKG. However, I have had to submit retro claims to Velocity for the VS flights I undertook between HKG & LHR. As is usual, the automatic crediting for partner flights fails to eventuate.