Velocity refuse to issue points

[jod]

Booked a flight through Flight Centre. Melbourne to Auckland on Air New Zealand, so I should qualify for 0.5 Velocity pts per mile (around 820 pts). I wait...no points...call and advised my flight is showing on their system as Fare Type "X" and does not qualify for points, despite me having my boarding pass showing Fare Type "V". Advised to email "[email protected]" and attach a scanned copy of boarding pass. I do this. I wait. No response. I call again. Told that they did receive my email and their notes already said I had been advised there would be no points given, so they did not respond to my email. Ask for supervisor. Now advised that the ticket is showing on their system as a "Reward" seat from Air New Zealand, and doesn't qualify for points, despite the fact that I paid for the seat with real dollars and have a boarding pass showing Fare Type "V". Just because Air New Zealand didn't fill a Reward Seat and was able to sell it to me should be irrelevant. For the sake of 820 pts which really isn't much I would have thought they would just credit my account to have a happy customer, but they refused to do this. I am now at a loss as to what to do. It is the principle of the matter, that they should give me points for a flight that I have paid for. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[samh004]

Airline Consumer Advocate?

 

[docjames]

You have a boarding pass, do you have a receipt from flight centre showing fare purchased? As they are not debating that you travelled, but the fare booked.

 

[jod]

I have just lodged a complaint through the Airline Customer Advocate website...they hope to respond within 20 working days...

 

[Deleted member]

I'm a wee bit confused.
Why are you booking a flight through flight centre? If you want (IME) to ensure things don't go the way you plan, use flight centre.
Good luck getting it sorted though.

 

[williamsf1]

have you tried raising a retro claim via the automated system or is the activity showing in your account ?

 

[Jack_OC]

I wait...no points...call and advised my flight is showing on their system as Fare Type "X" and does not qualify for points, despite me having my boarding pass showing Fare Type "V".

Maybe this is a stupid question, but are you sure your boarding pass shows the fare class? I don't think I've seen that before.

 

[oz_mark]

Velocity are only going to go with what AirNZ tell them about the fare class.

 

[roby]

But Air New Zealand boarding pass does not show fare class, or was your NZ boarding pass issued by VA which could be inaccurate?

Also NZ use X class for revenue ticket as well so it's not necessarily a reward seat.

 

[Pleb Status]

But Air New Zealand boarding pass does not show fare class, or was your NZ boarding pass issued by VA which could be inaccurate?

Also NZ use X class for revenue ticket as well so it's not necessarily a reward seat.

A quick look shows that fare class X is not the cheapest fare class either.



Something to be aware of in the future. The OP really needs to confirm what fare class was shown on the original itinerary, not on the boarding pass.

 

[jod]

I booked through Flight Centre as I needed certain times for my flights, and I was having difficulty booking the return flight on Emirates (Auckland to Melbourne) as a stand alone flight.

 

[jod]

I received a response and outcome from Airline Customer Advocate. Virgin have issued me with 412 Velocity Points as "Guest Relations Goodwill". I still believe this is half what I should have been entitled to receive. I don't think it is worth me pursuing any further. I must say that I am impressed with the speed of the Airline Customer Advocate's response time.

 

[Jack_OC]

I received a response and outcome from Airline Customer Advocate. Virgin have issued me with 412 Velocity Points as "Guest Relations Goodwill". I still believe this is half what I should have been entitled to receive. I don't think it is worth me pursuing any further. I must say that I am impressed with the speed of the Airline Customer Advocate's response time.

Are you able to answer some of the questions posted earlier in the thread - e.g. did your boarding pass definitely state the booking class and/or do you have an eticket receipt showing the booking class? If yes, and you were able to prove you had paid for a booking class eligible for Velocity points earn, then I agree you have been short changed, but if no, then I think you've done pretty well.

 

[jod]

I have the Boarding Pass clearly showing Fare: V, however Virgin claim this is because they don't have a Fare Type X, as this is only issued by Flight Centre. In order to make sure I received all entitlements they used Fare Type V on my Boarding Pass. I still think they are going in circles trying to justify themselves...but just not worth me following up any further.

 

[mannej]

I have the Boarding Pass clearly showing Fare: V, however Virgin claim this is because they don't have a Fare Type X, as this is only issued by Flight Centre. In order to make sure I received all entitlements they used Fare Type V on my Boarding Pass. I still think they are going in circles trying to justify themselves...but just not worth me following up any further.

What does the fare information on your eticket state?

 

[dajop]

I have the Boarding Pass clearly showing Fare: V,

But what does the original booking show? That can be different to boarding pass.

My money is on Flight Centre being the problem. Happened to us once, quite some years ago, they ticketed some SQ flights in a non points earning class that was different to original quoted fare class (same price mind you) even though we specifically requested the fare class as it would earn points. They worked with SQ to make it good, but not been a fan of Flight Centre since.

 

[roby]

I have the Boarding Pass clearly showing Fare: V, however Virgin claim this is because they don't have a Fare Type X, as this is only issued by Flight Centre. In order to make sure I received all entitlements they used Fare Type V on my Boarding Pass. I still think they are going in circles trying to justify themselves...but just not worth me following up any further.

So many things are wrong with this statement. First, NZ boarding pass does not show fare class so I don't know where you got that from. Was it a VA boarding pass? Was it booked as a VA codeshare? Who issues the ticket is irrelevant. Until we know some more accurate details it's hard to judge.

 

[Pleb Status]

I have the Boarding Pass clearly showing Fare: V, however Virgin claim this is because they don't have a Fare Type X, as this is only issued by Flight Centre. In order to make sure I received all entitlements they used Fare Type V on my Boarding Pass. I still think they are going in circles trying to justify themselves...but just not worth me following up any further.

NZ fare class X is available elsewhere, as per my extract from the Amex travel website in post #10 of this thread.

As others have asked, what fare class is shown on the itinerary and how did you get a VA boarding pass for a NZ marketed and operated flight without connecting from another port?

Edit - Class X available at Expedia as well....

 

[serfty]

Is there a fare class shown on the eticket confirmation you received from Flight Centre? (And not just 'economy'.)

 

[jod]

Flight was Air New Zealand operated by Virgin Australia
Flight No: NZ7942
Fare Class: Seat + Bag
This is all that is on my Flight Centre Itinerary