Virgin Australia flight thru Amex platinum credit card

[Foreigner]

I'd received booking confirmation and when I went to airport for checkin, I'm told I'd have to pay aud60 for 2 pax / 2 bags being checked in. When I showed the ticketing which stated 'baggage is included...' the staff wouldn't accept it and directed me to another person who was collecting charges. The latter person was more sympathetic when I showed the printout and told me she wouldn't charge. I'll check with Amex to be sure same issue doesn't arise in NZ next week.

On another point, I noticed billboard between SYD domestic and international that displays time and temperature still shows daylight saving time.

 

[kpc]

I'd received booking confirmation and when I went to airport for checkin, I'm told I'd have to pay aud60 for 2 pax / 2 bags being checked in. When I showed the ticketing which stated 'baggage is included...' the staff wouldn't accept it and directed me to another person who was collecting charges. The latter person was more sympathetic when I showed the printout and told me she wouldn't charge. I'll check with Amex to be sure same issue doesn't arise in NZ next week.

I would have asked for a supervisor. Just dug up the Ts and Cs of my last Virgin Australia flight thru Amex platinum card. Clearly states that luggage is included:

Platinum Reserve Credit Card Virgin Australia Saver Fare Rules

Minimum Stay: None
Maximum Stay: One year from date of issue.
Reservations: Instant purchase fare
Changes: Permitted at least 24 hours prior to scheduled departure
A. Permitted at an airline charge of up to AUD80.00 including GST per person for Domestic flights and AUD100.00 for International flights. Not permitted to change and travel on the same day.
B. A service fee of AUD27.00 per person will be charged by American Express for all changes.
C. Fare may be used as a credit towards payment of an equal or higher ticket value provided conditions of the new fare have been met. Any higher fare difference will be paid by card member in addition to the service and reissue fees.
On day of departure Changes not permitted. Fare is forfeited.
Ticket Validity: 1 Year. All travel must be completed within 1 year of original ticketing date.
Restrictions: Non Refundable / Non Endorsable / No name changes permitted
Cancellations: Permitted at least 24 hours prior to scheduled departure
A. Permitted at an airline charge of up to AUD80.00 including GST per person for Domestic flights and AUD100.00 for International flights. Not permitted to change and travel on the same day.
B. A service fee of AUD27.00 per person will be charged by American Express for all changes.
Failure to check in on time for your confirmed flight will result in your ticket being void. Cancellation on day of departure is not permitted. Fare is forfeited.
Refundable No.
Credit can be held for 12 months after date of first booking if flight cancellations are made in accordance with the fare rule. . At time of rebooking, any higher fare difference will be paid by card member in addition to the service and reissue fees.
Baggage: Is included within this fare. Allowance of 23Kg per sector.
Frequent Flyer: Frequent flyer points will not be earned on this ticket.

 

[Water]

I recently made a booking with my free flight for later this year, the details from amex state luggage included, but if you check your details on the Virgin site it states no luggage included. I raised this with AMex who emailed saying this is how it shows but that luggage is included. I guess we will find out when we check-in.

 

[pauly7]

I got growled at by the VA check in dragon as well but I held firm and offered to get AMEX on the phone to confirm to her. I got a snarl and a 'we will investigate but you are lucky this time' response.

I wrote a letter of complaint to Amex (as I don't see it really as Virgins fault although I got poor VA service) and their response was apologetic but blamed Virgins systems, they had done everything correctly.... Apparently.

I suggest you bring a print out to the airport!

 

[AdMEL]

I recently made a booking with my free flight for later this year, the details from amex state luggage included, but if you check your details on the Virgin site it states no luggage included. I raised this with AMex who emailed saying this is how it shows but that luggage is included. I guess we will find out when we check-in.

Same for my flight with Amex Plat Edge. Didn't get to find out what would have happened, as I only had carry on, so wasn't an issue. Seems to be a flaw in their booking process.

 

[LovemyCC]

Ive got the plat edge card, not sure if sales conditions are plat reserve. However used the flight twice or thrice and always had it included. Next time I would note the name of the CSR from Amex and ensure they have booked with luggage. I agree its not virgins fault, Amex CSR should know better.

Does Amex plat reserve get an international flight (to NZ) complimentary annually?

 

[oz_mark]

Ive got the plat edge card, not sure if sales conditions are plat reserve. However used the flight twice or thrice and always had it included. Next time I would note the name of the CSR from Amex and ensure they have booked with luggage. I agree its not virgins fault, Amex CSR should know better.

It's hard to know where the problem lies, as they are using special booking classes for the fares. I would have thought that the fare rules of those classes allowed baggage.

 

[Foreigner]

I got growled at by the VA check in dragon as well but I held firm and offered to get AMEX on the phone to confirm to her. I got a snarl and a 'we will investigate but you are lucky this time' response.

I wrote a letter of complaint to Amex (as I don't see it really as Virgins fault although I got poor VA service) and their response was apologetic but blamed Virgins systems, they had done everything correctly.... Apparently.

I suggest you bring a print out to the airport!

If that was in SYD it must have been the same person, who rudely cautioned me not to speak.

This is what the Amex website shows:

"1. All flights are restricted to selected classes within the Saver Fare family and are subject to availability. The complimentary flight is offered on selected destinations only and not valid for flights with Virgin Australia partner airlines or any codeshare flights. Virgin Australia and American Express cannot guarantee that seats or tickets will be available on the dates or at the times you may wish to fly. Seat availability may be limited to certain dates and/or flights and it may be more difficult to book seats around public holidays, school holidays or special events. Some flights may not have any seats available for this promotion. Route availability is subject to change without notice. Baggage in excess to the 23kgs included in the promotion will attract additional fees, see virginaustralia.com for more information. The offer is subject to the American Express Flight Offer Conditions and air travel is subject to Virgin Australia Terms and Conditions of Carriage."

'Baggage in excess to the 23kgs included in the promotion'!

 

[Mal]

It's hard to know where the problem lies, as they are using special booking classes for the fares. I would have thought that the fare rules of those classes allowed baggage.

The problem only started when DJ moved to the new fare types. Before that, I don't believe there were any issues. The fault lies with DJ and their inflexible IT system.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Ive got the plat edge card, not sure if sales conditions are plat reserve. However used the flight twice or thrice and always had it included. Next time I would note the name of the CSR from Amex and ensure they have booked with luggage. I agree its not virgins fault, Amex CSR should know better.

If the confirmation stating 23kg of checked baggage is included comes from the Virgin issued eticket itinerary receipt or itinerary, it would be DJ's fault as they are contradicting themselves.

If the baggage being included bit is from the Amex end stating that the luggage allowance is 23kg however they've only booked a carry on fare only with DJ, then that is Amex's fault as they haven't booked the correct fare type with DJ that matches the T&C sent to you.

It's hard to know where the problem lies, as they are using special booking classes for the fares. I would have thought that the fare rules of those classes allowed baggage.

Is the usual way of doing things for the Amex CSR to tick the box to add the checked baggage in on these Amex reward tickets? If so, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to remind them to do this early on in the booking process.

I would have asked for a supervisor. Just dug up the Ts and Cs of my last Virgin Australia flight thru Amex platinum card. Clearly states that luggage is included:

Are those T&C a cut & paste job from the Amex website or does that come from the actual DJ itinerary confirmation?

If it comes from Amex then I guess DJ are going by their T&C for the particular fare booked however if it's directly from the DJ confirmation ie generated from thier own website it's a bit rich to tell you the fare doesn't include baggage. I guess if you're Velocity Silver & above you're not affected.

 

[kpc]

I would have asked for a supervisor. Just dug up the Ts and Cs of my last Virgin Australia flight thru Amex platinum card. Clearly states that luggage is included:

...
Are those T&C a cut & paste job from the Amex website or does that come from the actual DJ itinerary confirmation?

If it comes from Amex then I guess DJ are going by their T&C for the particular fare booked however if it's directly from the DJ confirmation ie generated from thier own website it's a bit rich to tell you the fare doesn't include baggage. I guess if you're Velocity Silver & above you're not affected.

The Ts and Cs come from the DJ itinerary (incl eticket) sent by AMEX.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

The Ts and Cs come from the DJ itinerary (incl eticket) sent by AMEX.

If that's the case then I don't see that it's Amex's fault as they've booked it correctly.

What I don't understand is why DJ claim that the ticket doesn't include 23kg baggage allowance when it is their documentation that clearly states it does.

 

[dontwanttoregister]

I made two ticket bookings in early April for flights in May.

The Amex CSR made it very clear (stated twice and asked if I understood) that the Virgin website would show no luggage included, but the ticket definitely includes luggage and I could rely on the Amex itinerary. She stated this was a Virgin systems issue.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I made two ticket bookings in early April for flights in May.

The Amex CSR made it very clear (stated twice and asked if I understood) that the Virgin website would show no luggage included, but the ticket definitely includes luggage and I could rely on the Amex itinerary. She stated this was a Virgin systems issue.

So the eticket itinerary receipt says 23 kg but the DJ checkin systems shows 'no luggage' & therein lies the problem - the DJ CSA's are going by what's in the system, not what their own eticket itin/receipt shows.

Sounds as though Amex are aware of IT issue regarding these tickets but DJ aren't. All well & good for Amex to say rely on their itinerary (assuming they mean the DJ issued etickt itin receipt booked by Amex) but it's up to the checkin peoples' intrepretation of the situation.

 

[serfty]

I saw this when checking a booking I have via the Velocity web site.

I called velocity and they fixed it due to my WPness to 69Kg, I did not express anything in relation to it being an Amex booking.

The MS-Word document that Amex sent me as an e-ticket receipt has the following:

Baggage: Is included within this fare. Allowance of 23Kg per sector.

Also, on the Platinum Credit card site: (The Platinum Reserve Credit Card | American Express Australia)

1. All flights are restricted to selected classes within the Saver Fare family and are subject to availability. The complimentary flight is offered on selected destinations only and not valid for flights with Virgin Australia partner airlines or any codeshare flights. Virgin Australia and American Express cannot guarantee that seats or tickets will be available on the dates or at the times you may wish to fly. Seat availability may be limited to certain dates and/or flights and it may be more difficult to book seats around public holidays, school holidays or special events. Some flights may not have any seats available for this promotion. Route availability is subject to change without notice. Baggage in excess to the 23kgs included in the promotion will attract additional fees, see virginaustralia.com for more information. The offer is subject to the American Express Flight Offer Conditions and air travel is subject to Virgin Australia Terms and Conditions of Carriage.

Obviously, DJ's systems are not aligned with Amex's.

Note that T & R class that these book in to appear to be standard revenue fares.

 

[LovemyCC]

I used my free flight last week and the virgin staff said it normally states luggage. However with Amex booking it neither said yes to luggage or no to luggage. So I guess some virgin staff assume no luggage since it didn't state on the system. When I spoke to her, she seemed to be aware of the problem.

 

[pauly7]

If that was in SYD it must have been the same person, who rudely cautioned me not to speak.

No it was a grumpy Melbourne dragon!

And they got a feedback email with their name attached for their trouble in giving me free attitude

 

[Foreigner]

No it was a grumpy Melbourne dragon!

And they got a feedback email with their name attached for their trouble in giving me free attitude

Could be they went through training together!
Some customer service agents seem to have an attitude problem, feeling all too powerful. (Perceived) aggression from pax could lead to problems including boarding denials so pax often step back. I would.

 

[Foreigner]

Amex and Virgin both confirmed 23kg per sector is included with ticket.

Amex advised me "[FONT=&quot]...staff at Virgin should all be aware that tickets issued by American Express have a 23kg baggage allowance and 7kg hand-carry allowance, regardless of what is showing in their system.[/FONT]"

 

[lovestotravel]

Staff at Virgin and related partners get very confused at various things.........