Virgin Beyond

[Reggie_V]

Hi All

new member to this forum, very very frequent flyer

i have been trying to obtain an invite for BEYOND, facing a lot of resistance and for the life of me cannot see why they are resisting

Some Background, i complete in excess of 5 x the amount of status credits each for for Platinum, receive emails stating in top 1% of flyers nationally for Virgin, receive invites to functions blah blah

my company ( as in my own company ) operations in four states,

the spend alone for myself is in excess of $100k per year!!!! and has for a few years, total company spend sits around $140k for myself, other director and some people we fly with us ( internal staff ) from time to time, flights are always business class, never use free upgrades as many times we will travel at a few hours notice, never use points for anything they just accumulate.

have had a number of conversations with a Virgin business accounts person however just doesn't seem to happen, yeah i know its a first world problem, wanting Beyond purely for quiet lounge, based out of Sydney and as most would know the Sydney lounge is sometimes standing room only as is Brisbane, the business rep ( i have his mobile ) is always non committal ( we dont use an account manager or need one i do all the bookings via the B2B Portal )

please tell me if i am being unrealistic in expecting the recognition etc and also any suggestions as to how i can push them apart from just giving all our spend to Qantas

thanks

 

[MarkD]

Thats a big spend to you, and indeed against my spend, but in the scheme of things its chicken feed to virgin unfortunately mate.
Id be thinking directors of large companies that spend millions on travel would be targets. Just my thoughts

 

[Reggie_V]

Thats a big spend to you, and indeed against my spend, but in the scheme of things its chicken feed to virgin unfortunately mate.
Id be thinking directors of large companies that spend millions on travel would be targets. Just my thoughts

Yep I agree let’s not forget tik tokers and social media influencers

 

[Steven of Mysore]

Hi All

new member to this forum, very very frequent flyer

i have been trying to obtain an invite for BEYOND, facing a lot of resistance and for the life of me cannot see why they are resisting

Some Background, i complete in excess of 5 x the amount of status credits each for for Platinum, receive emails stating in top 1% of flyers nationally for Virgin, receive invites to functions blah blah

my company ( as in my own company ) operations in four states,

the spend alone for myself is in excess of $100k per year!!!! and has for a few years, total company spend sits around $140k for myself, other director and some people we fly with us ( internal staff ) from time to time, flights are always business class, never use free upgrades as many times we will travel at a few hours notice, never use points for anything they just accumulate.

have had a number of conversations with a Virgin business accounts person however just doesn't seem to happen, yeah i know its a first world problem, wanting Beyond purely for quiet lounge, based out of Sydney and as most would know the Sydney lounge is sometimes standing room only as is Brisbane, the business rep ( i have his mobile ) is always non committal ( we dont use an account manager or need one i do all the bookings via the B2B Portal )

please tell me if i am being unrealistic in expecting the recognition etc and also any suggestions as to how i can push them apart from just giving all our spend to Qantas

thanks

I am like the other commentators, it's really not that much of a spend in Virgin's sales of Billions. Big corporate and government accounts get the Beyond - influential as against influencers.

 

[twinaisle]

Unfortunately if you're posting on AFF in regards how to obtain Beyond then you're not the clientele they're after.

 

[jase05]

Yes, unfortunately as others have stated unless you are spending millions or are someone famous there will be little chance of joining.
I know a couple of people who have membership and spend very little with the company but are sports stars so have complimentary membership

 

[Reggie_V]

I agree

 

[SYD]

If it’s any consolation, if you push that spend to QF, at least you could be P1 (and at least OWE).

It won’t translate to CL either, but still better than VA WP in the grand scheme of global travel things.

 

[elanshin]

If it’s any consolation, if you push that spend to QF, at least you could be P1 (and at least OWE).

It won’t translate to CL either, but still better than VA WP in the grand scheme of global travel things.

Or both. With that sort of spend should be able to hold both.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

...

please tell me if i am being unrealistic in expecting the recognition etc and also any suggestions as to how i can push them apart from just giving all our spend to Qantas

thanks

At $100K you're in the bottom 5% of the top 1%.

The best you can do is go where you're treated best. Forget being loyal to an airline brand.
Spread it out between the airlines, lock your Platinum status in, and call it a day.

Don't bother contacting the airline about anything special until your company is spending $10M/year on flights.

 

[Saab34]

I worked for a top ASX in a previous life, I travelled with the boss once on VA and he said even he didn’t get access, spend was split between all carriers but would have been in the millions based off the amount of trips I’ve seen the place take.

He said he had a VA business/account manager contact however who looked after our contract with the airline, he told me it is helpful when we have issues, ie they lost his bag, manage to get it back same day by just dealing with a senior person inside Virgin HQ. They do still look after you somewhat. He said he didn’t get that level of support over at QF.

I assume it’s tens of millions to get access. For those not spending large amounts, fairly sure it’s extended to corporate bosses, sports executives/coaches, politicians, banks/mining, celebs etc…or those special people you see the Virgin ‘minders’ walking to/from.

 

[enigma]

If it’s any consolation, if you push that spend to QF, at least you could be P1 (and at least OWE).

It won’t translate to CL either, but still better than VA WP in the grand scheme of global travel things.

If the same number of flights to be taken on QF, I'd hazard a guess the spend amount will be twice as much as that of VA's.

 

[Cynicor]

Very true, @enigma.

Similarly; I know someone who got it complementary with little spend. They were/are a FB group admin and VA I guess figured that they could sway some flights.
I believe the relationship has ended but case at the end of the day, people still fly who they want to and it’s also hard to quantify how much business they got.

I assume the Beyond membership has gone too.

 

[PlaneCrazy]

The easiest route to Beyond is probably to become a politician…

 

[jase05]

The easiest route to Beyond is probably to become a politician…

Or sportsman

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As you all might expect, I have some sympathy for the OP!

At the end of covid there was a news article where the VA CEO said the Beyond Lounge wouldn’t just be for business and political elites. It would be attainable by ‘ordinary’ flyers.

So I wondered who would qualify? I got over 5000 SCs in a single year through travel exclusively on VA. Single person, no pooling, self funded.

Not even an email to say ‘thank you for flying with us’. So obviously the threshold is higher than 5k!

 

[AIRwin]

So obviously the threshold is higher than 5k!

Yes it's Beyond

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes it's Beyond

Indeed.

Anyways… as i mentioned in another thread… boarding for rows 15 and Beyond was always via the rear stairs. Middle of winter? No thanks!

 

[ozstamps]

It is all beyond me.