Will VA keep me gold?? Ok for status credits but not enough VA sectors flown

[ozstamps]

Most US airlines will let you sneak under the wire if you got close. And if you ask. Good business.

Do 2 domestic flights in the year and ask and you are wasting their time and yours. Rightly so.

 

[JohnK]

Hahahha I'm kinda hoping that Virgin stuff you over as well John K just so I can watch the show!!!

That would just about make my decision to commute OOL-SYD instead of BNE-SYD really stupid.

 

[superpang]

Does Virgin benefit from someone like me who flew their partner airlines and racked up enough status credits to maintain gold? eg. If I book an SQ flight and enter a VA FF number is Virgin paid like some sort of commission?

I mean I could have booked some of them as VA flight numbers however I would have got less points which makes no sense at all.

To be honest I didn't even know there was a minimum sectors requirement until I got close to maintaining a status with them.

 

[superpang]

Just incase anyone wanted to know.......they maintained by GOLD status

 

[Jurahn]

In reading threads such as these, and discussions about people being comped Gold and Platinum status when they are getting nowhere near the required SCs and/or eligible sectors whilst others are being dropped back to a lower status level because they haven't qualified, I can fully understand the frustration and annoyance being felt by those who are gaining their status the "hard way" through paying out the dollars (their own) AND doing the eligible sectors on flights. Hubby and I only fly for leisure purposes, no opportunity to fly on business, and we've paid out a considerable amount of money and put in a lot of flying time in this past year in order to get close to Gold. I'm actually doing a status run next week (first time ever) just to give hubby enough SCs to hit Gold before he goes on a trip to the US and another to Europe early next year (our review date is coming up shortly when a lot of SCs will "drop off"). His SCs from one of those trips will then come to me to help me to get closer to Gold before my own US trip later in the year, although I will still have to probably do at least a couple of status runs (not an easy option time-wise nor a cheap one either when living in Perth) next year as well in order to get enough SCs to hit Gold before the trip. So between us we have at least 8 international flights and several domestic flights planned for 2013, but it's highly unlikely we'll be comped anything in the way of status - we'll just have to keep shelling out our hard-earned, and making sure we take most (if not all) our flights with Virgin to make sure we get the SCs and eligible sectors.

 

[hydrabyss]

My partner and I only fly for leisure purposes also so have had to fly a few J fares to get the points up to reach gold after 6 months of flying.Had reached 490 and had been comped the last 10 which I thought at the time was very gracious.Even after reading all the threads still very happy and will get my partner to gold in a few months(didnt realise how pooling worked until we both hit 260).
Im hoping both being gold will help when lounges are full incase guests are turned away.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Does Virgin benefit from someone like me who flew their partner airlines and racked up enough status credits to maintain gold? eg. If I book an SQ flight and enter a VA FF number is Virgin paid like some sort of commission?

They would somewhat - if earning miles on SQ (as in your example), SQ essentially 'buy' the points and SCs that are awarded to you. In other words, it's almost pure profit for VA - they didn't have to do too much, and in return they are being paid for you taking an SQ flight. The minimum sectors requirement makes sure that you're still flying with them enough to not be abusing the system (eg. only flying DL or SQ and using all of your VA status benefits with those airlines only), and gives you an incentive to fly with VA (which provides an additional revenue stream), before they start picking up the tab for your lounge visits.