Velocity Frequent Flyer is working to resolve an issue that has seen some members receive fewer status credits than advertised at the time of booking.
The issue affects some mixed-cabin bookings, where a passenger books a Business Class fare but only Economy seating is available for part of the journey.
Virgin Australia does not offer Business Class on all flights
For example, there is no Business Class available on routes like Canberra-Sydney (operated by Link Airways) or intra-Queensland routes operated by Alliance Airlines. There is also no Business Class cabin on some of Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737-700 and Airbus A320 aircraft.
The Virgin Australia website still sells Business Class itineraries where one or more sector has no Business Class seating available. The ticket is priced as a Business Class fare and the passenger is still entitled to Business Class benefits including the extra baggage allowance. However, the passenger will sit in an Economy seat on the sector where Business seating is not available.
This is clearly shown when booking on the Virgin Australia website:
When booking some of these mixed-cabin itineraries, Virgin Australia advertises on its website that customers will still receive the full Business Class status credits for all flights.
For example, if booking a flight from Melbourne to Gladstone via Brisbane in Business, Virgin’s website shows that you’ll earn 135 status credits. That’s the sum of the Business Class status credits from Melbourne to Brisbane and Brisbane to Gladstone, even though the Brisbane-Gladstone flight only has Economy seating.
This is not necessarily the case on mixed-cabin itineraries where the longer flight is in Economy. For example, if you book a ticket from Melbourne to Perth via Adelaide, and the Adelaide-Perth flight is in Economy, you’ll only receive Economy status credits for that sector. But the airfare in this case is much lower than a Business Class ticket all the way to Perth.
Velocity intentionally provides Business status credits on some mixed-cabin itineraries
In our view, it’s reasonable that Velocity gives Business status credits on the Economy sector in instances where the customer is still paying for a Business Class airfare.
It’s a similar story when booking a Business Class ticket from Canberra to Adelaide via Sydney. As Business Class isn’t available from Canberra to Sydney, that short leg books into Economy…
But customers should still receive Business Class status credits for both flights, according to the Virgin Australia website:
It costs around the same price to fly from Canberra to Adelaide via Melbourne in Business Class. On that routing, Virgin provides Business seating on both flights.
Velocity members are not receiving the advertised status credits
The problem is that Velocity Frequent Flyer is not actually crediting members with the advertised rate of status credits on these itineraries. Instead, members are receiving status credits at the Economy Flex rate for those short connecting flights.
Numerous Australian Frequent Flyer members have encountered this issue and posted about it on the AFF forum.
Velocity is fixing this problem
The good news is that Velocity Frequent Flyer is aware of this issue and is now working to resolve it as soon as possible.
In the meantime, if you’re affected by this error, you can contact the Velocity Membership Contact Centre to request your missing status credits. The staff are able to manually process the difference between the advertised status credits and what you actually received.
Indeed, numerous AFF members have successfully received their missing status credits after calling Velocity.
Velocity Frequent Flyer has apologised to affected members for the inconvenience.
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