One of the hardest things about being a status holder with one airline is changing to the competition and missing out on your status benefits. Historically, much of government travel would be locked in with one provider. But with recent legislative changes, travel can now be on any airline, with the best fare of the day being the deciding factor.
To assist in winning the business of public servants, Virgin now offer a “Status Match” exclusively for federal public servants.
Afternoon all, been hanging out for one of these for a while and this came across my desk today. Virgin are running a promotion for Australian Government employees to match existing Qantas Frequent Flyer statuses. Just need to: 1. Scan a copy of your current QFF membership card or QFF statement 2. Compose an email from your government email address with ‘GOVT – Status Match’ and your Velocity number 3. Send it and you are done.
When news of the campaign broke, many of our members were keen to take advantage of the offer. Some members applied even though they didn’t really qualify, and initially reported some success
I have a qld.gov.au email address and went from silver to platinum with 24 hours
But it seems as though this success was soon limited to the early applicants.
Further to my qld.gov.au email address, a colleague in the same department just received an email saying its only for federal gov and was declined.. I am still platinum though, so now a nervous wait to see if they correct it
For others, things are even more complicated. Government Business agencies, or businesses owned by the Government often don’t have a .gov email address. This makes their employees ineligible for the promotion despite being bona fide federal government employees.
I work for a wholly owned Government Agency, and they declined my request. Their loss I suppose, after some bad Virgin experiences, I now do most of my flying with Qantas. Was willing to give Virgin another go if they comped me.
If you’re a federal government employee, have you considered getting a status match? Could we see a state government based one soon, why not have your say HERE.
