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Our members have discovered an ingenious new way to maximise Virgin Australia status credits when flying Delta. US-based Delta Airlines recently introduced “Comfort Plus”, a new class of travel on US domestic flights between Economy and First. Comfort Plus is similar to Premium Economy, with passengers receiving more legroom, complimentary meals and other benefits in their own mini-cabin.
Delta’s Comfort Plus fares are regularly priced only slightly higher than regular Economy fares. But, most importantly for those collecting Velocity status credits, Comfort Plus fares now earn at the Premium Economy rate. This is triple the regular earning rate for “discount economy” flights.
As an example of the value to be had from Comfort Plus fares, a short flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco would earn 10 status credits in Discount Economy, 20 status credits in Full Fare Economy, 30 in Comfort Plus or 40 status credits for First Class. A longer flight, for example from Los Angeles to New York, would earn a cool 60 Velocity status credits for a Comfort Plus booking.
On paper it appears that Delta Comfort Plus is treated as a Premium Economy ticket by Velocity, thus earns additional status credits to say a Full Fare Economy ticket. My mileage came out to 2396miles, which in Premium Economy earns a very tidy 60 status credits. The cheapest ticket offered was $276US and the fare class put it in the Discount Economy Zone (20 Status Credits), yet I paid $309US for a fare class that put me into the Premium Economy Zone (60 Credits). 40 additional status credits for a mere $33US. Seems crazy considering what 40 Credits will cost you in Australia.
Calculating the number of Virgin Australia status credits you stand to earn for any Delta flight is a fairly simple two-step process. When booking on the Delta website, clicking on the flight details will reveal the flight’s length in miles. Comparing this to the status credit earn chart on the Velocity website will reveal the potential status credit haul for that flight.
The DL website is very good. You can just select the flight, click on details, click on the flight number and it reveals the miles for the sector. Then just refer to the SC earn table on Velocity site.
As always, the popular AFF mantra of “why fly direct when you can connect?” applies! Taking an indirect routing to your final destination could result in earning even more status credits, for little or no additional cost.
With such great value Virgin status runs on offer, some members wonder whether it’s too good to be true. The short answer is “no”, as these earning rates have been confirmed by Virgin Australia. However, some members believe that the low fares currently on offer may not last forever.
I am thinking these sort of fares are introductory & wont last too long….
One member encourages others to check prices for First class as well. These fares earn four times the usual number of status credits, and prices are often just as reasonable.
It is a great deal, but I still recommend that everyone should look at DL first prices too.
Join the discussion HERE.
