Platinum Reward Seat Guarantee

danban

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2015
Posts
15
Hello

I was trying to organise a one way flight Europe --> MEL using this benefit of Platinum Velocity Membership.
I am being told that because Virgin is not currently flying to Europe,I cannot use it for flights to from Europe.

In fact Virgin is not even flying to Singapore now, so that is also not possible.
So pretty much the only Asian hub is Denpasar?

Does this sound right to people who know much more about this topic than I?
It really dilutes the value of the membership.

the details are as follows pasted from here with full T&C here
Economy Reward seat guarantee for an Annual Family Trip

  • As a Platinum member, we guarantee you will be able to redeem up to four return Economy Reward Seats once per Benefit Period to any domestic or international destination when travelling on any Virgin Australia marketed flight beginning with a 'VA' flight number*.
  • Reward Seat carrier charges can be paid for using Points or a combination of Points and cash.
  • The Guaranteed Economy Reward Seat must be booked at least six months prior to your journey and allow one day for domestic flights and three days for international flights either side of the desired departure and return dates. Our Reward Seat Guarantee is available for one itinerary per year.
  • To make a redemption booking, please contact our Membership Contact Centre.
Guaranteed Economy Reward Seats for an Annual Family Trip Terms and Conditions.

Thanks for your help.

Daniel
 
Virgin doesn't fly to Europe or Singapore on their own metal. They were most likely referring to codeshare on Virgin's partners (SQ and incoming partner QR (was EY prior to administration)).
 
I was trying to organise a one way flight Europe --> MEL using this benefit of Platinum Velocity Membership.
Short answer - This is no longer possible. In February 2022 the Platinum reward seat guarantee was changed so flights must be VA operated.

From 5 February 2022, flights to Cocos Island, Christmas Island and Partner Airline operated flights booked with a VA flight number will no longer be eligible flights under our Economy Reward Seat Guarantee
Source for above : Platinum Membership


Long answer. Previously Virgin Platinum members could request a return flight to anywhere that was sold as a cash fare marketed by Virgin Australia but operated by either Virgin Australia or a partner airline. You would call them up to request this and it took a while to book but essentially they'd book a cash fare for you, you'd pay the taxes and then they'd pay the fare component only deducting the equivalent number of points for an economy reward.

The big thing to note is that whilst one-way flights were available all travel needed to start in Australia. Meaning even if the old benefit did exist you still wouldn't be able to book Europe to Melbourne.

In February this year they enhanced this benefit meaning the flight needs to be operated by Virgin Australia. Now both Gold and Platinum have this guarantee but gold's were (and still are) limited to domestic only trips. Platinum card holders used to have the whole VA network and partners (SQ, EY, DL, VS) but this is reduced to VA operated international flights. Currently the international network is limited to just Fiji and Denpasar with Queenstown in November 2022 and Vanuatu and Samoa from March 2023.

Back on topic you're asking about a flight from Europe to Melbourne, do you care to share where in Europe and some rough dates. The helpful people around here might have some ideas as you're still able to access normal award seats on SQ, EY, VS, UA and AC all of which provide some options to get either to Australia or to another airport for another award seat.
 
Last edited:
Thankyou for your prompt help.
My planned flight is MEL--CPH mid December
Then FRA--MEL around 15/1/23

I would be happy to spend velocity points economically on rewards seats for either or both legs, but we are a family of 5, and really need to travel together.
Getting 5 reward seats is tough, hence the attractiveness of the original benefit.
However I'm also happy to get a mixture of reward and paid seats as long as we are on the same flight.
Thanks for any good suggestions.

Daniel
 
Thankyou for your prompt help.
My planned flight is MEL--CPH mid December
Then FRA--MEL around 15/1/23

I would be happy to spend velocity points economically on rewards seats for either or both legs, but we are a family of 5, and really need to travel together.
How many VA points do you have?
 
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About 1000000
There is very limited no chance you'll find any award seats around those dates from/to Australia. My recommendation is to look for award seats from Asia instead and focus on buying a reasonable cash fare from Australia to Asia.

Some flights have 3-4 award seats from Singapore to Europe around mid december and I'd look at either Qantas/Scoot/Jetstar or Scoot flights from Melbourne to Singapore.

On the return most Singapore Airlines flights have 5+ seats from FRA to SIN meaning you could all be on one ticket through to SIN. From SIN you can then look at flights onward to MEL (perhaps on the same return ticket as the outbound from MEL to SIN).

If you're really pushing it, you could pull the Platinum guarantee from MEL to DPS for 4 people round trip. This would get you to Denpasar where you could purchase a cheap Jetstar or Scoot flight from Denpasar to Singapore before another award ticket from Singapore to Europe.

I've just recently booked a flight from LHR-SIN (on Qantas), SIN-DPS (on Jetstar same ticket) then separate ticket DPS-BNE (Virgin) because it was cheaper than any airline could quote for a LHR-BNE ticket, the bonus is I get stops in SIN and DPS on the way through.
 

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