Yesterday I lost three hours of my life booking 23 domestic flights on VA for a tour we do in February. Because we have a crew member based at Sunshine Coast, I did an additional 5 flights on QF / Jetstar too. This has caused me to reconsider what I book next.
Firstly it is generally easier and faster on the QF website. Example: when I go to pay, the credit card number and details can be auto populated by Chrome. On VA you have to enter the credit card number in four blocks of four, then do the pull down month and year. I noticed you can also save your preferred credit card details in your QF member area - that REALLY appeals to me!
Next I note that on the flights I compared, QF can be CHEAPER than VA. Hmmmm.
But finally, this morning I observed three ultra annoying Covermore Insurance policies in my email. I am not known for enormous thoroughness so I completely understand I failed to DESELECT the insurance option on some of the flights. Which lead me to being charged 2 lots of $41.85 (covers 3 crew) and one of $27.90 - a total of $111.60.
Note on the QF web, you SELECT for insurance, or you select NO insurance. Same number of clicks, but FAR less chance of wearing crazy expensive single trip insurance that no one should ever buy (because one annual policy is so much better for frequent flyers!)
So I called Velocity and got through to the Platinium desk. They are always lovely on the phone!
Simply call Covermore, the lady said, and as they have a 14 day cooling off period, they will nix these for you. 'Great!'
I examine the policy doc, and call the Australian number only to find it is an emergency medical number. Grrr. No general number.
I call the Plat desk back, and after the preamble of pressing 1, 1, entering my number, and hearing the waffle, get through and get the number. Now that was painful. Note to VA: for Covermore complaints please also supply the number....
On calling, Mr. Covermore was quite pleasant and reversed two of the three policies but not one that didn't have my name on it. For that I have to get the named crew to call up. How freaking annoying! Crew do not do paperwork or make calls very well, and I'll have to hassle Lurch until he does it. We're talking Road Crew here, folks. The guys who Get Things Done - with Gaffers Tape! Where our primary qualification (in the 1980's) was the ability to fight your way out of a pub!
My takeout on this is that yesterday morning I was a loyal VA Plat, and today I'm booking QF (from now) to get to Gold. Easy to do: Finnair J (cunningly ticketed on QF by my clever agent in Adelaide) for my April trip to Europe dishes up 500+ SC, Emirates First to/from NZ (awesome value) on a QF code gets me 240 more, along with a shower in the air! A couple of domestic, and I am then Gold on QF. I re-qualified as Plat on VA months ago, so I have no use for the SCs other than Partner Gold, which I already have as well.
So, I'll split my loyalty now, and maybe even bump down to VA Gold if I don't fly so much next year. The value proposition of Gold on QF and VA appeals more to me, I can compare fares on both and book where the booking is better!
Firstly it is generally easier and faster on the QF website. Example: when I go to pay, the credit card number and details can be auto populated by Chrome. On VA you have to enter the credit card number in four blocks of four, then do the pull down month and year. I noticed you can also save your preferred credit card details in your QF member area - that REALLY appeals to me!
Next I note that on the flights I compared, QF can be CHEAPER than VA. Hmmmm.
But finally, this morning I observed three ultra annoying Covermore Insurance policies in my email. I am not known for enormous thoroughness so I completely understand I failed to DESELECT the insurance option on some of the flights. Which lead me to being charged 2 lots of $41.85 (covers 3 crew) and one of $27.90 - a total of $111.60.
Note on the QF web, you SELECT for insurance, or you select NO insurance. Same number of clicks, but FAR less chance of wearing crazy expensive single trip insurance that no one should ever buy (because one annual policy is so much better for frequent flyers!)
So I called Velocity and got through to the Platinium desk. They are always lovely on the phone!
Simply call Covermore, the lady said, and as they have a 14 day cooling off period, they will nix these for you. 'Great!'
I examine the policy doc, and call the Australian number only to find it is an emergency medical number. Grrr. No general number.
I call the Plat desk back, and after the preamble of pressing 1, 1, entering my number, and hearing the waffle, get through and get the number. Now that was painful. Note to VA: for Covermore complaints please also supply the number....
On calling, Mr. Covermore was quite pleasant and reversed two of the three policies but not one that didn't have my name on it. For that I have to get the named crew to call up. How freaking annoying! Crew do not do paperwork or make calls very well, and I'll have to hassle Lurch until he does it. We're talking Road Crew here, folks. The guys who Get Things Done - with Gaffers Tape! Where our primary qualification (in the 1980's) was the ability to fight your way out of a pub!
My takeout on this is that yesterday morning I was a loyal VA Plat, and today I'm booking QF (from now) to get to Gold. Easy to do: Finnair J (cunningly ticketed on QF by my clever agent in Adelaide) for my April trip to Europe dishes up 500+ SC, Emirates First to/from NZ (awesome value) on a QF code gets me 240 more, along with a shower in the air! A couple of domestic, and I am then Gold on QF. I re-qualified as Plat on VA months ago, so I have no use for the SCs other than Partner Gold, which I already have as well.
So, I'll split my loyalty now, and maybe even bump down to VA Gold if I don't fly so much next year. The value proposition of Gold on QF and VA appeals more to me, I can compare fares on both and book where the booking is better!
