Entering the Etihad lounge with only the electronic velocity card?

[Nathant123]

Hi guys,

I'm currently sitting on 726 status credits but got dropped down to silver because my eligible sectors expired. The bulk of the 726 credits will drop off at the end of the year so I will reach platinum with the planned domestic flights. I do have a domestic trip scheduled on Anzac Day that will give me the extra 2 sectors required for gold. Now here is the dilemma. I have a short 2 week trip booked to London and Israel and I'm flying with Etihad to Heathrow on the 4th May. Being an economy ticket I won't get lounge access unless I have my gold card. Problem is even though I will reach gold before then, I won't have reached it soon enough to get the card in the mail. Whats the likelihood of being accepted into the Etihad lounge in Sydney and Abu Dhabi with the electronic card within the app itself? I presume I have next to no chance but thought I'd ask if anyone else has been in a similar situation.

 

[McLarin]

May not be EY however when I flew in Dec with SQ my electronic gold membership worked fine with all my attempts to enter the lounge.

 

[ddd]

Hi guys,

I'm currently sitting on 726 status credits but got dropped down to silver because my eligible sectors expired. The bulk of the 726 credits will drop off at the end of the year so I will reach platinum with the planned domestic flights. I do have a domestic trip scheduled on Anzac Day that will give me the extra 2 sectors required for gold. Now here is the dilemma. I have a short 2 week trip booked to London and Israel and I'm flying with Etihad to Heathrow on the 4th May. Being an economy ticket I won't get lounge access unless I have my gold card. Problem is even though I will reach gold before then, I won't have reached it soon enough to get the card in the mail. Whats the likelihood of being accepted into the Etihad lounge in Sydney and Abu Dhabi with the electronic card within the app itself? I presume I have next to no chance but thought I'd ask if anyone else has been in a similar situation.

I flew SYD-LHR economy with Etihad 2 weeks ago, and I'm currently sitting in the lounge at AMS waiting to fly home with Etihad too. I added my velocity number to the booking when I booked it and I haven't even been asked for my card at the 3 lounges I've been into so far - your boarding pass will say "Economy VA GOLD". I also haven't had to show my card when checking in via the business class counter, I've been given priority baggage without asking and I've had no problem with priority boarding.

If you haven't added your FF# to the booking for whatever reason, in Feb I flew LHR-SYD with Velocity Atlantic using an electronic card in the Google Pay app. The only issue was they needed to see an expiry date (which thankfully I found by scrolling down) but I'm not sure if the iPhone equivalent or the VA app include that. In any case, I'm sure logging into the velocity website on your phone or something similar would be enough.

As a side note, from reading posts on here I had very low expectations. I was under the impression as VA gold flying on the A380 to AUH you didn't have access to the SYD first class lounge and instead got shunted to the Air NZ lounge. That was not the case - I was on a fully booked flight and I had no problems accessing it. I'd also heard that given the short layover it wasn't worth going to the lounge in AUH because it's so far away from the gate and you needed to exit the terminal and clear security again - you have to clear security anyway and after that it's only ~10 minutes walk from the gate anyway.

 

[clipped_wings]

OT but we flew across the States with an electronic card and only once was questioned by a Delta staff member, who hadn't heard of Velocity. He was very apologetic when he realised his error, but you always dread that embarrassing confrontation, especially when other guests are standing behind you.

 

[cssaus]

You don't need to wait to receive the physical card.

If you happen to have an iPhone you can download the app which has the facility to display your membership card. Also in the iPhone wallet you can now store the Velocity card in the same way you can store other FF & hotel rewards cards.

 

[Nathant123]

Thanks for the replies guys. Wouldn't be the end of the world but at least now I can spend the time in the lounge rather than the food courts.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I got in to the EY AUH F lounge as a newly minted Platinum but still with VA GOLD on the boarding pass.

Just download the digital membership card, and be prepared to log in to your statement at the time. Should be fine.

Alternatively if your boarding passes don't quite match your status, see if the agent at check-in will remove from FF details from your booking, then add them back - in theory this re-queries the database and might trigger the right status to appear on your BP.

 

[Nathant123]

I've booked through flight centre as my mum wanted to burn her commbank points. They said they would add both our velocity numbers (I have family pooling set up) but they don't seem to have been added properly so I've re-added the numbers directly through the Etihad site when viewing my booking number. I can see my current e-card through the new Virgin app but can't figure out how to add it to my iPhone X wallet. Anyway I'd be more than happy to log into my account so they can see for themselves.

 

[Jet L]

I can see my current e-card through the new Virgin app but can't figure out how to add it to my iPhone X wallet. Anyway I'd be more than happy to log into my account so they can see for themselves.

The Apple Wallet version of the card needs to be sent to you from this link https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/MyAccount/LoyaltyCard/ it will send a text message to you and you follow the prompts.