Feeling the Platinum love when flying SQ

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Howjac

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May 5, 2011
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Whilst I remember just a few notes from our recent trip to Europe.

1 WP adult travelling with 1 other adult and 2 children in economy. Flew nasty 01.05am to SIN. Checked in at Suites desk in MEL, given express priority passes to breeze through security and immigration. Had to hand priority passes back to immigration lady boo hiss. Went straight to SQ lounge, handed WP card over and smiled sweetly. All 4 of us let in no problem. It was pretty quiet in there and ours was, I think, the only SQ flight left to depart so this probably accounted for their flexibility. Nice to get to chill in the lounge though - mini sausage rolls and orange juice to keep the kids quiet, wine and beer to keep the hubby quiet and free wifi for me. Good L-shape design so as it filled up there became a "them and us" seating style between those with kids and those without - perfect! Express boarding onto plane, had to show WP card again.

3 hours in Changi, didn't bother trying to get into lounge as too busy spending Changi dollars on rubbish I didn't need. Chaotic line up for flight - priority boarding Q longer than normal one so just picked the normal one. Would have been really annoyed if I'd been flying J.

Bags first off at LHR - love priority tagging!

CDG - checked in at Suites desk again. Had lost WP card in London (don't ask) so showed them luggage tag and kept saying "platinum, platinum". I think they just got fed up of us and let us in. No express clearance but used UK passports so pretty quick through. Lounge is "before" security miles away from our gate so didn't bother trying, though tbh whole public area at CDG (Terminal 1) sucks. No space, hardly any shops. Upstairs on A380 - jumped Q again priority boarding. Very very confused with what "platinum" was but we wore them down :) so one of the first on to top level.

Late into SIN so 20 minute dash from one end of terminal to the other so no need for priority boarding. Bags off first again at MEL - yippee! (Testament to Changi efficiency that our bags made it at all!)

Main issue: Lady at checkin said my status wasn't showing in their system so VA really need to sort this out. If it had showed on boarding passes everything would have been a lot easier. Clearly MEL staff much more on board with whole relationship thing between the two airlines. No onboard love for status, but made up for this with dedicated attendance to the kids so this evened it out.

All in all, good flight, had to push for Platinum benefits but as long as you appear confident they seem to give in pretty quickly.

Now just waiting for "review" to requal as WP.
 
It is even worse if you are trying to use the stupid Velocity Global Wallet card as evidence of being a Platinum Virgin Velocity Member.
Because it doesn't have Virgin logo on it anywhere they just look at you blankly and then you are in for spirited debate with the SQ lounge dragons..
Anytime I am going OS I dont even bother with that card anymore and take my Platinum luggage tag off put it in my wallet and use that instead, and failing that I make sure that I have the Velocity webpage open on my phone to show that Platinum is higher than Gold and that I am supposedly allowed access to their lounges.

This of course ends up being more stressful than just sitting in the Airport - would be good for VA to get all this formalised with SQ and other partners imho.
 
It is even worse if you are trying to use the stupid Velocity Global Wallet card as evidence of being a Platinum Virgin Velocity Member.
Because it doesn't have Virgin logo on it anywhere they just look at you blankly and then you are in for spirited debate with the SQ lounge dragons..
Anytime I am going OS I dont even bother with that card anymore and take my Platinum luggage tag off put it in my wallet and use that instead, and failing that I make sure that I have the Velocity webpage open on my phone to show that Platinum is higher than Gold and that I am supposedly allowed access to their lounges.

I think Virgin made a huge mistake in omitting the Virgin Australia logo from the Global Wallet card leading to confusion at airports. I ran into a similar problem when attempting to go thru security at the DL terminal at LAX using the Priority line.

I like the idea of using the luggage label as a form of identity, I might try it on my next trip. I'll also have a printout with me of my VA status from the web site.
 
Did ADL - SIN - AMS - LHR - SIN - ADL as a VA plat in January, similarly good experiences overall, with priority check-in, boarding and luggage (which, of the three, is perhaps the most useful to us :)). Had transit rooms booked in SIN so did not need to try to get into lounge. At LHR, asked nicely of SQ lady at lounge (was with Mr & Master Sunburnt), and was let in with some frowning of eyebrows and 'only for 20 mins' - it was very busy, so I could see her point. We left soon but it was nice to share the lounge with Mr & Master Sunburnt.

The best part came in ADL, now that SQ flies in at the end of the afternoon: no queues at Immigration, breezed through, luggage was first out and we were out of the airport within 15 mins of de-planing! Thanks VA!
 
I recently flew SQ (flight numbers) as a VA Plat. Perfectly adequate - everything as expected, nothing more, nothing less. Having said that, I must say they do priority baggage much better on SQ than my experiences on other airlines. Points (including the 50% bonus) posted promptly. The SQ Gold lounge in SIN is OK, but I did look longingly at the SilverKris lounge there, particularly after the SilverKris lounge in HKG which was quite nice....
 
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Silly question to OP, but what lounge in CDG were you planning on getting into? I thought SQ used the *A partner lounge so no VFF WP access?
 
VA WP here, recently flew with SQ but was flying in Suites from Melbourne to Hong Kong. Didn't bother pulling out the Platinum Card as you can imagine!
 
Without meaning to take away from your experience - you clearly had great flights - but I'm unclear as to the "Platinum Love" here. It sure sounds like you had to push to exercise written benefits..?

Still of the opinion that the only airline regularly recognising Velocity Gold and Platinum is NZ and to a lesser extent, DL.
 
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