I've just got back from my first trip on South African Airways since the benefits for Velocity members were announced. I booked the trip a couple of months ago and was hoping that the benefits would be available before I travelled and luckily enough they were. Here's a few thoughts on my experience:
Check-in and Baggage: The travel agent booked this with the Melbourne to Perth leg on a VA flight number and booking and the Johannesburg and Antananarivo segments with SA flight numbers and bookings. Check in at the domestic terminal in Melbourne was very simple and the bags were checked through to my final destination without issue with priority tags. My bag turned up as one of the first on the belt in Antananarivo, so I was very happy with that. The return was a similar story, although I didn't get priority tags as my first flight was operated by Airlink.
Seating: Before the benefits were announced, I had already entered my United Platinum details, which I think managed to get me some good seats allocated. I'm not sure whether preferential seating is available as Velocity Gold/Platinum. That said, both flights to and from Johannesburg were pretty empty and there was no issue getting a bit of space in either direction. On the return leg, I noticed using Expert Flyer that there were a few free rows towards the back of the plane and managed to snag myself 4 seats to lie down in
Lounge Access: This is where things get a little tricky. Lounge access is only available where South African own the lounge and you're travelling on a flight operated by South African themselves. In Perth, they contract the lounge from Qantas as such access was not available to Velocity Gold/Platinum members. Fortunately, I also had my United Platinum card with me and they allowed me in with that (they wanted to change the FF number on the booking, but when I explained that I wanted the points to credit to Virgin for the flight, they were ok with letting me in and making a note of my United number). I had a similar issue in Johannesburg as the flight to Antananarivo was operated by Airlink, not South African, but when they asked how long I had until my next flight (4.5 hours), they kindly allowed me in without further issue. The return was much more simple, there is no available lounge in Antananarivo, but I was able to access the South African lounge in Johannesburg, then the Virgin lounge in Perth without issue (as expected).
Points & Status Credits: The points and SCs from my outbound flights credited today - 10 days after flying. I received credit for both the Johannesburg flight and also the Airlink flight (presumably as it was a SA flight number). The flight was discount economy, so I received 50% of the miles for the journey. I then received the same again as a bonus. At this point, I'm not sure if that was because I'm platinum with Virgin or whether it was from the 100% bonus promotion that I signed up for.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the experience. I know there was at least one Velocity member who was disappointed about not having lounge access in Perth (as the people at the desk were discussing it), so that would be good to resolve, but other than that, the benefits seem to work pretty well.
Check-in and Baggage: The travel agent booked this with the Melbourne to Perth leg on a VA flight number and booking and the Johannesburg and Antananarivo segments with SA flight numbers and bookings. Check in at the domestic terminal in Melbourne was very simple and the bags were checked through to my final destination without issue with priority tags. My bag turned up as one of the first on the belt in Antananarivo, so I was very happy with that. The return was a similar story, although I didn't get priority tags as my first flight was operated by Airlink.
Seating: Before the benefits were announced, I had already entered my United Platinum details, which I think managed to get me some good seats allocated. I'm not sure whether preferential seating is available as Velocity Gold/Platinum. That said, both flights to and from Johannesburg were pretty empty and there was no issue getting a bit of space in either direction. On the return leg, I noticed using Expert Flyer that there were a few free rows towards the back of the plane and managed to snag myself 4 seats to lie down in
Lounge Access: This is where things get a little tricky. Lounge access is only available where South African own the lounge and you're travelling on a flight operated by South African themselves. In Perth, they contract the lounge from Qantas as such access was not available to Velocity Gold/Platinum members. Fortunately, I also had my United Platinum card with me and they allowed me in with that (they wanted to change the FF number on the booking, but when I explained that I wanted the points to credit to Virgin for the flight, they were ok with letting me in and making a note of my United number). I had a similar issue in Johannesburg as the flight to Antananarivo was operated by Airlink, not South African, but when they asked how long I had until my next flight (4.5 hours), they kindly allowed me in without further issue. The return was much more simple, there is no available lounge in Antananarivo, but I was able to access the South African lounge in Johannesburg, then the Virgin lounge in Perth without issue (as expected).
Points & Status Credits: The points and SCs from my outbound flights credited today - 10 days after flying. I received credit for both the Johannesburg flight and also the Airlink flight (presumably as it was a SA flight number). The flight was discount economy, so I received 50% of the miles for the journey. I then received the same again as a bonus. At this point, I'm not sure if that was because I'm platinum with Virgin or whether it was from the 100% bonus promotion that I signed up for.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the experience. I know there was at least one Velocity member who was disappointed about not having lounge access in Perth (as the people at the desk were discussing it), so that would be good to resolve, but other than that, the benefits seem to work pretty well.
