Gifting Companion Gold Membership

[matte_83]

Hi all,

Just hoping someone can help me out with the following...

I am one eligible sector away from Platinum status on VA. I have already 1,527 status credits thanks mostly to family pooling and I'm taking my next VA flight on Thursday. Am I right in thinking that my current status credits effectively reset to zero when I turn to Platinum in regards to counting towards the 1,300 required to gift the gold companion membership?

 

[ozstamps]

Partner and I both have wayyyyy over 1000 SC and must look at doing something re gifting Gold. 500 over 800 is all we needed.

If you never had Plat before it looks like you have enough to gift Gold to someone - 1000+500

Not sure what you 1300 number relates to? .

 

[jase05]

Partner and I both have wayyyyy over 1000 SC and must look at doing something re gifting Gold. 500 over 800 is all we needed.

If you never had Plat before it looks like you have enough to gift Gold to someone - 1000+500

Not sure what you 1300 number relates to? .

No, you can only gift Gold once you have reached 500SC’s over the amount required to retain your Platinum membership.
Once you have reached Platinum with 1000SC’s you then retain the following year with 800SC’s.
You need to earn 500SC’s above the 800 so 800+500=1300

 

[Mattg]

Am I right in thinking that my current status credits effectively reset to zero when I turn to Platinum in regards to counting towards the 1,300 required to gift the gold companion membership?

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe your reasoning is correct.

If for some reason you don't automatically get the Partner Gold activated, you could always call Velocity and see if they are able to do anything for you.

 

[Bundy Bear]

are there any rules in gifting the partner gold.
does it have to be eligible family member

 

[matte_83]

As far as I can tell I wont be eligible to gift gold because you have to be already a platinum member and then hit 1,300 SCs (800 for renewal + 500 extra). So even if I accumulate the 1,300 SCs required I still have to wait one year until the renewal period.

 

[Noah Count]

are there any rules in gifting the partner gold.
does it have to be eligible family member

No rules you just call up and transfer to another person. Over the past couple of years I have gifted VA Gold to 2 seperate Affers who I have never met. I am currently sitting north of 1900 VA SC so I can gift VA Platinum, just have not decided what to do with it yet.

 

[deangelj]

As far as I can tell I wont be eligible to gift gold because you have to be already a platinum member and then hit 1,300 SCs (800 for renewal + 500 extra). So even if I accumulate the 1,300 SCs required I still have to wait one year until the renewal period.

Is there anything documented on their site to say you have to wait a year? I would have thought that once you hit 1300 you could ring up and gift it straight away.

 

[Noah Count]

@deangelj this is in the T's and C's

 

[deangelj]

@deangelj this is in the T's and C'sView attachment 199961

it states "within their Benefit Period" - I still don't see anything that says you have to wait a year - just when you hit 1300.

 

[andye]

it states "within their Benefit Period" - I still don't see anything that says you have to wait a year - just when you hit 1300.

The issue is that you need to have renewed Platinum to gift

 

[jase05]

The issue is that you need to have renewed Platinum to gift

Correct. Needs to be 1300 extra after you have achieved Platinum

 

[Noah Count]

it states "within their Benefit Period" - I still don't see anything that says you have to wait a year - just when you hit 1300.

I did not author the VA T's and C's, just posted an extract of them.

 

[deangelj]

The issue is that you need to have renewed Platinum to gift

No, that's not how I see it. Say I went platinum in August 2019, and now at Dec 2019 I have 1300 SC's in my new period (since August 2019). My understanding is that you will get an email saying you have the option to gift.

 

[Noah Count]

No, that's not how I see it. Say I went platinum in August 2019, and now at Dec 2019 I have 1300 SC's in my new period (since August 2019). My understanding is that you will get an email saying you have the option to gift.

In that scenario I would suggest that you can gift gold provided the 1300 SC are in the new period and not part of that rolling 12 months display that VA do. The way you describe your scenario you are maintain period from Aug.

Also you do not get an email saying you can gift gold or platinum. On the website the SC counter to gifting gold or platinum also stops at 1800, the app keeps on counting.

 

[deangelj]

In that scenario I would suggest that you can gift gold provided the 1300 SC are in the new period and not part of that rolling 12 months display that VA do. The way you describe your scenario you are maintain period from Aug.

Also you do not get an email saying you can gift gold or platinum. On the website the SC counter to gifting gold or platinum also stops at 1800, the app keeps on counting.

Hey Matt_01 - I guess we need to clear up a few things... I think we are in "violent agreement". My original response was to indicate to the other Matt that you didn't need to wait a year, nor does it only apply after Platinum renewal. I think we're on the same page now. About the email, you're probably right as I've never qualified for gifting gold so I don't know for sure. I'm just going from what the member support line told me.

 

[jase05]

Hey Matt_01 - I guess we need to clear up a few things... I think we are in "violent agreement". My original response was to indicate to the other Matt that you didn't need to wait a year, nor does it only apply after Platinum renewal. I think we're on the same page now. About the email, you're probably right as I've never qualified for gifting gold so I don't know for sure. I'm just going from what the member support line told me.

Have gifted Gold several times in the past and even Platinum one year and never received an email. I just called up when my target was met.

 

[Harthagan]

It's very clear (at least it should be). It says 500 above what is required to maintain platinum. That means in your first year of reaching platinum u have to then earn a further 800 to maintain and then 500 on top of that again in order to gift gold.

 

[Jack_OC]

This is too late for the OP, but in many cases it can be possible to get an eligible family member to Gold/Platinum quicker through Family Pooling. For example, as soon as you hit 1,000 SCs, start to credit everything to the person you want to give status to.

In the OP's example, instead of one person having 1,527 SCs, it may have been possible for one person to have 1,000 SCs and the other to have 500 SCs, meaning one gets Platinum and one gets Gold, as soon as the eligible sector requirements are met.

The ease of doing this efficiently depends a bit on travel patterns though - it's easy to time the switch correctly if you are mostly flying short segments, but it can be harder if you mostly fly long-haul in J (e.g. if you are earning 280 SCs for a one way trip to EU, I believe you have to credit all 280 of those SCs to one person). Also this approach is only possible if you want to give status to someone who is an eligible family member.