Free Gifting VA Gold

[NZflygirl]

My partner and I credited a few flights to VA and are now able to gift gold but we don’t know anyone in person that needs it. Never been through this gifting process before so I’ll apologize in advance for any fumbles. If you meet the criteria below please post in this thread which will be open until Friday 5pm (eastern time) 11 August. Post your favourite airline experience (doesn’t need to be VA in particular, nor a novel) and your favourite emoji on AFF.

Criteria:
1. VA Silver, can have QF silver but no higher.
2. AFF member for last 6 months
3. Posts 50

Silver is the middle ground where someone has decided they’re happy to fly VA but haven’t quite flown enough to reach some of the more significant benefits so would be nice to give them a bit of a leg up.

I plan to write the usernames down and put them into a large wine glass and draw one out ie it’s a completely random process. I’ll contact the recipient the following week and would like a photo of your VA silver card (as proof) with expiry date as I’ll need to give details to VA anyway.

If anyone else has been through this process and there's something I should know to make sure it's as smooth as possible please let me know. As far as I can tell from the T&C there aren't any restrictions on who it can be gifted to e.g. family etc


Anyway, tell me stories

 

[glasszon]

A very generous offer, here's my story and emoji:

I have only been in business class once, for a SYD-MEL flight because it was booked last minute and that's the only reward inventory remaining. I am impressed that they could serve out full meals to a full J class during the flight (it was around dinner time), and an off-duty pilot ended up sitting next to me.

Not exactly the most interesting story ever, I just got into this hobby 2 years ago so there's still a lot for me to experience.

And my favourite emoji?

Yes, I confirm I do have VA silver membership.

 

[JessicaTam]

A generous offer indeed NZflygirl.

And no, I am not applying but here is my favourite :shock:

 

[exceladdict]

Good morning, would like to throw my hat into the ring. My wife and I have been on many-a-travel but after two less travel intense years since the 21-flights-in-28-days (which included my favourite airline experience - practically a bottle of Krug in QR's doha lounge - TR below) we are about to lose QF SG when my credits wipe next month. I do, however have a ton of flybuys points to convert to Etihad/VA for domestic VA flights and hold VA silver. It would be lovely to have lounge access for these cases.

I am able to get back on the VA bandwagon with the loss of QF status; and am planning to swap out my amex offerings for MR points which are more easily converted into VA flights.

My first ever flight was DJ - and last time I flew VA was a 737 J where the night's catering was a pie. While I was originally shocked that J catering was a pastry, I'll never forget that pie, as it was my first beef pie in 15 years and after being very impressed, the kind FAs gave me a second (and offered a third; the cabin wasn't exactly full!). I have some upcoming flights to book that could be converted to VA to take advantage of the status. My anniversary for VA is feb so don't know how the calendar year works.

Thanks for your consideration!

Edit: I just realised my next flight (which will occur after my QF status drops) will be my 100th lifetime flight! Oh, how lovely it would be to have lounge access for that

 

[get me outta here]

I agree with JessicaTam. So, I'll just say which one I have never used: :arrow:

 

[Pushka]

Lovely offer NZFlyergal. Not applying just thought it was a lovely gesture.

 

[mooingchicken]

Great offer and very generous, unfortunately I have dropped back to red, after being silver for a few years and made gold once but dropped off due to uni degree, but I finish in 3 months and am going on holidays the weekend after my final exams so gold and lounge access would be a nice way to celebrate!

 

[GarrettM]

:shock:

Gosh that's quite the offer NZflygirl. Very good of you. I guess I'll put my hat in, because you never know.

I just can't go past the old wide eye shock emoji. Fits a lot of different circumstances.

Qualified VA Silver in April thanks to some pooling with the wife and our trips to Sydney and Japan. Realistically it's as high as I'll ever get status wise, and I'm not expecting to maintain beyond April 2018.

Favourite airline experience was the last one. First international J flights on SQ. Fukuoka to Singpaore. Scored a free 3rd seat for our little one who slept most of the way, letting us relax and enjoy ourselves in peace. The Selbach flowed freely (at least for me ) Delightful.

I've got trips to Melbourne (Sep), Broome (Oct) and Vietnam (Mar) in the future, so any sort of benefits would be most welcome.

:shock:

 

[Tazza_0712]

Firstly, this is super generous of you and a great way to share a bit more info about our collective love of flying.

I fulfill all three of your entry requirements, and this is actually my 50th post haha.

My favourite airline experience is when I was travelling with my family, it was our first trip overseas and we were returning to Sydney from Rome on SQ. Our outbound flight from Rome was delayed due to a tech issue and as a result we were moved to a later flight for the Singapore to Sydney sector. We wound up on the 747, instead of the 777. This was in 2009, I didn't realise at the time that it was only a short while before SQ were retiring their jumbo-jet fleet. So my first international trip was also my (so far) only chance to fly on the 747 and I'll always remember it.

- who doesn't love this guy?

 

[kamchatsky]

Excellent offer! I am already Gold and marching toward Platinum so I don't need it and not applying it.

But hey my emoji is

 

[straitman]

Awesome offer NZflygirl. :mrgreen:

 

[rmckay01]

Wow, such a generous offer NZflygirl! After this weekend's getaway to MEL I have fulfilled the requirements of the VA Explore Gold promotion so will very shortly start my first ever year of Gold status with any airline As such, I'm not throwing my hat into the ring, but can't wait to hear how the lucky recipient is able to make use of it.

Favourite AFF emoji: . He (she?) looks cool...

 

[perthjay85]

What an amazing offer.
I wish more forums were like this one.

 

[Radio8tiv]

What a generous offer NZflyGirl, that's why I love this forum.

i will not need to be put into the draw as I'll never have status, I'm a self funded holiday maker, and don't travel for work, since coming here I have learnt many tricks and tips which has now enabled me to travel in J on reward flights.

My favourite emoji is �� which is not available on the forum.

 

[WLGFlyer]

First off, thanks for the very generous offer!

My favourite airline experience is a very recent one: I arrived back in Australia after a long and exhausting trip overseas. Flew into Melbourne and breezed through customs and immigration. It was one of those moments where you had been travelling for 30+ hours and just wanted to get home. I had over 3h remaining until my connecting flight, due to minimum connecting times and arriving early on the inbound.

When I went to check in, I bypassed the kiosks and approached the manned desk. While handing over my passport I asked if there was an earlier flight available and without hesitation the kind agent offered to put me on the next flight out that was due to board in 25mins. This was despite the lack of status and flexible tickets. As a result I ended up home in my bed at 10pm instead of 1:15am.

My favourite smiley:

 

[samh004]

I also cannot enter, and may be receiving "Explore Gold" shortly anyway, but I wanted to say :mrgreen: is my favourite, although I rarely if ever use him.

 

[Sharath]

Such a generous offer NZflyGirl! Nice work bringing emojis into the mix !

 

[Princess Fiona]

Lovely offer
My two favourite emoji are
and :mrgreen:

 

[deejo77]

I do meet the 3 criteria, i am currently bronze and silver respectively

my favourite flying experience was my first suites redemption by my partner for a significant birthday this year - we managed to escape to Europe without minime. The space was amazing but we can probably never 'afford' to go that way again as salary/wages and no way other than credit card sign on bonuses to earn points.

i don't like the emojis - abit old school of me. But if i had to choose one i use on my sms it would be.

 

[pmdg7444]

I'd like to place my name in the hat and BIG THANK YOU to NZflyGirl for such a generous offer!

I'm currently VA silver and QF nothing.

But let me they you a story of last year where I used to be VA Gold (in order to impress the gf and friends) and it opened the doors of lounges all over Australia, and in places like LA, auckland and Abu Dhabi.

So last year moved interstate for work, and made a promise to the gf that we would make, at least, fortnightly trips to keep all social commitments and see our close friendship gang.

Figured out that it would take a year (far too long) to earn the 500 scs, and didn't want to resign every Friday night to zero status and the no-lounge pleb (common folk!) journey experience, I decided to embark on the following:

Going solo, over the course of a few mths:

3X $380 SYD -LAX return (all same day returns) from the VA OTA misprice fare
4x $200 SYD _MEL - LST returns (all same day returns) from a really good Happy Hour special.


So yes, some very lonely, sad weekends doing nothing but SC runs, all in the name of making the weekend journeys comfortable and valuable for me and my bestie.

hence why this gift would be so much valuable to me!