Misleading Etihad Status Bonus

[jneufeld]

Flew IST-xAUH-SYD last month on EY crediting points to my VA account. I was offered a paid upgrade from J to F which I was successful in getting, so I flew D class (Business) on the first leg and R class (First) on the second leg.

Here is how the points posted into my account online


I was correctly awarded 1.3 points per mile for the D class leg and 1.8 points per mile for the R class leg.

Now here comes my problem, as a VA Gold I am entitled to a "50% bonus on top of the base point earned" according to the Velocity website. As you can see by my account above what appears in the 'Bonus' column is not 50% of what is in the 'Base' column.
After a very long phone call to the GCC I was informed that what is shown on the website is a simplified view of what is in the back-end system and the bonus is calculated off the 'back-end base' not the 'online base'.

Here is how the back-end system sees the above scenario:
07 OCT AUH-SYD EY R Class
Base: 7,506 - miles flown at 1 point per mile
Cabin Bonus: 6,005 - 0.8 x 7,506 (base)
Status Bonus: 3,753 - half of 7,506 (base)
Total: 17,264

My gripe is that nowhere on the Velocity website does it mention that status bonus points will be earned at 50% of the back-end system base and not the base visible in my online account. This is clearly misleading to members, as it has essentially halved the status bonus I thought I would be getting.

I have been told that this issue has been escalated and that someone higher up will contact me about it, as it was beyond the jurisdiction of the GCC. Has anyone else noticed this before?

 

[oz_mark]

I believe it was the crux of the problem in this thread: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....city/what-are-velocity-base-points-39223.html

 

[jneufeld]

Thanks, you know I searched for everything but the word 'base'!!!

 

[bullerdude]

This has been a pain point for many people since Velocity and Etihad commenced code sharing. I have actually spoken to the managers at Velocity earlier this year after sending a stern but polite email to Velocity Platinum about the irregularities of the bonus points system. I know that the feedback was considered and past back internally (to which ever team is responsible for wording on the website) but as you can see nothing has changed so far. As far as they are concerned, the wording is correct and accurate - which in fairness to them is true - its just ridiculously confusing for nearly everyone...


So just remember this - bonus points are a percentage (25, 50, 100 depending on status) of the miles flown.