significance
Member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2009
- Posts
- 270
- Qantas
- Gold
- Virgin
- Silver
Ahead of a trip to NZ to visit a gravely ill relative, I decided recently to splash out an purchase a Virgin Lounge membership. The first-listed benefit of lounge membership on the web-page is reciprocal access to Air NZ lounges on code-share trans-Tasman flights, so I knew it would be worthwhile between this and other likely trips across the Tasman in the near future.
When our trip started on Wednesday, I hadn't yet received my lounge member card, so I was a little concerned about how Air NZ would know we were eligible. I decided to ask the Canberra VA lounge dragon what I would need to show at the Koru lounge to gain entry. She replied in no uncertain terms that as a paid member, I was not eligible to access the Koru lounge. I pointed out that it was the first-listed benefit of membership on the web-page, and the reason that I had joined. Her reply was "the web page says all sorts of things: it's not true." Since my flight was cancelled due to fog in Sydney, I persuaded her to take the time to check, but she came back (a little smugly, I thought) with the news that her supervisor had confirmed that she was right. At this stage, I was rather annoyed.
Three hours after our original departure time, my husband and I finally boarded a flight to Sydney. Then we disembarked again. After another hour, we re-boarded. This delay was due to fog and by no means Virgin's fault. We were assured on the flight that all connecting flights out of Sydney had also been delayed, so no-one would miss an onward flight. When I turned my phone back on in Sydney, however, TripIt told me that my flight to Christchurch had already left. At the domestic-international transfer desk, they saw that my boarding pass had an expired departure time but didn't know whether the flight had actually left or not. Rather than waste more time checking, they gave us an express pass and hurried us on our way.
Arriving at SYD international, it became clear that we had indeed missed our Air NZ flight. Slightly miffed that this hasn't been picked up automatically, we approached the Air NZ check-in desk, who told us that they couldn't help and gave us a phone number to call. During our very long wait on hold (after the Air NZ call centre first tried to tell me that our tickets had been cancelled because we hadn't shown up for our flight), we approached the Virgin desk, who reassured us that they could help. We sat near the service desk to wait. Eventually, Air NZ took me off hold, but still hadn't sorted anything out and were relieved when I said that Virgin were helping us.
Three quarters of an hour later, I approached the Virgin desk to get an update. They were still waiting on a call back, since all their flights were in chaos due to the fog and they had a lot to handle. At this stage, I asked for meal vouchers, which were granted. Some carbohydrates and caffeine for lunch gave us a good morale boost.
We'd been sitting by the check-in desk for an hour and a quarter when they finally sorted something out: a flight to Christchurch via Brisbane. Hurrah! We went back to the transfer lounge to pick up our new boarding passes, and I had them check to make sure our luggage would be coming with us: yes, said the transfer-lounge clerk, it was all in the system.
In the Brisbane Virgin lounge, we waited while our flight to Brisbane was delayed... and delayed. It looked very likely that we'd miss the new flight to Christchurch. I asked at the service desk and, after confirming that it was unlikely that we'd make our connection, they said we should try anyway, and they'd make sure we had cabcharge vouchers waiting for us at the other end to ensure a speedy transfer to Brisbane international.
Arriving in Brisbane, there was an announcement that those with connecting flights to Townsville or Auckland should approach the service desk at the arrivals gate. Nothing about Christchurch. And no cabcharge vouchers. I approached the gate desk anyway to ask. After some confusion, they looked us up in the system and were able to tell us that our flight to Christchurch was also very late, since the plane had been delayed by weather in Wellington, so we should easily be able to make the connection.
Waiting for the transfer bus, we saw another chap who had been on the same flights as us since Canberra. He had been all the way through security in Sydney before learning that he'd missed the Christchurch flight, and had had to make his way back and then face all the same delays and confusion that we had faced to get his tickets sorted out. They'd then tried to bump him off the flight to Brisbane and onto a later flight, he said, until he had pointed out that there was no point in him going to Brisbane at all if he was going to miss the Christchurch flight.
At Brisbane international, we tried our luck at the Air NZ Koru lounge and were relieved to find that the Canberra lounge staff were indeed incorrect and we were indeed eligible for entry. Just as well, because there was still rather a long wait for our delayed flight to Christchurch.
We finally arrived in Christchurch near 3 a.m., almost 22 hours after we'd left our home in Canberra. Our luggage wasn't there and they couldn't offer us so much as a toothbrush to tide us over. It finally arrived at 4:30pm the next day (happily, just long enough for our travel insurance to kick in for delayed luggage so we should be able to recover the cost of the necessary toiletaries and change of clothes).
Checking our booking once I got wifi access, I noted that we'd booked through Air NZ rather than Virgin (I hadn't been sure).
In summary:
The good: Virgin were able to sort us out even though we'd booked through Air NZ, and made sure we were fed along the way (on flights as well as with the meal vouchers on the ground). Staff were professional and generally courteous.
The bad: misinformation regarding lounge entitlements, lost luggage, no toothbrush or toiletries available after they lost our luggage.
:evil: The ugly: nothing happened at any point along the way until we asked. Confusion all around and no apparent co-ordination of connecting flights.
We returned home on Sunday (no problems on the way home) to find two pieces of mail waiting for us: my new Virgin Lounge card and my new Qantas Gold card. I'd fallen just short of the status credits needed, but they comped me the renewal. This does tend to inspire loyalty.
When our trip started on Wednesday, I hadn't yet received my lounge member card, so I was a little concerned about how Air NZ would know we were eligible. I decided to ask the Canberra VA lounge dragon what I would need to show at the Koru lounge to gain entry. She replied in no uncertain terms that as a paid member, I was not eligible to access the Koru lounge. I pointed out that it was the first-listed benefit of membership on the web-page, and the reason that I had joined. Her reply was "the web page says all sorts of things: it's not true." Since my flight was cancelled due to fog in Sydney, I persuaded her to take the time to check, but she came back (a little smugly, I thought) with the news that her supervisor had confirmed that she was right. At this stage, I was rather annoyed.
Three hours after our original departure time, my husband and I finally boarded a flight to Sydney. Then we disembarked again. After another hour, we re-boarded. This delay was due to fog and by no means Virgin's fault. We were assured on the flight that all connecting flights out of Sydney had also been delayed, so no-one would miss an onward flight. When I turned my phone back on in Sydney, however, TripIt told me that my flight to Christchurch had already left. At the domestic-international transfer desk, they saw that my boarding pass had an expired departure time but didn't know whether the flight had actually left or not. Rather than waste more time checking, they gave us an express pass and hurried us on our way.
Arriving at SYD international, it became clear that we had indeed missed our Air NZ flight. Slightly miffed that this hasn't been picked up automatically, we approached the Air NZ check-in desk, who told us that they couldn't help and gave us a phone number to call. During our very long wait on hold (after the Air NZ call centre first tried to tell me that our tickets had been cancelled because we hadn't shown up for our flight), we approached the Virgin desk, who reassured us that they could help. We sat near the service desk to wait. Eventually, Air NZ took me off hold, but still hadn't sorted anything out and were relieved when I said that Virgin were helping us.
Three quarters of an hour later, I approached the Virgin desk to get an update. They were still waiting on a call back, since all their flights were in chaos due to the fog and they had a lot to handle. At this stage, I asked for meal vouchers, which were granted. Some carbohydrates and caffeine for lunch gave us a good morale boost.
We'd been sitting by the check-in desk for an hour and a quarter when they finally sorted something out: a flight to Christchurch via Brisbane. Hurrah! We went back to the transfer lounge to pick up our new boarding passes, and I had them check to make sure our luggage would be coming with us: yes, said the transfer-lounge clerk, it was all in the system.
In the Brisbane Virgin lounge, we waited while our flight to Brisbane was delayed... and delayed. It looked very likely that we'd miss the new flight to Christchurch. I asked at the service desk and, after confirming that it was unlikely that we'd make our connection, they said we should try anyway, and they'd make sure we had cabcharge vouchers waiting for us at the other end to ensure a speedy transfer to Brisbane international.
Arriving in Brisbane, there was an announcement that those with connecting flights to Townsville or Auckland should approach the service desk at the arrivals gate. Nothing about Christchurch. And no cabcharge vouchers. I approached the gate desk anyway to ask. After some confusion, they looked us up in the system and were able to tell us that our flight to Christchurch was also very late, since the plane had been delayed by weather in Wellington, so we should easily be able to make the connection.
Waiting for the transfer bus, we saw another chap who had been on the same flights as us since Canberra. He had been all the way through security in Sydney before learning that he'd missed the Christchurch flight, and had had to make his way back and then face all the same delays and confusion that we had faced to get his tickets sorted out. They'd then tried to bump him off the flight to Brisbane and onto a later flight, he said, until he had pointed out that there was no point in him going to Brisbane at all if he was going to miss the Christchurch flight.
At Brisbane international, we tried our luck at the Air NZ Koru lounge and were relieved to find that the Canberra lounge staff were indeed incorrect and we were indeed eligible for entry. Just as well, because there was still rather a long wait for our delayed flight to Christchurch.
We finally arrived in Christchurch near 3 a.m., almost 22 hours after we'd left our home in Canberra. Our luggage wasn't there and they couldn't offer us so much as a toothbrush to tide us over. It finally arrived at 4:30pm the next day (happily, just long enough for our travel insurance to kick in for delayed luggage so we should be able to recover the cost of the necessary toiletaries and change of clothes).
Checking our booking once I got wifi access, I noted that we'd booked through Air NZ rather than Virgin (I hadn't been sure).
In summary:
The good: Virgin were able to sort us out even though we'd booked through Air NZ, and made sure we were fed along the way (on flights as well as with the meal vouchers on the ground). Staff were professional and generally courteous. The bad: misinformation regarding lounge entitlements, lost luggage, no toothbrush or toiletries available after they lost our luggage.:evil: The ugly: nothing happened at any point along the way until we asked. Confusion all around and no apparent co-ordination of connecting flights.
We returned home on Sunday (no problems on the way home) to find two pieces of mail waiting for us: my new Virgin Lounge card and my new Qantas Gold card. I'd fallen just short of the status credits needed, but they comped me the renewal. This does tend to inspire loyalty.
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