Reciprocity to Commence in July with Virgin Australia

[serfty]

See here in the Virgin Australia Thread:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-virgin-australia-trans-31227.html#post457130

 

[serfty]

Looks like a July 26th Start:

trans-Tasman Alliance - Air New Zealand - New Zealand Agents

 

[burmans]

Looks like a July 26th Start:

trans-Tasman Alliance - Air*New*Zealand - New Zealand Agents

If you are smart you may be able to get some good deals with this as it appears that even though they are code sharing the prices are not always equal. Case in point, I've been looking for flights to NZ at Xmas, from Sydney into Wellington and out of Queenstown. Going there it was $50 bucks more on the 24th Dec vs the 25th on Air New Zealand and coming back it was $150 more in the 9th Jan compared to the 8th.

Yet suddenly when Virgin posted fares these days were the same (cheaper) price even though it actually a Air NZ flight and the Air NZ website prices hadn't moved. As you can imagine I jumped on them, $200 pp saving times 4 people is worth while. Not sure how long it will last though, by EOD today these particular flights had gone and equality reigned but am sure for some dates not quite as popular the difference remains.

And with Virgin I think I may even get FF points!

 

[serfty]

I don't really have a choice in relation to status. It will be

all the way so I need to book AirNZ Flight numbers.

*G far more useful than Velocity Gold to me as a mainly international traveller these days.

 

[oz_mark]

*G far more useful than Velocity Gold.

It makes for an interesting contemplation - which airline is it best to credit to (SQ, ANZ or VA). Certainly *G has its advantanges, something to think about.

 

[Cory Roberts]

Looks like the NZ flights are not showing on the DJ website anymore!!

 

[serfty]

https://airnz.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2727

26th July is the date that Virgin Australia lounge access become available for KC/G/GE when flying VA/DJ:

Do I get access to the Pacific Blue and Virgin Australia lounges in Australia and New Zealand?

Answer:


You will continue to enjoy lounge access when you travel with Air New Zealand. The alliance means that you will also be able to use the Pacific Blue or Virgin Australia domestic lounges when you're travelling on connecting domestic Pacific Blue / Virgin Australia flights and also domestic Australia only flights. Simply show your boarding pass and your Airpoints membership card at the entrance. You will be able to invite guests into either airline's lounges in line with your guest entitlements.

Virgin Australia domestic lounges within Australia are located in:
Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth.

They are also building on in Mackay with others in the pipeline.

 

[Dawn1004]

Sorry, not a frequent flyer, so this is all new to me.

Booked an Air NZ flight Perth to Auckland, (economy class), then Auckland to LAX (prem econ ) for 3 of us, both legs return, booked a few months back.

We all have Virgin Velocity cards, not a high class, think we got them free or $50.

Just wondering can we get points on our Velocity card now from these two return flights?

Or am I barking totally up the wrong tree?

 

[ARI]

Sorry, not a frequent flyer, so this is all new to me.

Booked an Air NZ flight Perth to Auckland, (economy class), then Auckland to LAX (prem econ ) for 3 of us, both legs return, booked a few months back.

We all have Virgin Velocity cards, not a high class, think we got them free or $50.

Just wondering can we get points on our Velocity card now from these two return flights?

Or am I barking totally up the wrong tree?

You can get velocity points for every flight purchased on the Virgin website and flown.

IOW if your flight number starts with the letters DJ you can earn points provided you have attached your velocity numbers to your booking. You need to contact the Virgin call centre to add the numbers before you fly if you didn't attach it at the time of booking.

You can only earn Velocity points on AIRNZ flights across the tasman i.e. aus-nz-aus ONLY.

From the Velocity website, my understanding is you can also earn points on AIRNZ domestic flights within NZ provided the first flight originated from Aus. AND was booked on the Virgin website. For example BNE-AKL-NEL connecting flight.

You would not earn points if AKL-NEL was booked separately.
If the flight has DJ in the flight number you can earn points once flown, even if the metal (or aircraft) is a an AIRNZ one.

Does any of that make sense?

 

[Dawn1004]

Yes, thank you, I should gain points my Air NZ flight Perth to Auckland. But not Auckland Los Angelas.

Thank you for the info.

 

[mr_osborne]

You can get velocity points for every flight purchased on the Virgin website and flown.

IOW if your flight number starts with the letters DJ you can earn points provided you have attached your velocity numbers to your booking. You need to contact the Virgin call centre to add the numbers before you fly if you didn't attach it at the time of booking.

You can only earn Velocity points on AIRNZ flights across the tasman i.e. aus-nz-aus ONLY.

From the Velocity website, my understanding is you can also earn points on AIRNZ domestic flights within NZ provided the first flight originated from Aus. AND was booked on the Virgin website. For example BNE-AKL-NEL connecting flight.

You would not earn points if AKL-NEL was booked separately.
If the flight has DJ in the flight number you can earn points once flown, even if the metal (or aircraft) is a an AIRNZ one.

Does any of that make sense?

Sorry, but I disagree, That's totally incorrect...
I'm an NZ based Velocity member, and if you look at Points Earn with Airline Partners | Velocity Frequent Flyer
You see how it specifically gives rates for longhaul and domestic. The only NZ flights you can't earn on are flights to the pacific Islands, supposedly due to competition requirements, however, you may also find that many Grab a seat fare's do not qualify based on fare class.

If you've already booked your ticket, you should know what fare class you have. Then you can go to the above link, and see how many miles you will earn on velocity
(MileCalc :: The Ultimate Mileage Calculator for Frequent Flyers for Auckland-Perth (assuming a direct flight, will be slightly different if flying via SYD or MEL
and
MileCalc :: The Ultimate Mileage Calculator for Frequent Flyers for auckland to Los Angeles)

Assuming the Fare to Perth is eligable, and is discount economy you would earn 60 status credits return(the points will depend on the class, you can find out by checking your fare code in: Status Earn Fare Class| Velocity Frequent Flyer), and The AKL=LAX flight would earn 240 SC return, and 1.5 points per mile.

With those 2 flights, you would qualify for Velocity silver, (Silver Membership | Velocity Frequent Flyer), and bee 60% on the way to qualifying for gold.

I have an exam today, so I'm going to stop there, but if you have any further questions, ask, and I'll get back to you when I can.

Also, these flight's don't have to be booked on the virgin website.

 

[oz_mark]

You can only earn Velocity points on AIRNZ flights across the tasman i.e. aus-nz-aus ONLY.

I don't believe this statement to be true. The only exception to earning is the pacific islands. Velocity list earn rates for long haul flights on AirNZ.

 

[Dawn1004]

Thanks guys, if I can get the points on the Auckland to LAX leg that would be super, especially as we paid prem economy for those ones.

Will check it out and perhaps give them a call.

thank you once again.

 

[mr_osborne]

Thanks guys, if I can get the points on the Auckland to LAX leg that would be super, especially as we paid prem economy for those ones.

Will check it out and perhaps give them a call.

thank you once again.

The easiest way to confirm, is to find the booking code on your E-Ticket, and if the code is either "U, E, O, A" then it is eligible to earn at a rate of 1.5 per mile flown.

 

[burmans]

The easiest way to confirm, is to find the booking code on your E-Ticket, and if the code is either "U, E, O, A" then it is eligible to earn at a rate of 1.5 per mile flown.

Have just been looking at my crediting/buying strategy for flights to NZ primarily due to my wife getting VA Silver largely based on a simple flight for the family to NZ on an Air New Zealand plane with family pooling. Them restumbled again across this.

I fly to NZ about 4 times a year on super cheapies (i.e. have two bookings this year in Air NZ for $249, once by myself and once with a daughter, this is seat only but in both cases we are going for weekend only). These earn no points which is OK by me at that price! Do get SC's but not enough to be useful.

Seems to me with family pooling may be better to credit to VA as I'm also doing business flights with OZ once a month and seems we get to fly VA more than QF.

That's just for Air NZ flights but also have noticed there doesn't seem to be much relationship between Air NZ and DJ prices, even with the codeshare (Air NZ metal) flights. When I looked a couple of days ago found a codeshare flight through VA site but on Air NZ much cheaper than Air NZ itself and credits more points/SC's.

Seems to me I should be seriously considering making VA my first point of call even though I'm likely to end up on an Air NZ plane.

Anyone else in a similar situation who can offer comment?

 

[mr_osborne]

Have just been looking at my crediting/buying strategy for flights to NZ primarily due to my wife getting VA Silver largely based on a simple flight for the family to NZ on an Air New Zealand plane with family pooling. Them restumbled again across this.

I fly to NZ about 4 times a year on super cheapies (i.e. have two bookings this year in Air NZ for $249, once by myself and once with a daughter, this is seat only but in both cases we are going for weekend only). These earn no points which is OK by me at that price! Do get SC's but not enough to be useful.

Seems to me with family pooling may be better to credit to VA as I'm also doing business flights with OZ once a month and seems we get to fly VA more than QF.

That's just for Air NZ flights but also have noticed there doesn't seem to be much relationship between Air NZ and DJ prices, even with the codeshare (Air NZ metal) flights. When I looked a couple of days ago found a codeshare flight through VA site but on Air NZ much cheaper than Air NZ itself and credits more points/SC's.

Seems to me I should be seriously considering making VA my first point of call even though I'm likely to end up on an Air NZ plane.

Anyone else in a similar situation who can offer comment?

"business flights with OZ" do you mean with asaina airlines or within australia?

and interesting re the price discrepencies, whenever I've looked in the past they have always been the same...

 

[burmans]

"business flights with OZ" do you mean with asaina airlines or within australia?

and interesting re the price discrepencies, whenever I've looked in the past they have always been the same...

I thought at the time that might be confusing, I meant in Australia.

I've had the opposite experience, they ALWAYS seem to be different though not normally by much, but certainly there is no coordination of sales and frequently the cheapest sales price for VA seems to be on NZ metal, work that one out!