Status of status credits for a "no show"

[Rono]

Folks, I recently took my wife overseas to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.

Last month our flight back from Dohan into Sydney was delayed by 5 hours and in doing so we missed making our connection to Adelaide.
Virgin recorded us both as a "no show" - I think is the term.

I know it sounds odd - but when you have paid for the flights and then missed your flights through no fault of yours - what is the status of the status credits that you should have earned.


Rono

 

[markis10]

know it sounds odd - but when you have paid for the flights and then missed your flights through no fault of yours - what is the status of the status credits that you should have earned.

Presumably you approached Virgin for alternate flights prior to departure or worst case on arrival and you should get the SC from that flight, you never get SC from a flight you didn’t travel in for pretty much all cases.

 

[flyingfan]

Happy anniversary to the two of you! Regardless of the reason for not making a flight, you’ll only earn status credits and points for those you actually take.

 

[SYD]

Presumably you approached Virgin for alternate flights prior to departure or worst case on arrival and you should get the SC from that flight, you never get SC from a flight you didn’t travel in I pretty much all cases.

Yes, presumably you were on one ticket and you were rebooked on a later flight?

If so, you should receive Original Routing Credits (ORC). You’ll need to contact VFF to update. I’m surprised it wasn’t automatic.

If you were on seperate tickets, then that’s a different scenario.

How did you get back to ADL?

 

[TheInsider]

Folks, I recently took my wife overseas to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.

Last month our flight back from Dohan into Sydney was delayed by 5 hours and in doing so we missed making our connection to Adelaide.
Virgin recorded us both as a "no show" - I think is the term.

I know it sounds odd - but when you have paid for the flights and then missed your flights through no fault of yours - what is the status of the status credits that you should have earned.


Rono

You don't travel - you don't earn status credits in most cases. But what were you rebooked on to?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes, presumably you were on one ticket and you were rebooked on a later flight?

If so, you should receive Original Routing Credits (ORC). You’ll need to contact VFF to update. I’m surprised it wasn’t automatic.

If you were on seperate tickets, then that’s a different scenario.

How did you get back to ADL?

if it was all on the one ticket they wouldn’t have been marked ‘no show’.

They would have been offloaded from the original flight and rebooked.

 

[moa999]

If you were rebooked and flew on a different VA flight then that would be it, you can't double dip.

In the rare occasion that you were booked on a different carrier (eg. QF), then you may be able to claim credits off QF and original routing credit from VA.

 

[SYD]

if it was all on the one ticket they wouldn’t have been marked ‘no show’.

They would have been offloaded from the original flight and rebooked.

Yes, hence my question.

If you were rebooked and flew on a different VA flight then that would be it, you can't double dip.

Yep. No worse of.

 

[Wac]

If you are moved to new flight should get same status as original booking but not double dip and get points for missed flight and new flight. If rerouted via another city you should get status credits based in new route.

 

[Rono]

You don't travel - you don't earn status credits in most cases. But what were you rebooked on to?

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it as almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

Presumably you approached Virgin for alternate flights prior to departure or worst case on arrival and you should get the SC from that flight, you never get SC from a flight you didn’t travel in for pretty much all cases.

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it as almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

If you are moved to new flight should get same status as original booking but not double dip and get points for missed flight and new flight. If rerouted via another city you should get status credits based in new route.

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it as almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

If you are moved to new flight should get same status as original booking but not double dip and get points for missed flight and new flight. If rerouted via another city you should get status credits based in new route.

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it as almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

If you are moved to new flight should get same status as original booking but not double dip and get points for missed flight and new flight. If rerouted via another city you should get status credits based in new route.

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it as almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

 

[Rono]

If you were rebooked and flew on a different VA flight then that would be it, you can't double dip.

In the rare occasion that you were booked on a different carrier (eg. QF), then you may be able to claim credits off QF and original routing credit from VA.

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it was almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

If you are moved to new flight should get same status as original booking but not double dip and get points for missed flight and new flight. If rerouted via another city you should get status credits based in new route.

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it as almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

 

[RooFlyer]

You absolutely need to fly to earn the SCs.

 

[Rono]

If you are moved to new flight should get same status as original booking but not double dip and get points for missed flight and new flight. If rerouted via another city you should get status credits based in new route.

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it as almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

We weren't rebooked - there were no Virgin flights available on that day as it as almost midnight and no flights on the next day Friday - we had to book one way tickets with Qantas to get from Sydney to Adelaide for the two of us. Hence my question - if you have paid for the tickets but were unable to use them, why don't you get the SC's?

Were these separate tickets?

If all in the same ticket, the airline was responsible to get you to Adelaide, and you would have had priority on the next day’s flights, potentially even on another carrier.

Hopefully your insurance covered you for your accommodation, meals and transfer etc.

 

[Rono]

Thanks to everyone that responded - and I have another question regarding Virgin SC's - I have now resumed my "normal" overseas travel. I am using Qatar and other airlines that are partners with Virgin. Whilst I am being credited with the SC's they apparently aren't doing anything to help me make my way back to Gold Status for Virgin ( I had both for Virgin and Qantas but like so many others when COVID hit I eventually plummeted to Bronze). I know that the the phrase is when flying Virgin Australia and other flights marketed by Virgin - what does this exactly mean? What would I need to do differently when flying to the US, Middle East and Europe to get SC's that would count towards getting Virgin Gold Status. I currently have 747 SC's this year but still haven't cracked Gold? PS will getting Virgin Gold now really get me access to the lounges in these regions?

 

[moa999]

The new VA requirements are earn 500 Status Credits within 365 days, with at least 250 earned from flying yourself (so not family pooled) on Virgin Australia-marketed flights.

So possibly you need to book VA code shares (which can be more expensive).

Gold will give you lounge access with partners in some circumstances, but you need to read the rules per partner.
And note in Doha with Qatar, Gold would get you the lesser Gold Lounge, not the Al Mourjan lounge which is Business Class pax only

 

[flyingfan]

Just on your original and repeated question, my best guess is SCs are designed as a measure of how much you've actually flown with an airline ('bum in seat'), not how much money you've spent with them as a prospective, good-faith intention to fly.

There are some ways to spend money with an airline and get certain benefits, such as paying for lounge access, a higher cabin class or even points. These might not get as much or any SCs. Then there's the bum-in-seat flying that earns SCs but might have different terms and conditions and possibly worse benefits. Some on AFF (which you might know having been around for even longer than me) are absolute gurus on the economics and nuances of loyalty programs.

Recently I paid for but wasn't able to take some flights through no fault of my own and wrote off the potential SC earn.

Perhaps more pertinently to your situation, unfortunately VA through lack of onward flights made it impractical to get rebooked and the associated SCs. Nonetheless I hope all in all you had a wonderful anniversary trip