Two month trial of Platinum Plus

[Lockyer Man]

Currently sitting in the SIN Silver Kris J lounge, on a SQ Y ticket.

Initially refused entry and told I would be welcome in the Gold lounge. Politely suggested P+ is new and should have access. She waved me through, but not sure if it was legit. She was scrolling her scanner and seemed to log me as VA WP.

Anyway, it's the first additional benefit I've received as P+

Part of the Terminal 3 Silver Kris J Lounge is actually the old SQ Gold Lounge. This appears to have escaped some members thoughts. Also, the Terminal 3 Silver Kris Lounge is so full, especially from 9 pm to about 1 am when a lot of the Aussie bound flights depart that it is very hard to find a seat in the lounge. I am just shy of Krisflyer Elite Gold and have flown many times on SQ metal.

 

[Lockyer Man]

I have reported here previously that I am P+ but I am yet to experience a discernible difference in service levels or acknowledgment of the P+ level. Onboard in J I have even had no choice with meal service (2F) which reiterates that P+ does not receive any additional benefits onboard.

As for SQ service levels, on my last SQ flight (1 week ago) I tried to show my P+ membership card at the Silverkris lounge but the staff were not interested. However, in reality, it didnt matter because I was travelling SQJ anyway. That said, one post mentioned that they had P+ VIP annotated on their ticket but I am yet to see that on a SQ ticket. I am taking the comments with a pinch of salt when they state that they got into the Silverkris First lounge on a Platinum + level membership because $24,000 spend with any international airline is not much to spend so why would SQ give First Lounge access to P+ members when their own Krisflyer members have to spend way more than that to get First Lounge access. I think that this thread has gone off the rails a bit with members wanting something for nothing that has got nothing to do with the airline in question, i.e. VA. We are VA members and it is for VA to provide benefits in accordance with their promises and not for SQ to provide benefits that we have not paid for on their airline.

These are just my comments of course and my opinion but I think we need a bit of reality in our discussions and keep it to where the problem actually is - VA are not recognising P+ as they should and as they promised.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have reported here previously that I am P+ but I am yet to experience a discernible difference in service levels or acknowledgment of the P+ level. Onboard in J I have even had no choice with meal service (2F) which reiterates that P+ does not receive any additional benefits onboard.

As for SQ service levels, on my last SQ flight (1 week ago) I tried to show my P+ membership card at the Silverkris lounge but the staff were not interested. However, in reality, it didnt matter because I was travelling SQJ anyway. That said, one post mentioned that they had P+ VIP annotated on their ticket but I am yet to see that on a SQ ticket. I am taking the comments with a pinch of salt when they state that they got into the Silverkris First lounge on a Platinum + level membership because $24,000 spend with any international airline is not much to spend so why would SQ give First Lounge access to P+ members when their own Krisflyer members have to spend way more than that to get First Lounge access. I think that this thread has gone off the rails a bit with members wanting something for nothing that has got nothing to do with the airline in question, i.e. VA. We are VA members and it is for VA to provide benefits in accordance with their promises and not for SQ to provide benefits that we have not paid for on their airline.

These are just my comments of course and my opinion but I think we need a bit of reality in our discussions and keep it to where the problem actually is - VA are not recognising P+ as they should and as they promised.

don’t disagree… but… part of the purpose of the benefits package is to incentivise spend.

Compare VA platinum plus to Qantas platinum and one gets Fcl lounge access, one gets business, if they’re lucky.

If you are not bound by cheap fares, it isnt adding much to the VA proposition.

Had they done something like Beyond lounge access… that’s not attainable even for platinum 1 on Qantas… that could provide a real incentive.

 

[PPS_SYD]

I have reported here previously that I am P+ but I am yet to experience a discernible difference in service levels or acknowledgment of the P+ level. Onboard in J I have even had no choice with meal service (2F) which reiterates that P+ does not receive any additional benefits onboard.

As for SQ service levels, on my last SQ flight (1 week ago) I tried to show my P+ membership card at the Silverkris lounge but the staff were not interested. However, in reality, it didnt matter because I was travelling SQJ anyway. That said, one post mentioned that they had P+ VIP annotated on their ticket but I am yet to see that on a SQ ticket. I am taking the comments with a pinch of salt when they state that they got into the Silverkris First lounge on a Platinum + level membership because $24,000 spend with any international airline is not much to spend so why would SQ give First Lounge access to P+ members when their own Krisflyer members have to spend way more than that to get First Lounge access. I think that this thread has gone off the rails a bit with members wanting something for nothing that has got nothing to do with the airline in question, i.e. VA. We are VA members and it is for VA to provide benefits in accordance with their promises and not for SQ to provide benefits that we have not paid for on their airline.

These are just my comments of course and my opinion but I think we need a bit of reality in our discussions and keep it to where the problem actually is - VA are not recognising P+ as they should and as they promised.

I could spend less than half with Qantas and extract 10x benefits. P+ is a scam.

 

[Lockyer Man]

don’t disagree… but… part of the purpose of the benefits package is to incentivise spend.

Compare VA platinum plus to Qantas platinum and one gets Fcl lounge access, one gets business, if they’re lucky.

If you are not bound by cheap fares, it isnt adding much to the VA proposition.

Had they done something like Beyond lounge access… that’s not attainable even for platinum 1 on Qantas… that could provide a real incentive.

I don't disagree with you at all. I actually feel that the benefits and acknowledgment of being P+ at not worth anything but just lip service to get customers to spend more with VA directly. All I was mentioning is that VA is the first port of call to live up to the hype and to provide something to incentivise their ff travellers because at the moment they are not at all. Maybe VA has an end game to whittle down the number of Platinum and P+ travellers and first and then to do something with the service levels.

I could spend less than half with Qantas and extract 10x benefits. P+ is a scam.

I also agree with you. That was entirely my point. There has been a lot of hype at the commencement of the P+ level but it hasn't stacked up in reality. VA have been good at marketing something but they haven't followed through with a hard product that is sufficient to incentivise their loyal customers.

 

[simmomelb]

I could spend less than half with Qantas and extract 10x benefits. P+ is a scam.

It's just severely lacking any major point of difference to regular platinums, this was the general consensus from the focus groups recently.
They are well aware of this and it's early days, so I'll be interested to see what/if any changes come to Plat+ offers in the near future.
I am relatively confident we will see some extras added soon ish.
Time will tell.

 

[HouseCat]

It's just severely lacking any major point of difference to regular platinums, this was the general consensus from the focus groups recently.
They are well aware of this and it's early days, so I'll be interested to see what/if any changes come to Plat+ offers in the near future.
I am relatively confident we will see some extras added soon ish.
Time will tell.

I hope so, I have done about 10 flights last month as P+ and really have not seen anything making it worth going for over platinum (or gold for that matter).

Like many have said, big plus is having Australian call takers. Otherwise, it is really the same as platinum.

Some things I think would be good that won't really cost anything (in fact point 2 should actually increase revenue):

1. Need another lounge (Beyond would make sense as there is very little marginal cost to add and I don't think Beyond members would see it as a negative given the limited member numbers - even if you only made Beyond lounge access for P+ travelling on business fare). This really pushes me to Qantas at certain times as the lounge has really average food & terrible wine and in peak time it can be hard to find a seat - especially in Brisbane.
2. This is not just for P+ but virgin need to stop upgrading everyone to business class at midnight the night before flights. When I try to buy a same day business class fare I never can find a seat and end up flying Qantas as Virgin have filled all the seats the night before with upgraders. Maybe run the upgrade process at T-2hours rather than the night before. This process also makes Fly Forward and Fly Later totally useless if you are in Business class as there are never any seats to move to. I would say in my last 10 flights, I have never been able to use the benefit for business class (and before P+, I have never been able to use it as a Platinum).
3. Block row 1 & 3 for (paying economy x) Beyond and P+ until T-48 hours or something.
4. Take meal orders first from P+. It costs nothing and for those of us who eat the same thing on your planes a couple of times a week, it is annoying when we dislike one option and get stuck with it. I note this sometimes does happen but it is really hit and miss and more often a miss.
5. Make it an (un)official benefit to request reward / upgrade seats when not available on virgin flights. I assume this is the case (or at least hope it is) but I have not had the need to try this yet.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Lack of business class seating also impacts IRROPS. I had a flight cancelled (crew shortage) and the next available SYD-MEL i was offered was 4 hours (6 flights) later. No choice but to cancel and fly another carrier.