United Airlines new Virgin Australia/Velocity Partner

[michael65]

Unfortunately couldn't do that due to business commitments, but can understand why. At the end of the day if VA is going to sell it with the connection then they can clean up the mess if it all goes wrong. Would be nicer if there was an airline connection, but we can't have everything can we??

VA might clean up the mess, but if you are one of a few then you may have to wait for the next flight on the following day if you can fit. A number of years ago we got caught up in an Ash cloud saga coming back from SF when the B747 did not fly that day, and therefore UA had over 350 people to deal with. We managed to get on the flight the next day, but lots did not.

 

[henrus]

But as far as I am aware they do not do "cash offer" upgrades

UA normally do cash offers via the app. I travelled from SFO-SYD in April. The booking was in Economy X class (UA flight number) but booked using a different star alliance carriers miles.

The offer was US$825 to upgrade to premium economy and US$4599 to business class.

 

[palpal]

hope to get some collective advice

Both wife and I are velocity Gold flying UA domestic soon. Intend to use the free 1x checked baggage benefit each.
VA number attached to UA ticket but according to UA online chat and call centre they cannot see we are velocity Gold.

If we show our VA digital card at checkin, and they don’t recognise it and want to charge for luggage how should we argue?

 

[MooTime]

hope to get some collective advice

Both wife and I are velocity Gold flying UA domestic soon. Intend to use the free 1x checked baggage benefit each.
VA number attached to UA ticket but according to UA online chat and call centre they cannot see we are velocity Gold.

If we show our VA digital card at checkin, and they don’t recognise it and want to charge for luggage how should we argue?

Should could, but good luck.
At least your not wanting lounge access.

VA really need to get this partnership benefits to UA peeps. Airport peeps.

 

[SYD]

Should could, but good luck.
At least your not wanting lounge access.

VA really need to get this partnership benefits to UA peeps. Airport peeps.

That was my challenge at post #496. Where’s the memo to UA staff and can someone get a copy?

 

[mitchd]

Flew BNE-SYD-SFO-SAN at the beginning of July on a United ticket, the BNE-SYD leg was a VA flight. When posted to Velocity as a Gold member I received 18 Points (15 SC) for this leg. Wife pooled 10 Points to me as a Red.

I am trying to figure out how this was calculated - does anyone have any ideas before I ask customer support like a dum dum? It’s more curiosity than the actual value of a few hundred points, but I expected it to be higher, similar order of magnitude to other domestic legs.

 

[henrus]

I am trying to figure out how this was calculated - does anyone have any ideas before I ask customer support like a dum dum? It’s more curiosity than the actual value of a few hundred points, but I expected it to be higher, similar order of magnitude to other domestic legs.

It should be much higher, something has gone wrong there.

 

[robinsparkles]

Flew BNE-SYD-SFO-SAN at the beginning of July on a United ticket, the BNE-SYD leg was a VA flight.

How did you find the SYD-SFO stretch?

 

[mitchd]

How did you find the SYD-SFO stretch?

Flight itself was good - comfortable and enjoyable at the back of Economy. My wife and I deliberately choose Row 56 so we have two seats to ourselves and no seat neighbours to worry about. We have special meals and this was handled excellently, the flight had two meals plus a hot midnight snack. I had incorrectly surmised from online posts that the United service was stingy and only did a single meal and tried to limit alcoholic drinks in economy but was wrong about both. Staff were very friendly and helpful even tho the flight was chockas. I’m 100kg and don‘t like to sit and found the seat comfortable enough.

The part that sucked was the mad rush at SYD. Complete chaos. Security was a nightmare (July 9) and the plane had to be held back to wait for all of us stuck in security. The flight left at least 45 mins late from memory and this meant we missed our connection in SFO. Not a big deal for us, simply rebooked drama-free only a later flight and enjoyed the lounge, but could be annoying for others. Can’t wait for the BNE-SFO flights to fix this.

Might be interesting for others to note the following. As a Velocity Gold the extra luggage for myself and travel partner were automatic and free with no stuffing around. United Club domestic access in conjunction with the international flights at SFO (July 9) and SAN (July 25) were also very smooth and painless. I am about to find out how this 1h12m layover goes in SFO on the way home, and hoping we can travel between gates without having to go through security again. At least it’s quite late at night and shouldn’t be busy…

 

[Mattg]

Flew BNE-SYD-SFO-SAN at the beginning of July on a United ticket, the BNE-SYD leg was a VA flight. When posted to Velocity as a Gold member I received 18 Points (15 SC) for this leg. Wife pooled 10 Points to me as a Red.

I am trying to figure out how this was calculated - does anyone have any ideas before I ask customer support like a dum dum? It’s more curiosity than the actual value of a few hundred points, but I expected it to be higher, similar order of magnitude to other domestic legs.

Was the BNE-SYD leg on a VA flight number? If so, you should have earned 0.25, 0.5 or 1 Velocity point per mile flown.

Virgin Australia

Earn Points with Virgin Australia and Partners, also earn status credit when travelling with eligible fare types. Offering include trans tasman flights, short haul and long haul flights and international long haul flights

experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com

 

[twiningb]

Was the BNE-SYD leg on a VA flight number? If so, you should have earned 0.25, 0.5 or 1 Velocity point per mile flown.

Virgin Australia

Earn Points with Virgin Australia and Partners, also earn status credit when travelling with eligible fare types. Offering include trans tasman flights, short haul and long haul flights and international long haul flights

experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com

I certainly think it's worth querying with Velocity, and the link @Mattg posted seems to indicate you should expect mileage-based accrual, but:

How was this ticketed? Did Virgin ticket it with the United sectors included either as UA or VA codes, rather than United ticketing it with a small VA sector? Maybe a VA domestic sector is treated as standard VA domestic earn (by revenue) when it's Virgin-ticketed, and only earns mileage-based when the partner tickets the itinerary? In which case maybe they made some arbitrary apportionment of the domestic fraction of the total fare, for only a few dollars, and you earned according to that?

 

[henrus]

Was the BNE-SYD leg on a VA flight number? If so, you should have earned 0.25, 0.5 or 1 Velocity point per mile flown.

So either 116, 233 or 467.

Even on a UA flight number the lowest earning is 0.25.

The only thing I can think of is the system has calculated the $ value of the fare hence the really tiny amount (just $2). Like the fare difference BNE-SYD-SFO-SAN compared to SYD-SFO-SAN is only $2? but even if this is the case the earning rules suggest this is not how this should work.

 

[serfty]

and then walked downstairs for T-Bus. Unfortunately no timetable available for that, so if it hadn't have rocked up within 2-3 minutes, I was heading down to the train.

T-Bus departs T2 every thirty minutes when operating, picking up at the arrivals level on the top of the hour and ½ hour, but be there five minutes before as in quiet times it may depart a minute early due to driver impatience. T3 and T1 follow. I have found it reliable in that respect.

 

[mitchd]

How was this ticketed? Did Virgin ticket it with the United sectors included either as UA or VA codes, rather than United ticketing it with a small VA sector? Maybe a VA domestic sector is treated as standard VA domestic earn (by revenue) when it's Virgin-ticketed, and only earns mileage-based when the partner tickets the itinerary? In which case maybe they made some arbitrary apportionment of the domestic fraction of the total fare, for only a few dollars, and you earned according to that?

I purchased the flights through United and it includes the BNE-SYD as VA908 on the ticket itinerary.

The only thing I can think of is the system has calculated the $ value of the fare hence the really tiny amount (just $2). Like the fare difference BNE-SYD-SFO-SAN compared to SYD-SFO-SAN is only $2? but even if this is the case the earning rules suggest this is not how this should work.

This is what I thought and kinda the reason I posted to see if someone more experienced knew. The flight isn’t United operated so the page for earning rates on United flights doesn’t seem to cover it. Therefore, it defaults to: Virgin operated flight, with a VA flight number, earns Velocity points at 5 per $. And therefore USD$1 arbitrary dollar value, gets converted to AUD$2 and turns into 10 points was my best guess, haha…

edit: ok I read Mattg’s link properly and that makes sense. It’s part of a partner airline ticket so it should earn based on that table. Will contact them when I arrive home to have it fixed!

 

[twiningb]

I purchased the flights through United and it includes the BNE-SYD as VA908 on the ticket itinerary.



This is what I thought and kinda the reason I posted to see if someone more experienced knew. The flight isn’t United operated so the page for earning rates on United flights doesn’t seem to cover it. Therefore, it defaults to: Virgin operated flight, with a VA flight number, earns Velocity points at 5 per $. And therefore USD$1 arbitrary dollar value, gets converted to AUD$2 and turns into 10 points was my best guess, haha…

Yeah, I think if United ticketed it then it meets the conditions described in those rules @Mattg linked, and should be treated accordingly. So I would query it with Velocity.

 

[henrus]

This is what I thought and kinda the reason I posted to see if someone more experienced knew. The flight isn’t United operated so the page for earning rates on United flights doesn’t seem to cover it. Therefore, it defaults to: Virgin operated flight, with a VA flight number, earns Velocity points at 5 per $. And therefore USD$1 arbitrary dollar value, gets converted to AUD$2 and turns into 10 points was my best guess, haha…

It should be table based but I think it's somehow glitched and based off a dollar value.

If it's not urgent you could try sending off a request on the form:

Velocity Help and Support

We've got your back with frequently asked questions, how to guides and details to get in contact with us.

www.velocityfrequentflyer.com

Select type of feedback as enquiry and then relating to points/statement enquiry.

Otherwise a bit off topic but I wonder if the email [email protected] still works?

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

T-Bus departs T2 every thirty minutes when operating, picking up at the arrivals level on the top of the hour and ½ hour, but be there five minutes before as in quiet times it may depart a minute early due to driver impatience. T3 and T1 follow. I have found it reliable in that respect.
level.

The problem is that there's no information at ground level at T2 and to be honest, every 30 minutes when you're already short for time is not good enough.
Being in the US at the moment, they are really spoiled when it comes to inter-terminal transfers...most large airports have a shuttle in between terminals and it's largely hassle-free. Unfortunately there's very little to motivate SYD's owners to invest to improve the experience here.

 

[michael65]

The problem is that there's no information at ground level at T2 and to be honest, every 30 minutes when you're already short for time is not good enough.
Being in the US at the moment, they are really spoiled when it comes to inter-terminal transfers...most large airports have a shuttle in between terminals and it's largely hassle-free. Unfortunately there's very little to motivate SYD's owners to invest to improve the experience here.

Sydney is now owned by Super Funds, so will be interesting how they run it. Not doing a great job so far

 

[FTac]

hope to get some collective advice

Both wife and I are velocity Gold flying UA domestic soon. Intend to use the free 1x checked baggage benefit each.
VA number attached to UA ticket but according to UA online chat and call centre they cannot see we are velocity Gold.

If we show our VA digital card at checkin, and they don’t recognise it and want to charge for luggage how should we argue?

I haven't heard reports of anything working as it should, so you should be expecting to pay for your checked baggage. Easy to get a refund online after the flight though.

 

[EuroKick]

I'm still waiting for my points and SCs from early June. Virgin apparently had to escalate to UA directly.....