V Australia and Velocity issues....

[IainF]

Hi All,
Just a quick bit of background.
My wife is off to the USA on March 5th. She is Velocity Gold. Has a tad under 90k velocity points.

We wanted to try V Australia to get her to USA, but several issues have popped up.
1. Can only get a return reward fare OR one way FROM Australia only. Not one way from USA... No destination possible if using the USA website and LAX as origin.
so..we can book a reward business class flight one way, and perhaps buy the return leg....
2. One way fares in business from USA are huge $$$$$$$... the cheapest I could find was $11,000. one way. I can get a return for $5900.
3. If we were to just use points for the outbound ... the taxes are 31,000 points. and looks like you cannot pay those with a credit card on the website, nor can we buy these points directly from Velocity. Which we would be happy to do. (we do have Comm Bank rewards points we can transfer in if necessary.)

The upshot is it just seems really hard to book V Australia as a reward flight right now.
We have used QF points to get her there in J, (96,000 points) and approx $224 in taxes, and will pay for a United Y + ticket home with a SWU upgrade for a total cost of $us1770 + the SWU.

I would have loved to get her back on V Australia, but the lack of ease of use and the costs are way too high for us... We can cope with $4000 one way in J, but no more. Even in Premium economy would be ok, but just can't get the price to a reasonable level.
Also she mentioned the lack of info on lounges was a bit surprising, given they fly in 10 days. Lounge access is important to her.

If I am wrong on any of these points, it is all my fault as I was doing this late last night.....

 

[ANstar]

Hi IaniF.

Have you called the Velocity call centre?

I'm sure you can book a 1 way on the phone - so you should be ok with this!

Also you can mix points / taxes also! to pay with tax

 

[RickyRiccardo]

Hi Iain,

I'm sorry that our communications and booking processes have caused you some frustration and inconvenience. We do have a problem with the web-based booking engine on the one-way from LA to AU port - so that's definitely our fault and we are fixing it now.
I've tried to answer your Velocity queries, as below, and I will put your query regarding the air fare over to V Australia.
​

• You can book one-way or return from AU to LAX on the web​
• We do have an issue with the web-based booking engine not showing a LAX to AU port one way - we're getting that fixed at the moment but you can call the Velocity Member Contact Centre and they will book the fare for you. (And whilst we have this web based booking issue there won't be a fee charged for using the Member Contact Centre). We're sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused.​
• We also have flexible Points + Pay so that you can use your credit card to pay for some of the taxes if required. (With Reward Fares you can't use cash for the base fare component as these are heavily discounted fares that aren't available to the public for a cash amount.)​
• Gold Members do get Lounge access and that's communicated on our website https://www.velocityrewards.com.au/content/AboutTheProgram/Status/StatusBenefits/index.htm We have also scheduled a communication in the Member February Statement which goes out mid-March to advise Gold & Silver Members of their benefits when travelling on V Australia.​

If you do have issues or queries like this in the future please don't hesitate to call the Member Contact Centre on 131 875. Once again, sorry for any frustration and inconvenience that this has caused you. ​

Kind regards,

Ricky​

 

[IainF]

Thanks to Ricky and Crazy Dave for their help.
We have booked a premium econ one way from LAX to SYD at a cost of 70k + taxes.

I would have loved to have been able to purchase 7k in points to get her into J, but thats life...
I did look at the lounge access as per her gold membership, but does not say which lounges are used.

"Good job" to all at VA and Velocity !

 

[Globetrotter]

Hi Ricky,

I phoned Velocity 5 minutes ago to ask how many points are needed to fly SYD/LHR/SYD on VS in Upper Class.

I don't mean to be rude but I could barely understand his English not to mention the line was bad. The agent asked me THREE times to repeat my question which was exceptionally frustrating - I would not have to call if this information was available online.

Our conversation summarised...

ME "How many points do I need to fly Virgin Atlantic from SYD to LHR in business (Upper) class return"
AGENT "we don't have that information available"
ME "Oh I thought VS was a partner"
AGENT "Yes but we don't have that information available, only for economy class"
ME "Okay so I can't use points to fly business class to London"
AGENT "Yes we can offer you J class return on Emirates for 256,000 points"
ME "Goodbye"

Has the agent provided me with the correct information?

I'm trying to work out if its best to transfer my Amex MR points to Velocity or VS Flying Club. 1 MR = 1 VS Mile or 1 MR = 1 DJ points (+25% promo).

REDEMPTION: 180,000 VS Flying Club miles required SYD/LHR/SYD excl. taxes. VELOCITY - no idea!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Cheers...

 

[AviationNZ]

I'm trying to work out if its best to transfer my Amex MR points to Velocity or VS Flying Club. 1 MR = 1 VS Mile or 1 MR = 1 DJ points (+25% promo).

REDEMPTION: 180,000 VS Flying Club miles required SYD/LHR/SYD excl. taxes. VELOCITY - no idea!

I can almost guarantee you that putting them in VS Flying Club is better. For one, you can then look and book directly with them online (and their availability is great on that route even for Upper Class). Secondly, I have heard that using Velocity points to book other airlines can be fairly high with regards to points usage.

 

[Globetrotter]

I can almost guarantee you that putting them in VS Flying Club is better. For one, you can then look and book directly with them online (and their availability is great on that route even for Upper Class). Secondly, I have heard that using Velocity points to book other airlines can be fairly high with regards to points usage.

Thanks! You're right. I managed to check availability with VS and there are plenty of seats. I'll do it direct on their website rather than Velocity.