Virgin need to educate their alliance partners better!

[Milboo]

Flew Virgin America from New York to LAX this week and was disappointed about the lack of recognition for status pax given what VA advertises as status benefits.

Priority check in - can't comment as I just used a bag drop lane but no one was in it anyway.
Boarding pass - states your velocity number but no indication of status.
Boarding - says we get priority boarding. I joined the queue and got told they were not boarding my zone yet but let me through when I displayed my velocity card (thankfully on my hand luggage)
Seating - clearly no priority seating options as I was further down the plane.
Luggage - not tagged as priority despite it being a benefit.
On board - no welcome to passengers from partner airlines.

Was as a pretty poor effort from Virgin America in these regards. Seems that VA need to really educate them better or work with them to ensure stated benefits are delivered.

What at I did enjoy about the flight was the fact the pilot and the first officer get on the PA at the front of the plane, introduce themselves to the pax and give details of the flight.

 

[here2go]

Both airlines use Sabre, so theoretically no excuse.

 

[williamsf1]

Flew Virgin America from New York to LAX this week and was disappointed about the lack of recognition for status pax given what VA advertises as status benefits.

Priority check in - can't comment as I just used a bag drop lane but no one was in it anyway.
Boarding pass - states your velocity number but no indication of status.
Boarding - says we get priority boarding. I joined the queue and got told they were not boarding my zone yet but let me through when I displayed my velocity card (thankfully on my hand luggage)
Seating - clearly no priority seating options as I was further down the plane.
Luggage - not tagged as priority despite it being a benefit.
On board - no welcome to passengers from partner airlines.

Was as a pretty poor effort from Virgin America in these regards. Seems that VA need to really educate them better or work with them to ensure stated benefits are delivered.

What at I did enjoy about the flight was the fact the pilot and the first officer get on the PA at the front of the plane, introduce themselves to the pax and give details of the flight.

Did you present your Velocity card at check in ? I travelled on VX in AUG this year and was GOLD at the time. I got talking to the check in girl and she advised me that they do not see Velocity status in the system , however after showing my card , protity tags we put on my bags ... and she also changed my seat further forward( tho unsure if that was a reward for providing a laugh with my Gangnam style dance to the music playing rather loud at the night club style check in)

 

[notzac]

I have to be honest, Milboo, outside of priority baggage (which is a questionable benefit no matter which airline you're travelling with) - it seems you got everything you were supposed to get. Not many of VA's partners have system recognition of VA status; this is one of the reasons I fly with DL rather than VX.

Also, did you have your actual Velocity card (vs. the Velocity luggage tag) with you? If not, I definitely recommend carrying it as it's generally required to get the benefits you're entitled to.

 

[cssaus]

. Not many of VA's partners have system recognition of VA status; this is one of the reasons I fly with DL rather than VX.

.

Agreed.

When I've had to fly beyond LAX I always make sure I select a DL operated flight as their system recognizes VA status which is shown on the boarding pass.

 

[eastwest101]

Agreed.

When I've had to fly beyond LAX I always make sure I select a DL operated flight as their system recognizes VA status which is shown on the boarding pass.

Interesting comment - so here is a "riddle me this" question to IT/CRS experts out there.

Seeing as VA went through all the pain of going to Sabre in Jan 2013 and given the fact that DL does not use Sabre (uses Travelport/Galileo) and VX does use Sabre - how come people here have to select DL flights over VX flights to get partner/status recognition?

 

[notzac]

Interesting comment - so here is a "riddle me this" question to IT/CRS experts out there.

Seeing as VA went through all the pain of going to Sabre in Jan 2013 and given the fact that DL does not use Sabre (uses Travelport/Galileo) and VX does use Sabre - how come people here have to select DL flights over VX flights to get partner/status recognition?

I'm certainly no expert, but I suspect VX would need to set their system up to handle partner status -- which they may not have done, or they may not have the agreements in place with VA for it.

 

[gwilli1]

I had great service from VX being VA Gold at DFW back in Feb . Priority lane for checkin & tagging , got moved the MCS , priority boarding . Not sure if they had status in the VX system although it was a connecting flight via LAX back to SYD , so I assume something was on the booking . I did show my VA Gold card , like i do with all VA partners to reaffirm my status.

 

[Milboo]

Yes - showed card at check in and to be honest she was not interested.

I prefer VX over DL domestically in the US as I think they offer a superior service and have been suitably unimpressed with DL on previous trips where they make QF crew look efficient and friendly.

My flight was ticketed separately to my VA flight back to SYD.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Both airlines use Sabre, so theoretically no excuse.

Sabre is an excuse in itself isn't it

 

[pauly7]

Sabre is an excuse in itself isn't it

Hey it was an upgrade from the previous which was affectionately known inside virgin as 'command prompt' lol

 

[peakhour]

I write this from seat 47C on what I think is a 757 Delta flight from ATL-LAX.

As VA Gold I got the priority check in, priority baggage, priority boarding, lounge access (had to explain to one lounge dragon to look at my boarding pass as she tried to fob me off with "you're not in first vclass sir") but a seat in the last row of the plane.

Other DL flights I've been a lot closer to the front so no real complaints here.

 

[notzac]

...but a seat in the last row of the plane.

Other DL flights I've been a lot closer to the front so no real complaints here.

That is one of my only gripes with the Delta partnership -- no access to priority seating (50% discount on Economy Comfort doesn't cut it IMHO).

 

[justcallmeryan]

I'm currently in the middle of a SQ trip SYD - SIN - CPT - SIN - SYD. I'm platinum with VA.

Departing SYD I got priority check in, priority bag tags and lounge access with no problem at all, although nothing special about the seat I had.

Departing SIN, no priority check in, no priority bag tags and I have a seat in the back of the bus. Having said that I am sitting in the lounge which is nice. Completely different treatment here, the check in girls had obviously never even seen, or been briefed, on VA status...

I have no hope at all departing CPT do I?

 

[ap_spd]

have flown out from SIN a few times on SQ and have always checked in via business class counter and have had my luggage tagged priority ohh and have also had the staff hand out Priority Arrival for Sydney but you do need to show them your VA card.

Wish as WP they allowed access to the more dignified lounge

 

[day-heg]

*snip*
I have no hope at all departing CPT do I?

I had issues with Etihad at BOM a couple of years back... anticipating problems I had screenshots of a few pages from the Velocity website on my iPad showing Plat benefits etc, which deffo made all the difference... we were upgraded to J for the trip to AUH!!

Worth a try?

 

[justcallmeryan]

I had issues with Etihad at BOM a couple of years back... anticipating problems I had screenshots of a few pages from the Velocity website on my iPad showing Plat benefits etc, which deffo made all the difference... we were upgraded to J for the trip to AUH!!

Worth a try?

If only I had seen this before leaving... In CPT I had no priority check in, but with SQ only departing a few days a week from there I wasn't surprised. Got row 55 (out of a total of 59)... No priority tags.

In the end it didn't matter, I landed in SYD 23 hours later very dazed and confused and luckily my bag was second off the belt so I was out 25 minutes after landing! I suspect that may have had something to do with a very tight connection in SIN, but I'm not complaining.

Overall very little recognition on this trip, but I wasn't really expecting much. I've had better treatment on Etihad and Delta in the past.

 

[grubbidok]

I had issues with Etihad at BOM a couple of years back... anticipating problems I had screenshots of a few pages from the Velocity website on my iPad showing Plat benefits etc, which deffo made all the difference... we were upgraded to J for the trip to AUH!!

Worth a try?

*skulks off to use my limited html expertise to make a dummy webpage conferring much nicer bennies to screenshot*

 

[Demon_fan]

So I have a couple of VX and DL flights next week, should I just expect pot luck to receive some of these benefits? Or do I really need to be pushing them at check-in for 3 of these flights?

Cheers

 

[williamsf1]

So I have a couple of VX and DL flights next week, should I just expect pot luck to receive some of these benefits? Or do I really need to be pushing them at check-in for 3 of these flights?

Cheers

What are you expecting at check in ? and what cities are you flying from ? For example VX only has a lounge at LAX... and don't expect any baggage free from either