Do I get Velocity Point and Status earn for Hong Kong Airlines booking?

Your story here Earn more Velocity Status Credits with these flights - Point Hacks is deceptive and misleading. I purchased the suggested Business fare on Hong Kong Airlines for $1722 from Gold Coast to Hong Kong return and used your suggested PH travel agent Luke. However the ticket issued is in fare class (I) which does not earn Velocity Points. On researching after the fact it clearly states on the Velocity websites that fare particular fare class does not earn points. So you’ve clipped the ticket, Luke clipped the ticket and I’m left high and dry with not points at all for the trip. What is your response?.

Hi Willvill,

The fare in question is a Virgin Australia fare issued in I class. It does include international codeshare flights operated by Hong Kong Airlines, however these have Virgin Australia (VA) flight numbers. As per the Virgin website status credit earn table:

Includes all Virgin Australia codeshare services operated by partner airlines with a VA flight number

Hence these flights are eligible. There have been even cheaper fares on offer when using Hong Kong Airlines flight numbers, but due to the lack of status credit earn in the applicable booking classes (Z, I) these were not promoted.

Hope this helps to clear things up,

Luke

Thanks for the response. The Velocity webpage Earn Velocity Frequent Flyer Points | Velocity Frequent Flyer under Hong Kong Airlines states the fare classes available for Status Credits and (I) isnt one of them. And concludes,Velocity Points and Status Credits cannot be earned on: Fare classes other than as specified above: And…in Business they list B, C and Y. You also say there were even cheaper fares on sale previously however the status credit earn wasnt any good and they were in classes (Z) and (I). Isn’t that my point? I was issued Business Class tickets in (I) The whole point of raising this issue is my Velocity activities note the flight but no miles and no status credits
So in short, you are saying the code share Business Class fare with Virgin in (I) will earnstatus credits with Virgin?

Hi Willvill,

That’s correct. The status table refers to the marketing carrier of the flight. We avoid using Hong Kong Airlines-marketed flights (ie. those with a HX flight number) as only the highest business booking classes earn Velocity status. In your example, the marketing carrier is Virgin (ie. a VA flight number) and hence the flight is eligible for status earn given that it is operated by a partner airline. To learn the earn rare you would check the table for Virgin Australia flights, not Hong Kong Airlines.

This is one of the reasons why codeshare flights (whether it be with Qantas, Virgin or others) are often used to boost status compared to using the operating carrier’s code.

Luke