I feel silly for asking this but don’t see it when selecting flights but does the Virgin Australia site show how many Status Credits and Fare Class you are booking in to? I have 40 VA status credits and thinking of booking 2 business class tickets from Sydney to Fiji by flying via Melbourne on the way there and Brisbane on the way back to increase Status Credits and pool them to get VA Gold but want to make sure I am doing the calculation correctly before buying.
Hello Mattress Man!
Don’t feel silly – it’s not all that easy to find out how many Status Credits a trip earns. Here’s how it’s done as of today – but be aware that Velocity is in the process of updating and changing its website, so I can’t guarantee that the following information will be up-t0-date for too long:
Go to the Velocity website (not the Virgin website). From the menu at the top of the page, click on “The Basics” and then “Status”. Scroll down to “How to earn Status Credits When You Fly” and click on the link. That’ll take you to all the various SC earn tables for different types of flights. The tables will give the information for fares which it will call things like “Restricted Economy” and “Discount Economy”. To work out how those fare types equate to “Getaway” “Elevate” etc (which is what they’ll be called on the Virgin Australia website when you book), you’ll need to scroll all the way down to footnote 1, and click on the “fare classes earn status credits” link.
You’ll obviously need to know how many miles the distance of your flight is. There is a Virgin “Mileage Calculator” on the old section of the Velocity website that hasn’t been updated yet. I can’t see how to get to it from the new site, but for the time being you can get to it via this link.
Finally, it looks like you are already aware that Status Credits are earned on segments rather than on bookings. So a flight with connections will generally earn more SC’s than a direct flight. For example, flying Melbourne to Cairns on a “Getaway” (Restricted Economy) fare – a distance of 1453 miles – will earn 10 SC’s if you fly direct, but 20 SC’s if you fly via Brisbane. So if you’re trying to build up SC’s to earn Gold, connecting flights are your friend.
All the best – I’m VA Gold myself and it’s very much worth it!
Word of caution. Although Syd-Nan via Mel is 2 segments on separate flight numbers, for the purposes of calculating SC’s, you have to combine the mileage & work it out. It doesnt work in the same way as domestic flights.
I was surprised by Rohit's reply but the page:
Is pretty helpful. It states:
Status Credits cannot be earned on all fare classes. Status Credits can only be earned on eligible flights, marketed and operated by Virgin Australia and/or a Velocity airline partner...Status Credits accrual is based on single flight segments that consist of individual flight numbers. An itinerary that involves a change in aircraft but retains the same flight number is considered a single flight segment. An itinerary that consists of a change in flight numbers, even if the same aircraft is used for the entire itinerary, is considered two flight segments. Domestic flights booked within an International journey will accrue Status Credits at the earn level for international flights.So you should earn status credits for each segment. Of which, SYD-MEL->MEL-NAN should be two (unless you somehow get them on the same flight number). But your SYD-MEL is credited at the International business class earn rate. A different post specifying flight numbers and how you purchased (e.g. "Business Saver") might let you check your calculations.
Wow that is an eye opener thanks for all 3 responses for piecing this together. Perhaps their IT can’t compute the values as finding the information is so challenging.
So the flight has 4 unique segments but as you noted the Domestic portion counts at the International rate.
VA808 SYD-MEL in Business Saver -> 40 SC
VA185 MEL-NAN in Business Saver -> 80 SC
VA176 NAN-BNE in Business Saver -> 80 SC
VA978 BNE-SYD in Business Saver -> 40 SC
So I see it as 240 SC and because of Family Pooling that puts it to 480SC (2 tickets are being purchased) and with this that will be the 4 sectors minimum required. So I just need to ensure I have the remaining SC’s in place at time of flight.
Sound reasonable?
Thanks again for the ‘gotchas’ and initial briefer I would have completely miscalculated this!
My understanding is that Syd-Nan via Mel should be 80 SC’s not 120, as the domestic leg is counted as part of international. If you add the Syd-Mel-Nan mileage, it falls in the 80 SC band. Ditto for the return flight.