No Air France/KLM points redemptions on Virgin
I tend to redeem my Virgin points for Air France/KLM flights where I can as the taxes and fees are roughly half the price of redeeming on Virgin. It has always been a pain and usually requires phoning up.
Now Virgin has said that it will not be able to book any redemptions on either airline even by phone until “the start” of August. Hopefully when they fix this current issue it may also fix the long term issue.
The website says
“Due to a system issue, customers are currently unable to book Air France/KLM seats with Virgin Points on our website and through the Customer Centre. We’d like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and our teams are working hard to fix this issue. We expect bookings to be available again at the start of August.”
Virgin Atlantic cease Shanghai flights
Virgin Atlantic quietly cut Shanghai from their schedule from the end of the summer schedule onwards (26 October 2024). I am not surprised by this, given the reduced numbers of visitors in both directions. Virgin announced some time ago that they were planning to launch Seoul, but this is dependent on the merger between Korean Air and Asiana, which is still in progress. I would guess eventually, they may use the slot for that route.
However, in the meantime, they are increasing flights to India to 35 a week spread across the destination, so if you have been looking for a redemption and struggled to get one for this winter, there will be some extra flights added.
Skyteam status match for BA and others – even if expired!
As well as the SAS status match which will give you Skyteam status that I wrote about here, another offer from ITA has come out. The disadvantage of the SAS offer is that you have to wait until 1 September before the status converts from Star Alliance to Skyteam. They have also been asking for detailed information such as 6 months of airline transactions and proof of identity.
The ITA status would give you status in Skyteam which includes benefits on Virgin Atlantic, Delta, Air France/KLM and more. You can match a number of airlines’ status including British Airways.
The ITA Airways – Volare Status Match promotion is available until 19 August 2024. The promotion is valid for all Volare members, who added a residence address other than Italy during registration.
To take part in the initiative you must:
- Be a member of the Volare Program or a member of Volare AVVENTURA (for further information on the conditions and the necessary requirements to enroll in the Volare and Volare AVVENTURA programs, please visit the following link).
- Own a card that has a higher status than the basic entry level, namely the entry level obtained at the time of enrollment in the loyalty program of the airline company included in the Status Match campaign. View the list of included airlines here.
- Not having taken part in any previous Volare Status Match campaigns.
Even if your status has expired you can still apply as long as it did not expire before January 2023. Only cards that show the first and last name of the applicant will be accepted.
How do I apply for Status Match?
- The Status Match request can only be submitted through the dedicated “Status Match” section within your Volare personal area.
- Once you have accessed your Volare personal area, you will have to provide, within the dedicated fields, the following information:
- Name on the status card
- Status of the original card
- Original status card (you must attach a clearly legible image of the origin card, which must contain first name, last name, airline, origin status, expiration date; the maximum accepted size is 2MB; formats: pdf, png, jpg, jpeg).
- Valid identity document. This document will be used for the sole purpose of this initiative and will be deleted at the end of the Status Match campaign.
- Once the Status match request is submitted, a message will be displayed confirming that the request has been successfully submitted, together with the related request identification number.
- The new status and related digital card will be awarded and recognized in ITA Airways systems within 60 days from the date of the request.
Your newly acquired status will remain valid until the end of the calendar year following the year in which entry into that exclusive Club occurred (i.e., until the following 31 December or until the Volare program expires, whichever is earlier).
If the Status Match request is accepted, you also get 10.000 Volare qualifying points according to the terms and conditions but it does not mention it elsewhere.
You can find the status match page here.
3 comments
I am one of many people affected by Virgin’s cancellation of the Shanghai route, both in terms of the LHR-PVG flight but also an onward connecting flight to HND from PVG. Virgin’s email to me yesterday simply offered a refund option but no alternative airline option for the flight. I shall be pursuing this over next few days.
After axing a route, it usually takes a few days for airlines to put re-routing agreements with other airlines in place… so hang tight until at least Monday.
I’m sure if you speak to them they will be able to offer an alternative.
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