Originally Posted by
Kamadan
Your VA issued boarding pass will looking like this:
(Assuming that is hasn't changed since last year/2014)
For VA operated VA/NZ alliance flights, the boarding pass will show both the actual VA operated flight number, along with "Sold as NZ XXXX" flight number underneath if it was purchased/booked via Air NZ.
The FF status will be shown as: "Partner [Silver/Gold/Platinum]" for NZ Silver/Gold/Elite HVCs, and lounge access/benefits will be granted accordingly as per the Trans-Tasman co-operation agreement.
And as correctly noted prior, VA is not a *A member thus *A benefits will not apply. They will not be able to load your OZ membership number and thus status into the system.
At the NZ SYD lounge, your boarding pass will scan with a fail (red light) as you won't be entitled to lounge access. Whether or not you'll be granted access is entirely up to the discretion of the lounge agent... and my advice is to set your expectation accordingly - which is to say, nope.
Very informative - thanks Kamadan. I feared that would be the case.
I have a couple of complimentary silver Virgin Australia lounge passes too, but I understand they don't work either. And my status-matched AirBerlin gold which gets me access to domestic Virgin lounges apparently won't work for international.
Oh well, we'll give it a shot, but if we fail we will head to Amex lounge and I'll just pay for one of us. It's actually a really nice little lounge with good food and booze.