docsmitty

Hi everyone,

My fiance and I are planning on flying on VA for our Honeymoon, and she's AA Gold. We'd like to do the status match but we won't be flying until May 10 (and returning May 22) so I'd like to talk with someone at VA about whether they could extend the promotion for our honeymoon flights. We'd *really* like to get any cheapie first-class seats 12 hours in advance

Does anyone have a suggestion of how to best contact VA about this?

Thanks!

cringle

April 30 is it. They are not making exceptions.

rasheed

Silver status only get to free MCS for one person, no companion and you need to be auto upped to MCS for cheapest 1st upgrade. So, your plan was flawed anyway. Just be logged in at the 6 hour mark.

Rasheed

docsmitty

OK, Thanks.. unfortunately at the 6 hour mark we'll be in the middle of a wedding...

Maybe we can sneak an iPhone to the altar?

Seat2C

Problem solved. VX has extended the status match offer.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/freque...west-airlines/

grt2106

This kinda sucks, I had my status matched in early March and will be flying with VX in mid april. Will be about half way to keeping status... but it's tough to pull those numbers in one month.

Don't see why the promo terms should change so much, yet retain rigidity for those early adopters.

Seat2C

VX is new to status matching and is handling it very poorly at the moment. I am surprised that they don't simply have status matching as a permanent program with a set time period (90 days) to achieve matching requirements.
I'm also surprised that they aren't status matching Alaska, Delta and JetBlue. Alaska has quite a bit of route overlap. Delta and JetBlue have a lot of New York and Boston presence; I'm surprised that VX isn't trying to poach their passengers.



Now, keeping in mind that status matching and loyalty programs are set up to generate additional revenue for the company, I'm going to ask you a couple of critical questions, grt2106.

Did you accept the status match to use the benefits only once? (mid-April flight) Or did your travel plans change radically after you accepted the status match?
It appears that the OP is looking for a 'one and done'; I don't have a problem with that. But if that was your original strategy (one and done), why are you now lamenting a change in status match offer?

Why don't you get the VX credit card; that would mean that you'd only need to earn 3000 flying status points for Silver. That's only $600 spend in tickets. If you're a bit short after your one flight in mid-April, you should be able to do a short weekend trip somewhere to get the remaining points. Problem solved.

grt2106

I live on the East Coast, so unfortunately they don't do too many short hauls from here.

The status match would keep me flying VX over JetBlue (cheapest/many well timed flights) or Southwest (convenient) to go from NYC to LA or SF- even if it meant a slightly higher outright ticket price.

I suppose I'm flying with VX a few times a year- less when they can the direct SFO/MCO. I'm not so much lamenting the idea of having my status matched, just that I'd have until June to earn if I signed up this week, versus signing up a month ago where I only have until April. I've never received any benefit thus far with them- so yeah, it seems like a slightly messy match.

cringle

Looks like the match period has been extended to June 30, 2013 and now includes Southwest airlines.

http://www.virginamerica.com/vx/statusmatch

Seat2C

I understand completely.

I suspected that it was a benefit that you aren't able to take advantage of very often, since you are only on one flight over a two month period. I've done the same with a few programs that I knew I wouldn't use more than a couple of times.

The best way that I see VX working for someone who lives in New York or Boston is if they fly to LA or SFO often.

grt2106

Sure, but if you fly enough to maintain status- Delta has by far the best first class from JFK to SFO and JFK to LAX. No comparison, free upgrades if you can swing it on a higher tier.

Maybe I'll go from LAS to LAX, then LAX to JFK... could spread that out a bit and see if I can hit the spending. Still need like 450- which to be honest, might not even happen from those two flights. :\

If I do LAS back to SFO then SFO to LAX I get double points on all those (including for earnings) but I'm just adding time in the air I don't really need. :\

Seat2C

Ah, the crazy games we play to get/keep status.
During a very lean travel year for me while living in the WashDC area, I flew a couple of weekends BWI-DEN-SMF-SFO-LAX-BWI during United's double EQMs in November to assure 1K status for the next year. Departed BWI Saturday at around 6AM and returned appox 25 hours later. Slept on the LAX-BWI redeye. It was worth it for the SWUs alone, not to mention the better treatment for being a 1K.

Have you tried United P.S. JFK to SFO/LAX? I haven't flown that route in quite a while but my impression was that United P.S. beat out all competition. I know that Delta, American, and JetBlue are supposed to be rolling out service comparable to international service on those routes but I didn't think that had occurred yet.

grt2106

Delta has the Business Elite on JFK Transcons. It is their international product, and far superior to even VX in First.

Seat2C

So comparable to United P.S.
It used to be only 3 class but they've just started converting to 2 class with BusinessFirst international product. The 3 class service only had economy plus in coach. http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...mservices.aspx

They've had 3 class P.S service for several years.

MDtR-Chicago

Unfortunate I didn't think of this sooner. Have a long haul flight tomorrow - would be a perfect time to try it.

I called in but the rep was quite certain there was no way to expedite it. Anyone here have a process/contact?