Experience redeeming VX miles on International Partners
Dec 20, 2016, 4:01 pm
#91
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 35
My booking experience : Emirates award with VA elevate points.
1) Checked expertflyer for seats before hand and confirmed flight/date etc.
2) Phone call to VA was quick and pleasant. All my followup (pestering
) calls have been handled so pleasantly. As I described earlier the agent only charged me $60.4 for taxes on MEL-SIN business tkt (although the website says it is $245).
3) It is easier if each passenger has a VA elevate membership no. so that name etc can be retrieved from there.
4) 2 mins to check seats , another 5 mins to complete reservation. At the end of the call I was provided with VA and EK booking ref#.
5) 1 hour later I got an EK confirmation email with tkts attached as Pdf docs. HOWEVER, the pdf documents were just empty with no tickets.
6) EK manage booking site showed booking status as confirmed and eticket= None.
7) Called back VA to ensure if everything was alright. They told me that with EK awards you do not get tickets issued. Only an email will follow 24 or 48hrs prior to checkin - which is when you can change seats etc. I also asked if there was any merit in calling emirates to check if booking was confirmed. They said sure and at this point they also gave me ticket numbers starting with 9xx for reference.
8) Emirates call center asked for my booking ref and looked at it and told me, ticket has not yet been issued. When I gave them the tkt no.s they put me on hold and came back to tell me yep - it is confirmed. The tkt status is none because we do not provide any tkts for VA awards. They also told me that I could chg seats only during check-in, but re-assured booking is confirmed.
Just put out the details cuz I couldnt find a thread on EK bookings. Hope anyone who've booked EK awards can confirm if what the agents have relayed is indeed the way it is supposed to work. Attached tix for ref.
Sorry for being paranoid - i have connecting flights from SIN-LAX (on SQ J
) that I dont want EK to screw up by surprising me during MEL-SIN check-in.
1) Checked expertflyer for seats before hand and confirmed flight/date etc.
2) Phone call to VA was quick and pleasant. All my followup (pestering
) calls have been handled so pleasantly. As I described earlier the agent only charged me $60.4 for taxes on MEL-SIN business tkt (although the website says it is $245). 3) It is easier if each passenger has a VA elevate membership no. so that name etc can be retrieved from there.
4) 2 mins to check seats , another 5 mins to complete reservation. At the end of the call I was provided with VA and EK booking ref#.
5) 1 hour later I got an EK confirmation email with tkts attached as Pdf docs. HOWEVER, the pdf documents were just empty with no tickets.
6) EK manage booking site showed booking status as confirmed and eticket= None.
7) Called back VA to ensure if everything was alright. They told me that with EK awards you do not get tickets issued. Only an email will follow 24 or 48hrs prior to checkin - which is when you can change seats etc. I also asked if there was any merit in calling emirates to check if booking was confirmed. They said sure and at this point they also gave me ticket numbers starting with 9xx for reference.
8) Emirates call center asked for my booking ref and looked at it and told me, ticket has not yet been issued. When I gave them the tkt no.s they put me on hold and came back to tell me yep - it is confirmed. The tkt status is none because we do not provide any tkts for VA awards. They also told me that I could chg seats only during check-in, but re-assured booking is confirmed.
Just put out the details cuz I couldnt find a thread on EK bookings. Hope anyone who've booked EK awards can confirm if what the agents have relayed is indeed the way it is supposed to work. Attached tix for ref.
Sorry for being paranoid - i have connecting flights from SIN-LAX (on SQ J
) that I dont want EK to screw up by surprising me during MEL-SIN check-in.
Dec 23, 2016, 5:29 pm
#93
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: Amtrak Guest Rewards (SE), Virgin America Elevate, Hyatt Gold Passport (Platinum), VIA Preference
Posts: 3,134
Just booked Business Class LAX-BNE on VA for 12/29. No muss, no fuss, called up VA and got seat 3A. Fees were about $30 (which strikes me as just being airport taxes and the like). Turned around and cancelled the ticket I'd booked through DL (which has been refunded, since they can't handle vouchers/Delta Dollars in CAD). Even accounting for the $450 refund fee on the DL end of things, I'm thrilled beyond belief that this came together.
Dec 23, 2016, 7:10 pm
#94
Join Date: May 2009
Location: California
Programs: AS 75K Gold, UA Silver, Marriott LT Platinum, Hyatt Explorist, National EE
Posts: 236
Just booked Business Class LAX-BNE on VA for 12/29. No muss, no fuss, called up VA and got seat 3A. Fees were about $30 (which strikes me as just being airport taxes and the like). Turned around and cancelled the ticket I'd booked through DL (which has been refunded, since they can't handle vouchers/Delta Dollars in CAD). Even accounting for the $450 refund fee on the DL end of things, I'm thrilled beyond belief that this came together.
Dec 23, 2016, 8:38 pm
#95
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,257
i presume most who did that actually have back up plans
Dec 23, 2016, 8:39 pm
#96
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,257
Just booked Business Class LAX-BNE on VA for 12/29. No muss, no fuss, called up VA and got seat 3A. Fees were about $30 (which strikes me as just being airport taxes and the like). Turned around and cancelled the ticket I'd booked through DL (which has been refunded, since they can't handle vouchers/Delta Dollars in CAD). Even accounting for the $450 refund fee on the DL end of things, I'm thrilled beyond belief that this came together.
Dec 23, 2016, 10:43 pm
#98
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: Amtrak Guest Rewards (SE), Virgin America Elevate, Hyatt Gold Passport (Platinum), VIA Preference
Posts: 3,134
Well, here's the thing: It's the exact same flight, just rebooked as an award redemption via VX as opposed to as a codeshare via DL. FWIW, from what I can tell, booking via DL (as opposed to VA) enabled both the "proper" refund and kept the fee to CAD600 (roughly USD450) rather than the USD600 that I think VA would've hit me for.
Dec 23, 2016, 11:10 pm
#99
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,257
Well, here's the thing: It's the exact same flight, just rebooked as an award redemption via VX as opposed to as a codeshare via DL. FWIW, from what I can tell, booking via DL (as opposed to VA) enabled both the "proper" refund and kept the fee to CAD600 (roughly USD450) rather than the USD600 that I think VA would've hit me for.
plus since AS has now allowed the conversion of 1:1.3, this opens up more possibility that my VX points wont go to drain
Dec 24, 2016, 11:31 am
#101
Join Date: May 2009
Location: California
Programs: AS 75K Gold, UA Silver, Marriott LT Platinum, Hyatt Explorist, National EE
Posts: 236
Virgin America "burn desk" claims you must book Virgin Australia award tickets 72hrs prior to the flight making it difficult for last minute bookings. Escalating to a supervisor they called Virgin Australia and allowed the time to be cut down to 24-48hrs to ticket. It was worth pursuing to get Business Class on Virgin Australia. They now allow access to the Etihad lounge at LAX with a Business Class ticket.
Dec 28, 2016, 1:03 am
#102
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 114
Virgin America "burn desk" claims you must book Virgin Australia award tickets 72hrs prior to the flight making it difficult for last minute bookings. Escalating to a supervisor they called Virgin Australia and allowed the time to be cut down to 24-48hrs to ticket. It was worth pursuing to get Business Class on Virgin Australia. They now allow access to the Etihad lounge at LAX with a Business Class ticket.
Feb 12, 2017, 12:45 pm
#103
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: YYZ, HKG, MFM
Programs: AC35K, AS MVP, WS Gold, ITA EP, Marriott Plat, Hyatt-Explorist, IHG Diamond
Posts: 2,019
So it looks like redemption to SQ are dead. Tried a simple HKG-SIN segment for next 6 months with no availability!
Right now it looks like we can still redeem for EK, VA(domestic), VA international at very last minute. Anyone tried to redeem for HA and AS? I would assume AS has good availability.
I think VA,HA and SQ will all go away when VX elevate dissolves, leaving EK which already partners with AS.
Right now it looks like we can still redeem for EK, VA(domestic), VA international at very last minute. Anyone tried to redeem for HA and AS? I would assume AS has good availability.
I think VA,HA and SQ will all go away when VX elevate dissolves, leaving EK which already partners with AS.
Feb 12, 2017, 7:13 pm
#104
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: LAX, LGB, SNA
Programs: AA EXP OWE, DL DM ST+, AS MVPG, UA, BA, WN CP, Hyatt E, Ritz Plat, HH GM
Posts: 3,185
So it looks like redemption to SQ are dead. Tried a simple HKG-SIN segment for next 6 months with no availability!
Right now it looks like we can still redeem for EK, VA(domestic), VA international at very last minute. Anyone tried to redeem for HA and AS? I would assume AS has good availability.
I think VA,HA and SQ will all go away when VX elevate dissolves, leaving EK which already partners with AS.
Right now it looks like we can still redeem for EK, VA(domestic), VA international at very last minute. Anyone tried to redeem for HA and AS? I would assume AS has good availability.
I think VA,HA and SQ will all go away when VX elevate dissolves, leaving EK which already partners with AS.
Feb 20, 2017, 11:48 pm
#105
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 34
Virgin America "burn desk" claims you must book Virgin Australia award tickets 72hrs prior to the flight making it difficult for last minute bookings. Escalating to a supervisor they called Virgin Australia and allowed the time to be cut down to 24-48hrs to ticket. It was worth pursuing to get Business Class on Virgin Australia. They now allow access to the Etihad lounge at LAX with a Business Class ticket.