With the exception of a single sector on EY (60SC) everything else was on VA!

Ok so flights booked for next weekend, should net 80SC, but by then I'll be down to 290SC for the previous year, so back to 370SC (i.e. where I am now) and will still need another 130SC to regain Gold, unlikely as I have no travel lined up before December.

VA flight numbers, and in an 'eligible' class?

If so, then you have a cause to complain ...

VA flight numbers, VA metal, on VA stock, and have earned all the points accordingly. I'm thinking that once I get back the 370SC to call them and check.

I must admit however that looking back over tickets from last year, I noticed that flex fares have gone up by 16-19% (e.g. $256 vs $219, and $236 vs $199). That is a significant increase within the year especially that the company allocated travel budget did not increase by that much. I doubt any corporation would provision such increase off the bat. What gives?!

I'm not gonna talk about connecting flights costs as a result of the step back to Sabre, nor about the significant increase in Business fares. There's also the issue of availability whereby the cheaper buckets, including saver and base flex, seem more like blocked off than sold out.

Well in that case you should be calling indeed....

In the 'Upgrade to Gold' section do you have lines for

'Eligible Sectors Flown' and 'Eligible Sectors Required to Upgrade to Gold'.

The first should have the number you have done, the second is the number you need to get to Gold (and IME will be fixed at 4).

If 'Eligible Sectors Flown' matches or exceeds 'Eligible Sectors Required to Upgrade to Gold' there is no issue.

Of course - should have considered that - yes, this can be confusing.

See this snapshot from a VA SG member page. While still PS, as travel is credited, the numbers marked with blue change, the numbers with red do not.



(FWIW, this particular member needs one flight and 5 SC's to upgrade to SG.)

My eligible sectors flown shows as 12.

In that case you simply need the 130 SC's for SG.

Click on the "Show Detail >>" for a list of when you would need them by (of the 370 earned they drop of after 365 days).

I'll miss it by two days! I need 130SC by Thursday already, it will drop to 170SC by Friday, then 210SC next month. But I am set to regain 80SC this weekend.

If it had mattered that much, you could have got 40 relatively inexpensive credits CBR-SYD-OOL for a day of travel.

Unfortunately I am time poor so MRs are out.

Logging into Velocity this morning, my status now shows Silver. I thought status is held for 1 month after review date?

You can't be that time poor or you wouldn't have got over 2000 FT posts. If your status mattered to you, you would have identified at least a couple of months beforehand that your travel plans were not going to get you over the line. You could have found a day when you could have done an MR. Failing that, with family pooling you could perhaps have persuaded a brother or sister to do the flying for you.

As it is, you'll just have to decide whether to shell out $300 for a lounge membership and resign yourself to slumming it in the seats at the back of the plane. FWIW, I think the Lounge product (at MEL and SYD) is so disappointing that I'd almost prefer to sit out in the main airport where there are better food/drink options and more interesting people to watch.

Time poor can mean stuck in front of a computer screen for long hours with little field trips. As for family pooling, not an option.

I'm not worried about lounge access since the majority of my trips are/will be ticketed in J. Excess baggage allowance on partners is the major plus, as well as the ability to select seats up front for when flying in Y.

I do agree about the MEL/SYD lounges, though I have found the barista at the MEL lounge to be quite good. Gotta add that I essentially access the lounge to use the cleaner toilettes and to grab a glass of water. Over the past two years, the longest I have spent at a lounge was 2 hours in BNE when the CBR flight got delayed.

Really? I am sure a frequent flyer programme could inspire you to find some long lost rellies, even if they had never realised they were related to you. I remember discovering that I lived in France when doing so got me a BA Gold card for half the points.

It sounds like there's nothing you'll miss then. The seats near the front are a mixed blessing from what I have seen. Guarantee of a neighbour and seated midway between the door and the middle. You actually do better sitting in row 28 or 29 and using the back steps.