Is BNE VA International Lounge worth it?
 

Currently I am Silver Medallion and have a trip to Brisbane in a couple days. I have the ability to buy some MQMs that would push me into Gold after my flight from LAX-BNE. Is it worth accessing the International Virgin Australia lounge to buy those MQMs or should I just let my return leg, BNE-LAX cut me over to Gold?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to FT! I think you are asking whether it's worth it to buy MQMs from Delta to get Gold before your trip to Brisbane so that you can access the lounge. If I am interpreting your question correctly, I don't think buying the MQMs from Delta is a very good value at all, especially if you have travel booked that will push you over the threshold anyway. I definitely wouldn't do it for lounge access only.

You would get a slight RDM bonus as a Gold vs. Silver. Is your LAX-BNE flight a Delta flight number or a VA flight number? If the former, how much did you spend on your ticket? Gold medallion earn 8 miles per dollar spent (vs. 7) which would offset a very small portion of the cost of the MQM purchase. If the latter, you would receive a 60% Gold Medallion bonus vs a 40% Silver Medallion bonus on redeemable miles (earned by distance on VA coded flights). In the case of LAX-BNE you would earn an additional ~1400 miles ($14 worth). Neither of those options are worth it, IMO.

Thank you for the reply and the warm welcome. Turns out I miscalculated based on my other flights that I'll be basically 2050 miles short of Gold after the last leg. I've been looking at options to upgrade my inbound leg (LAX-BNE) to Premium Economy or Business via VA's upgrade bid. Oh yeah and I did buy via VA so VA flight number. My offer from Delta is to get 12,500 MQMs for $1400 to maximize it or $599/$799 for 2,500/5,000 MQMs respectively.

It seems as though if I get upgraded to Premium Economy or Business it will add a boost to my MQMs. With that in mind, I'd might as well make the bid to upgrade. The lowest offer for Business is $1,050 at weak offer strength. Should I do that or go higher?

This VA forum thread by the OP is part of the conversation:-- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virg...ade-offer.html

VA and DL have a reciprocal lounge agreement, but it is only for DL and VA operated lounges. It does not include any third party lounges.

VA does not have its own international lounge system. They only have one international lounge in Wellington. Otherwise, all VA lounges are domestic.

Therefore if you are flying on VA in Y, no level of DL elite status gains you lounge access in the BNE international terminal. VA do operate a BNE lounge but it is in the domestic terminal. In the international terminal, they use a third party lounge which is not part of the VA/DL agreement.

If the situation is reversed, say, a VA elite flying DL out of AMS, it is the same; the VA passenger could not access the third party (KLM) lounge.

It will not. You will earn MQM based on the ticket you purchased. 'UpgradeMe' will not change MQM earning, it only upgrades your seat. However, if you do upgrade to J, you will have lounge access. More information in the T&C.

No .. it would be the other way around. My initial question still lead as it pertained to something specific. A user did reply which prompted another question to spawn which I did type into this thread as well as create a brand new thread in the area I thought might gather some attention by those who probably would know best.

Now someone thought it was stellar idea to move my entire thread over to Virgin Atlantic which has absolutely zero to do with anything I asked about .... Disappointing for sure ...

TY CPMaverick ...

Hopefully better than the lounge that they use in AKL...

Well ... maybe ... but as many posters on the Air NZ forum have commented, the Air NZ/*A lounge at Auckland is mostly a zoo except in the flights downtime between the early morning departures and the late morning departures

If you're going to spend real money then consider the options presented in this (external) post - https://www.bne.com.au/blog/travel-t...rminal-lounges

The lounge VA use in AKL is fine - better than when it was the NZ lounge earlier this decade.

And by accounts, the available AKL lounge is certainly better than that in BNE international.

Having used the BNE #notMyLounge this morning, I will back those accounts.

What a dump.