Platinum membership with VA was due to drop back to gold yesterday, as I was 270 status credits too short to maintain platinum.

Platinum membership with VA was due to drop back to gold yesterday, as I was 270 status credits too short to maintain platinum. I emailed them on Friday with a list of my travel plans for the next 2 weeks (already booked), of which I will accrue 380 status credits. Unfortunately they rejected my claim. When I log in this morning to my Velocity account it says "We are currently assessing your activity over your membership year. You will still have access to your current benefits until 29 Apr 2015. Your new card will be with you shortly"

Is this being fair or unfair?! Surely they could have a 'grace' period of 2 weeks?

EMAIL......forget it.  Give them a call, remind them there are alternatives and tell them that you also have similar status with "another" airline.  Remind them that you would naturally chose to fly with whomever treats you like a valued customer. Smother them with politeness. Make sure you call mid afternoon when hopefully they are not rushed off their feet. I will be very surprised if they are not more accommodating.  Please let us know how it all went.

Ultimately they have to draw a line in the sand. Is it unfair? I don't think so - they apply their policy consistently and you even get to enjoy your perks for a little bit longer (albeit there's not a huge difference between gold and platinum). If they introduced a 'grace period' we could just as easily be talking about someone who was 1-2 weeks outside this asking

I agree with Reado though - as an email, it's quite impersonal and easy to reject. A phone call might yield a more favourable result. You would also have a better case if you have held platinum status for a number of prior years.

I had Gold for 2 consecutive years and missed out on the 3rd year as I was short on 20 status credits. I was flying two weeks later but unfortunatley they didnt budge. I got a status match with Emirates and have been thanking them since for not budging as I have had many a upgrades with Emirates while flying with them which I never got before ( Probably because I flew SIngapore with Gold on Velocity).

Singapore hate an op-up!

I had spoken to Virgin some years ago when I needed grace and they said "usually 3 weeks" is allowed. Not sure if that has changed?

Im not sure about that. I actually called them up and they were the ones who said that they are unable to do anything and that I shoud try and email and see. I did email and they got back to me saying nope but if you really want it you can just fly somewhere on a small flight to get the credits. It worked out well for me with me going on emirates afterall although my flying hours have lightended up and I dont think I'll be able to maintain it to the next year!

They may have tightened the protocols. Like many call centre type scenarios, it can be a lottery with the mood of the person you get etc.

If you have that much travel coming up in 2 weeks, then dependingon how many status credits you lose during that 2 week period you'll likely bump back to Plat. SC's have a 12 month life - your balance doesn't drop to 0 on your review date. Sounds like you'll be fine.

is that the case for VA ? it certainly isnt for qf?

 Although your Status Credits are reset to zero at the end of each membership year, all Status Credits earned since joining the program are combined and count towards Lifetime Recognition

Status Credits definitely have 12 month expiry. I don't know whether they apply it to the activity date, or the transaction date.

VA SCs have a life of 12 months from transaction date. I lost gold 2 yrs ago but regained it a couple of weeks later.

This may even work in the OPs favour if he goes back to gold but bumps up a couple of weeks later to plat as some of the plat benefits like hotel status might reset.

Rules is rules