Advice on requesting missing Velocity points for Etihad flights

Hello ET community,

I'd like to seek advise on the best way to address Velocity's reluctance to respond to my missing points claim in a timely fashion. The flights took place in December 2019 and despite the fact that I provided my Velocity number when checking-in online with Etihad, the points for two of the four flights in the same ticket are still not showing in my account. I attempted to submit an online missing points claim that was rejected and was instructed to submit the same claim by email to the Retro team and include copies of boarding passes and reservation confirmation, all of which match the my name in the Velocity membership card. Upon submission, my email was acknowledged by Velocity and I was provided with an extremely long timeframe of 4-6 weeks. Fast forward several weeks, my follow-up attempts have born no fruit and Velocity is no longer holding to the 4-6 weeks timeframe, to the point that I feel that they are trying to shift responsibility and not deal with the issue. I am planning to lodge a complaint with the Airline Customer Advocate, but am unsure whether that's the best approach in this case. Intriguingly, my wife who flew on the same flights, on the same PNR and also provided her Velocity member through Etihad's online check-in had no issue whatsoever and got her points shortly after each flight.

Thanks!

PS: I tried to search for related posts in the community, but wasn't able to find any.

This is exactly what's happened to me with Velocity! I've done multiple J flights with Hong Kong Airlines since mid-December and have still not received my status credits in my Velocity account. If these flights don't clear soon, I will lose my status.

The retro team has overall been quite helpful, but a 6-8 week lead time on getting these flights settled, is plainly ridiculous! VA just keep coming back saying they are following up with Hong Kong Airlines.

If there are any other avenues which people think are appropriate, please let us know!

If I had to pick one fault in my 16 year relationship with VA, it would be claiming points from flights with airline partners. Here's my similar experiences, and how it might help you to get your points.

My past three flights with Hawaiian Airlines flying business class were not credited, despite doing everything by the book. In all three claims, I waited 2 months after the flights (more time than stated by VA and hoping they would act) before beginning the online claim process. After again waiting several more months with no result in all three claims, I rang customer service. This is when the process really began in earnest. Briefly, the waiting times to credit my account were: 6 months, 4 months, and 3 months, respectively.

Altogether, I made about 9 calls. In my first claim, I only spoke to customer service and it took 6 months. But in the second and third claims I insisted on speaking to supervisors instead of regular customer service. That was crucial! Supervisors can really expedite claims, especially after hearing I waited 8 months (2 months after flight, plus 6 months processing) for my first claim. In both second and third claims, the supervisors agreed that 8 months was completely unacceptable and expedited. I got my points 2 - 3 weeks after that.

If I had to do it again I would give Virgin two weeks to credit my account after the flight. If nothing happened after that, I would make an online claim followed one week later by calling to speak to a supervisor.

Key tips: be patient; be polite; begin claims process a.s.a.p; don't bother with emails; insist on speaking to a supervisor.

It took almost 4 months for VA to post SQ points/credits once, if you've only been waiting since December that's not too bad.

Thanks for your inputs even though it made me feel impatient for holding Velocity accountable to their 4-6 week deadline, on top of waiting 2 weeks after the actual flights to submit a claim! After insisting to get a reference number during my latest phone call a few days ago (I had made other lengthy calls before to complain and get an update), I was told that the Velocity retro team does not provide reference numbers, but that the case had already been escalated and that they would post the points manually within another 3-5 business days and give me a call when they had done so. Upon checking the app just now, I noticed that the missing points and status credits have finally been posted, bringing this saga to an end! Good luck with the missing points and do consider contacting the Airline Customer Advocate to lodge a free complaint.