Navigating Frequent Flyer Programs

Virgin America's Elevate!
Loyalty Program

We flew to New Zealand on Virgin Australia last January.  I was advised to sign up for their frequent flyer program by friends and family so I went to Virgin Australia's site and found out that unless you were a resident of Australia, New Zealand or nearby countries you do not qualify to join.  I thought that was very unfair, after all if I choose to fly back to Australia in the future there was a big possibility that I would fly on Virgin Australia again, but I didn't really know how to proceed at that point.

Until our family friend who used to be a travel agent encouraged me to try and sign up again.  This time I tried researching Virgin America's frequent flyer program.  And of course, I should have signed up with them and then claimed my points for their partner airline there.  This is what happens when your mom handles all your travel arrangements growing up and you never ask her how she does it!

Since they honored previous flights from up to 6 months ago, I signed up and was instructed to send an email with either my scanned boarding pass or the confirmation email sent to me.  Their representative told me that they would add my mileage from California to Australia as per their agreement with their partner airline.  All is not lost!

So for all you newbie long haul travelers, if you're flying on an airline that doesn't accept members from the country you are from - try their partner airline's frequent flyer program.  Don't lose those precious points that you can use for future travel!

Happy journeys, my friends!