It’s official — Virgin Atlantic will be part of SkyTeam in lower than a month. Virgin Atlantic’s CEO Shai Weiss formally informed TPG that the London-based airline will be part of the 18-member alliance March 2.
Since Virgin Atlantic fashioned a three way partnership with Delta Air Lines, Air France and KLM in 2019, there was hypothesis that Virgin Atlantic would be part of SkyTeam; nevertheless, this wasn’t confirmed till September 2022. For reference, Delta owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic.
Other outstanding SkyTeam carriers embrace Aeromexico, China Airlines and Korean Air.
Here’s what Virgin Atlantic’s membership in SkyTeam might imply for elite members.
SkyTeam elite advantages
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has two elite standing tiers: Silver and Gold.
SkyTeam additionally has two elite standing tiers, which, in concept, ought to apply on all SkyTeam-operated flights with an elite frequent flyer quantity. For instance, this implies a Virgin Atlantic elite member will be entitled to advantages on all SkyTeam member airways as long as they connect their Flying Club quantity to their reservation. Likewise, an elite member of one other SkyTeam airline ought to obtain these advantages when flying Virgin Atlantic as soon as the airline joins the alliance and totally integrates its programs.
We anticipate Silver to obtain SkyTeam Elite, whereas Gold members will seemingly be given SkyTeam Elite Plus. Here are the important thing advantages of SkyTeam elite standing:
SkyTeam Elite
- Priority reservation waitlist.
- Priority airport standby.
- Priority check-in.
- Extra baggage allowance.
- Priority boarding.
- Preferred seats.
- Mileage upgrades.
SkyTeam Elite Plus
- SkyTeam Elite advantages.
- Guaranteed reservation.
- SkyPriority.
- Priority safety and immigration.
- Lounge entry on worldwide flights.
- Priority baggage dealing with.
Some TPG staffers have reported challenges receiving their SkyTeam Elite and Elite Plus advantages on some less-common SkyTeam carriers. For instance, ITA Airways nonetheless hasn’t totally built-in with SkyTeam regardless of being a member of the alliance. We hope that Virgin Atlantic integrates rapidly into SkyTeam so its elite members can take pleasure in reciprocal advantages directly.
It’s additionally value noting that Virgin Atlantic elite members already obtain advantages on some SkyTeam airways, like Delta Air Lines, as a result of current partnerships.
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Potential modifications to non-alliance partnerships
We anticipate Virgin Atlantic members to have the ability to redeem Flying Club factors throughout all SkyTeam member airways sooner or later. However, this might take a while: For instance, when Alaska Airlines joined Oneworld two years in the past, alliancewide redemptions took some time to be applied. Note you could already redeem Flying Club miles on Air France, KLM and Delta as a result of current partnerships.
We may also see Virgin Atlantic drop partnerships with among the current companions that are not a part of SkyTeam. For occasion, Virgin Atlantic presently has partnerships with many Star Alliance carriers, together with Aegean Airlines, ANA, Air India, Air New Zealand, SAS, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and Singapore Airlines.
Virgin Atlantic additionally has a tie-up with Hawaiian Airlines, which matches head-to-head with its three way partnership companion Delta on some key routes to the Aloha State.
Whether these non-SkyTeam partnerships will stick round is anybody’s guess. But simply in case they’re slated to be terminated sooner or later, you would possibly wish to lock in among the airline’s greatest companion redemptions earlier than they go away. For instance, maybe our favourite candy spot is reserving ANA enterprise class for simply 90,000 miles round-trip from the U.S. West Coast to Japan.
Related: Unlock unbelievable worth with Virgin Atlantic factors
Bottom line
Some TLC is lengthy overdue within the SkyTeam alliance. In 2019, China Southern Airlines quietly left SkyTeam, and SkyTeam suspended Aeroflot from the alliance when Russia invaded Ukraine a yr in the past.
When Virgin Atlantic joins SkyTeam subsequent month, SkyTeam elite members will obtain their Elite and Elite Plus advantages on the provider. Flying Club members will seemingly be capable of earn and redeem their factors all through the alliance, although that leaves the airline’s non-alliance partnerships in query.