It is official — Virgin Atlantic will be part of SkyTeam in lower than a month. Virgin Atlantic’s CEO Shai Weiss formally advised 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 Traces, 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.
Different distinguished SkyTeam carriers embody Aeromexico, China Airways and Korean Air.
Here is what Virgin Atlantic’s membership in SkyTeam may imply for elite members.
SkyTeam elite advantages
Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership has two elite standing tiers: Silver and Gold.
SkyTeam additionally has two elite standing tiers, which, in principle, ought to apply on all SkyTeam-operated flights with an elite frequent flyer quantity. For instance, this implies a Virgin Atlantic elite member can be entitled to advantages on all SkyTeam member airways as long as they connect their Flying Membership 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 techniques.
We anticipate Silver to obtain SkyTeam Elite, whereas Gold members will seemingly be given SkyTeam Elite Plus. Listed below are the important thing advantages of SkyTeam elite standing:
SkyTeam Elite
- Precedence reservation waitlist.
- Precedence airport standby.
- Precedence check-in.
- Additional baggage allowance.
- Precedence boarding.
- Most popular seats.
- Mileage upgrades.
SkyTeam Elite Plus
- SkyTeam Elite advantages.
- Assured reservation.
- SkyPriority.
- Precedence safety and immigration.
- Lounge entry on worldwide flights.
- Precedence 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 shortly into SkyTeam so its elite members can get pleasure from reciprocal advantages at once.
It is also value noting that Virgin Atlantic elite members already obtain advantages on some SkyTeam airways, like Delta Air Traces, on account of current partnerships.
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Potential adjustments to non-alliance partnerships
We anticipate Virgin Atlantic members to have the ability to redeem Flying Membership factors throughout all SkyTeam member airways sooner or later. Nevertheless, this might take a while: For instance, when Alaska Airways joined Oneworld two years in the past, alliancewide redemptions took some time to be applied. Be aware which you can already redeem Flying Membership miles on Air France, KLM and Delta on account of current partnerships.
We’d additionally see Virgin Atlantic drop partnerships with a few of the current companions that are not a part of SkyTeam. For example, Virgin Atlantic at present has partnerships with many Star Alliance carriers, together with Aegean Airways, ANA, Air India, Air New Zealand, SAS, Singapore Airways, TAP Air Portugal and Singapore Airways.
Virgin Atlantic additionally has a tie-up with Hawaiian Airways, which fits head-to-head with its three way partnership companion Delta on some key routes to the Aloha State.
Whether or not these non-SkyTeam partnerships will stick round is anybody’s guess. However simply in case they’re slated to be terminated sooner or later, you would possibly need to lock in a few of the airline’s finest 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.
Associated: Unlock unimaginable worth with Virgin Atlantic factors
Backside line
Some TLC is lengthy overdue within the SkyTeam alliance. In 2019, China Southern Airways 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 Membership 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.
