Today, I want to discuss a relatively obscure airline benefit that many travellers might overlook. As you probably know already, passengers are entitled to certain statutory rights in case of flight disruptions, such as free rebooking and reimbursement for meals and accommodations. If the airline is at fault, there might also be compensation available in regions like the UK, Europe and Turkey.
However, there’s a lesser-known benefit called Original Routing Credit (ORC), which many people might not be aware of. The concept is straightforward: if your flight is involuntarily changed to another airline, causing you to miss out on earning miles with your intended frequent flyer program, you can apply to have the miles credited as if you had flown your original itinerary. This doesn’t conflict with earning miles from the new airline, meaning you could potentially receive credit from both.
It’s important to note that ORC policies aren’t backed by legislation; they rely entirely on the airline’s discretion. Nonetheless, it’s a common practice at least in Europe and the U.S. For instance, Flyertalk has this comprehensive guiding thread on British Airways.
Last year, my Virgin Atlantic award ticket to Shanghai was cancelled and rebooked on British Airways. I have already credited my new flights to Iberia but then remembered ORC recently and decided to give it a try.
Since ORC is a niche request, there’s typically no dedicated portal for it. You have two options:
- Make a phone call
- Fill out a contact form online or send an email
Generally, I recommend the second option. Not just because I dislike phone calls, but also because not all customer service representatives might are familiar with this obscure request.
I managed to find the contact form on Virgin’s website, and to my surprise, they responded promptly the next day, confirming the processing. I logged into my account and indeed saw the tier points credited.
This process is most straightforward when dealing with the original airline, and becomes more complex otherwise. For example, if I had a paid Virgin ticket and wanted to credit the miles to Flying Blue, I’d need to submit the relevant information to Flying Blue’s customer service, who would then verify it with Virgin – a process that would undoubtedly take longer.
Additionally, since Virgin and British Airways belong to different alliances, applying for ORC is entirely reasonable. I’m uncertain whether ORC would be approved if rebooked within the same alliance. I’d appreciate hearing about others’ experiences in this regard.
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