1st status upgrade! Just made silver...onwards to gold

[blingy90]

Hello everyone,

I made silver today (little happy dance). This is my first status upgrade so a bit of a happy occasion! My goal is gold however and will achieve this later in the year (I anticipate October).

Until then - any major advantages of being silver? I am aware of the extra baggage, 2x passes for the lounge. Any other perks until gold? Im guessing silver has no more priority then red when it comes to getting row 3/4 etc?

As mentioned, this is my first status upgrade...so...will today become my review date in 2014?

Just in regards to that. My current balance is 310SCs....20 of these expire in July taking me back to 290SCs and I don't have anymore expiring until January. So with the 20 expiring credits in mind, I have now until my next lot of SCs expire in January to earn 210SCs to reach gold? Is that correct? And as mentioned, I anticipate this happening in October. If it does happen then - does this become my new review date?

Thanks for all the help guys, probably wouldn't have reached silver without this forum!

 

[tuapekastar]

Hello everyone,

I made silver today (little happy dance). This is my first status upgrade so a bit of a happy occasion! My goal is gold however and will achieve this later in the year (I anticipate October).

Until then - any major advantages of being silver? I am aware of the extra baggage, 2x passes for the lounge. Any other perks until gold? Im guessing silver has no more priority then red when it comes to getting row 3/4 etc?

As mentioned, this is my first status upgrade...so...will today become my review date in 2014?

Just in regards to that. My current balance is 310SCs....20 of these expire in July taking me back to 290SCs and I don't have anymore expiring until January. So with the 20 expiring credits in mind, I have now until my next lot of SCs expire in January to earn 210SCs to reach gold? Is that correct? And as mentioned, I anticipate this happening in October. If it does happen then - does this become my new review date?

Thanks for all the help guys, probably wouldn't have reached silver without this forum!

Sorry can't help with your questions, but congratulations on the status rise, onwards and upwards!

 

[quick_dry]

As mentioned, this is my first status upgrade...so...will today become my review date in 2014?

if you login to your Velocity account, it will say the review date - should be the day you bumped up to Silver.

Just in regards to that. My current balance is 310SCs....20 of these expire in July taking me back to 290SCs and I don't have anymore expiring until January. So with the 20 expiring credits in mind, I have now until my next lot of SCs expire in January to earn 210SCs to reach gold? Is that correct? And as mentioned, I anticipate this happening in October. If it does happen then - does this become my new review date?

maintaining a status level works on your review date - so in the year from your review date you have to earn 200 new SC to maintain status, but bumping up to the next tier (i.e. Gold) will work off the total SC balance at any point in time. So it will work as you've described it.

 

[blingy90]

Cheers guys for the help & replies

 

[grubbidok]

Congratulations!

I wouldn't discount Silver on VA - I think it is probably one of the more generous entry-to-status-tiers out there, as you get a couple of tangible benefits. The ability to carry baggage on even the cheapest fares will help with the status runs, and I found to be a nice benefit when I was moving up (yes, I know QF has 'free' baggage, but they don't often go as low as Saver Lite fares). Don't forget that although there's no domestic priority check-in, you do get it internationally (which I think is better than the other way around because you don't really have another choice internationally but to check-in at the desk)

You won't get a lot of benefit in terms of choosing seating. You'll get more say than the masses do, but not much.

How many points do you have? If you have at least 23k you can pick up a short-hop J return and travel by the end of the month and get an easy 80SCs. I'm not usually one for J in domestic but I'm doing a few of my required SYD-BNE and SYD-MEL runs this month in J just for the bonus (would have flown them anyway, but am using points instead of buying Y fare).

 

[blingy90]

Congratulations!

I wouldn't discount Silver on VA - I think it is probably one of the more generous entry-to-status-tiers out there, as you get a couple of tangible benefits. The ability to carry baggage on even the cheapest fares will help with the status runs, and I found to be a nice benefit when I was moving up (yes, I know QF has 'free' baggage, but they don't often go as low as Saver Lite fares). Don't forget that although there's no domestic priority check-in, you do get it internationally (which I think is better than the other way around because you don't really have another choice internationally but to check-in at the desk)

You won't get a lot of benefit in terms of choosing seating. You'll get more say than the masses do, but not much.

How many points do you have? If you have at least 23k you can pick up a short-hop J return and travel by the end of the month and get an easy 80SCs. I'm not usually one for J in domestic but I'm doing a few of my required SYD-BNE and SYD-MEL runs this month in J just for the bonus (would have flown them anyway, but am using points instead of buying Y fare).

Thanks for the reply,

My Velocity balance is at 160k + awaiting the 50K from AMEX. I am aware of the SC bonus on reward seats, was fortunate enough to fly LAX-SYD in premium on a reward seat paid by family, so that was an easy 120SCs there! Between my own travel arrangements + some family pooling, I will reach Gold by October, so I am thinking of holding off on booking a status run.

Out of curiosty, has this earn SCs on reward travel special been available in previous years? Is it an annual thing? Ive only really started paying attention to velocity this year. So will def be looking to take advantage of it in the future (if its offered each year)

 

[grubbidok]

Out of curiosty, has this earn SCs on reward travel special been available in previous years? Is it an annual thing? Ive only really started paying attention to velocity this year. So will def be looking to take advantage of it in the future (if its offered each year)

AFAIK this is the first time VA have done it. In fact I've not seen other airlines do it at all. It is probably wise to assume it's a once-off. My guess is that they probably did it as a once-off to reduce their points liability after the Sabre transition and expansion (as unclaimed books sit on their balance sheet as a 'debt' in real money terms, and they've recently increased capacity which was unlikely to be full anyway, so in a sense it's a 'free' way for them to do it).

I wouldn't (and don't) book anything specifically for a status run, but if you do have a need to go somewhere already it can be a win-win. I'm not expecting them to do this again (though being surprised is always nice )

 

[blingy90]

Ah right. Well fingers crossed it does come around again in the future!

I was contemplating doing a status run, but I had a light bulb moment yesterday about the LAX-SYD service, and I hadn't claimed it knowing it was a reward booking. But I realised that it fell in the promotion period, so was happy days! Consequently it will know mean Ill reach gold without the need for a status run and can save my points

 

[Deleted member 29185]

as mentioned, I anticipate this happening in October. If it does happen then - does this become my new review date?

Yes, new review date each climb upward!

As you are expecting 210SCs by Oct, dependant upon how you intend to achieve these, the discounted lounge membership may be worthwhile. Bear in mind, when you reach gold, they refund the pro-rata amount of unused membership back to you!