Family Pooling update

[oz_mark]

T&C's have been updated with Familty Pooling arrangement:

All Members are entitled to participate in a Family Pooling arrangement for Points or Points and Status Credits consisting of one Beneficiary Account and up to five Contributing Accounts (Family Pool).

6.28.1 Up to two Members of the Pool may be 18 years or over in age.
6.28.2 Up to four Members of the Pool may be under 18 years of age.
6.28.3 If a Member of a pooling relationship turns 18 years of age and results in the Pool having three Members 18 years or older, they are required to remove themselves from the pool.
6.28.4 The Beneficiary Account and Contributing Accounts must be held by Members of a family living at the same residential address.
6.28.5 The Family Pool is for family use only and not for use for commercial purposes or by commercial entities.
6.28.6 Contributing Accounts must pool all of their Points or Points and Status Credits to the Beneficiary Account. Subject to clauses 9.20 and 9.21, Points or Points and Status Credits will be automatically transferred to the Beneficiary Account as soon as they are earned by the Contributing Account.
6.28.7 Points will be automatically transferred to the Beneficiary Account as soon as they are earned to the Contributing Account by: (a) Points Transfer under clause 6.27; and (b) Retrospective Claims, where the Family Pool was in existence at the time of travel.
6.28.8 A Member with a Beneficiary Account may only participate in one Family Pool but is entitled to perform Points Transfers in accordance with clause 6.27.
6.28.9 Points and Status Credits earned by a Member prior to the creation of a Contributing Account will not be pooled to the Beneficiary Account.
6.28.10 VRPL may, at any time and at its discretion, determine that a Family Pool is not consistent with these Terms and Conditions and cancel any part or all of a Family Pool.
6.28.11 You can create, modify or cancel a Family Pool at any time on the My Account section of the Velocity Website. The Beneficiary Account and Contributing Accounts will be notified by email when any update is made to a Family Pool of which the Beneficiary Account or Contributing Accounts is a Member.

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Some limitations to stop company pooling I guess.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Good news, fits my family perfectly
Shrek will be pooling his points/SC with me and the 4 kids are under 18.

 

[xtoss]

http://www.velocityrewards.com.au/content/MyAccount/FamilyPooling/index.html

Cool

will look into it

 

[TonyHancock]

Good news, fits my family perfectly
Shrek will be pooling his points/SC with me and the 4 kids are under 18.

It could have been designed for you!

 

[cityloop]

Hmm it's a little confusing. Does anyone have a simple breakdown of how it works?

If 2 family members for example had their own velocity accounts, they could create a shared pool.
Does that then mean when either member earns a status credit that credit goes directly in to the pool (not their personal account)

Then can either member withdraw however many status credit points they want to top up their personal account. E.g. just before review time to maintain Gold status for example?

 

[awilcockson]

Excellent, SCs are included

Now I only have two questions with regards to retro-spective claims.

1. For flights that have previously been taken, I'm assuming that you can't pool?
2. But what about flights that are already booked for the future? Hopefully these can be pooled.

edit: whoops, looks like the answers were there already:

Points will be automatically transferred to the Beneficiary Account as soon as they are earned to the Contributing Account by: (a) Points Transfer under clause 6.27; and (b) Retrospective Claims, where the Family Pool was in existence at the time of travel.

so I was correct on question 1 and the answer is yes for question 2 (as it is based on time of travel not booking)

 

[Virgin Australia]

Excellent, SCs are included

Now I only have two questions with regards to retro-spective claims.

1. For flights that have previously been taken, I'm assuming that you can't pool?
2. But what about flights that are already booked for the future? Hopefully these can be pooled.

edit: whoops, looks like the answers were there already:

so I was correct on question 1 and the answer is yes for question 2 (as it is based on time of travel not booking)

Correct, you aren't able to retro-claim points/SCs, but remember you also are able to 'Transfer' (completely different product).
When you decide to establish the pool, points or points and status credits will automatically be transferred to the beneficiary's account.

Hmm it's a little confusing. Does anyone have a simple breakdown of how it works?

If 2 family members for example had their own velocity accounts, they could create a shared pool.
Does that then mean when either member earns a status credit that credit goes directly in to the pool (not their personal account)

Then can either member withdraw however many status credit points they want to top up their personal account. E.g. just before review time to maintain Gold status for example?

Members do not "create a shared pool", but nominate 'contributors' to contribute their points/sc's to the beneficiary's account.
This product is designed to for one person to benefit, not a group to benefit.

 

[Mogul]

Suit's me perfectly as neither the kids or the wife fly enough to get even Silver but I may just be able to get to Platnium before my next review date.

:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

[Gremlin]

Correct, you aren't able to retro-claim points/SCs, but remember you also are able to 'Transfer' (completely different product).
When you decide to establish the pool, points or points and status credits will automatically be transferred to the beneficiary's account.

Hi VA, I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by this?

I've currently got 580 SCs with a further ~350+ to be earned by the end of the month. Mrs Gremlin currently has 150+ SCs.

If we set me up as the Beneficiary, then are her current 150+ SCs orphaned and effectively lost?

What happens if we wait until after I credit 800 SCs (and requalify as Plat) and THEN set HER up as the Beneficiary? Do I lose my Plat status? If not, do we effectively get Partner Gold for 1,300 SCs (800 credited to me and a further 500 to her, of which she already has 150) and Partner Plat at 1,800 SCs?

 

[VA FF]

Works well for me, my wife will likely get 200 - 300 points at a maximum so this way it would likely be enough to then get her Partner Gold..

I nearly had all my points and SC's allocated to her just then, it's available online now in your account.. What you are doing is saying you want all your points to go to someone else.. I needed to do it from my wifes account..

 

[QF WP]

Good news, fits my family perfectly . Shrek will be pooling his points/SC with me and the 4 kids are under 18.

Similarly, Mrs LW + mini 1 & 2 have all joined VAFF today, pooled points & SC's to me and got their first VA flights booked. Nice to help me to Gold - if only they had got the Double SC's as well

 

[VA FF]

Hi VA, I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by this?

I've currently got 580 SCs with a further ~350+ to be earned by the end of the month. Mrs Gremlin currently has 150+ SCs.

If we set me up as the Beneficiary, then are her current 150+ SCs orphaned and effectively lost?

What happens if we wait until after I credit 800 SCs (and requalify as Plat) and THEN set HER up as the Beneficiary? Do I lose my Plat status? If not, do we effectively get Partner Gold for 1,300 SCs (800 credited to me and a further 500 to her, of which she already has 150) and Partner Plat at 1,800 SCs?

All that happens with this is that one person can nominate ALL of their Points or ALL of their Points & Status Credits to go to a family member. Nothing from the past will count, When you hit 800 SC's then you would be able to help her get to 500 for Gold, bear in mind that you need to get your 800 again throughout the year, if you fly enough for that your way would work...

 

[Virgin Australia]

Hi VA, I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by this?

I've currently got 580 SCs with a further ~350+ to be earned by the end of the month. Mrs Gremlin currently has 150+ SCs.

If we set me up as the Beneficiary, then are her current 150+ SCs orphaned and effectively lost?

What happens if we wait until after I credit 800 SCs (and requalify as Plat) and THEN set HER up as the Beneficiary? Do I lose my Plat status? If not, do we effectively get Partner Gold for 1,300 SCs (800 credited to me and a further 500 to her, of which she already has 150) and Partner Plat at 1,800 SCs?

So 580+350SC = 930SC If your wife was to pool her Velocity points and SC's to you, then you would be Platinum in a flash. Or are you saying you already are Platinum?
You wouldn't 'lose' your status, as you've earnt it.
Once you have qualified as Platinum, you could turn yourself into the 'contributor' so as to bump your wife's SC level up.
Simple?

 

[QF WP]

Hi VA, I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by this?

I've currently got 580 SCs with a further ~350+ to be earned by the end of the month. Mrs Gremlin currently has 150+ SCs.

If we set me up as the Beneficiary, then are her current 150+ SCs orphaned and effectively lost?

Yes, that is my understanding from the T&C's:

6.28.9 Points and Status Credits earned by a Member prior to the creation of a Contributing Account will not be pooled to the Beneficiary Account.

So you need to think whether it would be better for you both to "go it alone" for part or the rest of your membership years (depending on when they are, it could be used to benefit you, given her SC earnings - and presumably points - is less than yours)

What happens if we wait until after I credit 800 SCs (and requalify as Plat) and THEN set HER up as the Beneficiary? Do I lose my Plat status? If not, do we effectively get Partner Gold for 1,300 SCs (800 credited to me and a further 500 to her, of which she already has 150) and Partner Plat at 1,800 SCs?

Can't see any reason you'd lose your status - you've already earned it. Any SC's and/or points earned by your wife AFTER you have created the pooling of her account (contributor) to your account (beneficiary) is then added to your account.

This is of real benefit to the family where there is one member that could achieve higher status by pooling, or would benefit from being able to use the points towards FF redemptions etc.

 

[Gremlin]

All that happens with this is that one person can nominate ALL of their Points or ALL of their Points & Status Credits to go to a family member. Nothing from the past will count, When you hit 800 SC's then you would be able to help her get to 500 for Gold, bear in mind that you need to get your 800 again throughout the year, if you fly enough for that your way would work...

Yeah, that's how I read it too. I can see a model where I hit 800 SCs to requalify as Plat and then we nominate Mrs Gremlin as the Beneficiary and me, Master Gremlin and Little Miss Gremlin as the Contributing Accounts. Once Mrs Gremlin hits Plat, we then nominate Master Gremlin as the Beneficiary and me, Mrs Gremlin and Little Miss Gremlin as the Contributing Accounts, etc. Once my Review Date rolls back round we nominate me back as the Beneficiary and everyone else as the Contributing Accounts and the dance continues...

If I've interpreted this correctly, Master Gremlin, who is currently six, will be pleased. He keeps asking whether he's flown enough to be Plat yet...

 

[jb01]

Was hoping "Family Member" might have been defined similar to QFF, as my sister-in-law + husband are about earn quite a few SC's, but not enough for either of them to obtain any status. Would've been handy to bump me up to Gold... I guess the line has to be drawn somewhere.

If you need me I'll be off studying the T&C's to find a loophole! ...I'm sure I'm a little too hopeful!

 

[Gremlin]

So 580+350SC = 930SC If your wife was to pool her Velocity points and SC's to you, then you would be Platinum in a flash. Or are you saying you already are Platinum?
You wouldn't 'lose' your status, as you've earnt it.
Once you have qualified as Platinum, you could turn yourself into the 'contributor' so as to bump your wife's SC level up.
Simple?

Yep, I think I understand. Mrs Gremlin's SCs aren't "orphaned" per se, but they remain in her account. Once I hit 800 SCs (and requalify as Plat), I become the "Contributor" and start topping up her existing 150 SCs to get her to Plat in her own right.

 

[awilcockson]

Was hoping "Family Member" might have been defined similar to QFF, as my sister-in-law + husband are about earn quite a few SC's, but not enough for either of them to obtain any status. Would've been handy to bump me up to Gold... I guess the line has to be drawn somewhere.

If they live at the same address as you then you might be OK, otherwise you are out of luck.

6.28.4 The Beneficiary Account and Contributing Accounts must be held by Members of a family living at the same residential address.

 

[n17]

Sorry for being a bit thick but I still cant seem to understand the T-C

6.28.7 Points will be automatically transferred to the Beneficiary Account as soon as they are earned to the Contributing Account by: (a) Points Transfer under clause 6.27; and (b) Retrospective Claims, where the Family Pool was in existence at the time of travel.

6.28.9 Points and Status Credits earned by a Member prior to the creation of a Contributing Account will not be pooled to the Beneficiary Account.

Re: 6.28.9 Does this mean that the points and SC currently in my wife's account can not be pooled or will they be transferred at the creation of the pooling account? if they are not pooled what happens to them

Thanks

 

[awilcockson]

Question for VFF/VA, and I'm ready to be laughed at.

I went to set this up, and was a little confused.

If I'm in my account, and select the family pooling option, am I setting it up so that I am giving or receiving the points/SCs?

It's just a little unclear from the wording on the website and I don't want to set it up the wrong way.