How to get Velocity Gold?...

[Misha]

Hi,

Just joined today and have a question of the resident experts

I'm currently a Vel Silver Member, and have been for some time. My qualification period expires in less than 2 weeks and I am about 4,500 status points shy of upgrading to Gold.

My question is A) is Gold Membership really worth the effort to upgrade (I fly a couple of times a month, with one or two international flights a year too)? and B) if so, what's the best way of getting those points?

Bearing in mind I have till March 31: how much do I need to spend? E.g: I'm in Melbourne, so do I need to do a return flight to Sydney on full Premium Economy for $900?

Also, I am counting some flights within USA two weeks ago that are yet to hit my account. If they take weeks, but still fall within my qualification period - do I get the upgrade?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Kind regards,

Misha

 

[samh004]

As a Silver you make 6 points per dollar. So if you’re 4500 short you’d have to spend a minimum of $750. I’m not sure if you could spend just a little less and still qualify.

I’m pretty sure the flights yet to post will count within your qualification period, and if they haven’t credited by the time you expect to be Gold you could give them a call and see what they can do about recognising you early. They’re pretty nice on the phone.

As for if Gold is worth it, you’ll have free lounge access and your existing lounge membership (if you have one) will be refunded. When they release their new product you’ll also be more likely to be upgraded than Silver, but I’ve had the experience only a couple times, so it’s not a sure thing.

Basically, look on their website of benefits and work out if the extras are worth $750 to you?

Also, welcome to AFF!

 

[pshepvic]

I think it's worth it - I'm velocity gold and there are quite a few benefits, some unpublished as follows:
- Lounge access, which will include direct curbside entry in Sydney soon
- 7 points per $, which makes retaining gold easier (and quicker to that next free flight)
- Virgin will usually move you to an earlier flight if available, even if on a non-flexible fare
- When I've missed a flight where I did online checkin, they moved me to the next flight even though it should have been considered "failure to board" and the fare forfeited
- Priority checkin and boarding, although you get that as silver too (not sure what will happen with the velocity changes at the end of the year - possibly the higher the tier the better just to be safe)
- You get priority when things go wrong - on Thurs my flight from Syd-Mel was cancelled and they moved me to the next flight (whereas some were moved two or three flights later) plus they sat me in PE
- Priority seat allocation has just been added to their system - the higher status you have, the better seating you can select - eg. Row 3 is no longer PE, so if you check early you can get extra legroom for free (until they reconfigure the aircraft with J class)

With the flights that haven't credited - give them a call and see if they can do a missing points claim and speed it up. You might have to send the BPs in but flights should always count towards status in the year you took the flight not the year they credit. Hopefully that would be enough to get you over the line, or at least make the amount you need to spend on a SC run less!

 

[Misha]

Thank you very much for the responses guys. I am definitely going to do it. Due to little time left, I am going to have to just fly to Sydney and back - have a coffee at the airport to get the points. I am counting on those overseas credits... fingers crossed. I have calculated the points using GCMaps - though not counting the 20% bonus as I don't trust my mathematic skills

Tried contacting the Velocity Team but they aren't opened on weekends, so we will see how this goes.

Cheers for the welcome

 

[pshepvic]

Thank you very much for the responses guys. I am definitely going to do it. Due to little time left, I am going to have to just fly to Sydney and back - have a coffee at the airport to get the points. I am counting on those overseas credits... fingers crossed. I have calculated the points using GCMaps - though not counting the 20% bonus as I don't trust my mathematic skills

Tried contacting the Velocity Team but they aren't opened on weekends, so we will see how this goes.

Cheers for the welcome

If you let us know what the o/s flights were (carrier, booking class/code, where to/from we can check your calculations if you like! Save the dollars to spend once you're gold if you can!

 

[Misha]

If you let us know what the o/s flights were (carrier, booking class/code, where to/from we can check your calculations if you like! Save the dollars to spend once you're gold if you can!

haha - i like the way you think! considering i was in vegas, i need to save as much money to ensure maintenance of the gold status in 12 months

I flew Virgin America, LAX - CUN and then CUN - LAX. I am assuming simple economy fare (cheapest available). Sorry - I am not very good with the abbreviations yet - especially fare types.

As a silver member, I am pretty sure I get bonus - but as I said, I don't want to count on it

Many thanks!

PS: My VAustralia flights were PE but they have hit my account already. 10,000 one way and 11,000 back. Sound right?

 

[pshepvic]

haha - i like the way you think! considering i was in vegas, i need to save as much money to ensure maintenance of the gold status in 12 months

I flew Virgin America, LAX - CUN and then CUN - LAX. I am assuming simple economy fare (cheapest available). Sorry - I am not very good with the abbreviations yet - especially fare types.

As a silver member, I am pretty sure I get bonus - but as I said, I don't want to count on it

Many thanks!

PS: My VAustralia flights were PE but they have hit my account already. 10,000 one way and 11,000 back. Sound right?

I'll be home in about an hour so will check it out and let you know. Not sure why flights there and back would have different earn - it's normally based on the direct distance between the two cities (unless you had a stop in one direction? Eg. Syd-Mel-LAX-Syd or something like that?)

 

[oz_mark]

I'll be home in about an hour so will check it out and let you know. Not sure why flights there and back would have different earn - it's normally based on the direct distance between the two cities (unless you had a stop in one direction? Eg. Syd-Mel-LAX-Syd or something like that?)

...or there was a status change between going out and coming back (although that would make a larger difference between the two numbers)

 

[samh004]

haha - i like the way you think! considering i was in vegas, i need to save as much money to ensure maintenance of the gold status in 12 months

I flew Virgin America, LAX - CUN and then CUN - LAX. I am assuming simple economy fare (cheapest available). Sorry - I am not very good with the abbreviations yet - especially fare types.

As a silver member, I am pretty sure I get bonus - but as I said, I don't want to count on it

Assuming your discount economy fare was one that counted (really need to know the fare class), you’d earn 2119 Status Credits and 2542 Velocity Points, for the return trip.

 

[Misha]

Assuming your discount economy fare was one that counted (really need to know the fare class), you’d earn 2119 Status Credits and 2542 Velocity Points, for the return trip.

am back from the supermarket with a weekends worth of chocolate snacks...

thats great thanks. if i conservatively round that to 2000, i know what to do for domestic flights thanks

btw- lax-mel was via sydney as VA had to change our original return flight... guess thats where the extra 1200 points or so came from

now to book a SC run

 

[pshepvic]

am back from the supermarket with a weekends worth of chocolate snacks...

thats great thanks. if i conservatively round that to 2000, i know what to do for domestic flights thanks

btw- lax-mel was via sydney as VA had to change our original return flight... guess thats where the extra 1200 points or so came from

now to book a SC run

Mmm chocolate

Yep thought the flight might have had a stop - At least that means you got more SC's than you would have going direct!

With the VX (Virgin America) flights, they can take a few weeks to post. I flew with them on the 16th of Jan, and the points posted on the 4th of Feb. That was after I'd submitted a missing points claim as well - I usually do that about 7 days after a flight if it hasn't credited, so it still took another 12 days after that. I'd get on to them straight away - you can email if they're not open today - see details below (and maybe give them a call on Monday to explain why you need it credited quickly - they might even be nice and up you to gold without it! One could only hope...)

To claim Points for eligible flights with Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Air PNG, SkyWest, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, or Etihad Airways, Members must email a copy of their Electronic Ticket or Boarding Pass to [email protected]

 

[Misha]

Just thought I would post a quick update (and say thanks again!). When I spoke to Velocity about the VX flights, they asked me to email them my BPs. Well, after a few weeks travel who the hell knows where they are. I mentioned the Velocity site says "E-Ticket Itinerary" so that is all I had. They were great and said that would be enough. Heaps of email correspondence too. They did say unfortunately that VX take much longer than they would like them to, so it could be a number of months.

On a positive note, I had an unexpected requirement to fly to Sydney for work last minute, so with my original SC run that I booked, I am home and hosed - well above the gap I had to fill to ensure Gold, so all is well. No more paying for Lounge access (hello Blue Saver and Go fares in pocket whilst drinking Lounge wine! )

Just hope that when my VX credits and points come in, they do at the Gold rate! teehehehe

Thanks for helping everyone - I really do appreciate it. That is a load off my mind. I didn't want to be Silver when the changes occur to Velocity later this year - never know what they are going to do...

Back to work...

 

[pshepvic]

Good to hear ... just don't fly too many of those Go and Blue Saver fares otherwise you won't requalify for next year!!

 

[Misha]

Good to hear ... just don't fly too many of those Go and Blue Saver fares otherwise you won't requalify for next year!!

Hahahaha. I have thought about this already.

Our company has a policy on selecting the cheapest fares available, as we forward on ticket price (at cost) to our clients (for whom we are obviously travelling). My own travels are usually done at flexible rates. My golden key is however the international flights. From historically only travelling Thai Airways (and Iberia - shock horror - but their fares were so cheap!) I now plan all international trips with Virgin Group (or partner) airlines.

I figure sometime in the next 12 months I will have to fly to UK to see family. From there, if I do a stopover in Thailand on the way back, and select some Y+ or J fares (VERY few) I should be okay together with domestic travel. I also intend to fly to LAX (and then onward) again on VA, and definitely in PE again - so even with my appalling maths, I think I should be safe. There will probably be the one off trip to HKT or maybe even Vanuatu or somewhere for a long weekend.

For LHR I guess Virgin Atlantic would be better than Etihad or other partner, but I will figure that out later. Won't be happening for a while (I have had 9 weeks leave this last 4 months) as I just can't get away from work.

No doubt, when I am planning and ready to go the extremely helpful souls at AFF will point me in the right direction

Cheers

On a side note: I don't have many Velocity Points (under 150K) but if I used them for travel, obviously stupid question - but woudl I get SC on the trip? Can't blame a guy for trying. What about paying the difference? You know where they say 80,000 points + $500? Do I get credit on the cash component?

Anyways - too soon to think about it... and I really do need to get some work done

 

[pshepvic]

Unfortunately you don't earn points or SCs on award travel with Velocity, even the Any Seat Awards I don't think (that's according to the terms and conditions though - haven't actually done it in real life so can't be sure).

Only Qantas gives you points and SCs for Any Seat Award & Points+Pay flights.

Hopefully that will be one of the changes when they revamp the Velocity program later in the year.

On the note of the LAX flights - MEL-LAX-MEL is 14,340 base miles - so the Y+ is an extra 25%, and Gold is another 40%, so total would be 23,661 - so almost half way to Gold already. If you went in Discount J it would be 27,246, or Full J it is 34,416. **

** Disclaimer: My calculations may not be 100% accurate!

 

[Keith009]

- Priority checkin and boarding, although you get that as silver too (not sure what will happen with the velocity changes at the end of the year - possibly the higher the tier the better just to be safe)

On a side note, how well is priority boarding enforced for Velocity elites on domestic flights? QF makes the token priority boarding announcement for QFF and oneworld elites but doesn't actually police the boarding queues. Is the priority boarding benefit honoured any better on DJ?

 

[Misha]

On a side note, how well is priority boarding enforced for Velocity elites on domestic flights? QF makes the token priority boarding announcement for QFF and oneworld elites but doesn't actually police the boarding queues. Is the priority boarding benefit honoured any better on DJ?

From my experience they do the nominal "priority boarding and those requiring assistance" announcements, and I have seen people asked to return to seats as they are not currently being boarded. This happens a hell of a lot more now than in the past. So I guess the answer is... yes?

The issue is, if you are sitting in the lounge (not at all nursing a glass of vino but patiently waiting, reading Eat-Pray-Love and basically being a wonderful, vice-free individual ) by the time you get to the gate you are well into general boarding and have to wait either sitting at gate for 15 minutes, or join the slow moving queue (why bother, best to wait to be last on board)...

Still pax seem to get it - not like boarding a flight in the States! LOL

 

[Keith009]

Thanks Misha, good to know.

 

[pshepvic]

On a side note, how well is priority boarding enforced for Velocity elites on domestic flights? QF makes the token priority boarding announcement for QFF and oneworld elites but doesn't actually police the boarding queues. Is the priority boarding benefit honoured any better on DJ?

My priority boarding experience that I can remember in recent times has been as follows:

- QF Domestic: Once, on an A330 when they were using dual air bridges
- QF International: A380 SYD-LAX-SYD - they had it, but in Sydney it was an absolute mess - the queues can hold about 20 people - not much good when 400 are trying to board
- DJ: 7 out of 8 flights - the one that didn't boarding was not even announced - and by the time the person at the desk realised it was too late - a zoo had formed around the gate
- JL: Every time, done perfectly.
- CX: Every time, done perfectly.
- AA: Every time, done perfectly ... best thing about AA is the lanes are clearly marked with the red carpet and large Priority AAccess Signs. Even if you turn up to the gate after boarding commences, they will stop taking the BPs from the "cheap seats" which means you can still Priority board, whenever you feel like it.

We need the same sort of system here, for both QF and DJ. Especially DJ (where overhead locker space always seems to be more of a premium than on QF) and where people decide to form a mob at the gate 10 minutes before boarding. When they call priority board, you have to "excuse me, excuse me" past them all which makes you look like a w**ker, even though you weren't the one that formed the boarding flash mob!

So yes, DJ do honour the Priority Boarding more often than QF, but it's still a complete mess.

 

[777]

In my experience they announce it pretty consistently but you need to be relatively quick and assertive to take advantage of it as there's usually a crowd around the gate when they call it. As long as you can walk or push past them there's no problem in getting on first.

I've had no problem being first on my flight at ports with no lounge. Where there's a lounge by the time you get there you're better off waiting for the crowd to die down.