Maintain Status Offers Plat/Gold Silver (Two return flights or other)‏

[medhead]

Yes but John, at least you got the offer. I'm really annoyed that many of us aren't even getting the opportunity to whinge that "the offer" isn't to our liking!

It was mentioned earlier in this thread, (oz_mark IIRC) that a good way for VA to keep some of us gold members happy would be an incentive for platinum. What about 2 rtn J flts to achieve plat. If I got something like that, it would benefit VA as I'd do it, it'd benefit me as I'd get the extra plat benefits for effectively $4/SC (which is much better than $7-$8/SC I currently pay) and there'd be more incentive for me to than keep plat by going for that 800SC requal by buying more flexis or J fares. But no, VA seem to see absolutely NO benefit in keeping many of their existing loyal flyers happy, preferring instead to serenade those who've shown no interest in VAs romantic advances! Hang, even the SMed who've shown loyalty since have been largely shat on from a great height.

It's been days now and I'm still bloody angry about this cough.

2 return J flights is at least 160SC. Depending on many factors, if you did that you'd probably be half way there already.

 

[drewbles]

While I think these offers are probably quite clever, they'd reduce the risk of alienating the BIS Plats by offering a similar promotion for the beginning of their next qualification period... something along the lines of:

"you are a loyal platinum customer, and in recognition of this, we'd like to offer you 200 SCs for your first flight in your next qualifying period"....

This would depend on a few things imho. a) your status year end date and b) (based on a)) your SC balance.

My year is towards the end of August, and I have already re-qualified. If they offered me something like you suggest, it would be pointless (as DJ don't have any lifetime status (yet?)). If it was after my year ended, then yes, i'd be most happy.

FWIW I did get a double SC offer which assisted in my efforts to retain WP, and I got the Virgin CC so got the 200SC's bonus. As it happens, without both of these, I still would have scraped past the 800 line. With them, I ended up with a lot more than that. I still have another 100SC's of booked travel with them before the end of August as well (which are pointless, but hey, it looks nice).

(I say pointless for me, as I have no one to give any partner status to, nor would I get anywhere near the partner levels for DJ; my partner also works for DJ so it's a little moot).

 

[greenfish]

(I say pointless for me, as I have no one to give any partner status to, nor would I get anywhere near the partner levels for DJ; my partner also works for DJ so it's a little moot).

Are you sure that Virgin staff get lounge benefits etc? I was talking to a DJ pilot and he mentioned he'd purchased Lounge membership....

 

[drewbles]

Are you sure that Virgin staff get lounge benefits etc? I was talking to a DJ pilot and he mentioned he'd purchased Lounge membership....

Did the DJ pilot have SG/WP?
I've been told that on standby fares, no. On Rev fares, absolutely. My other half isn't eligible for staff benefits for another 2 months or so, so when i'm on the nominated other party list, i'll soon find out.

 

[greenfish]

Did the DJ pilot have SG/WP?
I've been told that on standby fares, no. On Rev fares, absolutely. My other half isn't eligible for staff benefits for another 2 months or so, so when i'm on the nominated other party list, i'll soon find out.

Not SG/WP (sadly you don't accrue SCs when flying the plane, evidently). I'm sure that DJ staff would get a decent corporate rate for lounge membership!

 

[drewbles]

Not SG/WP (sadly you don't accrue SCs when flying the plane, evidently). I'm sure that DJ staff would get a decent corporate rate for lounge membership!

Ah that could be why then I'm guessing a lot of staff or spouses have no status due to using standby flights (which i'll end up using domestically a lot of the time I dare say due to reasonable frequency and chances of being able to get on). This could affect my ability to maintain WP though (and of course with ATA gone... )

 

[Deleted member 29185]

2 return J flights is at least 160SC. Depending on many factors, if you did that you'd probably be half way there already.

Which is a fair chunk of my point Medhead. Say I'm at 600 (about right) and I fly 4 x short J sectors I'd be at 740 SC. Without the wink, wink, nudge, nudge, she'll be right from VA, I'd need 1000 to reach VA-WP so a saving of 260 SC @ a cost (for me) of $7.50 or so/SC, or close to a $2000 saving. Money talks. I can see value in VA-WP but not $3000 (400SCs x $7.50).

Is this fair for hard earned VA platinums.........NO, definitely not! But that path has not been suggested by me........it's instead been instigated by Velocity. I'd prefer a return to equity, but unfortunately, VA are so bloody desperate to want the freeloaders who like the VA status but not enough to actually fly VA, that they themselves (Velocity) are eroding their own credibilty. All I'm asking is to be included on the "free for all" roller coaster ride rather than swept to one side.

 

[Bundy Bear]

I had an offer that was too good to pass.

I received a slightly different offer.

Dear Mr Bear,

Your Review Date on 5 September 2012 is approaching and we appreciate that you are only beginning to enjoy the benefits of Velocity Frequent Flyer and the experience of flying Virgin Australia.

As an exclusive offer, we will maintain your Platinum membership for one more year if you book and fly one return Business Class flight, or two return Flexi Fares with Virgin Australia or one of our international airline partners between 15 July and 17 August 2012^.

The Platinum benefits you will continue to enjoy for another year, include:

Pity I booked a BNE-SYD-BNE Qantas flights a few days ago for early August, I still have another BNE-SYD-BNE flight to book, also I have a planned trip to Melbourne in August so wondering if I should shuffle things around a bit.

I mentioned on this thread. http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ty/anytime-lounge-access-finishing-41489.html

I am surprised that ATA was available for DJ Gold, and I am surprised that ATA has been taken away from the Platinum members, I thought that one day that DJ Gold would lose ATA.

One reason I was considering the few flights I need to regain Platinum was for the ATA access, now I am not so sure I will bother.

Do I spend the $600 I need to keep DJ Platinum or do I let it drop back to Gold.

The answer was yes, I spent just over $900 to book 2 sets of flights.
BNE-SYD-BNE for 2-5 August.

BNE-SYD-BNE for 11-12 August.

The $300 credit I now have with Qantas can be used another time, I am sure I will be on a Qantas plane before the end of the year.

Some people know me to well, I was going to work hard to keep Virgin Platinum for another year.

 

[JohnK]

Yes but John, at least you got the offer. I'm really annoyed that many of us aren't even getting the opportunity to whinge that "the offer" isn't to our liking!

I think you misunderstood my post.

The offer is great but if I was earning status the hard way and did not receive the offer I would be extremely upset.

Personally I wish Virgin and Qantas stop playing these stupid games gifting status and let people earn it.

 

[kpc]

I had an offer that was too good to pass.




I mentioned on this thread. http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ty/anytime-lounge-access-finishing-41489.html




The answer was yes, I spent just over $900 to book 2 sets of flights.
BNE-SYD-BNE for 2-5 August.

BNE-SYD-BNE for 11-12 August.

The $300 credit I now have with Qantas can be used another time, I am sure I will be on a Qantas plane before the end of the year.

Some people know me to well, I was going to work hard to keep Virgin Platinum for another year.

Thanks all for the replies. FYI, after thinking about the points made above, I had decided that DJ plat was not worth an additional $800 over DJ Gold.. but tonite I received this in the mail:
[TABLE="width: 550"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="width: 510"] [TABLE="width: 510"]
[TR]
[TD]Dear kpc,

We hope you have enjoyed the benefits of Platinum membership.

Your Review Date on 1 September 2012 is approaching and as an exclusive offer, receive 200 bonus Status Credits when you book and fly with Virgin Australia between 15 July and 17 August 2012.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
This changes the ball game significantly!!

This is what my Velocity account shows:



Maintain Platinum Find out more

Review Date
Status Credits earned since 01 Sep 2011[SUP]1[/SUP]
Additional Status Credits required to maintain Platinum by 01 Sep 2012
Additional sectors required to maintain Platinum by 01 Sep 2012[SUP]2[/SUP]

[TD="class: accountRightCell"] 01 Sep 2012[/TD]

[TD="class: accountRightCell, colspan: 2"] 650[/TD]

[TD="class: accountRightCell"] 150[/TD]

[TD="class: accountRightCell"] 5[/TD]

I still need 4 sectors so it will be 2 return (cheap) flights somewhere; Syd-Cbr, I suspect!

I ended up booking Syd-Ool economy return ($170) during the promo period, and Syd-Ool economy return ($144) during a happy hour sale to complete the SCs required and the 4 sectors required just before my membership year ends. I know it will pain some here, but with various promos (eg Virgin Money credit card), it only cost me $597 on paid DJ flights to retain my comp DJ plat:mrgreen:...I'm sure Velocity were not planning on customers like me!:shock:

 

[serfty]

As I indicated I did get the 2 x J r/t offer then immediately dismissed it as I'll probably soft land to gold anyway.

Late last week I was reconsidering and was going to look into it come Monday - then came the weekend's news re ATA.

Nope, that's 1700 (ex ME) for me that will stay in my pocket!

In reality I don't need it as I have AirNZ *G until July 2015 - I'll still fly DJ but won't chase status.

 

[flyingfan]

I received a reminder about this today, while I was already on a status run to do the flights.

If you haven't already taken advantage of this exclusive offer, you still have two weeks remaining.

Simply, book and fly two return Business Class flights anywhere with Virgin Australia or one of our global airline partners between 15 July and 17 August 2012^ to maintain your membership for one more year.

The Platinum benefits you will continue to enjoy for another year, include:

 

[pauly7]

As I indicated I did get the 2 x J r/t offer then immediately dismissed it as I'll probably soft land to gold anyway.

Late last week I was reconsidering and was going to look into it come Monday - then came the weekend's news re ATA.

Nope, that's 1700 (ex ME) for me that will stay in my pocket!

In reality I don't need it as I have AirNZ *G until July 2015 - I'll still fly DJ but won't chase status.

I got the same offer and today I got a call from DJ *reminding* me that I had only 2 weeks to *save* my Platinum status! And then offered to book on the spot with them....! Talk about a hard sell....

I politely declined and was prodded again that I would lose Plat, I said I was happy being dropped to Gold but thanks very much!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yeah I got it today too - heading to Launceston next Tuesday to get the bonus 200 SCs to get me over line for Plat again.

The 4 x comp upgrades will make the $176 ret Launny flight look cheap

 

[serfty]

Got the email, but as posted earlier, the cost benefit isn't there for me.

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...

 

[JohnK]

I got the same offer and today I got a call from DJ *reminding* me that I had only 2 weeks to *save* my Platinum status! And then offered to book on the spot with them....! Talk about a hard sell....

You are obviously very special to VA and they want to hang on to you. Me on the other hand....

 

[Hvr]

You are obviously very special to VA and they want to hang on to you. Me on the other hand....

Heck John, they're thinking of their on time record.

 

[significance]

I've done quite well out of these bonus offers. The Qantas double status credit offer reached me just in time to bump me up to Gold before my review date, and the Virgin "50 bonus status credits" offer arrived just in time for me to maintain Silver for next year.

 

[Major]

I am also grateful to VA for their 100 bonus SC's which has now pushed me over the line for Gold requal. And 4 months before the deadline as well

 

[TheInvisibleHand]

I got the same offer and today I got a call from DJ *reminding* me that I had only 2 weeks to *save* my Platinum status! And then offered to book on the spot with them....! Talk about a hard sell....

I politely declined and was prodded again that I would lose Plat, I said I was happy being dropped to Gold but thanks very much!

I appreciate both your positions but for me, i felt the offer (just a single return J trip) was worth it.

Cost: The incremental cost of flying J over flexible economy tickets was a bit less than $300.

Benefit: I fly Trans-tasmin every five or so times a year, with a similar number of return trips domestical in NZ. DJ Plat gives me access to the Koru lounges, and economy plus seats on the Air NZ 767s. (Note, I don't fly Virgin TT - either Qantas or Air NZ). Additionally, HH Diamond is of value to me. Plus I got to try out DJ J for the first time. Though I pretty much stick to QF, the flexibility to go Virgin if I need to domestically is nice.

Note: flew last week but status on the website hasn't updated. I might need to give them a call...