Major changes to Velocity Frequent Flyer announced 17/10/24

[ferntree]

There is a lounge at OOL. The only non-capital lounge…

Thank you for the correction ... good to know as we're heading there later this year!

 

[drron]

... several of which (such as gifting platinum) were already available to platinum members, who have now had these benefits withdrawn!

One other point.

If you're comparing Velocity with Qantas Frequent Flyer, one glaring difference is Virgin's woefully inferior lounge network (the network, not the lounges themselves). No lounges at Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Cairns, Townsville, Newcastle, Hobart, Alice Springs, etc. etc. etc.

If you have been to a QF lounge at MCY then it would have been last century. None for many years.

 

[moa999]

Anyone managed to figure out their lifetime status earning? It seems they only started publishing email statements in late 2017.

Assume they will update something on the website.
At the moment I can only see monthly by month back to 2021.

 

[Dvg]

I always enjoy these threads but damn I’m going to have to go to Matt’s recent explanations for all of these acronyms

 

[MooTime]

Anyone managed to figure out their lifetime status earning? It seems they only started publishing email statements in late 2017.

You have to request your lifetime activity statement from velocity, email them.

I requested it back in 2022, mine dates back to 2013. I just add from 2022 to current & wham bam thankyou mam I see I've only ticked past halfway.
My statement at least includes family pooling flights (which don't count for Forever Gold), so have to be careful adding into spreadsheet. I don't have every email e-ticket from way back.

Once the facts get out that SC gain is about 60-70% of what is was previously, it's not going to be healthy news for VA. Effectively upto 50% higher cost to retain current status. They rarely get bad publicity as QF, but maybe this will deliver some. Then again how many care about status credits outside AFF bubble? ( and other keen travel forum sites)

If flight prices for VA stay under QF as expected, pax will still fly VA as now, but those chasing status will work out bottom line & with QF's many other advantages OW, more lounges etc, I think VA maybe as @Must...Fly! I think stated 'overshot the mark' with this one.

 

[Stone]

I think they underestimate the loss of revenue that will ensue with this.

I am a VA Platinum, and have been so for 3 or so years having previously been Gold. Under the new system and my flying patterns (which includes leisure bookings and family pooling), platinum is now an unrealistic ambition. Family pooling was the one feature that set Velocity apart from other programs.

When flying for leisure, I won't be loyal to the VA group and it's partners. They will lose a family of 5 flying with them, particularly when travelling internationally with the absence of lounge access anyway.

Based on the Gold Coast Qantas is a relatively underwhelming proposition as majority of flying is done by Jetstar.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Wouldn't you rather 11 months' notice rather than 1 so you've lead time to strategise around it? Forewarned is forearmed?!

What difference does it make? It would be one thing if they told us how much partner awards increased now so we had time to prepare, but that’s not the case. We won’t find out till late January at which time it’s too late.

Again I just wish someone thought through this announcement carefully.

-RooFlyer88

 

[ols]

Wonder what Coles, 7-11 and Shell Reddy think of this.
Velocity is a loyalty program, not just flying.
If people go Qantas it's just as easy to shop at Woolworths and get petrol at BP and not only abandon Virgin but it's partners as well

 

[kamchatsky]

If your company still have BFOD policy, most people will still fly VA as QF is simply more expensive than VA most of the time. They simply do not have a choice.

I actually think this change won't scare off as many people as AFFers think. As long as VA prices are competitive they will stay with VA, especially now that Rex is no more.

Remember there is no Family Pooling in QF. So it is not much easier to earn Elite status in QF either, and then you have to deal with a plane full of QF elites so that there are no real benefits on priority boarding etc.

 

[justinbrett]

So having built up my velocity balance I’m now thinking I need to burn it before the changes.

Anyone done the sums, are you better off transferring to SQ for redemptions with SQ?

 

[antycbr]

I think they underestimate the loss of revenue that will ensue with this.

At the moment my thinking is that the status game isn’t worth it and I’ll just fly less full stop.

Coming off a fixed mortgage at 1.99% also is helping that decision making process…

 

[justinbrett]

If your company still have BFOD policy, most people will still fly VA as QF is simply more expensive than VA most of the time. They simply do not have a choice.

It depends on the policy. The WoAG policy is based on schedule, so unless there’s two flights in the same hour it’s very easy to game the system.

Even if there’s two flights you can just look for an hour where your preferred airline is cheaper. There’s other factors like checked bags etc, it is really simple to get what you want.

Also not really a true statement saying VA is cheaper, under the government rates both airlines were almost identical for major routes. They are both different to what you see on the public websites.

 

[azza_1992]

Yep. Discount business fliers will suffer while those flying expensive economy fares will benefit mostly I think

All my work travel is on QF. So this doesn't really affect me.

However I just worked out that I'd be P1 on QF if I earned 1 SC per $12 spent. As it stands, I can't even make platinum.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Wonder what Coles, 7-11 and Shell Reddy think of this.

Presumably they were informed of the enhancements ahead of time. But again we really just don’t know how much award rates will go. Will it be a 10% rise in award redemptions on UA or 50%? We just don’t know and won’t know for some time.

Velocity is a loyalty program, not just flying.
If people go Qantas it's just as easy to shop at Woolworths and get petrol at BP and not only abandon Virgin but it's partners as well

Not a fair comparison. It’s much easier to earn points at Coles than Woolies. When was the last time you received a 10,000 point offer on a multi-week shop at Woolies? I can tell you, early 2022. For Coles I got one last month. Similarly comparing 7-Eleven with Beyond Petroleum ain’t fair. The former gets you 25 cents off your fuel with fuel lock plus they sometimes have bonus Velocity offers in store. The last time Beyond Petroleum had such an offer, against I’d have to go back to 2022.

-RooFlyer88

 

[kamchatsky]

It depends on the policy. The WoAG policy is based on schedule, so unless there’s two flights in the same hour it’s very easy to game the system.

Even if there’s two flights you can just look for an hour where your preferred airline is cheaper. There’s other factors like checked bags etc, it is really simple to get what you want.

Also not really a true statement saying VA is cheaper, under the government rates both airlines were almost identical for major routes. They are both different to what you see on the public websites.

Well for government staff mostly flies QF due to those QF golden handcuffs anyway.

It is the small and medium enterprises that VA is aiming for. They just need to keep their price competitive (reconfigure the plane to add rows, one fewer YX row) and the company will just tell you to fly VA over QF.

VA know they cannot fight QF in top end of corporate market and just leave it at that.

 

[zsw]

What difference does it make? It would be one thing if they told us how much partner awards increased now so we had time to prepare, but that’s not the case. We won’t find out till late January at which time it’s too late.

Again I just wish someone thought through this announcement carefully.

-RooFlyer88

You can see increases to partner awards on each partners page (both points increases and where relevant increases in the partner redemption fee as well). They have both the current table and the table from when the changes come into effect.

It's not great news but at least the gave us some warning to it.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

If your company still have BFOD policy, most people will still fly VA as QF is simply more expensive than VA most of the time. They simply do not have a choice.

Not necessarily. Even with a BFOD policy you can still fly QF. The key of course is how you game the policy. For instance, Qantas is always the best fare of the day out of Terminal 3 of Sydney. And if you don’t believe these shenanigans happen you’ve never had to manage corporate bookings before. I remember at my former employer we had a guy who absolutely had to stay at Marriotts and fly American given his status. He would come up with the most bizarre reasons to justify his bookings including saying that a 9 hour layover in Dallas was needed so he could do business development tasks whilst in transit.

And certainly even I have pulled such stunts before on international flights. For instance the cheapest flights suggested by my employer to Europe were thrown out since they involved a transit through NSCs that whilst my citizenship allowed (Canadian) would be inadvisable. Consequently I managed to get them to booked me on FinnAir to Europe.

-RooFlyer88

 

[p--and--t]

Funny about that hmm something about chairman’s longe comes to mind

Except its false post with respect to gov travel. Read the article

 

[kangarooflyer88]

You can see increases to partner awards on each partners page (both points increases and where relevant increases in the partner redemption fee as well). They have both the current table and the table from when the changes come into effect.

It's not great news but at least the gave us some warning to it.

You’re right! They have posted the new award rates. It would’ve been nice if they clearly communicated that in the email. Then again, it would’ve also been nice if they didn’t dump all of this on us at once making it difficult to understand what is being changed and how.

It will be interesting for someone to do an analysis on all these tables and see what changes. Looking at United for instance the change isn’t too bad with a Polaris business class flight between Sydney and SF costing 102K miles instead of the 95K. But what about Qatar, Singapore and South African?

-RooFlyer88

 

[SeatBackForward]

Has anyone considered that the changes might have been instigated by the QR investment?