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

[skinpete]

The new scheme awards lifetime gold if you've accrued 12,000 status points since 2013.
Just wondering where to retrieve that information. The record in my velocity account only goes back to 2021, but I've been gold and platinum since 2010.
Do we have to wait until they add that detail to their portal?

 

[33kft]

And the notion that this is the worst case scenario is embarrassingly wrong. It's only the worst case scenario if you ignore 1,000 other scenarios lol.

Well now it's your turn to be embarrassed - there's a near infinite number of potential scenarios which could be worse than this. I guess that means it's actually a good thing. It's within the 0.0000000000000000000001% of worst things that could have happened - it's statistically insignificant. In fact, if you apply rounding, it's not a bad thing at all. If anything, they're probably doing us a favour. This calls for a celebration.

- AFF Mental Gymnastics Team

 

[ferntree]

I'm exploring my options for how best to navigate the new system.

Assuming that by some miracle I am able to claw my way up to Platinum Plus (thereby getting a comp Platinum card for my partner) I can't see anywhere what happens if after that I don't get enough SCs to retain P+.

On past form I assume I get reverted to Platinum (rather than pushed off a cliff!), but can anyone confirm? I can't find a mention on their web site.

 

[levelnine]

Well now it's your turn to be embarrassed - there's a near infinite number of potential scenarios which could be worse than this. I guess that means it's actually a good thing. It's within the 0.0000000000000000000001% of worst things that could have happened - it's statistically insignificant. In fact, if you apply rounding, it's not a bad thing at all. If anything, they're probably doing us a favour. This calls for a celebration.

- AFF Mental Gymnastics Team

You think Virgin Australia could not have done worse than ~10% award price devaluation? lmao this is just too funny. Virgin Atlantic is on their third 10% deval of this year.

 

[Caversham04]

I have no skin in this game as I no longer have status.
But thinking about when I did - I wonder if this much lead time will actually see a spike in revenue as people shore up their status for another year while it's easier?

Good point - gives a good clue about the timing of the IPO (with Virgin / Velocity desperately hoping that investors are too short-sighted to realise the longer-term negative impact of the changes).

 

[Caversham04]

I wrote to Velocity this afternoon via the Contact Us page on their website. I pointed out that despite their claim about the new system being “an inherently simpler way to track and earn status”, it's actually self-evidently more complicated because customers have no idea how many SC's they’ll earn until the moment they pay for a flight and the price is locked in. It's impossible to plan flights to ensure that I maintain Gold under the new system, so I can't see myself making any effort to do so (having previously been Platinum for 9 or 10 years).

Their response was:

Thank you for sharing your concerns about the changes to how Status Credits are earned. I completely understand your frustration with the new fare-based system and how it affects your ability to plan your flights and maintain your Gold status. On behalf of Velocity, we apologise for the frustration and inconvenience it has caused you. Please know your dissatisfaction was never our intended purpose. We strive to assist our members and guests as best as we can but there may be instances where we’ll need improvement which is why we appreciate the time you’ve taken to let us know how you feel. Your feedback about the previous system is important, and I’ll make sure it gets passed along to the team. We genuinely want to create a rewarding experience for our members, and your input helps us get there.

On that basis, I strongly encourage people to get in touch with Velocity to complain - the more, the merrier from our perspective, and if they see how much pain and dissatisfaction they're causing, a review of the changes is an outside possibility........

 

[Zanzaid]

Well most of the changes don't seem completely unreasonable as a fairly casual flyer and spender, but trying to call it "exciting program enhancements" when very few will actually have an enhanced experience is certainly pushing it.

In fact the only thing i can even find that would be enhanced for me is a slight drop in the price of Tier 1 Domestic reward seats, which appears to come at a cost of a bigger increase to tier 3 (Who knows about tier 2), not that i redeem this much outside peak times maybe.

I don't know if i'll be up and switching to Qantas like that, as i usually find their redeem options for anywhere to be pretty average, but i'm certainly going to consider them more if even reaching Velocity Silver is just a bit to far out of reach now. Which is a shame as i generally like the Velocity earn/redeem partners better.

 

[antycbr]

I don't know if i'll be up and switching to Qantas like that, as i usually find their redeem options for anywhere to be pretty average, but i'm certainly going to consider them more if even reaching Velocity Silver is just a bit to far out of reach now. Which is a shame as i generally like the Velocity earn/redeem partners better.

Thats what has stunned me about these changes. VA is *not* the market leader in Australia - QF is. VAs program has always been that little bit cheaper and easier to earn and redeem in because it’s not a full network carrier or full service carrier.

Now they seem to think they can command a price and loyalty premium, I guess we are about to find out if that’s true or not.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I wrote to Velocity this afternoon via the Contact Us page on their website. I pointed out that despite their claim about the new system being “an inherently simpler way to track and earn status”, it's actually self-evidently more complicated because customers have no idea how many SC's they’ll earn until the moment they pay for a flight and the price is locked in. It's impossible to plan flights to ensure that I maintain Gold under the new system, so I can't see myself making any effort to do so (having previously been Platinum for 9 or 10 years).

Their response was:

Thank you for sharing your concerns about the changes to how Status Credits are earned. I completely understand your frustration with the new fare-based system and how it affects your ability to plan your flights and maintain your Gold status. On behalf of Velocity, we apologise for the frustration and inconvenience it has caused you. Please know your dissatisfaction was never our intended purpose. We strive to assist our members and guests as best as we can but there may be instances where we’ll need improvement which is why we appreciate the time you’ve taken to let us know how you feel. Your feedback about the previous system is important, and I’ll make sure it gets passed along to the team. We genuinely want to create a rewarding experience for our members, and your input helps us get there.

On that basis, I strongly encourage people to get in touch with Velocity to complain - the more, the merrier from our perspective, and if they see how much pain and dissatisfaction they're causing, a review of the changes is an outside possibility........

That sounds like it was entirely crafted by ChatGPT

 

[RooFlyer]

self-evidently more complicated because customers have no idea how many SC's they’ll earn until the moment they pay for a flight and the price is locked in.

Honest question - what's the difficulty here? You'll earn 1 SC per $12 spent on Choice, Flex or Biz. $24 for an SC on Lite.

So if I'm looking at a $550 biz fare, that's 45.8 SCs (and I think they'll round up or down). The price doesn't change from you picking the flight to be on and paying for it.

It's impossible to plan flights to ensure that I maintain Gold under the new system, so I can't see myself making any effort to do so (having previously been Platinum for 9 or 10 years).

Well, that's you allowing the tail to wag the dog. I fly where I want to go at the level I want to pay. I then get the status which that results in. Planning flying in advance to attain a certain status I know is common here, but personally I don't think is sensible (except, maybe if you are going to be just short of a particular hurdle)..

I guess one way would be to calculate 400SCs gold retain x $12/sc, so your travel budget for the year is $4,800, ignoring any bonuses etc. I think it'll be easier to keep track of spend rather than distances.

 

[moa999]

Do we have to wait until they add that detail to their portal?

Seemingly yes.
Would have been smart to have it ready to go today.

But so would have 2FA yesterday

 

[buggy00]

Seems like a mixed bag of opinions in this thread. While some additions were great and understandable, i'm probably with the few who get shafted by this change. As someone who flies up and down to Cairns from Sydney a 4 or more times a year in J half the time and Singapore once or twice to see the gf, I feel pretty shafted. But hey, it's a corporation that wants to make money, who can blame them?

At least i have Plat till early 2026 and Gold till the end of 2027. SDoes this mean Qantas is wayyyyy more value than Virgin? Time to jump ship?

 

[Caversham04]

Honest question - what's the difficulty here? You'll earn 1 SC per $12 spent on Choice, Flex or Biz. $24 for an SC on Lite.

So if I'm looking at a $550 biz fare, that's 45.8 SCs (and I think they'll round up or down). The price doesn't change from you picking the flight to be on and paying for it.




Well, that's you allowing the tail to wag the dog. I fly where I want to go at the level I want to pay. I then get the status which that results in. Planning flying in advance to attain a certain status I know is common here, but personally I don't think is sensible (except, maybe if you are going to be just short of a particular hurdle)..

I guess one way would be to calculate 400SCs gold retain x $12/sc, so your travel budget for the year is $4,800, ignoring any bonuses etc. I think it'll be easier to keep track of spend rather than distances.

"The price doesn't change from you picking the flight to be on and paying for it." Agreed, but you only know the price, and therefore the SC earn, on the day that you go to purchase the flight, and that's my point......

Historically, VA status has been very useful for the benefits it gives me on SQ economy flights to the UK. At the start of the earning year, I'll typically have several flights planned (but not purchased). I'll know how many SC's those flights will earn, how far I am towards retaining Gold, and whether to make an effort to book one or two extra flights on VA to get myself over the line. Now, I can't do that.......

Post automatically merged: Oct 17, 2024

That sounds like it was entirely crafted by ChatGPT

Possibly, but hopefully someone has at least seen and registered the complaint before telling ChatGPT to write a reply

 

[RooFlyer]

I'll typically have several flights planned (but not purchased). I'll know how many SC's those flights will earn, how far I am towards retaining Gold, and whether to make an effort to book one or two extra flights on VA to get myself over the line. Now, I can't do that.......

In that situation, of regular flying a particular route, I see what you mean. But you'll still be able to look forward at the current prices low/high and have a rough idea where you'll stand. But not ideal for you. But in any event, you'll always have to spend $4,800 on eligible flights to retain gold, so you'll know where you stand at any point in the year.

 

[ferntree]

Seems like a mixed bag of opinions in this thread. While some additions were great and understandable, i'm probably with the few who get shafted by this change. As someone who flies up and down to Cairns from Sydney a 4 or more times a year in J half the time and Singapore once or twice to see the gf, I feel pretty shafted. But hey, it's a corporation that wants to make money, who can blame them?

At least i have Plat till early 2026 and Gold till the end of 2027. SDoes this mean Qantas is wayyyyy more value than Virgin? Time to jump ship?

Before you do, check out Qantas J fares. I fly regularly HBA to BNE and even now Qantas J fares are about double Virgin.

 

[buggy00]

Before you do, check out Qantas J fares. I fly regularly HBA to BNE and even now Qantas J fares are about double Virgin.

I do plan my flights on VA metal around the DSC times tbh on J. So i am guilty of the Status run. So lets say QF and VA did a DSC, i'd imagine doing a flight with QF would provide a better $/SC ratio, depending on the destination.

I may be wrong tho, happy to be corrected! But based on my current flight patterns, i'm losing more than 50% of my SC with the new changes.

 

[mattr00]

Question for all these people disappointed with the changes: what are you going to do?

Move back to Qantas where cash fares are higher, points redemptions are higher, status requirements are equal if not higher?

Start flying Jetstar? Stop flying altogether? They're typically already the BFOD outside of Jetstar so that won't change a whole lot.

I almost exclusively fly SYD-MEL, and occasionally CBR. Without overly optimising I retain Gold and hit Plat with some help.

With the change it's going to be considerably more challenging to keep gold and impossible for Plat. Work is indifferent to VA and QF so most likely will just move to the more comfortable option once the time comes.

 

[encryptededdy]

I wonder if DSC will still be a thing under the new system? I guess under a revenue based system a status run is whatever costs as close to the amount you need.

Question for all these people disappointed with the changes: what are you going to do?

I think this is exactly why VA thinks they can make these major changes - and for better or for worse, I think they're probably right

 

[drron]

I am not too worried by these changes. Yes I get family pooling from mrsdrron but we always fly together so 50% of my SCs come from my flying
Yes I will get less SCs flying domestically. we book well ahead so pay at about the cheapest rate. Currently get 30SCs return choice fares MCY-SYD.
That will drop to 19SCs at $12 each. But if flying return on a QF Red E-deal I would still get 20SCs but each would cost me $15.50.

Flying J on VA would nett me 58SCs. On QF 80 but only marginally dearer at $12.50.
I think I would rather fly VA and pocket the $400..

The only slight whinge is an extra point paying with a VA credit card. Basically at my age I can't get one. That's life.

 

[RooFlyer]

I wonder if DSC will still be a thing under the new system?

Can't see why not. "Bookings made between <DATE> and <Date> on eligible flights will earn at a rate of 2SC per $12 spent for Choice, Flex and Biz ..." etc.