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

[kamchatsky]

I would not be surprised if QF did something similar to VA in the future. QF's lounges are already overcrowded, and they have already reduced the benefits of selecting exit row/row 3 seats for elites.

So chances are after all the rants, I don't see much of movement from VA to QF going forward. Moving to overseas airline program is unlikely as a lot of the domestic flights are not eligible for earning in lowest price category.

Most people here are at stage 2 of the 5 stages of grief .....

 

[SYD]

I would not be surprised if QF did something similar to VA in the future. QF's lounges are already overcrowded, and they have already reduced the benefits of selecting exit row/row 3 seats for elites.

So chances are after all the rants, I don't see much of movement from VA to QF going forward. Moving to overseas airline program is unlikely as a lot of the domestic flights are not eligible for earning in lowest price category.

Most people here are at stage 2 of the 5 stages of grief .....

VA just copied in part what QF did over 10 years ago. But they at least QF have J and QPs domestically.

 

[moa999]

would not be surprised if QF did something similar to VA in the future

Obviously you can design any changes to suit your objectives, but broadly shifting to a $ system probably wouldn't have as much impact on the Qantas side
- fares are typically more expensive already
- typically have a better spread between Red e-deal/ Flex and Business with associated points earn.

 

[Lynda2475]

I would not be surprised if QF did something similar to VA in the future. QF's lounges are already overcrowded, and they have already reduced the benefits of selecting exit row/row 3 seats for elites.

Row 3 is the last row of Business and always available to select for free if you have a J ticket, in fact its the default offered if you have no/low status.

I cant see QF making major changes in the near term, they will be waiting to see to see the fall out from this and that's a year away.

 

[justinbrett]

I would not be surprised if QF did something similar to VA in the future. QF's lounges are already overcrowded, and they have already reduced the benefits of selecting exit row/row 3 seats for elites.

So chances are after all the rants, I don't see much of movement from VA to QF going forward. Moving to overseas airline program is unlikely as a lot of the domestic flights are not eligible for earning in lowest price category.

Most people here are at stage 2 of the 5 stages of grief .....

People would just move to BA or AA for status. That’s the difference, QF has competition even for people who choose to fly QF.

QF said it had too many elites last year so is expanding the lounges, not reducing the elites.

 

[Lynda2475]

People would just move to BA or AA for status. That’s the difference, QF has competition even for people who choose to fly QF.

QF said it had too many elites last year so is expanding the lounges, not reducing the elites.

Also covid status extensions were to some extent artificially inflating the number of QF elites. People who possibly fluked a rare SG or WP pre covid were in some cases able to keep that for another 3 years with only a couple of flights.

The rise in use of virtual meetings via tools like MS Teams also put a little dint in the amount of corporate travel, so I think 2024 will to some extend show us what the new elite normal volume looks like.

 

[justinbrett]

Also covid status extensions were to some extent artificially inflating the number of QF elites. People who possibly fluked a rare SG or WP pre covid were in some cases able to keep that for another 3 years with only a couple of flights.

The rise in use of virtual meetings via tools like MS Teams also put a little dint in the amount of corporate travel, so I think 2024 will to some extend show us what the new elite normal volume looks like.

Plus all those people who swore never to fly QF again. They’re gon- Wait… they’re still here? Weird

 

[jase05]

Plus all those people who swore never to fly QF again. They’re gon- Wait… they’re still here? Weird

Don’t know who swore to never fly them again. I’m forced to fly them through work but wouldn’t choose them as an option and in the last 40 odd International flights I’ve had zero on QF but have one booked in January as that’s all I could get but if other options come up I’ll swap it out.
QF will always be the top dog here but it doesn’t suit everyone

 

[kamchatsky]

Row 3 is the last row of Business and always available to select for free if you have a J ticket, in fact its the default offered if you have no/low status.

I cant see QF making major changes in the near term, they will be waiting to see to see the fall out from this and that's a year away.

Good call on row 3 ..... Now I remember that QF R3 is J and not Y. I should have said R4.

I just haven't flown QFd recently to trigger my memory on this.

 

[Lynda2475]

The number of elite vs the number of elites actively flying are quite different. QF LTG has been around for 23 years, there are a lot of LTG who have since retired and travelling much less than when working; plus those who mainly use that status for benefits on OW partners overseas.

I used to fly VA to ABX and PQQ semi-regularly for work between 2006-10 because they used jets whilst QF had smaller slower prop planes at the time. But I had to get client to book me instead of my company buying and then on-charging; as travel policy required us to fly QF (due to good corporate rates) unless there was a significant difference in schedule ie > 2hrs (never happened given QF almost always has more flights) or more than 20% difference in cost (a rarity given it was comparing QF corporate rates with VA public rates).

But I've never found VA compelling for my leisure travel, although would like to go to Cocos and Christmas Island one day.

I'm pretty sure almost all of the SCs and points I earned with Velocity in the last 10 years were from Delta domestic (before they withdrew) or flybuys. I see nothing completing in these changes to make me want to fly VA domestically for personal travel.

 

[justinbrett]

Don’t know who swore to never fly them again.

Are you new to AFF? Welcome @jase05

 

[jase05]

Are you new to AFF? Welcome @jase05

I know many have said they will avoid them but I don’t know many who said they would add them to their banned list. Unlike JQ

 

[drron]

Mostly the retired people I know are flying more since retirement as they didn't have travel paid for by their employers.

 

[clifford]

I've now burnt most of my Velocity points. ADL-AMS-CPH-SIN in J. There's no going back for me. I'll rely on my UA Plat status when flying VA in the future (not very often).

 

[clifford]

I don't see much of movement from VA to QF going forward. Moving to overseas airline program is unlikely as a lot of the domestic flights are not eligible for earning in lowest price category.

Maybe not for the average person, but I'm quite happy to boost the use of my BA account (was until recently BA Gold for many years).

 

[RooFlyer]

Don’t know who swore to never fly them again. I’m forced to fly them through work but wouldn’t choose them as an option and in the last 40 odd International flights I’ve had zero on QF but have one booked in January as that’s all I could get but if other options come up I’ll swap it out.

Neither do I. A bit of rhetoric, I think.

Anyone who lets status on a particular airline/alliance (earn or retain) rigidly govern their flying I think is asking for disappointment, or more hassle than its worth. Those here saying "Arrgh, Virgin, you've screwed me, I'm going to QFF", I say, go for it. Same going the other way.

 

[justinbrett]

Neither do I. A bit of rhetoric, I think.

Anyone who lets status on a particular airline/alliance (earn or retain) rigidly govern their flying I think is asking for disappointment, or more hassle than its worth. Those here saying "Arrgh, Virgin, you've screwed me, I'm going to QFF", I say, go for it. Same going the other way.

That was entirely my point. Many will say that (and come on, don’t tell me you haven’t read one of the many “Never Again Qantas” rant threads)…. But in the end most of them don’t follow through.

Some will continue flying QF to acquire content for their future rants!

 

[RooFlyer]

That was entirely my point. Many will say that (and come on, don’t tell me you haven’t read one of the many “Never Again Qantas” rant threads)…. But in the end most of them don’t follow through.

Some will continue flying QF to acquire content for their future rants!

Ah, back to the old 'rant' thing. Is ranting against rants also a thing?

 

[justinbrett]

Ah, back to the old 'rant' thing. Is ranting against rants also a thing?

Ah, so you have read them

 

[ferntree]

Ah, back to the old 'rant' thing. Is ranting against rants also a thing?

Ha, ha! I had $10 for every time I have heard someone declare "I will never fly Virgin/Qantas/Jetstar again" then I probably wouldn't have to worry about the cost of retaining WP!