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

[vitagen]

Hmm, so there is no point of me getting the requirements knocked off before then? cough

 

[dapianoman]

Hmm, so there is no point of me getting the requirements knocked off before then? cough

Nope, no advantage to hitting old requirements early...

 

[Mattg]

"To be eligible to upgrade into Silver, Gold, and Platinum Status, Velocity members must have the required number of Status Credits in their Status Credit balance earned during the previous 365 days, with at least 50% of the Status Credits in their balance earned on Virgin Australia marketed flights flown by the member. To be eligible to maintain Silver, Gold, and Platinum Status, Velocity members must have the required Status Credits in their Status Credit balance earned during their Benefit Period, with at least 50% of the Status Credits in their balance earned on Virgin Australia marketed flights flown by the member."

Ok, so I'm not sure if this wording has been snuck in quietly or if it was there the whole time, but the new status requirements in the fine print are saying that for any status to be granted, you need at least 50% of the status credits in your balance to have come from VA coded flights ie if someone has 2600 status credits and earned 1600 from other partners, but only 1000 from VA flights, they wouldn't be eligible for any status at all?
Am I understanding this correctly? And has this been snuck in or did I just miss it originally?

The wording has not changed since last year (I just checked this).

I think the T&Cs you're quoting are very poorly worded by Velocity. But my understanding is that what they intend is that for renewals, you must earn at least 50% of the status credits required to maintain your tier from VA flights flown by you. It would not make sense that they would penalise you for earning more status credits than required on partners, without also do extra VA flying.

 

[PERLHR]

The wording has not changed since last year (I just checked this).

I think the T&Cs you're quoting are very poorly worded by Velocity. But my understanding is that what they intend is that for renewals, you must earn at least 50% of the status credits required to maintain your tier from VA flights flown by you. It would not make sense that they would penalise you for earning more status credits than required on partners, without also do extra VA flying.

So basically if Platinum, for renewal of 800SC you need 400 SC on VA metal all flown by individual, 400 additional can be achieved by pooling or with partners (good luck with that with the partner earning reductions). Does that sum it up or am I missing something?

 

[Mattg]

So basically if Platinum, for renewal of 800SC you need 400 SC on VA metal all flown by individual, 400 additional can be achieved by pooling or with partners (good luck with that with the partner earning reductions). Does that sum it up or am I missing something?

That is my understanding.

 

[dapianoman]

That is my understanding.

I had originally understood the same as you, but that "in their balance" or "in their status credit balance" is quite clear and repeated often. I'm hoping it's just as you say, poorly worded or I agree, it would not make sense to penalise those who earn extra through partners... It would be great to get a clarification from VFF though...

 

[nutwood]

I had originally understood the same as you, but that "in their balance" or "in their status credit balance" is quite clear and repeated often. I'm hoping it's just as you say, poorly worded or I agree, it would not make sense to penalise those who earn extra through partners... It would be great to get a clarification from VFF though...

I would think it has to be poor wording. Reading it literally, you could have 5000 SC's, with 2499 earned directly, 2501 indirectly, and that imbalance would disqualify you from any status. Can you imagine the backlash if they tried to run with that interpretation?!

 

[dapianoman]

I would think it has to be poor wording. Reading it literally, you could have 5000 SC's, with 2499 earned directly, 2501 indirectly, and that imbalance would disqualify you from any status. Can you imagine the backlash if they tried to run with that interpretation?!

Logically, you would think so, but dumber decisions have been made before by companies...

 

[bernardblack]

Yes, I was always troubled by this and would have preferred if it were clarified, but (with no inside contacts) I think it is likely just worded very poorly.

I think it just means that you must personally have earned at least half the target status credits on VA codes; family pooling, partner-marketed flights, and Flybuys/bank bonus credits can at most count for half the target. So if you were starting from no status, and personally earned 420 status credits on VA metal plus there were another 1170 status credits from family pooling or (say) UA-coded transPac flights, then you'd get Gold because you have 250 from VA codes and 500 total, but you wouldn't get Platinum despite having 1590 total.

Likewise, I think the intent is that you must personally have earned at least 9000 status credits on VA codes, of the 12000 minimum required to earn Forever Gold.

The game-theoretical problem with the alternative is that it disincentivises crediting partner flights to Velocity after you've earned half your target in any year. And Velocity earns money from partners when you credit to Velocity, so I can't imagine they'd want to do that.

 

[Happy Dude]

Gonna need a confirmation or clarification from Velocity, because it would be the mother of all loopholes for VA.

I think we'd all like to think that the 50% figure applies to the qualifying total, not the members overall total. But these are enhancements we're talking about, so who knows.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think the 50% requirement makes sense.

If you need 1000 SCs to attain platinum for the first time, you need at least 500 of those to come from flying VA.

If you have 1600 SCs from SQ and only 400 from flying VA, you aren’t going to get platinum.

It’s a little bit like the squiggles for attaining status with qantas. Just they have put an SC figure on it.

You don’t need to have 50% of all SCs from flying VA at any point in time, otherwise it doesn’t make sense, and one trip to Europe in business or first could prevent you from getting status on VA for the whole year.

 

[SYD]

It’s a little bit like the squiggles for attaining status with qantas. Just they have put an SC figure on it.

It’s actually more like the need for 2700 QF SCs to attain P1 (as well as 4x “squiggles” - but you’d knock the squiggles out of the park with 2700 SC on QF each year).

The lower QF tiers, including WP don’t require a specific SC count.

Even the QF 4x “squiggles” can be Red-E fares or even award flights if you have PC/PC+.

VA already made it harder to get VA WP with 8x eligible sectors compared to QF, despite the lower SC bar to attain / retain.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It’s actually more like the need for 2700 QF SCs to attain P1 (as well as 4x “squiggles” - but you’d knock the squiggles out of the park with 2700 SC on QF each year).

The lower QF tiers, including WP don’t require a specific SC count.

Even the QF 4x “squiggles” can be Red-E fares or even award flights if you have PC/PC+.

VA already made it harder to get VA WP with 8x eligible sectors compared to QF, despite the lower SC bar to attain / retain.

Perhaps not the best example I gave, but it was to indicate that you must do a specific amount of flying on VA to qualify… in this case 50% of the SCs required to attain or maintain status. Without the 50% you can’t qualify, regardless of how many SCs you have.

I think any other interpretation is too complex.

 

[Happy Dude]

I think the 50% requirement makes sense.

If you need 1000 SCs to attain platinum for the first time, you need at least 500 of those to come from flying VA.

If you have 1600 SCs from SQ and only 400 from flying VA, you aren’t going to get platinum.

It’s a little bit like the squiggles for attaining status with qantas. Just they have put an SC figure on it.

You don’t need to have 50% of all SCs from flying VA at any point in time, otherwise it doesn’t make sense, and one trip to Europe in business or first could prevent you from getting status on VA for the whole year.

You won't get VA WP that way under the new system because you'd need at least 500 SC on VA, a reasonable interpretation would suggest.

But the question is, using your example, what happens if you have 501 SC on VA to go with the 1600 SCs from SQ?

The way the T&Cs currently read, you wouldn't get any status because less than 50% of the Status Credits in their balance have been earned on Virgin Australia marketed flights flown by the member.

That bolded bit is the poorly worded source of the angst.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You won't get VA WP that way under the new system because you'd need at least 500 SC on VA, a reasonable interpretation would suggest.

But the question is, using your example, what happens if you have 501 SC on VA to go with the 1600 SCs from SQ?

The way the T&Cs currently read, you wouldn't get any status because less than 50% of the Status Credits in their balance have been earned on Virgin Australia marketed flights flown by the member.

That bolded bit is the poorly worded source of the angst.

500 SC on VA allows you to get platinum.

There is zero chance VA is going to interpret those provisions as some are trying to here.

Otherwise if you started your year flying a couple of first/business class to Europe on SQ you’d never be able to get VA status, Which is clearly incorrect.

 

[trisreed]

New year ticked over today like a many who benefited from the COVID extensions. Great to see the info on the website isn't updated!

 

[vitagen]

New year ticked over today like a many who benefited from the COVID extensions. Great to see the info on the website isn't updated!
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I have the exact same table in my FF account that is what's causing my confusion, my interpretation is if you make the 8 sectors and 800 SC before the 1st Oct you would have deemed to have requalified.......

That's just stuffed my SC allocation and I need to decide soon if I'm going to bother flying VA/SQ for some upcoming trips or just continue with QF and aim for plat. I have sent an email to VA to clarify hope they do before the end of the DSC program.

 

[serfty]

I have the exact same table in my FF account that is what's causing my confusion, my interpretation is if you make the 8 sectors and 800 SC before the 1st Oct you would have deemed to have requalified.......

That's just stuffed my SC allocation and I need to decide soon if I'm going to bother flying VA/SQ for some upcoming trips or just continue with QF and aim for plat. I have sent an email to VA to clarify hope they do before the end of the DSC program.

Note that for bookings made from April 2nd, SC earn is at 1 per $12 paid.

I did 320 SC and for segments last week and the web site states I only have 480 and 4 segments to requalify WP.

I expect these targets to change come October.

 

[clifford]

just continue with QF and aim for plat.

That's what I would do. VFF is now a dead duck as far as I am concerned. It's a huge shame, but it is what it is.

 

[PERLHR]

Note that for bookings made from April 2nd, SC earn is at 1 per $12 paid.

I did 320 SC and for segments last week and the web site states I only have 480 and 4 segments to requalify WP.

I expect these targets to change come October.

Is that same for being on SQ metal? Even if booked before 02 April but flying in October, I think the new point system is applied?