LG is just that -
GOLD.
Near 6 months on, this poorly planned thought bubble STILL has not been ironed out if pooling
might at some point be added. Elite members hate vague and rubbery aspirational goals to spend money chasing - often their own dime, not the bosses dime.
It is not Virgin Platinum, nor the new Virgin Platinum Plus level. It is
GOLD. No annual upgrade certificates etc.
It will be about as useful as Hilton Gold. Slightly handy, but not the bees knees, but a modest reward for loyalty to Hilton, and keeps many loyal. Works well for
both parties.
Handing out Lifetime Gold cards to folks who've been loyal in past year costs Virgin ZERO. Indeed right now it might MAKE them money.
The only benefit the Gold card flyer gets is when they SPEND MONEY on Virgin tickets.
Given a large chunk of once very contented Virgin Elites will now from next week simply book the cheapest tickets - always Jetstar, and often Qantas, or using points -
Virgin gets zero revenue - in a year when they plan to have an IPO.
Virgin brass glibly assuming most existing folks will spend ~$5000 a year to get Gold Velocity, are just living on Planet Zog.
United have a simple system, and Virgin should have learned from their Big Brother Partner, who have had a smooth and easy to understand system for 10-15 years.
Fly 1 MILLION miles and get Lifetime Gold, fly 2 MILLION and get Virgin Platinum type level, and fly 3 MILLION and get Platinum Plus essentially. Simple to follow, and aspirational.
Better still, ALL United levels include
a nominated partner at the same level. Some minor fine-tuning of that part has occurred thus month, but it stays unchanged for most. I earned it 10-15 years back and that gives me free Virgin Lounge entry, priority bags and boarding etc, but most here do not have it, so need to live with this thought bubble we now face.
As Virgin have had no real overseas network to speak of in recent years, clearly these miles targets are changed to SC targets. But they do need to re-adjust their past earnings parameters to get LG.
Adding family pooling into the mix makes good sense. They can grandfather that for the initial launch, and of course at any time adjust the rules for future earnings after this new level beds in. Simple.
From next week when the Penny drops for many, that the goal posts have moved markedly, there will be much unrest. And many will book cheapest fares only going forward. And keeping a chunk of past loyal fliers happy with Gold cards will assuage many, and stop them booking Jetstar etc, losing Virgin heaps of money a year. MANY on this thread have stated that exact intention.
As Virgin domestic market share slides each month, as it clearly will, that IPO gets far less rosy to investors. And the ONLY thing Bain cares about is that IPO and the trucks of money it will bring - once that is done and dusted, they are on their palamino pony out of town searching for the next near Corporate Corpse to try and resurrect.
They could hand out 10,000-50,000 extra Gold cards at zero cost to themselves.
www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au
