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

[Bolthead]

I hope that's been changed...... does anyone know?

My wife and I regularly family-pooled in one direction or another for many years when our renewal dates were a significant distance apart, depending on who was flying more and who needed the SC's. If all of those SC's disappear down the gurgler and aren't assigned to either of us for the purposes of Lifetime Gold, I shall be EXTREMELY annoyed. It's grossly unfair for them not to count for someone.......

I have just analysed my flights from the last 13 years. I was checking the chance that we might get Forever Gold. My wife and I have been family pooling for over 13 years and I have been Platinum for that entire time. (actually a bit longer) My wife has been Platinum for about 7-8 years. (all leisure flights) I have also been keeping a spreadsheet for the past 13 years with my SC's. It took me a few days and I have changed the layout showing VA flights seperately as well as Partner flights, Flybuys etc. In the past 13 years I have collected approx. 9500 points. The interesting thing is it is about 50/50 in VA's marketed flights vs. Partner flights. I can appreciate that it is difficult to measure loyality however I have in the majority only flown VA domestically and their partners internationally. So, despite that I have been Platinum all these years I am about 4,500 short to meet the criteria of reaching Forever Gold. At this rate I will probably hit Forever Gold at the age of 90. (I am 66 now) As I have always known there is no such a thing as loyality in business. Both my wife and I have requalfied for Platinum so I am guessing by June 2027 we will both drop down to Silver. (maybe maintain Gold) As other have mentioned I will be now looking for BFOD and save my pennies for paying for International flights hopefully in PE or J.

 

[anat0l]

You won’t get any status credits flying Qantas or Virgin domestically with Qatar Privilege club.

Just checked using SYD-MEL: no QPoints for any VA (Economy or Business); QF earns, except for the cheapest Economy fares (viz. all Red e-Deals).

For all we know, QR might change tack and give QPoints on VA flights once things get serious in the relationship.

On a side note, no table (or tables) showing how many QPoints earned is pretty annoying.

 

[ozstamps]

My wife and I have been family pooling for over 13 years and I have been Platinum for that entire time. (actually a bit longer) My wife has been Platinum for about 7-8 years. (all leisure flights) So, despite that I have been Platinum all these years I am about 4,500 short to meet the criteria of reaching Forever Gold. At this rate I will probably hit Forever Gold at the age of 90. (I am 66 now)

Both my wife and I have requalfied for Platinum so I am guessing by June 2027 we will both drop down to Silver. (maybe maintain Gold) As other have mentioned I will be now looking for BFOD and save my pennies for paying for International flights hopefully in PE or J.

An excellent example of what a bungled Brain Fart this poorly structured 'Forever Gold' idea has been. Such long term clients should get a card automatically, for loyalty to Virgin.

If they do not use it, ZERO cost to Virgin. If they DO use it, more revenue for Virgin. Total no-brainer.

If Virgin are going to totally ignore these kinds of past loyal clients, the writing is on the wall for their future.

The CEO indicated all he seems really interested in, are business folks who buy last minute mad priced Flex fares. That is WAY less than .1% of their clients. Silly man.

 

[jase05]

QF earns, except for the cheapest Economy fares (viz. all Red e-Deals).

From Qatar T&C’s

Accrual on Qantas domestic flights are only eligible when they are in conjunction with an international flight marketed by either Qantas or Qatar Airways on the same ticket.

On stand alone QF domestic flights you early absolutely zero QPoints or Avios
On stand alone VA domestic flights you do earn Avios only

 

[BrianQQ]

Just checked using SYD-MEL: no QPoints for any VA (Economy or Business); QF earns, except for the cheapest Economy fares (viz. all Red e-Deals).

Qatar will not award QPoints for domestic QF flights if they aren't connected with an international flight on the same PNR.

 

[Bolthead]

An excellent example of what a bungled Brain Fart this poorly structured 'Forever Gold' idea has been. Such long term clients should get a card automatically, for loyalty to Virgin.

If they do not use it, ZERO cost to Virgin. If they DO use it, more revenue for Virgin. Total no-brainer.

If Virgin are going to totally ignore these kinds of past loyal clients, the writing is on the wall for their future.

The CEO indicated all he seems really interested in, are business folks who buy last minute mad priced Flex fares. That is WAY less than 1% of their clients. Silly man.

You took the words right out of my mouth....

 

[anat0l]

The calculator on the QR website says I will earn 5, 7 or 10 points in Economy (depending on fare bucket) flying SYD-MEL on Qantas??

Yeah, that's what I also found.

But if you view the Qantas partner page somewhere else on the Qatar Privelege Club website, it also says the restrictions that are stated above. I found a thread on Flyertalk which discussed the same restriction (dated last year).

The calculator doesn't tell you the key restriction - you just had to read the entire site carefully.

 

[odysseus]

Here's Executive Traveler's write-up on the new SC system about to come into force.

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/virgin-australia-news

I don't know if this was posted anywhere else, but there are interesting comments from the CEO about how the new system is simpler and fairer. This block of text is fascinating:

More sophistry from Mr Rohrlach.

In those rare cases someone has purchased a Flex ticket when a cheaper Business class ticket was available, it means more likely:
1) the ticket was chosen under company policies, that did not permit a business class ticket purchase but needed flexibility - in which case loyalty is not the focus/determining factor
2) they don't care about status credits otherwise they would have bought the higher earning (and cheaper) business class ticket - again meaning status credit earn is not meaningful

Or in the other case where a business ticket had been cheaper, but was now sold out, and someone bought a last minute flex ticket, they are more than likely buying for urgency reasons and again not for loyalty, otherwise they would have bought a ticket on their preferred airline earlier, at a cheaper price, but now just have to buy what's left. So again, it's not primarily about status credits or loyalty.

And of course, if that disparity was really the concern, they could bump up the flex status credit earn to be equal or similar to business earn, as other airlines do.

 

[nutwood]

More sophistry from Mr Rohrlach.

In those rare cases someone has purchased a Flex ticket when a cheaper Business class ticket was available, it means more likely:
1) the ticket was chosen under company policies, that did not permit a business class ticket purchase but needed flexibility - in which case loyalty is not the focus/determining factor
2) they don't care about status credits otherwise they would have bought the higher earning (and cheaper) business class ticket - again meaning status credit earn is not meaningful

Or in the other case where a business ticket had been cheaper, but was now sold out, and someone bought a last minute flex ticket, they are more than likely buying for urgency reasons and again not for loyalty, otherwise they would have bought a ticket on their preferred airline earlier, at a cheaper price, but now just have to buy what's left. So again, it's not primarily about status credits or loyalty.

And of course, if that disparity was really the concern, they could bump up the flex status credit earn to be equal or similar to business earn, as other airlines do.

Totally agree with you here. The strange thing is that he appears to be identifying their target clients; short notice, high fare paying. As you say, these people are most likely not giving much consideration to SC's, but flip it on it's head, and he's also saying the clients they are not interested in.
I suspect I fall into this latter category. I book as far ahead as I can. I book cheap business seats. I'm quite loyal to VA, just as I was loyal to QF before they became hopeless. Seems weird marketing. I would have thought they'd value the regular flyers. Not as though I cost them much. The main perks of Platinum, are lounge access and Economy X seating, along with an extra bag that's occasionally useful. Booking Business, these are of limited benefit. Ultimately, my best strategy, moving forward, is to book cheapest and use points to upgrade. I'll still maintain Platinum, even if I halve my annual spend.

 

[eastwest101]

More sophistry from Mr Rohrlach.

In those rare cases someone has purchased a Flex ticket when a cheaper Business class ticket was available, it means more likely:
1) the ticket was chosen under company policies, that did not permit a business class ticket purchase but needed flexibility - in which case loyalty is not the focus/determining factor
2) they don't care about status credits otherwise they would have bought the higher earning (and cheaper) business class ticket - again meaning status credit earn is not meaningful

Or in the other case where a business ticket had been cheaper, but was now sold out, and someone bought a last minute flex ticket, they are more than likely buying for urgency reasons and again not for loyalty, otherwise they would have bought a ticket on their preferred airline earlier, at a cheaper price, but now just have to buy what's left. So again, it's not primarily about status credits or loyalty.

And of course, if that disparity was really the concern, they could bump up the flex status credit earn to be equal or similar to business earn, as other airlines do.

While I agree with everything you have said I think that aside from all the sophistry of Rohrlach, the VA yield managers would say they much prefer that people paid $1200 for a last-minute Y seat SYD-MEL, rather than someone who booked a cheap J fare for SYD-MEL for say $500 12 months out from departure. That first passenger is way more profitable for VA than the later and they would argue that they have spent more cash with VA so get rewarded with more status despite the well constructed argument that you have made in that the last-minute Y flex fare has different priorities i.e. urgency, spending other peoples money, corporate travel policy limitations.

So I think the idea is probably right to make some sort of link between the fare paid, and status earn. I just think that Bain have set the bar a bit too high and will have to lower the bar considering that VA has almost no prescence internationally except for SQ and QR, is not part of an alliance, and at last minute full flex price point are often uncompetative against Qantas which has more reach regionally and more frequency domestically.

I just did the maths and am only 2/3 of the way for Lifetime Gold and would struggle to maintain both VA gold and QF gold with my travel patterns so might concentrate on QF gold fly VA if Qantas prices are silly, and await new owners or something changing at VA once Bain is gone.

 

[Mattsapprentice]

Is there an email address we can write to the CEO to state our annoyance with the new structure? Like many others I pay my own way and therefore would like to maintain my Platinum Status. (As stated previously I feel aggrieved with my lack of points/status on my Etihad reservation in June 2025).

 

[nutwood]

While I agree with everything you have said I think that aside from all the sophistry of Rohrlach, the VA yield managers would say they much prefer that people paid $1200 for a last-minute Y seat SYD-MEL, rather than someone who booked a cheap J fare for SYD-MEL for say $500 12 months out from departure. That first passenger is way more profitable for VA than the later and they would argue that they have spent more cash with VA so get rewarded with more status despite the well constructed argument that you have made in that the last-minute Y flex fare has different priorities i.e. urgency, spending other peoples money, corporate travel policy limitations.

So I think the idea is probably right to make some sort of link between the fare paid, and status earn. I just think that Bain have set the bar a bit too high and will have to lower the bar considering that VA has almost no prescence internationally except for SQ and QR, is not part of an alliance, and at last minute full flex price point are often uncompetative against Qantas which has more reach regionally and more frequency domestically.

I just did the maths and am only 2/3 of the way for Lifetime Gold and would struggle to maintain both VA gold and QF gold with my travel patterns so might concentrate on QF gold fly VA if Qantas prices are silly, and await new owners or something changing at VA once Bain is gone.

I suppose the point is that the airline controls the price of the seats they sell. If they don't want a solid base of clients who purchase a $500 J fare, twelve months in advance, they can easily put the price up. Leave the plane empty until two weeks before departure and sell all the seats for $1200.
Reality is, just like with any business, the regular customers are the bread and butter. Living in Tasmania, we see it all the time. New business starts up, rakes it during the tourist season and goes broke in winter because they haven't taken the trouble to develop a base clientele. With an airline, you hold those frequent flyers with the gold, or platinum, handcuffs.

 

[ozstamps]

I am sure there is a common format like [email protected] or [email protected] - someone here will know and can advise I feel sure.

Such emails seldom end up anywhere near the top, but I sent one last week to the CEO of my Health Fund, and some Flunkey from Head office was gushing on the phone and email to me within hours 'at the direction of the CEO, based on your email' and he sorted things out BIG time.

If Virgin they get enough blow back from annoyed once loyal members, they'll likely loosen up the pretty draconian rules in the initial Brain Fart version of 'Forever Gold' - which is still months away yet.

Allow all account miles to count, which will 'grandfather' in many 10-15 year loyal flyers. They can fine tune it later on if needs be. Or let whomever buys it from Bain do so if they feel inclined.

10 year loyal clients are hard won -- and right now they seem hell-bent on driving many away - for zero good reason.

Reality is, just like with any business, the regular customers are the bread and butter.

 

[TMP]

Apologies for this one again, I re-read a number of posts from mid-March, but still unclear (noting that perhaps there is not a firm answer on this anyway).

The 50% earn requirement for retaining/upgrading status is on "VA marketed flights". Do people think this includes international partner airline flights booked with a VA flight number? For example, a Qatar flight that has a VA flight number like 6127 MEL to DOH but is not one of the new VA1-29 wet lease flights?

 

[anat0l]

Apologies for this one again, I re-read a number of posts from mid-March, but still unclear (noting that perhaps there is not a firm answer on this anyway).

The 50% earn requirement for retaining/upgrading status is on "VA marketed flights". Do people think this includes international partner airline flights booked with a VA flight number? For example, a Qatar flight that has a VA flight number like 6127 MEL to DOH but is not one of the new VA1-29 wet lease flights?

Yes. I read that as so long it is booked on the VA flight number, it counts.

 

[nutwood]

Well, I've just purchased my first Choice seat in years. $360, so 30 SC's, . Normally I'd either purchase Flex ($470) or Business ($560). Flex used to have the advantage of needing less points to upgrade but it's 17500 now, regardless and $110 more to earn an extra 9 SC's is not worth it. Business would net me 46 SC's, down 9 from a week ago, so Choice it is. I'll apply for a points upgrade to Business and $200 stays in my pocket instead of Virgin coffers.
My return trip is two leg so I'm deploying one of my pre-purchased Business flights. Hopefully the date change won't affect the earning, so that will still earn 110 SC's. We'll see.

 

[nutwood]

Further to above. Date change did not affect the SC's. 110 SC's duly received.