Question about status upgrade.

[Dave R32]

On the weekend I made a status run on Virgin, BNE - SYD return in J with my wife taking advantage of the SC on rewards flights promo. I boarded the flight from BNE to SYD with 470 SC points earnt in the last 8 months (Silver) and as the flight was worth 40 SC's I walked off that flight with 510 points and therefore qualified for Gold.

I was thinking that the return flight and family pooling of SC's would of had me 120 points into retaining my Gold, however when my status changed it has said I need 400 points to retain Gold as my status was reviewed 2 days after the flights. If I do manage to earn 400 points in the next 12 months I will have a balance of 1030 and be platinum !

In summary it appears that the status review was earnt on the entire itinerary not on the individual flights I am not sure if I should contact Virgin/Velocity and seek an explanation or just build a bridge ?

Cheers
Dave.

 

[DGW]

That's consistent with my experience and that of others on here. When ticking over to a higher tier, any SCs you earn on the same day (possibly even up to the date the status review is processed?) in excess of those you needed to qualify don't count towards your requalification.

 

[Dave R32]

It's interesting as when I when I upgraded from Red to Silver it was on one itinerary and the upgrade occurred on the outbound leg, the SC's on the return went towards getting to Gold which why I assumed the same would apply this time and it hasnt.

Cheers
Dave.

 

[BrentH]

I qualified for Gold at 510 SC's too, and needed 500 more for Platinum. Was annoyed at the wasted SC's too.

Similar question for those in the know... I'm on track to hit 2420 Status Credits by June, so I'll re-qualify for Platinum until 2015 (and hold Gold on soft-landing until 2016 assuming I didn't fly again).

When will the companion Gold/Platinum kick in?

The T&C's are ambiguous:

Platinum members who earn an additional 500 Status Credits over and above the required number of Status Credits to maintain Platinum within their member benefit period can gift Gold membership to a companion of their choice... If Platinum members earn an additional 1,000 Status Credits over and above the required number of Status Credits to maintain Platinum within their member benefit period, their companion will automatically be upgraded to Platinum membership.

If I've already hit the necessary 1,000 SC's to maintain Platinum in the first year, then I earn another 1,000 SC's within 2-3 months, does that mean I go "double platinum"?

Or do I need to earn 1,000 SC's, requalify for a 2nd year (+800 SC's), and THEN get another 1,000 SC's = 2800 to earn companion Platinum?

(If the latter is the case, I think I'll stick with companion Gold and work on QF Platinum on any high SC routes...)

 

[grubbidok]

It's interesting as when I when I upgraded from Red to Silver it was on one itinerary and the upgrade occurred on the outbound leg, the SC's on the return went towards getting to Gold which why I assumed the same would apply this time and it hasnt.

The obvious difference I guess is that your Red to Silver was probably pre-Sabre.

I had an itinerary that pushed me over and didn't count towards requal (it was also 510SCs). I'm not too worried as they do count towards platinum upgrade. BrentH should have only had 490SCs to upgrade to platinum, that's what happened to me any way (again, it was post-Sabre though... just).

Not perfect but in my books it still beats the QF system where they just all get taken and you have to start all over again at an arbitrary date. I remember one year being 50SCs off QF Gold (this was before I knew about status runs), and woke up the next morning with Silver Status and no points at all and had to start all over again. At least with VA it's the required points in a 12mth period, so if you do drop down for some reason you can pick it back up quite easily.

 

[BrentH]

Arbitrary date for QF? eek...


I see "Additional Status credits required by 31 Oct 2013"... Does that mean my arbitrary date is October 31st?

 

[Dave R32]

The obvious difference I guess is that your Red to Silver was probably pre-Sabre.

I had an itinerary that pushed me over and didn't count towards requal (it was also 510SCs). I'm not too worried as they do count towards platinum upgrade. BrentH should have only had 490SCs to upgrade to platinum, that's what happened to me any way (again, it was post-Sabre though... just).

Not perfect but in my books it still beats the QF system where they just all get taken and you have to start all over again at an arbitrary date. I remember one year being 50SCs off QF Gold (this was before I knew about status runs), and woke up the next morning with Silver Status and no points at all and had to start all over again. At least with VA it's the required points in a 12mth period, so if you do drop down for some reason you can pick it back up quite easily.

You are correct the Red to Silver was pre-Sabre and I assume this is the difference.

Cheers
Dave.

 

[serfty]

...
Not perfect but in my books it still beats the QF system where they just all get taken and you have to start all over again at an arbitrary date. I remember one year being 50SCs off QF Gold (this was before I knew about status runs), and woke up the next morning with Silver Status and no points at all and had to start all over again. At least with VA it's the required points in a 12mth period, so if you do drop down for some reason you can pick it back up quite easily.

Actuall, imho, the QFF sytem is better for the traveller as a status level earned is valid for up to 24 months.

 

[SQ421]

Actuall, imho, the QFF sytem is better for the traveller as a status level earned is valid for up to 24 months.

+1; with QF, I recently banked 23+ months of Gold, and am in a position to lock down 21+ months of Platinum followed by a soft landing to Gold for another 12.

This "rolling 12 month status credit count" that Virgin has is confusing as old hell (atleast to me).

The review date on my Velocity Account is 24th March 2013, does that mean my SC count resets to zero on this date? Or do SC's earned before this date continue to be counted for the 12 months from the day they were earned, and as soon as the count of "unexpired" status credits hits 1000, I get Platinum for the subsequent 12 months?

 

[Fruitcake]

Actuall, imho, the QFF sytem is better for the traveller as a status level earned is valid for up to 24 months.

Swings and roundabouts I guess, but if you have erratic travel patterns and have 'lumpy' SC earn and your QF review date falls in the middle of a trip it could mean you never get that next level anyway. A work colleague missed out on QF platinum because of this. He earned well over 1,400 status credits within six months but his status reset when his SC count was just below 1,000.

 

[grubbidok]

+1; with QF, I recently banked 23+ months of Gold, and am in a position to lock down 21+ months of Platinum followed by a soft landing to Gold for another 12.

This "rolling 12 month status credit count" that Virgin has is confusing as old hell (atleast to me).

The review date on my Velocity Account is 24th March 2013, does that mean my SC count resets to zero on this date? Or do SC's earned before this date continue to be counted for the 12 months from the day they were earned, and as soon as the count of "unexpired" status credits hits 1000, I get Platinum for the subsequent 12 months?

Platinum earn in 1 month? Wow.

Your rolling credit assumption is my assumption too. I missed Gold earlier by the VA definition, but a few trips meant getting the 500SCs in a 12mth period pushed me over even though it wasn't in my official 'time'. My understanding is the review date is more for you to keep track of where you are at, a bit like the little bar on the HHonors page, and as there is a rolling credit there is no 'real' review date, at least for upgrades.

My experience at QF was similar to Fruitcake's friend. I guess it is swings and roundabouts. We're all guaranteed to get screwed over by one airline at some stage, and we will get one over them at some point. I guess it just depends who the lucky airline is no who we prefer.

 

[Dave R32]

Snip

I guess it is swings and roundabouts. We're all guaranteed to get screwed over by one airline at some stage, and we will get one over them at some point. I guess it just depends who the lucky airline is no who we prefer.

This is very true, I was one of Velocity members who was comped to Gold after the infamous "Congrats you are Gold" email went out to several thousand members back in November 2009. So I guess I cant really complain.

Cheers
Dave.

 

[serfty]

Swings and roundabouts I guess, but if you have erratic travel patterns and have 'lumpy' SC earn and your QF review date falls in the middle of a trip it could mean you never get that next level anyway. A work colleague missed out on QF platinum because of this. He earned well over 1,400 status credits within six months but his status reset when his SC count was just below 1,000.

Swings and roundabouts indeed.

Because of this I was able to spli a DONE4 over two "years" and earn WP in both.

 

[VMC73]

Platinum earn in 1 month? Wow.

Your rolling credit assumption is my assumption too. I missed Gold earlier by the VA definition, but a few trips meant getting the 500SCs in a 12mth period pushed me over even though it wasn't in my official 'time'. My understanding is the review date is more for you to keep track of where you are at, a bit like the little bar on the HHonors page, and as there is a rolling credit there is no 'real' review date, at least for upgrades.

My experience at QF was similar to Fruitcake's friend. I guess it is swings and roundabouts. We're all guaranteed to get screwed over by one airline at some stage, and we will get one over them at some point. I guess it just depends who the lucky airline is no who we prefer.

My understanding is that you must earn 800 SC's in each 12 month period from review date to maintain status. Therefore SC's earned between now and March next year will not go towards requal for the following year. I have maintained Plat till Aug so I now pool to others in the family as my thought was that the SC's will not count for anything.

 

[SQ421]

Platinum earn in 1 month? Wow.

Not quite. The Gold was within the first week of the QF year resetting (which means I have it till the end of next QF year).

After a quick re-read, my understanding of VA's rules is that your status credits don't expire for 12 monts since the day they are earned, and at any time if you have 1000/500 "live" status credits, your status gets bumped to Platinum/Gold with the "review date" set to 12 months from the day such bump occcurs, during which you need to earn the required 800/400 Status Credits to retain Platinum/Gold.

 

[VMC73]

Not quite. The Gold was within the first week of the QF year resetting (which means I have it till the end of next QF year).

After a quick re-read, my understanding of VA's rules is that your status credits don't expire for 12 monts since the day they are earned, and at any time if you have 1000/500 "live" status credits, your status gets bumped to Platinum/Gold with the "review date" set to 12 months from the day such bump occcurs, during which you need to earn the required 800/400 Status Credits to retain Platinum/Gold.

Once you have requalified though what happens to SC's earnt in the rest of that 12month period?

 

[goingboeing]

Once you have requalified though what happens to SC's earnt in the rest of that 12month period?

If you are WP - they start counting towards being able to gift SG or WP. Otherwise, they sit and look pretty on your Velocity balance sheet!

 

[VMC73]

If you are WP - they start counting towards being able to gift SG or WP. Otherwise, they sit and look pretty on your Velocity balance sheet!

Thats what I thought as the family fly a bit also have chosen to pool to my daughter who reach Plat in Jan until my next review date. I just hope they don't change the rules and I miss out on something!