Velocity account suspended

[MooTime]

The non response says everything

If you actually read the article velocity DID give a response.

 

[im.daniel]

Yeah but not to the members which they locked out. I’ve certainly haven’t heard anything … yet

 

[Mr H]

This is a pretty weak response from Virgin. I just assume that they stuffed up and would prefer not to admit it.

I would assume a stuff up would be easy to acknowledge. On the other hand, if this was a genuine thing triggered by changes to security procedures then I can see why they would not want to provide details. IIRC, at least one of the affected members was operating the account in breach of the terms and conditions.

 

[simmomelb]

I would assume a stuff up would be easy to acknowledge. On the other hand, if this was a genuine thing triggered by changes to security procedures then I can see why they would not want to provide details. IIRC, at least one of the affected members was operating the account in breach of the terms and conditions.

I'm struggling to see what members can do that is in breach of the terms.
Any ideas what one can do to be in breach?
Serious question.

 

[Saab34]

They won’t want any attention in the coming months going through a public listing. As we all know, online data and security is very topical in the media in recent times.

You may have noted we have not really heard much from Virgin about anything in recent times. All part of the plan.

 

[Mr H]

I'm struggling to see what members can do that is in breach of the terms.
Any ideas what one can do to be in breach?
Serious question.

Family pooling from non family members and people who do not share a household is a common one. This is sometimes related to buying and selling points.

 

[simmomelb]

Family pooling from non family members and people who do not share a household is a common one. This is sometimes related to buying and selling points.

Ahhh okay, fair enough.
I didn't think they'd take this too seriously (the pooling) as it's still restricted to the number of times you can do this in a year and all it does is create greater loyalty.
Anyway, it is what it is

 

[jakeseven7]

Family pooling from non family members and people who do not share a household is a common one. This is sometimes related to buying and selling points.

Yup, heaps of us got done with this latest Velocity issue but it’s actually wasn’t users fault, we had matching addresses - but there was a bug in their system that flicked the primary address over to ANY alternate ever used, then the Velocity system booted you out. They said they have fixed this though, apparently.

 

[Mr H]

Ahhh okay, fair enough.
I didn't think they'd take this too seriously (the pooling) as it's still restricted to the number of times you can do this in a year and all it does is create greater loyalty.
Anyway, it is what it is

It is huge for VA.

Let's assume a redeemed point costs VA 0.5c - whether for a gift card or for a flight. They must cancel billions of points a year from accounts that have gone dormant. If people got the idea that they could sell points to strangers, those lost points would start getting redeemed, costing the airline 0.5c per point. Plus, they would also potentially lose revenue from selling points themselves at a much higher rate, and lost marginal revenue from ticket sales if people redeemed for flights they would otherwise have paid for (i.e. people would redeem for flights that would have cost more than 0.5c per mile as a revenue fare).

 

[jakeseven7]

I would assume a stuff up would be easy to acknowledge.

They may be in a legal situation because of the issue that they can’t comment publicly with much depth yet, which happens.

 

[simmomelb]

It is huge for VA.

Let's assume a redeemed point costs VA 0.5c - whether for a gift card or for a flight. They must cancel billions of points a year from accounts that have gone dormant. If people got the idea that they could sell points to strangers, those lost points would start getting redeemed, costing the airline 0.5c per point. Plus, they would also potentially lose revenue from selling points themselves at a much higher rate, and lost marginal revenue from ticket sales if people redeemed for flights they would otherwise have paid for (i.e. people would redeem for flights that would have cost more than 0.5c per mile as a revenue fare).

I see. On a similar note as it's Velocity based (mostly Gold/Plat), and is no doubt against the rules, but I've always thought it's a little wrong having a thread in here (or anywhere) for letting strangers into The Lounge, ie "can guest 2".
It can't be good for the business and potentially Gold & Platinum members and their allowed guests.
I'm sure many won't agree with me

 

[Mr H]

I see. On a similar note as it's Velocity based (mostly Gold/Plat), and is no doubt against the rules, but I've always thought it's a little wrong having a thread in here (or anywhere) for letting strangers into The Lounge, ie "can guest 2".
It can't be good for the business and potentially Gold & Platinum members and their allowed guests.
I'm sure many won't agree with me

The rules allow gold and platinum members to guest anyone into the lounge. They may be family, friends, work colleagues or complete strangers and they need not be travelling with you. Their rules.

 

[simmomelb]

The rules allow gold and platinum members to guest anyone into the lounge. They may be family, friends, work colleagues or complete strangers and they need not be travelling with you. Their rules.

Fair point and I totally understand where you are coming from.

Perhaps they need to tighten up the rules around it, it's just annoying how packed the lounge can be and how little food is available sometimes, I'm sure letting all these random extras in doesn't help from a cost perspective so if they revised their rules perhaps we might see slightly fewer people in the lounge, better and more food on offer.

Wishful thinking on my part, no doubt

Perhaps they could apply the same rule for guests that is in place for international departures (who can use the domestic lounges) - "For International departures, Invited Guests must be departing on the same departing flight as a Member, Velocity Platinum Member or Velocity Gold Member."

Anyway, that's my rant over

 

[Mr H]

Perhaps they need to tighten up the rules around it, it's just annoying how packed the lounge can be and how little food is available sometimes, I'm sure letting all these random extras in doesn't help from a cost perspective so if they revised their rules perhaps we might see slightly fewer people in the lounge, better and more food on offer.

I doubt that many of the people in the lounge are guests who are not travelling on the same flight as the status holder. But the few status holders who do bring in non-travelling guests probably attach a lot of value to the ability to do so, whether it is inviting in a family member who has dropped them off or inviting in their EA to finalise business before they travel. The one persona fortnight who is guested into the lounge from a thread on AFF is a drop in the ocean.

If VA wanted to reduce the number of people who use the lounge, they could stop status matching, renewing lapsed members, offering status credit promotions, stop selling paid entry, and raise the status thresholds.

If VA wanted to increase the availability of food, they could buy more food.

 

[simmomelb]

I doubt that many of the people in the lounge are guests who are not travelling on the same flight as the status holder. But the few status holders who do bring in non-travelling guests probably attach a lot of value to the ability to do so, whether it is inviting in a family member who has dropped them off or inviting in their EA to finalise business before they travel. The one persona fortnight who is guested into the lounge from a thread on AFF is a drop in the ocean.

If VA wanted to reduce the number of people who use the lounge, they could stop status matching, renewing lapsed members, offering status credit promotions, stop selling paid entry, and raise the status thresholds.

If VA wanted to increase the availability of food, they could buy more food.

Status matching, status credits (double status), paid entry etc is fine from a business perspective as it directly brings revenue into the business (encourages people to book flights with them).

But you have some very valid points
Yep, you are probably right about the number of randoms that get in being few.

As yes, more food either way, I've heard so many colleagues complaining about this lately and seen this on here also, sometimes it's quite a bad experience.

 

[Mr H]

Status matching, status credits (double status), paid entry etc is fine from a business perspective as it directly brings revenue into the business (encourages people to book flights with them).

Lounges are 100% about bringing in business, either directly or indirectly.

 

[MooTime]

I wonder how many ppl had their accounts suspended temporarily.

I imagine it would be frustrating, especially if you had a wad of points.

relief to have it un-suspended (is that a word)?

Note: mine was not suspended.

 

[MrJetset]

Standard FF account audit behaviour. They will have run some queries and banned access to accounts based on that.
Family Pooling clearly states that addresses must match by midnight so they are now doing daily batches.

VA have previously banned accounts where points were transferred between non family members.

As universally experienced, they will not answer any of your questions or contact until they 1) Make identity requests of you or 2) Ultimately close your account. Sometimes you can still fly but not earn or redeem. If they suspect you've done something more serious, you can get a ban from the airline altogether.

AA, EK and other airlines are notorious for this and quite aggressive. It can take up to 6 months to resolve. There have only ever been reports of QF doing this once a few years ago. EK entirely outsource their audit department.

 

[simmomelb]

Standard FF account audit behaviour. They will have run some queries and banned access to accounts based on that.
Family Pooling clearly states that addresses must match by midnight so they are now doing daily batches.

VA have previously banned accounts where points were transferred between non family members.

As universally experienced, they will not answer any of your questions or contact until they 1) Make identity requests of you or 2) Ultimately close your account. Sometimes you can still fly but not earn or redeem. If they suspect you've done something more serious, you can get a ban from the airline altogether.

AA, EK and other airlines are notorious for this and quite aggressive. It can take up to 6 months to resolve. There have only ever been reports of QF doing this once a few years ago. EK entirely outsource their audit department.

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Although QF don't have family pooling so there are probably far fewer reasons you could be in breach of the terms.

 

[MrJetset]

To be clear, QF suspended accounts for non family transfers/redemptions.