Velocity Frequent Flyer Program Update

[cjd600]

I disagree with this comment, particularly PER-Europe. EY has gone up in J (121k vs 100k) and although SQ has dropped, it would still be better to convert VFF -> KF and book with SQ direct when the 15% online booking reduction is taken into account.

....bear in mind the SQ + charges though

 

[esseeeayeenn]

A shame they didn't take the opportunity to introduce lifetime status as well.

 

[cove]

Better work on MrsGM as a start. A great chance to perfect your pitch before unleashing special skills gained from that negotiation GarrettM. Now over in my world Mrscove thinks I have too many credit cards....
I have some Citi Prestige points to move before Citi do their devaluation. It is tough out there.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

VA have been told to make themselves profitable.

Looks like a move purely to drive profits without giving anything back to the member base

 

[GarrettM]

Better work on MrsGM as a start. A great chance to perfect your pitch before unleashing special skills gained from that negotiation GarrettM. Now over in my world Mrscove thinks I have too many credit cards....
I have some Citi Prestige points to move before Citi do their devaluation. It is tough out there.

I've made it fairly clear that any hopes she has of a trip to Italy next year are contingent on her getting the card. If that doesn't work I guess nothing will.

 

[Cryptarcadian]

Ouch! I understand that points will go up somewhat over time, but moving Etihad from table 1 to 2 is going to hurt. Given the lack of round-the-world options, or any way of upgrading on partner airlines at all using Velocity points, an outright EY F apartment redemption is basically the flagship redemption of the program (sorry, I'm sure The Business is really nice too).

I'd burn a stash of points, if only I could find some availability! At the end of the day, it's not like I'm going to quit VA, but my next credit card might well be a QFF one.

 

[mandja]

Big losers are those redeeming to EY

Hattip to Loyalty Lobby for this table
[h=3]Here’s are the differences between the current and June 1 Etihad redemption requirements:[/h]

 

[Mattg]

Ouch. I have only just started with seriously collecting Velocity points (I direct the vast majority of my spend over to Qantas). The main thing that attracted me over to Velocity FF was the cheaper short-haul redemptions. 6,900 points in economy or 13,800 in business, compared to 8,000 and 16,000 with Qantas FF respectively.

The number of Velocity points required is now so close to what Qantas asks, that the difference is too small to be meaningful. I think I'll just stick with Qantas - they have a better domestic product anyway.

 

[Velocity Frequent Flyer]

Hi,

Can you please confirm there are no changes for UpgradeMe points redemptions?

Hi! That is correct. There is no change to UpgradeMe.

 

[Pleb Status]

Now VA have basically decided to mirror the QF award tables, it would be 'simpler and fairer' to match the QF upgrade award tables as well.

My biggest problem with VFF is the 30k upgrade cost for a PER-East Coast Saver flight versus 20k on QF.

 

[anat0l]

There's another thread discussing these changes already. Maybe that one should be merged into this or vice versa?

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-virgin-points-redemptions-simpler-74378.html

I basically summed up the changes in the other thread:

• VA domestic - now only a fraction behind QF
• VA everything else - almost no difference
• EY - going up due to table move
• SQ (and everything else that used the more exxy table) - going down

The only clear "loser" in all of this is anyone who regularly burns VA points for EY flights, since their prices are going up. VA prices are also going up in some cases, but the difference is rather small. A couple of thousand, or even less, points isn't much consequence to anyone, although if it is to you (e.g. it adds up due to multiple pax / tickets), then so be it.

Can someone (Velocity Frequent Flyer or someone else here) confirm something: say you have a booking with two flights on it, both airlines are different and both airlines come from different tables (e.g. VA and SQ using the old or new system; or VA and EY using the new system). For example, AKL-SYD on VA (or even domestic), followed by SYD-AUH on EY. How is the cost calculated?

• Separately? i.e. find the mileage between AKL and SYD, look it up on Table 1, get the cost; repeat for SYD-AUH on Table 2; add the costs together?
• Just use Table 2, the more expensive cost? i.e. find the mileage of AKL-SYD plus SYD-AUH, look this up on Table 2?

 

[travelislife]

Hmm, this does hurt. There is now no way to get to Europe in Table 1, ie at 250,000 points in Business Class which is a major bummer. I have only just started on the VA accumulation train but the issue I am finding as well is that there are very few CC's that pay 1 point per dollar on VISA/MC so there is reduced point earn vs. Qantas too which I find a lot more CC's allow at least 1ppd. The increase in the domestic ones as well means they aren't differentiated from QF in any way but have less overseas options not being in one of the alliances. Going to have to do a bit of reassessment I think, but the lack of differentiation between QF now just means it might not make as much sense to try and collect VA points.

 

[bismarck]

Overall, not too bad in my opinion.

Look....no-one loves when redemptions go up in cost. But VA's haven't changed in years, and in the context of everything else happening in the loyalty world (AA, DL etc) a 10-20% increase isn't the WORST thing ever.

Hopefully they're now done for another few years and we can go back to have some stability.

Props to VFF for giving a couple of months notice - well done.

 

[Dannyism]

Hmm, good pick up... Can anyone clear this up?

Do you have to call Virgin to book SQ First ? I can see plenty of business online, but not F.

 

[anat0l]

Do you have to call Virgin to book SQ First ? I can see plenty of business online, but not F.

I think you need to, since it isn't normally displayed online.

An AusBT article on the same topic (VA's changes) seems to imply that booking F (or R) on SQ's B777-300 or A380-800 services is not possible via VA; it can only be done by converting points to KrisFlyer then redeeming there. This is not part of the official VA announcement; it just seems to be something that AusBT have either put by way of experience or have asked VA and included separate of their announcement.

 

[awkwardpaws]

Do you have to call Virgin to book SQ First ? I can see plenty of business online, but not F.

I'm pretty sure to book SQ F you need to use KF (which involves transferring your VA to KF at 1.35:1 rate)

 

[Velocity Frequent Flyer]

There's another thread discussing these changes already. Maybe that one should be merged into this or vice versa?

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-virgin-points-redemptions-simpler-74378.html

I basically summed up the changes in the other thread:

• VA domestic - now only a fraction behind QF
• VA everything else - almost no difference
• EY - going up due to table move
• SQ (and everything else that used the more exxy table) - going down

The only clear "loser" in all of this is anyone who regularly burns VA points for EY flights, since their prices are going up. VA prices are also going up in some cases, but the difference is rather small. A couple of thousand, or even less, points isn't much consequence to anyone, although if it is to you (e.g. it adds up due to multiple pax / tickets), then so be it.

Can someone (Velocity Frequent Flyer or someone else here) confirm something: say you have a booking with two flights on it, both airlines are different and both airlines come from different tables (e.g. VA and SQ using the old or new system; or VA and EY using the new system). For example, AKL-SYD on VA (or even domestic), followed by SYD-AUH on EY. How is the cost calculated?

• Separately? i.e. find the mileage between AKL and SYD, look it up on Table 1, get the cost; repeat for SYD-AUH on Table 2; add the costs together?
• Just use Table 2, the more expensive cost? i.e. find the mileage of AKL-SYD plus SYD-AUH, look this up on Table 2?

To answer the question about how the points price is calculated on an itinerary that crosses Table 1 and 2, it is calculated separately (option A). Calculate the points price of the portion flown on Table 1 airlines first. Repeat for the Table 2 portion. Then sum the two together for the final point price.

 

[get me outta here]

Once you know how many SQ points you need, you can do a dummy test on the VA site without carrying it through.

Then, I phoned SQ and found my flights and get the agreed points requirements, have yr VA account open and then transfer them on the spot whilst talking to VA. Worked for, was instantaneous transfer.

Apologies, this should be in the SQ thread really.

I'm pretty sure to book SQ F you need to use KF (which involves transferring your VA to KF at 1.35:1 rate)

 

[anat0l]

To answer the question about how the points price is calculated on an itinerary that crosses Table 1 and 2, it is calculated separately (option A). Calculate the points price of the portion flown on Table 1 airlines first. Repeat for the Table 2 portion. Then sum the two together for the final point price.

Thanks for that.

This means, subtly, that anyone who needs to fly to a gateway to get a certain EY flight will have their costs go up rather substantially, because before, VA and EY were in the same table, and thus you simply added up the distances, then found the cost according to the total distance. Now if what you say is true, then VA and EY are in separate tables, so the individual costs will need to be added up.

 

[SponsorSFC]

SQ doesn't release really any F space to it's partners but makes a decent amount available to KF, it is not just a VA situation. Though transfer to KF is easy, instantaneous and availability is pretty good.

I think going forward my trips will be any F booked via KF but most J on SQ via VFF due to the lower surcharges as the few routes I have checked so far the points difference is now only nominal.

EY is a different story but has been very good value especially when compared to EK using QF so I guess it could not have been expected to last.