Only if Virgin get involved can it be complicated.
Ten young airheads with zero experience in such programs, all finger popping vague concepts at meetings, creates these half-baked loopy plans. D:
All it has done is
ALIENATE and annoy a lot of folks once very loyal to Virgin. Genius stuff when you have an IPO on the horizon.
This was a good idea, long called for here, and they have stuffed it up MONUMENTALLY. No-one has the vaguest CLUE in writing right now how many SC have been accrued under their loopy and complex and vague system.
If we all knew that now, we could
PLAN paid travel before the onerous new rules come into place. As they were too dumb to have not thought this out in advance, and prepared a log of EXACTLY what they were counting for each member NOW - none of us know. Even Velocity cannot tell us. Dumber than Dumb.
DSC and TSC
are not counted even when one asks. How lazy is THAT? Of COURSE, folks want to know NOW what their current
official total is. Not in several months time.
We do not know if it is based on a rolling 12 year period etc, as is apparently hinted at above. This is Beavis and Butthead writing their rules.
WAY too complicated and rubbery for most, and WAY too onerous and near unattainable just for a GOLD card.
United are a major partner, and they might have asked THEM how the
real airlines do it. It is clear, and it is simple and more important it WORKS. Everyone can understand it.
GOLD is the
lowest 'FOREVER' Elite level on United. There are 3 levels ABOVE that.
I got that 10 years back, and am very close to the next level. And my wife got a Gold FOREVER card too due to mine. Handy.
Star Alliance Gold for LIFE and essentially Virgin Gold anyway while they are in alliance.
Guess what - from now on when we fly paid Biz to the USA on United, I'll be crediting it to UA, to click me over to the 2 million level to get to Platinum Lifetime.
We already get all Virgin Flights, Gold lounge and check in and boarding benefits with that UA card, so no benefit for us at all, but trying to get them to make it fairer and clearer for all members who have stayed loyal to VIRGIN -
United MileagePlus Premier Gold members are eligible for the following benefits on Virgin Australia operated flights:
- Access to Virgin Australia Lounges
- One additional checked bag (except on Economy Lite tickets)
- Priority check-in
- Priority boarding
- Priority security clearance, where available
Virgin will not have ever aimed for a million bum in seat miles of course, unless that was for lifetime Platinum etc.
TEN year continuous membership of an elite level gives Gold or Plat that for life to ensure loyalty is a simple formula they might have used for example. SIMPLE for all to follow.
AND/OR, 10,000 or 15,000 SC from
any source in the past .. they can fine tune it going forward to be just Virgin if they choose. We see 'enhancements' all the time at Velocity. Get it STARTED, then fiddle at the edges later.
It is only GOLD they are offering for goodness sakes - in the USA one gets airline GOLD level almost automatically from just having the correct airline credit card even if you never set foot on a plane.
Giving folks a Gold 'FOREVER' card has ZERO benefit to the recipient UNLESS they keep flying Virgin =
More Revenue.
