Will you still earn/retain Velocity status beyond 2025?

[nutwood]

'Switcheroo' in reverse . That's how I went over to Virgin plat when I was fed up with Qantas; I managed to keep VA Plat but also kept QFF Plat! So no 'walking' for me.

That's the exact journey I took. I'm not sure why so many people here refer to the Qantas premium product. If it were, I'd still be flying QF and enjoying my P1 perks. Reality was, the product became very sub premium.

 

[simmomelb]

That's the exact journey I took. I'm not sure why so many people here refer to the Qantas premium product. If it were, I'd still be flying QF and enjoying my P1 perks. Reality was, the product became very sub premium.

Well, it's a partly perceived premium product. Their die-hard customers love the 'free snacks'/food or free drinks on some routes.
But I totally get your point!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well, it's a partly perceived premium product. Their die-hard customers love the 'free snacks'/food or free drinks on some routes.

Entertainment, free wifi, plus beer or wine after midday. Little things like in the front cabin, somewhere to hang your jacket or coat. Kids’ play kits!

 

[nutwood]

Entertainment, free wifi, plus beer or wine after midday. Little things like in the front cabin, somewhere to hang your jacket or coat. Kids’ play kits!

Luggage lost so regularly that Launceston staff knew my address as they used to drop it off on their way home. Averaged out about 1 in 3 flights I arrived but my luggage didn't. A smaller number of times, but still significant, neither myself nor my luggage arrived at the destination.
Free wine is nice but you can't enjoy it, travelling home on a Friday evening, when you know there's a fair chance you'll shortly be fighting for a hotel room or collecting your luggage before being jammed in a middle seat on Jetstar to complete your journey.

 

[clifford]

Reality was, the product became very sub premium.

And you're saying that the VA offering is premium? I fly both so I have a valid opinion.

 

[nutwood]

And you're saying that the VA offering is premium? I fly both so I have a valid opinion.

Most certainly not. All my flying is domestic so my requirements of an airline are utilitarian. I want them to get me to my destination reliably and comfortably; or at least, not too uncomfortably. To date Virgin are managing that.

 

[bullerdude]

Velocity being different from qantas was one of he main draw cards of the program. It didn’t need to match qantas and be part of an alliance when it had unique perks like family pooling that made it possible to earn and gain some benefit from flying as a family. Changing the requirements to enforce at least half the status credits being flown by yourself absolutely guts the family pooling benefit and make closer to a qantas FF without any alliance benefits. It’s also kinda weird that they move to monetary based earning and then make it so the person paying can’t benefit from all the status credits that effectively funded. Now with qantas having free wifi and some food include on flights, it’s an easy sell if prices are similar or not much higher when flying as family. If anything they should have amped up the family benefits to attract more customers!

From the alliance perspective, it doesn’t make sense to make the program so hard to earn status when they cannot provide consistent global benefits. As an example, Flying Singapore the other day from a third party lounge, VA status provides no longer access as no alliance be benefits.

Yes, I get that it benefits them my costing less to operate the program and reduce elite numbers. But I can only see the changes being partially wound back or further changes when the data reveals the true cost to them in time.

 

[ozstamps]

On top of all the other issues, Virgin being American owned is oddly not well known to the mainstream patrons of Virgin.

Was talking about this to my wife tonight - a Virgin platinum for years, and she had no clue that was the case.

With PM Albo publicly urging the public to BUY AUSTRALIAN at all times possible, and especially not anything American, due to the nasty tariffs, will hurt some bookings, if Qantas cunningly work that into the marketing narrative, going forward.

Albanese says 'buy local' as US commerce chief criticises Australia in tariffs defence

The federal government has labelled the US tariffs a disappointment but says it won't pursue retaliatory measures.

www.sbs.com.au

Virgin just appointing yet ANOTHER American based CEO is just totally tone-deaf in the current climate.

This was not the year to actively herd vast swags of once very happy elites direct to the Qantas group.

The 'take the money and run' IPO will not occur in this stockmarket whirlpool swirling mess.

 

[Digicola]

Velocity being different from qantas was one of he main draw cards of the program. It didn’t need to match qantas and be part of an alliance when it had unique perks like family pooling that made it possible to earn and gain some benefit from flying as a family. Changing the requirements to enforce at least half the status credits being flown by yourself absolutely guts the family pooling benefit and make closer to a qantas FF without any alliance benefits. It’s also kinda weird that they move to monetary based earning and then make it so the person paying can’t benefit from all the status credits that effectively funded. Now with qantas having free wifi and some food include on flights, it’s an easy sell if prices are similar or not much higher when flying as family. If anything they should have amped up the family benefits to attract more customers!

From the alliance perspective, it doesn’t make sense to make the program so hard to earn status when they cannot provide consistent global benefits. As an example, Flying Singapore the other day from a third party lounge, VA status provides no longer access as no alliance be benefits.

Yes, I get that it benefits them my costing less to operate the program and reduce elite numbers. But I can only see the changes being partially wound back or further changes when the data reveals the true cost to them in time.

It was mentioned here a few times that family pooling was a big problem in terms of aligning to an alliance. This more or less removed that constraint.

In terms if the data, they probably just took their elite base and how much everyone was spending, made a standard deviation reflecting what cutoff they were comfortable with and left it at that. They’d already know how many elites they’re about to lose and for the bottom feeders it helps them sell their new amex and business flyer perks.

 

[odysseus]

It was mentioned here a few times that family pooling was a big problem in terms of aligning to an alliance. This more or less removed that constraint.

In terms if the data, they probably just took their elite base and how much everyone was spending, made a standard deviation reflecting what cutoff they were comfortable with and left it at that. They’d already know how many elites they’re about to lose and for the bottom feeders it helps them sell their new amex and business flyer perks.

So choose a higher cutoff point and wear the revenue hit from downgrades and lost sales below that boundary?

Wouldn't have thought the lounge cost so much for those low activity marginal elites or ran at a loss that the revenue loss would compensate for, but guess we'll see.

 

[MarkD]

So choose a higher cutoff point and wear the revenue hit from downgrades and lost sales below that boundary?

Wouldn't have thought the lounge cost so much for those low activity marginal elites or ran at a loss that the revenue loss would compensate for, but guess we'll see.

Agree, the lounge cost them very little for me as I arrived in time for my flight and never that much earlier. I dont drink alcohol and rarely eat the high carb, high sugar offerings in the lounge. To me the sanctuary away from the terminal used to be the only real offering with a lounge (Until recently when it became a zoo). The major benefit of status was priority checkin, priority security screening and priority boarding. The free wifi for platinum is a bonus, but the competition offers that for free to all anyway. Have until March 26 on platinum then back to gold in 27, silver 28 and out all together in 29. Cant keep status with no VA flights.

 

[Digicola]

So choose a higher cutoff point and wear the revenue hit from downgrades and lost sales below that boundary?

Wouldn't have thought the lounge cost so much for those low activity marginal elites or ran at a loss that the revenue loss would compensate for, but guess we'll see.

Everybody wants the cutoff to be just after themselves. It seems arbitrary to us but they’ve done the maths.

And in terms of lost revenue, what revenue are they really losing, how many people here are actually willing to buy up to QF or fly JQ. I’d wager very few. The reality is we want to pay less for an airline that won’t annoy the hell out of us by nickel and diming us at every turn but we also want affordability. VA fits the bill.

I personally will not renew my platinum status. And am weighing switching to krisflyer (which would offer *A gold and most of the current perks on VA) or keep working towards QF LTG which remains an achievable target. Having lounge access on JQ is also an attractive offering as they actually fly places.

Do I like these changes? No. Will it decrease my loyalty to VA? Yes. Do I think anyone at VA will lose sleep over it? Probably not, otherwise the changes wouldn’t have been as drastic. If there is a bit of remorse, we’ll see a temporary boost like BA did but I generally reckon they will stand their ground.

And its not about the cost of the lounge, but things like the overall experience. Also people who use the lounge less value it more hence why lounge passes and lounge access on credit cards are popular offerings. By removing « easy » status it helps monetize these otherwise unproductive assets for the company.