Will you still earn/retain Velocity status beyond 2025?

[justinbrett]

I must admit I haven't found much difference between the VA lounges and Qantas Clubs in that regard. What am I missing?

Taste?

Jk. I’m there for the spirits. So that means QF as there aren’t any in VA.

 

[Mattg]

Taste?

Jk. I’m there for the spirits. So that means QF as there aren’t any in VA.

The Qantas lounges also have a larger variety of wines, which taste better and are rotated more frequently.

I think the VA lounges have had the same 2-3 terrible red wines for at least several years.

 

[Happy Dude]

I don't put too much weight in the grog quality. The bar is closed at least half the time I'm flying and the other half I'm usually driving at the other end so don't drink.

 

[antycbr]

Taste?

Jk. I’m there for the spirits. So that means QF as there aren’t any in VA.

It’s even on the side of the QF aircraft.

 

[clifford]

I don't put too much weight in the grog quality. The bar is closed at least half the time I'm flying and the other half I'm usually driving at the other end so don't drink.

Perhaps you should organise your day differently...

 

[simmomelb]

Do you drink wine, though?

I drink wine normally, however, when in the VA lounge I'm suddenly not interested in it.

 

[JohnK]

I don't put too much weight in the grog quality.

There are people who refuse to drink the "free" beer in the lounges as they only want to drink premium beer. There's enough choice there for me.

Give me free alcohol and I'm happy and that includes beer and spirits and should be no different for wine either.

 

[Mattg]

Give me free alcohol and I'm happy and that includes beer and spirits and should be no different for wine either.

Have you actually tasted the red wine in the VA lounges, though? It tastes worse than bitter lolly water

 

[simmomelb]

Their "wine", Hardys, is $7 for a 1-litre bottle (equates to $5.25 for a standard 750ml bottle) at Dan's (cask wine pricing), I've tried, believe me, really really tried to enjoy it, but I just can't, it has hints of dishwater.
One of the worst wines on the shelf IMO.
They'd only need to spend an extra $2 - $3 a bottle, for something cheap but palatable (maybe they will when all these FF's drop like flies next year... wishful thinking).
I'm not a beer drinker so I can't comment personally on their selection of beer.

 

[Happy Dude]

Perhaps you should organise your day differently...

Gaslighter!

 

[fletty]

Their "wine", Hardys, is $7 for a 1-litre bottle (equates to $5.25 for a standard 750ml bottle) at Dan's (cask wine pricing), I've tried, believe me, really really tried to enjoy it, but I just can't, it has hints of dishwater.
One of the worst wines on the shelf IMO.
They'd only need to spend an extra $2 - $3 a bottle, for something cheap but palatable (maybe they will when all these FF's drop like flies next year... wishful thinking).
I'm not a beer drinker so I can't comment personally on their selection of beer.

Beer selection, at least in BNE is actually really good. A few standard beers plus Green Beacon Wayfarer and Balter XPAs which is much better than what QF offer.

 

[clifford]

Beer selection, at least in BNE is actually really good. A few standard beers plus Green Beacon Wayfarer and Balter XPAs which is much better than what QF offer.

And at OOL

 

[drron]

I've only been to the VA lounge in SYD once 3 weeks ago. The red was Hardys the Riddle cabernet/merlot. decent enough wine.

 

[Brian G]

Hi Every one - Matt's review is spot on, and as a VA Platinum member for many years now, the VA changes are the last straw for my wife and I - under protest, we will be taking our business back to better international service providers (unfortunately this includes Qantas & its One World partners).
Over the last 2 years, my wife and I have gone out of our way to patronize VA as we wanted to ensure VA could survive against the Qantas gorilla.
We fly to Tokyo at least 6 times a year and we have taken every opportunity to fly to and from Japan with VA and its partner airlines (even though VA's offering was a joke - eg: no lounge access in Haneda; flying via Cairns with no lounge access there; no blankets on Va's planes; no immigration cards; little in the way of hot food; the business offering is a joke; inconsistent and confusing arrangements with VA's partner airlines). But the recent experiences my wife and I have had flying with VA's partner airline ANA to and from Tokyo has been a huge disappointment - put simply, ANA treated my wife and I very poorly and did not display any meaningful knowledge about VA Platinum member benefits when flying with ANA. Then when we complained to VA about our ANA experience VA washed its hands clean of the issue and told my wife and I to complain to ANA.

Put simply, VA's arrangements with its partner airlines is an unacceptable mess.

We have given all the support we can to VA but enough is enough.

 

[wandersen]

It’s really screwed us over. My wife flies a lot more than I do - a couple of returns a month and it’s on our dime. I’m lucky enough to always fly J for work but only travel once a quarter. I’ve always transferred my points and status credits to my wife and she makes platinum every year. I don’t need status as I travel J anyway or am with her. Now with the 50% service credit from “your own” flying I’ve no idea how she get any status at all!

 

[im.daniel]

put simply, ANA treated my wife and I very poorly and did not display any meaningful knowledge about VA Platinum member benefits when flying with ANA.

What benefits were you after, apart from Priority Check in and Extra Baggage? Because that's all there is for VA Plats flying on NH (on a very specific subset of flights)

 

[simmomelb]

It’s really screwed us over. My wife flies a lot more than I do - a couple of returns a month and it’s on our dime. I’m lucky enough to always fly J for work but only travel once a quarter. I’ve always transferred my points and status credits to my wife and she makes platinum every year. I don’t need status as I travel J anyway or am with her. Now with the 50% service credit from “your own” flying I’ve no idea how she get any status at all!

I feel this is the point, to remove status from those who aren't genuine frequent flyers (what they would consider a frequent flyer).
They've made it far too easy in the past, you barely had to fly to get status.
Perhaps they have pushed the needle far too much in the opposite direction, but I guess they can tweak it later or add double and triple status offers ad hock if it doesn't work the way they intended.

 

[SCM]

The beer in BNE is great - balter, probably the one of the best mass produced beers. In SYD they used to have asahi, but not anymore, very sad.

Anyway, I have been mulling and mulling, and I am increasingly thinking either to give EY a serious go, or KF/TR combination (Star).

I guess points wise, I will still use VA for international redemptions, since there is no specific benefit for status to get flights sooner or anything like that, and it doesn't seem like that will be changing - I don't really see any issue with being bronze or whatever and still being able to redeem flights just the same - right?

I just need decent airlines to fly internationally, and I can't stand the fact that QR puts VA plats in a coughty disgusting lounge - why bother?

 

[SeaWolf]

Perhaps they have pushed the needle far too much in the opposite direction, but I guess they can tweak it later or add double and triple status offers ad hock if it doesn't work the way they intended.

I think this is a good point that keeps getting overlooked. A lot of the comparisons people have been doing, on how much it'll take to earn status, assume that they'll be able to take maximum advantage of a DSC offer on Qantas, but will have to pay full fare on Virgin.
I'm certain the various bonus status credit offers on Virgin will continue and this year Virgin has been quite innovative with these offers, doing more than just the standard DSC offers we've all gotten used to:

• Bonus status credits based on the number of sectors flown
• 200 status credits for a co-branded credit card sign up
• Triple status credits, but with a very short booking and travel window

At least one of these offers worked out really well for me and was much better than the usual DSC offering. I'd fully expect more of these.

 

[Bagpuss]

I'm certain the various bonus status credit offers on Virgin will continue and this year Virgin has been quite innovative with these offers, doing more than just the standard DSC offers we've all gotten used to:

• Bonus status credits based on the number of sectors flown
• 200 status credits for a co-branded credit card sign up
• Triple status credits, but with a very short booking and travel window

At least one of these offers worked out really well for me and was much better than the usual DSC offering. I'd fully expect more of these.

I wouldn't be overly surprised if they do something like spend $5,000 or more over a period to earn 1,000 VA status credits etc.

There's going to be some frequent flyers who are close, but too far away to making Forever Gold on 1st October 2025.

Offers like this make make it a wise investment.