Will you still earn/retain Velocity status beyond 2025?

[HS-TQE]

Changing the topic slightly, and to play devil's advocate, I do wonder if the (assumably Bain-mandated) changes could be intended to accommodate not only the pending QR alliance (currently at the ACCC) but also to "exit" most of their primary "International Long Haul Passengers" (who rarely flies VAd) from the VFF books.

Thus the changes are leant towards accommodating their "core passengers" the VA domestic network, as a primary "domestic carrier", whilst focusing their (Long Haul) international primarily on QR going west, followed by SQ in Asia and UA going east going forward.

As some have said in the past across multiple forums including here, VA should "exit (long haul) International," but they didn't expect changes like this to remove most of their Long Haul (international) codeshare (or even non-codeshare Long Haul International/VFF members) passengers from VA. Changing focus on their Domestic network with supplemental income from VARA and their Short Haul International Leisure network, and focusing most of their long haul international codeshare network on three primary carriers (QR, SQ and UA)

 

[odysseus]

How does it benefit them broadly to get rid of customers? Remembering also that if they "rarely fly much" per your scenario, they also don't cost VA much. And they're not in a position of being the premium, dominant carrier where customers will automatically flock to them. While their food is generally slightly above QF, apart from that they don't really have any competitive advantages to QF (smaller network, fewer flights, basic aircraft, inflight services the same or worse, fewer lounges and so on)

 

[levelnine]

How does it benefit them broadly to get rid of customers?

If most customers continue to fly Virgin, but are no longer elites or are paying for their elite benefits through partners (eg Amex is paying for their lounge access), then it is net positive for Virgin.

Whether most customers will continue to fly Virgin is, of course, the big question. But when your competitors are a noticeable step up in price (QF) and a noticeable step down in experience (JQ), it isn't an entirely unreasonable gamble.

 

[MooTime]

If most customers continue to fly Virgin, but are no longer elites or are paying for their elite benefits through partners (eg Amex is paying for their lounge access), then it is net positive for Virgin.

Whether most customers will continue to fly Virgin is, of course, the big question. But when your competitors are a noticeable step up in price (QF) and a noticeable step down in experience (JQ), it isn't an entirely unreasonable gamble.

I'll just add that many don't consider JQ much of a step down from VA.
JQ is a step down in price, yes.

Re lounge access, you / I can gain lounge access through various CCs & QF PC+.

I don't believe it's the wisest of changes to discourage VA status flyers to fly with them, which in my eyes it has done. Then what would I know.

 

[levelnine]

I'll just add that many don't consider JQ much of a step down from VA.

I guess it depends on the definition of 'many'. If the number of people who saw them as indistinguishable were significant, VA would have next to no market share.

There aren't millions of people who are choosing VA over JQ simply because they can game family pooling to attain VA SG. While the lounges are overcrowded, they aren't that full.

Re lounge access, you / I can gain lounge access through various CCs & QF PC+.

Sure, but we're the least profitable customers going around.

My guess is in 24 months time, this graph of market share will look identical to what it currently is, with the exception of Bonza and Rex no longer being present of course.

 

[clifford]

My guess is in 24 months time, this graph of market share will look identical to what it currently is, with the exception of Bonza and Rex no longer being present of course.

Depends to a large extent on what Qantas and Jetstar do. And from my own personal experience, I don't find a lot of difference between row 1 on Jetstar and row 3 on VA, apart from the price. The main downside to JQ for me is the aggressive weighing of cabin baggage.

 

[Balad2005]

I'm sure most people reading this are already familiar with the recent changes announced to Virgin Australia's Velocity Frequent Flyer program. In particular, from next year:

• You'll earn status credits for Virgin Australia flights based on the amount you spend,
• You'll earn fewer status credits on partner airlines, and
• To earn or retain any status level, you'll need to earn at least half of the required status credits from VA marketed flights you personally fly (i.e. not from family pooling, partner airlines, etc.)

Put simply, this will make Velocity status harder for most people to earn.

I've shared my thoughts about this, and how this has affected my decision on whether to continue renewing my own Velocity status, in this opinion piece:

Opinion: Is Velocity Status Still Worth It After 2025?

Virgin Australia Velocity status will be harder and more expensive to earn from 2025. For some flyers, it might not be worth keeping.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as well on how these changes will affect you. Feel free to vote in the poll at the top of this thread, and let us know in this thread what you think of the changes to Velocity status.

I have just lost my Velocity Silver status.I was silver for several years then gold then silver.Mid last month back to Red , which i was a decade ago.Looking at the status advice they provide even though I will no take a couple of capital city flights with them in 2025 it's highly unlikely I will move back to silver.
I am close to going silver in Qatar , so some small compensation.

 

[henrus]

I am close to going silver in Qatar , so some small compensation.

Silver on Qatar doesn't really give any perks on Virgin operated flights but you do start to get some on QR/OW operated flights, a lot more then you'd have received on VA operated flights:

- Business Class priority check in (on all oneworld flights)
- Preferred seating (on all oneworld flights - in practice this differs by airline)
- Priority boarding (on Qatar operated flights)
- Lounge access for self only worldwide (on Qatar operated flights)
- 15kg extra luggage (on Qatar operated flights)

In addition some OW carriers offer additional perks for ruby like AA also offers extra luggage and priority boarding on both AA/BA.

 

[VPS]

Silver on Qatar doesn't really give any perks on Virgin operated flights but you do start to get some on QR/OW operated flights, a lot more then you'd have received on VA operated flights:

- Business Class priority check in (on all oneworld flights)
- Preferred seating (on all oneworld flights - in practice this differs by airline)
- Priority boarding (on Qatar operated flights)
- Lounge access for self only worldwide (on Qatar operated flights)
- 15kg extra luggage (on Qatar operated flights)

In addition some OW carriers offer additional perks for ruby like AA also offers extra luggage and priority boarding on both AA/BA.

Does Qatar gold allow you into the Virgin lounges?

 

[henrus]

Does Qatar gold allow you into the Virgin lounges?

Yes Qatar Gold allows access to Virgin Lounges +1 guest prior to VA operated flights. In addition on VA operated flights you get premium entry (in BNE/SYD), priority boarding and check in. No extra/priority luggage or seating benefits.

As Qatar Gold is oneworld sapphire you also get standard oneworld benefits/lounge access meaning Qantas Club on QF domestic, priority check in/boarding/baggage and an extra checked bag.

 

[VPS]

Yes Qatar Gold allows access to Virgin Lounges +1 guest prior to VA operated flights. In addition on VA operated flights you get premium entry (in BNE/SYD), priority boarding and check in. No extra/priority luggage or seating benefits.

As Qatar Gold is oneworld sapphire you also get standard oneworld benefits/lounge access meaning Qantas Club on QF domestic, priority check in/boarding/baggage and an extra checked bag.

Thanks

 

[Denali]

Mr Denali and I will both bottom out as Red but Im not concerned. No longer chasing status has opened up a lot of other airlines/routes to us as options

 

[amp-qld]

Not certain that I am understanding what you have written (especially 'so close and yet so far), but if your wife takes that return trip to Sydney, obtaining the qualifications for gold, nothing that will come into play next year will affect that. And if you weren't consciously aiming to get gold, and it gets more difficult next year, what will change?

Sorry, that should have been 494 status points, so just 6 off Gold. One week later, she lost 36 points from October 2023 so a simple flight to/from Sydney wouldn't get her back to 500 points. We weren't consciously aiming for Gold because we didn't realise that it could have been within her reach if we'd kept better track of points. Having said that, Gold would have been really nice.

 

[Ausbt]

I've essentially gone from a pre-COVID 80 flights per annum road warrior to someone who has no enthusiasm to head to Brisbane to visit a client next week, and will look to do it via Zoom. 10+ years of Platinum & finally back to Red, the way I see it is the Amex VA CC lounge access is bang on time for me to handle those occasional trips. I won't be chasing status with any other airline either. The glory days of the 777 were amazing and I milked that for all it was worth. I've spent my VA points well too - all on SQ J redemptions and maybe I could still squeeze out a couple of one-ways to IST if the charts don't change. But one thing is certain, I owe it all to what I learned on these forums!

 

[AFF Editor]

I asked Velocity Frequent Flyer's CEO about the results of the poll in this thread on the latest episode of the Travel Pointers podcast:

Travel Pointers Episode 5 - Interview with Velocity CEO Nick Rohrlach & Mongolia

In episode 5 of the Travel Pointers podcast, Matt and Chris interview Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach about the recent changes to Virgin Australia's loyalty program. Plus, find out why next year is a great time to visit Mongolia.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

That specific question starts at around the 14-minute mark.

 

[roby]

Great interview! It's crazy to know that more than 80% of Velocity members mainly travel domestically. While it's disappointing that Nick Rohrlach was not asked about Star Alliance but I guess it's not surprising that their main focus is not international travel.

 

[AFF Editor]

Great interview! It's crazy to know that more than 80% of Velocity members mainly travel domestically. While it's disappointing that Nick Rohrlach was not asked about Star Alliance but I guess it's not surprising that their main focus is not international travel.

Virgin gets asked about Star Alliance all the time, and their answer is always that they have no current plans to join. So, we felt it was a better use of the time available to talk about other things.

 

[odysseus]

I didn't think much of his answer, and it seems unlikely to add up. When asked about 75% going down or not flying enough, he tried to brush it off as "winners and losers". Yet who are the winners? It's really just losers. Then tried to sell it as only people not being "loyal", and saying "well over 80% only fly VA", which these changes are for, based on their own focus groups.

So supposedly the 75% of losers here are only in the ~15% of VA customers who this isn't for. I find that very unlikely. (Admittedly, the ~85% can also include people who only fly Virgin, but not enough, but then that's not really who it's for either, so not really who you'd be trying to answer the question for.)

So it didn't really add up, and didn't answer the question.

He also upsold the didi relationship - yet it's a debacle in the backend with not being able to amend customer details, and not meeting its own terms of didi being able to do that. It needs a serious look, but instead he's just glibly saying how great it is.

 

[levelnine]

I didn't think much of his answer, and it seems unlikely to add up. When asked about 75% going down or not flying enough, he tried to brush it off as "winners and losers". Yet who are the winners? It's really just losers. Then tried to sell it as only people not being "loyal", and saying "well over 80% only fly VA", which these changes are for, based on their own focus groups.

The interview confirmed what myself and some others on this thread had long been saying. You just had to read between the lines of what he said.

The purpose of the changes is to demote those customers who were acquiring status extremely cheaply. He confirmed this when he said the major change was to introduce lifetime status and they needed to ensure that lifetime status (and the benefits associated with it) would be financially sustainable (he mentioned the financial sustainability of the program multiple times in the interview). Financial sustainability is codeword for shedding customers acquiring status too cheaply and costing them too much money by crowding the lounges and using their benefits on partner airlines.

 

[33kft]

Then tried to sell it as only people not being "loyal", and saying "well over 80% only fly VA", which these changes are for, based on their own focus groups.

What gets me is that he framed it as being primarily those flying SYD-MEL regularly (he did use that specific route as the example) wanting to make that experience better... surely the $$ based SC calculation does not benefit them at all, and yet the program is primarily aimed at them, in this narrative.

If that really was the target market you could do a bum in seat mile system or make it based on segments for proper alignment with that strategy, but revenue based is not really it.

Are you really going to look those 80% in the eye and say we have found that the way for you to make flying SYD-MEL more enjoyable is to fly it 3 x as much to earn the same status? What did the focus groups have to say about that idea?