Will you still earn/retain Velocity status beyond 2025?

[antycbr]

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.

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?

Ramming an extra row of seats in sure hasn’t helped on the comfort front.

 

[RooFlyer]

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.

Yep - they want to give status to those who actually fly the airline and give them the perks - not those who might just take a few flights a year with them.

 

[33kft]

Yep - they want to give status to those who actually fly the airline and give them the perks - not those who might just take a few flights a year with them.

How good of a proxy for actually flying is a revenue target, though? Going from a matrix of distance flown and class of travel to purely dollars spent, you are lowering the bar for the occasional flex J traveller (likely business funded) and increasing the bar for the frequent discount Y traveller.

I guess we will see, but I am not convinced that part of the equation really does promote regular VA pax over occasional travellers.

Certainly the proportion required to be VA SCs does, but you could have that instead of a revenue based model and you would have achieved the stated goal without the alienation of customer base.

 

[RooFlyer]

How good of a proxy for actually flying is a revenue target, though? Going from a matrix of distance flown and class of travel to purely dollars spent, you are lowering the bar for the occasional flex J traveller (likely business funded) and increasing the bar for the frequent discount Y traveller.

Does the frequency or fare class make much difference with the new model? It’s basically a flat revenue spend no matter how you accumulated, I think.

 

[MooTime]

Poor reasoning for the changes, was basically just to make it more financially viable to improve lounges, well they have upgraded MEL & ADL (years ago), but the f&b is very basic n cheap. $6 vino n falafel wraps so often.
Seemingly to appease the mel-syd flyers. Yes big revenue, but does nothing for families that he did mention was a key part of virgin... How again? Oh family pooling staying.

Very poor reasoning and no followup questions regarding the change in fares. Why was flex ever so ridiculously expensive compared to J? And never modified?

Point made on not rewarding VA members travelling on int partners, then raving on about how good partners they have, ana, Qatar etc so which is it? G
Fly our partners but buggered if we're going to reward you fairly.

Not explained the changes in any details except the positive of Gold Forever & the very few that will jump to WP+.

Weak and commercial interview.

 

[RooFlyer]

Fly our partners but buggered if we're going to reward you fairly.

Fly the partners and get whatever benefits we can get you but if you want the good stuff you've really got to fly enough with us as well.

Someone flying Etihad a lot and giving them most of their coin but only occasionally putting their bum on a Virgin seat shouldn't get the same status as someone who flies on Virgin all the time.

yes a change and a negative one for a lot here it seems but you really can’t fault the logic: We'll give you elite status if you fly us and put money into our coffers.

 

[eastwest101]

Ramming an extra row of seats in sure hasn’t helped on the comfort front.

And it would be nice if they could even operate their schedule on time as well. I don't know if it is crew shortages or aircraft shortages but I havent seen many VA domestic flights on time at all after about 3pm on any weekday lately. Their OTP stats will be in the toilet when the next set of quarterly stats are released.

 

[SCM]

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.

Thanks for the interview, it was very insightful.

I guess those here who suggested VA doesn't want people who mostly fly international were right, but I am still perplexed by these changes. If that's the case, why drop the requirements with flight segments? Why not increase them instead? If we are talking about frequent flyers, plats would only have to take 8 local flights in order to qualify... so if that's what is considered platinum why poopoo them for also flying international?

It's all a bit nonsensical to me.

I also think the other question not asked (maybe also in this forum - we need a new poll perhaps), which is, will people even stay with VA? For example, I do need to travel domestically, maybe at least a dozen trips a year, but if VA is going to significantly reduce benefits for international travel, it just makes way more sense to fly jetstar for a fraction of the cost (or god willing some new competitor), and go directly with SQ or EY for loyalty (or both!). I am convinced that VA will lose some marginal amount of domestic business just because of that. It's not going to be crazy, but it may reduce their overall utilisation by say 5%. In a game of such close margins, why take the risk?

It sounds like maybe at some point at in the not so near future there might be some more benefits when flying with QR, but it's nothing short of a gamble at the moment, far better to disengage with velocity until they figure something out for accessing better lounges in Doha. Money has value, so why give it to VA when they are presiding over such a reduction in benefits for international travelers.