Will you still earn/retain Velocity status beyond 2025?

[SCM]

He basically said they are losing too many people at the top end of the frequent flyer spectrum — people who hit Plat and then shift their spend elsewhere because there's nothing more to aim for.

Losing a domestic road warrior who flies SYD-MEL once a week is probably 10-20x more impactful than losing a person who flies a couple of times per year. So they sacrificed the lower end of the spectrum to make the program more appealing to the top end of the spectrum.

Maybe I am not following, but what changes did they make which would incentivise those people to travel more with VA? If someone is flying SYD - MEL once a week and previously they were only doing the first 6 or 8 trips with VA, what incentive is there now for them to do all their trips to VA? I very much don't get this.

The assumption is the only reason they travel ANY trips with VA at all is because they already hit plat or gold anyway, so clearly they don't need the SCs, so what further incentive is now given?

It was interesting hearing someone say this to me last week — they were on a flight full of really poorly behaved young men and have sworn off flying Jetstar again. The financial savings compared to Virgin were not worth the unpleasantness of the experience.

Yeh, but not really an issue if you don't go on flights to bogan holiday destinations in the first place...

look at QF, far more services are going to the Americas, Asia and NZ than they are to Europe and Africa.

The reason is that they have no hope in hell of competing with anyone flying to Europe, whereas American-based airlines are as cough as Qantas.

I certainly don't disagree with you about wanting to reward those who fly Virgin more, but I find it a little incongruous for them to be disincentivising travel on their partner airlines given their whole international network 'strategy' since post-administration has hinged on said partner airlines. They've spent the last few years hyping up this international network of partner airlines and Jayne herself has been in the media many times spruiking this quasi-international network. I feel there is a bit of disconnect between Virgin and Velocity on this point.

100% agree, couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[levelnine]

Maybe I am not following, but what changes did they make which would incentivise those people to travel more with VA? If someone is flying SYD - MEL once a week and previously they were only doing the first 6 or 8 trips with VA, what incentive is there now for them to do all their trips to VA? I very much don't get this.

The assumption is the only reason they travel ANY trips with VA at all is because they already hit plat or gold anyway, so clearly they don't need the SCs, so what further incentive is now given?

Plat Plus & Forever Gold.

 

[SCM]

Plat Plus & Forever Gold.

Yeh plat plus is fair enough, didn't think of that.

 

[travelislife]

This doesn’t benefit the weekly MEL-SYD flyer. I am one. And would earn less SC’s on my current booking patterns under the new system averaging approx $125 a choice fare over 90 odd sectors this year.

It will benefit the MEL-SYD flyer who pays $300 for a choice fare who now gets 25SC vs 15SC currently.

Is there any data on what the average economy fare paid is on MEL-SYD on VA?

 

[FishFood]

Locked in Platinum in advance of the coming changes, will wait and see how it goes

 

[AIRwin]

Locked in Platinum in advance of the coming changes

Status match with EY?

 

[Flyerwin]

My work flies both QF and VA, so I might as well try my best to at least keep SG with VA.

 

[z28]

All - I have some questions regarding status: currently I am going to retain my Gold status, some confusion here:

On the mobile app: review date is 28 Feb 2025; on the website, my Gold status will be renewed on 15 Mar 2025 - so which is the date for next membership year ?
The following question is more relevant for planning purposes: I am less than 200 points to reach Platinum which I can achieve in next few weeks but I can delay these flights till Feb or Mar next year. What I am trying to do is to get Platinum few days after I retain Gold - With Qantas, higher status will be extended more than 12 months (the rest of the membership year plus the next 12 months after that). Does Velocity work in the similar manner ? ie assuming my new membership year starts 15 Mar 2025 and I get Platinum on 20 Mar 2025, does this Platinum stay with me till 15 Mar 2027 ?

Hopefully that's how it works which would give me 2 years of Platinum and one year of Gold.

Edit - Answer my own question: According to the website

"Once upgraded, you’ll enjoy Platinum benefits for 12 months​

From complimentary upgrades to platinum status matches and more — a rewarding year as a Platinum member awaits"

So the membership date will change with the date of attaining Platinum, unlike Qantas.

 

[AIRwin]

On the mobile app: review date is 28 Feb 2025; on the website, my Gold status will be renewed on 15 Mar 2025 - so which is the date for next membership year ?

Refer to my post in thread 'Maintaining Status Dates' Maintaining Status Dates

 

[Balad2005]

I have platinum locked in until feb 26 will drop to gold then and back to silver year after. I am now actively searching bfod and dont chase status. For a coffee and sandwich in the lounge im better off flying jq or qf and going without a lounge. I have not set foot on a VA aircraft since this money grab was released and all my forward bookings are on QF at this stage.
Whilst i agree with the part about flying VA to gain status on VA I find it blatant BS when he claimed they need to make it financially viable. Isnt velocity the most profitable part of the airline?
They are full of cough and have no idea that loyalty is a two way street.

I agree, I am stuck in Red not because of lack of eligible sectors but for status points.Interesting Virgin brings this in just after the demise of Rex. After all, the lack of competition in the Australian aviation market place is the real issue here as they know travelling consumers have little choice.
I understand legislation freeing up slots at Sydney airport passed parliament , too late to help Rex . Perhaps it will assist Kokola airlines if it ever emerges from its long gestation period.

 

[clifford]

When (not if) Qantas introduces similar but less generous changes to their FF program, it will make for an interesting situation. Australia is clearly going the US route, where credit card spend and other peripheral activities are more lucrative than flying for earning status.

If I'm still around when that happens I will probably return to BA for OWE status (assuming that they haven't moved the goalposts for earning TP's).

 

[levelnine]

When (not if) Qantas introduces similar but less generous changes to their FF program, it will make for an interesting situation. Australia is clearly going the US route, where credit card spend and other peripheral activities are more lucrative than flying for earning status.

If I'm still around when that happens I will probably return to BA for OWE status (assuming that they haven't moved the goalposts for earning TP's).

Qantas is already starting to survey people about it. It'll be here before we know it.

 

[RooFlyer]

Qantas is already starting to survey people about it. It'll be here before we know it.

“ we asked, and it’s what our customers wanted”.

 

[SeaWolf]

“ we asked, and it’s what our customers wanted”.

The paradox is that no matter what Qantas does, no matter how badly it treats its customer, they always seem to keep coming back for more. I'd expect whatever changes they make will be even more dramatic than the changes Virgin has made, because they know they can get away with it.

 

[Brizz]

I think that once you are in an eco system - whether it is Virgin or Qantas - or even Apple or Google you have a significant investment that is not easy to simply change.

From a Virgin perspective not only do I have a strong familiarity with the brand, I have status, and also have hundreds of thousands of points in the bank - you cant simply switch to Qantas and get that same level of points etc. - even if you can get the status.

Looking at Apple - I have Apple iPhones and iPads throughout the house - we watch TV through an Apple TV. Even if they did something that created issues for me - the $ change requirement is significant - let alone that you are starting from scratch in an unfamiliar eco system.

 

[33kft]

The paradox is that no matter what Qantas does, no matter how badly it treats its customer, they always seem to keep coming back for more.

You say that, but if they went from full service to budget domestic-only airline and told me that I'd have to spend $12K per year for the privilege of free wifi, I'm quite sure I wouldn't be coming back.

 

[simmomelb]

You say that, but if they went from full service to budget domestic-only airline and told me that I'd have to spend $12K per year for the privilege of free wifi, I'm quite sure I wouldn't be coming back.

That's not a great example as they would never become a budget airline whilst owning Jetstar, they already have a successful budget airline.
Most Australian's that choose to fly Qantas will not change, no matter what small customer negative changes they make to the product or pricing.
Qantas marketing are well aware of this and the stickiness of their customers, they can easily make changes to improve their bottom line over time, with long term customer loss being little to none.
This is the dream of most businesses, let alone airlines.
From my travels around the world, this is a very Australian thing when it comes to airline loyalty, to the level it is in this country.
Of course customers are loyal to other airlines in other countries (the whole point of loyalty programs), but my point is that I feel that isn't as strong as it is in Australia with Qantas.

 

[Simon Overall]

Looks like I will have no issue in retaining Gold for another year, but beyond that will get tougher.

Good value Singapore Airlines Business Class fare ex Tokyo helped a lot.