Major changes to Velocity Frequent Flyer announced 17/10/24

[MEL_Traveller]

It is still route dependent though I think. You should see the "biz" prices ex Perth to anywhere .....including Kalgoorlie! That trunk route between MEL and SYD is maybe an exception with lower costs and alsso I guess to Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast? Down to basics I can fly Perth to Europe in Y class for the same price as PER to SYD in VA "biz! " I do miss the old status credits on biz though. It really is rather sad the collection values even with high prices.

Sure, but what’s the comparison to QF?

But just looking at a random few dates in Feb.. ridiculous fares SYD-PER! $1676 with the message ‘just 7 seats remaining at this price’.

 

[serfty]

or offering a inferior J product

I would dispute that. In my experience over the last 12 months, VA's domestic business in flight product is generally better than that of Qantas.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I would dispute that. In my experience over the last 12 months, VA's domestic business in flight product is generally better than that of Qantas.

on which metric?

 

[anat0l]

My point is, when Virgin only offers same earn rate in Business Cabin as in Economy Flexi, what is the point of flying Business for frequent flyers? What is the attractiveness of Business Cabin for Frequent Flyers? It seems to be there is some issues with their business logic here.

Flexi Economy, particularly the most expensive bucket (called Y), can often be more expensive than Business, unless you're comparing the highest Business bucket against any other Economy bucket.

The attractiveness is that if Business is cheaper than Flexi Economy, you might as well purchase Business and get a better seat and service. The only fly in the soup is if you are "not allowed" to fly Business, e.g. by company policy that doesn't allow for common sense, or for optics reasons, or there are no more cheaper Business class seats left on sale.

I don't know if it was said in media or somewhere else, but I remember seeing that basically the new SC earn makes it "fairer" (yes, laugh) for those last minute Economy flyers who have to throw down a huge amount of cash that just might happen to be similar to the cost of a Business class seat (or, heaven forbid, much more expensive than a more sagacious flyer who purchased a good Business deal over 60 days in advance). It's basically more money spent = more SCs, and for most, but not all, cases, the SCs in Business is more than SCs in Economy (including Flexi Economy). Whether it holds well that the difference in SCs is similar compared to the old days is another kettle of fish.

The new system certainly seems to disincentivise connecting itineraries over direct ones, in as so far as maximising SCs is concerned. But VA are betting that people often are guided mostly by how much they are paying rather than how many SCs they will earn.

 

[serfty]

on which metric?

Personal Experience.

Better F&B inflight including PDB, seats similar ... service from tray not trolley ...

 

[MooTime]

Qantas serve J meals from trolley.....

I didn't know this...that's not very good

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Personal Experience.

Better F&B inflight including PDB, seats similar ... service from tray not trolley ...

Understand it is personal experience, just interested to hear the basis. I’ve done both as well in the last few months and have a different take. VA has PDBs which are nice, but sometimes the overall offering can be inconsistent. Wifi and IFE aren’t always available or working on VA and the IFE is fairly limited for frequent flyers. Meals can be tasty, but they are simple and don’t rotate very often. Once in the air I think QF has a greater range of beverages.. for example tomato juice.

Qantas serve J meals from trolley.....

I didn't know this...that's not very good

Trolley for domestic, and I think I prefer that They have things like the salad dressing on the trolley, plus the warmed bread. So they can finish preparing and tailor the meal by your seat. Plus they have the wines on display.

 

[clifford]

In my experience over the last 12 months, VA's domestic business in flight product is generally better than that of Qantas.

I'd be struggling to understand that. And what about the goldfish bowl syndrome, where all and sundry can gawk at you having your lovely meal?

 

[aamslfc]

I don't know if it was said in media or somewhere else, but I remember seeing that basically the new SC earn makes it "fairer" (yes, laugh) for those last minute Economy flyers who have to throw down a huge amount of cash that just might happen to be similar to the cost of a Business class seat

Yep, some dipshit new executive claimed that people were rorting or cheating the system by booking J fares which were cheaper than flex Y fares... as though it's the people or the J fare that's the issue, rather than the ridiculous broken Y pricing structure they tried to rip people off with.

They followed that up by implying that the new spend-based system would incentivise people to buy the flex Y fares... because people are really going to be excited by spending outrageous amounts on Y service and product if they get a handful of extra SCs.

If J is cheaper than flex Y, then I'd rather fly J - although the program changes disincentivise that to the point where it's easier to just look for the absolute cheapest alternative I can find, VA or otherwise.

On a side note, I see they've changed the app to push the Flex fares first when you click on the price. Flex is provided first on the left with a banner, followed by the cheaper buckets.

Me thinks the flex fares - and their associated pricing and SC changes - are proving about as popular as New Coke.

The new system certainly seems to disincentivise connecting itineraries over direct ones, in as so far as maximising SCs is concerned. But VA are betting that people often are guided mostly by how much they are paying rather than how many SCs they will earn.

I mean, the connecting itineraries were often (and from what I've seen, still are) cheaper than the direct option, and - from what I've seen post-changes - the minimal extra SC benefit from flying direct isn't worth the added cost. Heck, their pricing was so bad on two routes I looked at today that I ended up sussing out both QF (and partners) and JQ (all of whom were cheaper).

So, not only are VA disincentivising multi-stops from a frequent flyer perspective, they're also disincentivising people from buying direct. That's been my experience thus far since the changes came into effect.

 

[serfty]

I'd be struggling to understand that. And what about the goldfish bowl syndrome, where all and sundry can gawk at you having your lovely meal?

I'm in row 1 or 2 and really have no issues with how much people can see of me eating/drinking.

Although, I am not sure the VA meals in business could often be described as "loveley". But nor could those of Qantas; generally, VA's are better than the slop QF often serves up in domestic business. See as per my most recent QF J experience early this month.

Post in thread 'Qantas Business Class meals & menus'

Aug 1, 2025

SYD-MEL, 1pm Friday departure.

Great proactive service from Debbie.

Options were cold roast chicken slices on salad or beef tagine with pearl barley. I had the latter:



It was thourighly overcooked, edible with a litte salt. The bread roll and butter were the least offensive parts.

To be honest, it was not a meal one would associate with "Business class". And certainly not something to specifically entice me to pay for Business class, or even upgrade to with points or cash.

Red Wine was a "Blend", didn't see the label but after two top ups decided I did not want any more.

• serfty

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[PERLHR]

I'm in row 1 or 2, I have no issues with how much people can see of me eating.

Also, I am not sure the VA meals in business could often be described as "loveley" but generally they are better then the slop Qantas often serves up in domestic business - as per my most recent experince early this month.

Post in thread 'Qantas Business Class meals & menus'

Aug 1, 2025

SYD-MEL, 1pm Friday departure.

Great proactive service from Debbie.

Options were cold roast chicken slices on salad or beef tagine with pearl barley. I had the latter:



It was thourighly overcooked, edible with a litte salt. The bread roll and butter were the least offensive parts.

To be honest, it was not a meal one would associate with "Business class". And certainly not something to specifically entice me to pay for Business class, or even upgrade to with points or cash.

Red Wine was a "Blend", didn't see the label but after two top ups decided I did not want any more.

• serfty

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• 

Gosh the Y class food that QF serve up looks better than that. Infact I actually think the Y class food generally and a couple of bottles of wine often make the difference to me especially if the price is negligible between VA and QF now that status points in VA are getting harder to retain status.

 

[serfty]

Gosh the Y class food that QF serve up looks better than that. Infact I actually think the Y class food generally and a couple of bottles of wine often make the difference to me especially if the price is negligible between VA and QF now that status points in VA are getting harder to retain status.

Firstly, that photo is of a Qantas domestic business class meal earlier this month.

Secondly, my point relates to in-flight Domestic Business class, not economy.

 

[PERLHR]

Firstly, that photo is of a Qantas domestic business class meal earlier this month.

Secondly, my point relates to in-flight Domestic Business class, not economy.

Yes I knew fine well that was a biz class flight and my point was that economy food on QF looks better than that QF biz class offering.that you shared..

 

[serfty]

Yes I knew fine well that was a biz class flight and my point was that economy food on QF looks better than that QF biz class offering.that you shared..

Whoosh .. strait over my head ... the most substantial things in Qantas economy class domestic catering are the bottles/cans.

Still, I have been discussing Domestic in-Flight Business.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yep, some dipshit new executive claimed that people were rorting or cheating the system by booking J fares which were cheaper than flex Y fares... as though it's the people or the J fare that's the issue, rather than the ridiculous broken Y pricing structure they tried to rip people off with.

Yes but… gold status in just 3.5 MEL-SYD returns - for $2300 - probably isn’t making the bean counters happy either!

 

[eastwest101]

Market research ongoing - looks like the market research people have been instructed to find out where all their once-loyal flyers have gone, some interesting thinking going on there but can't help think this might be a case of the stable door after the horse has bolted....












Lots of questions about the thinking/reasoning there....... especially the disconnect between the $$$ cost of these bundles and the points cost. They are basically saying that 12 months of VA lounge membership is worth:

$599 cash per year or
$149 cash + a credit card signup bonus of around 67K Velocity points

 

[pauldab]

The base version is just doing what JQ has but with a few more perks beyond discounts on tickets.
Might be worth for the occasional traveler but this just confirms to me they are taking their core business travel patrons for granted.

 

[eastwest101]

The base version is just doing what JQ has but with a few more perks beyond discounts on tickets.
Might be worth for the occasional traveler but this just confirms to me they are taking their core business travel patrons for granted.

Funny you should mention that - almost the first question in the survey was along the lines of "Are you aware of ClubJetstar?"

So shows their line of thinking, my reply to that was "Yes I am aware of Club Jetstar but I don't partake because 1. I can't stand flying JQ and 2. The "benefits" of the Club Jetstar are often illusory because the difference between Club Jetstar fares and normal fares are so trivial that you would never recover the price paid for Club Jetstar, and the fact that Club Jeststar fares dissappear most times in school holidays/any holiday/popular times and routes.

But yes - looks like whoever designed the survey was just a copy and paste of the Club Jetstar benefits to try to gauge how attractive it is to the public, and seeing how it was emailed out to its internal Velocity mailing list how attractive that is to their shrinking loyalty base?

Congratulations - you've just told me that Velocity and Virgin seem committed to going down to being a competitor to Jetstar' in the market, just more confirmation to me that I made the right choice a while ago , sending all my flying business and loyalty point credit card earn etc. toward the Qantas ecosystem.

 

[Human]

Congratulations - you've just told me that Velocity and Virgin seem committed to going down to being a competitor to Jetstar' in the market, just more confirmation to me that I made the right choice a while ago , sending all my flying business and loyalty point credit card earn etc. toward the Qantas ecosystem.

I must admit that I'm not totally understanding you.

Velocity and Virgin, while obviously closely connected, are separate entities. All of the above discussion has been about Virgin "going down to being a competitor to Jetstar" and there is some evidence that you may be right there.

But Velocity being a competitor to Jetstar? Really? Jetstar doesn't even have a FF programme of its own.

If Velocity were going downmarket, I'd expect to be seeing things like...

• Adding LCC's as airline partners.
• Removing, or making it harder to redeem flights on, full-service airline partners such as Singapore, United and Qatar.
• Excluding things like checked baggage and entertainment on redemption bookings (except for an extra fee).

Can you elaborate on what evidence you're seeing that Velocity is becoming like Jetstar? And on how the surveyed changes discussed above make Velocity less attractive as a FF programme?

 

[moa999]

And I can't imagine to many corporates being willing to sign up in advance. Very different for JQs target market.

The subscription model seems to work for your Costco's / Amazon's of the world where they otherwise operate on very low margins. That doesn't really hold true with typical airline pricing models.