Will you still earn/retain Velocity status beyond 2025?

[MooTime]

Officially knocked down to SG this morning. Displaying in the app.

I've made 2 bookings recently. Used my last 2 platinum business upgrades with flex fares. So easy to find, booked for one though. My personal favourite perk of WP by far.
Mine you your paying for them as opposed free as my flex bookings were ~$80 more than choice. Although MEL - CNS top value.

For later in year so not applicable for current offer.

 

[moa999]

Well the VGN results published this morning don't seem to suggest any negative impact, or reversal of course.

So maybe it's just the minority viewpoint being elevated in this thread.

 

[aus_flyer]

Well the VGN results published this morning don't seem to suggest any negative impact, or reversal of course.

So maybe it's just the minority viewpoint being elevated in this thread.

The sky is falling!! Mass panic!! Failure! Customers leaving in the MILLIONS!! It’s obvious for everyone to see!!

 

[IainF]

The sky is falling!! Mass panic!! Failure! Customers leaving in the MILLIONS!! It’s obvious for everyone to see!!

Seems that the "hundreds of thousands" of velocity members didn't leave.......
Weird.
I thought they were all walking out the door to QF.

 

[Warks]

I've got 251 SCs to earn by the end of July to maintain WP. I registered for the bonus SCs through my business but none of those have been credited so far - I would assume the total you get is based on the flying you do in the window so I'm nut sure when that ends (can't be coughd checking) however that should give me another chunk of SCs to get me closer. I've got two trips to NZ before my cut off date plus a few SYD-BNE but am missing my long term earner of SYD-BNE-TSV as a project has been on hold for a while. I'd get there easily with that.

Oh and in other news I just got halfway to lifetime GOLD!!!!!!!
(zero chance of getting there I'd say considering how much I've flown to get this far)

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

I've got 251 SCs to earn by the end of July to maintain WP. I registered for the bonus SCs through my business but none of those have been credited so far - I would assume the total you get is based on the flying you do in the window so I'm nut sure when that ends (can't be coughd checking) however that should give me another chunk of SCs to get me closer.

The travel period was through to 31 March, so you'd assume that they'd be credited some time in April.

 

[jase05]

I’m sitting at 2940 AFTER pooling.
And I’m Gold/PPS with SQ and Gold with Qatar…..
Still doesn't top 2018 where I hit 6900 after multiple flights to LAX & HKG in J on double SCs.

If SkyTeam is of interest you could credit some to VS and get STEP which I find handy

 

[jeppetto367]

Oh and in other news I just got halfway to lifetime GOLD!!!!!!!
(zero chance of getting there I'd say considering how much I've flown to get this far)

I'm also half way there, though would be three quarters of the way if it weren't for the stupid 75% VA requirement!

 

[levelnine]

Seems that the "hundreds of thousands" of velocity members didn't leave.......
Weird.
I thought they were all walking out the door to QF.

Notably, Velocity's active members grew 11% compared to Qantas' growth of 7%. So it's certainly not clear that people are leaving Velocity in droves for Qantas.

 

[eastwest101]

Notably, Velocity's active members grew 11% compared to Qantas' growth of 7%. So it's certainly not clear that people are leaving Velocity in droves for Qantas.

Even people leaving Velocity for Qantas frequent Flyer would not be picked up as people don't necessarily close their Velocity accounts, why would you? You only need to shop a bit at Coles and earn a few FlyBuy points, roll over to count as an "active" member of Velocity, just like you would only need to shop at Woolworths and roll over some EverydayRewards points into QFF, to count as an "active" QFF membership, so an extremely low bar. Neither Velocity or Qantas would want to divulge inactive members (attrition through inactivity for whatever reason - death, moving to another frequent flyer scheme, moving overseas etc.)

If Velocity grew at 11% year-on-year, then that's not surprising that its growth is as a percentage is higher than QFF's 7% growth because the QFF scheme already has millions more members than Velocity does, and a higher market penetration already than Velocity.

i.e. if you already have market dominance, then it's more difficult to grow new customer numbers than a start-up with zero customers.

Assuming natural population growth in Australia and NZ, plus contributions from immigration. There would be some overseas-based members of both Qantas and Velocity, but most likely to be people eventually planning on returning to live in Australia in the future, or at least visit frequently enough to bother. If you are permanently overseas, then there are a lot of choices and better frequent flyer schemes than QFF or Velocity.

 

[levelnine]

Even people leaving Velocity for Qantas frequent Flyer would not be picked up as people don't necessarily close their Velocity accounts, why would you? You only need to shop a bit at Coles and earn a few FlyBuy points, roll over to count as an "active" member of Velocity, just like you would only need to shop at Woolworths and roll over some EverydayRewards points into QFF, to count as an "active" QFF membership, so an extremely low bar.

You are wrong about what is an active member. For Qantas, inactive members are defined as 'Members who have not redeemed a flight in the previous 5 years'. It's not someone who forget to switch off their Everyday Rewards to Qantas earn.

 

[odysseus]

Well the VGN results published this morning don't seem to suggest any negative impact, or reversal of course.

So maybe it's just the minority viewpoint being elevated in this thread.

It's still too early to say.

The results were for the 6 months Jul-Dec 2025. All the indicators given are lagging indicators. Dissatisfaction, or future intent to leave is not captured in that Velocity statement.

The status earn change was only implemented on April 2025 - and only then from bookings after that date, not flights (so you could take flights after that booked before and still have the old rate). And if you were renewing in April, you'd have >11/12 of your earn based on the old rates, so would have a negligible effect. It's only from Oct that you have renewals start to approach half the new rate (ignoring bookings made prior to cutover), and the 50% VBA earning requirement only kicked in from Oct as well.

Until people's status changes, it is unlikely to change behaviour much e.g. still have lounge, luggage and other benefits of that status so continue to make bookings to use it even if you earn less for the future. It's only when their status has gone away that the incentive to travel with them is also lost.

The earnings figures for Velocity don't say much as they're compared against the same period 2024. Many points still come from credit card and other e.g RSL lottery, insurance bonuses, as well as credit card spend (plus as we know prices rise), so the fact there were 8% more points earned compared to 2024 doesn't say much. And that's about all we have to go off from this report.

 

[Warks]

The travel period was through to 31 March, so you'd assume that they'd be credited some time in April.

Ah thanks for that. Will be interesting to see how close I get.

 

[eastwest101]

You are wrong about what is an active member. For Qantas, inactive members are defined as 'Members who have not redeemed a flight in the previous 5 years'. It's not someone who forget to switch off their Everyday Rewards to Qantas earn.

So someone who has flown a bunch of flights and earned points & status credit but NOT redeemed any points for flying or a toaster of a points upgrade for anything for 5 years is defined as inactive? Is that their definition?

 

[levelnine]

So someone who has flown a bunch of flights and earned points & status credit but NOT redeemed any points for flying or a toaster of a points upgrade for anything for 5 years is defined as inactive? Is that their definition?

Page 26 fn 2: https://investor.qantas.com/FormBui...tions/QAN_1H26_Investor_Presentation_Main.pdf

 

[oz_mark]

Page 26 fn 2: https://investor.qantas.com/FormBui...tions/QAN_1H26_Investor_Presentation_Main.pdf

That's one definition they use for statistical purposes. The program has its own definition of an Active Member .

 

[eastwest101]

Page 26 fn 2: https://investor.qantas.com/FormBui...tions/QAN_1H26_Investor_Presentation_Main.pdf

Okay - thanks for that - you learn something every day. So I personally fly Qantas reasonably frequently domestically and have not redeemed points for a class upgrade, a classic reward flight or a points + pay seat, or even a toaster in 5 years. So, according to that footnote, I am actually an inactive QFF member even though I have credit cards earning QFF points and flights earning points and status credits? That doesn't sound right.

 

[eastwest101]

That's one definition they use for statistical purposes. The program has its own definition of an Active Member .

Ah right - the statistical purposes (i.e. no activity in 5 years entirely) as distinct from the program's own definition of an inactive member = no points activity in 18 months so the account is declared inactive and points are forfeited (as we have seen in posts on this forum in the past).

 

[levelnine]

That's one definition they use for statistical purposes. The program has its own definition of an Active Member .

Which is what we're talking about — the data presented in 1H26 results of both companies.

 

[oz_mark]

Which is what we're talking about — the data presented in 1H26 results of both companies.

Sure, but it’s important to note that the definition shown in the shareholder presentation differs from the one the program relies on to expire points