Bonus VA status credits offer - March 2024

[Happy Dude]

Yeah this is poor if its in lieu of DSC. I've a bunch of flights in April I've been holding out on.

 

[ben95]

It’s a good offer for those of us who book the cheapest option possible.

I mostly do SYD-MEL on choice fares, I will get more bonus SC under this scheme compared to the old DSC. Also it’s nice not having to book weeks ahead when your plan could still change to take advantage of the offer.

 

[DavidX13]

I mostly do SYD-MEL on choice fares, I will get more bonus SC under this scheme compared to the old DSC. Also it’s nice not having to book weeks ahead when your plan could still change to take advantage of the offer.

I'm the same. I do wish they increased it beyond just 6 flights though. It'd be nice if the bonuses kept going up to 10+

 

[RooFlyer]

providers are testing the bottom of the market by seeing how little they can offer and still get customers to bite.

Dunno if you'd call me the bottom of the market, but I would have been booking 4 x sectors anyway during the promo period, and will add something like SYD-Ballina (thank you @SheikYerbouti ) to get the 6. 125SCs for a hundred bucks or so. No brainer.

Even if they then follow-up with a sale or DSC, I can pick those up for later flights.

 

[levelnine]

will add something like SYD-Ballina (thank you @SheikYerbouti ) to get the 6.

Sounds like they've still got some room to drop the bonus SCs even further and get people to bite then!

 

[Happy Dude]

Dunno if you'd call me the bottom of the market, but I would have been booking 4 x sectors anyway during the promo period, and will add something like SYD-Ballina (thank you @SheikYerbouti ) to get the 6. 125SCs for a hundred bucks or so. No brainer.

Even if they then follow-up with a sale or DSC, I can pick those up for later flights.

To be specific though Rooey, you'll be getting a bonus 85 SCs for your 4 sectors. By doing a run to Ballina you'll get only 40 SCs + whatever SCs SYD-Ballina-SYD lite gets, for your $100. Still a no brainer of course.

 

[HP1985]

Yeah, doesn't seem awful for people just doing a couple cheap domestic flights.
Is this correct?

6 x Lite = 5*6 + 125 = 155 (95 SC over 2x)
6 x Choice = 15*6 + 125 = 215 (35 SC over 2x)
6 x Flex = 25*6 + 125 = 275 (Worse than Double though)

Seems relatively cheap for some extra credits.

Thoughts on eligibility to book my wife and I for the bonus SC (through Business Flyer) and family the SC back to me?

 

[MOLE_ARY]

Does anyone know if flights booked through AMEX Travel will be eligible for status credits? After an initial review, I think the answer is yes, but I'd love to get some confirmation if anyone knows.

 

[odysseus]

Does anyone know if flights booked through AMEX Travel will be eligible for status credits? After an initial review, I think the answer is yes, but I'd love to get some confirmation if anyone knows.

Yes, as long as they meet the other requirements, they'll qualify.

 

[MarkD]

Yeah this is poor if its in lieu of DSC. I've a bunch of flights in April I've been holding out on.

I think its ok. So a business provides bonus loyalty rewards and its poor? The reality is people have become to used to getting all these bonuses. Personally, i make the mark each year well and truly and the bonus sc has just elevated people to status they wouldnt normally meet. Watering down benefits and availability. Selfish, absolutely but why have a “ gold” level that requires under $1000 spend to retain?

 

[levelnine]

I think its ok. So a business provides bonus loyalty rewards and its poor? The reality is people have become to used to getting all these bonuses. Personally, i make the mark each year well and truly and the bonus sc has just elevated people to status they wouldnt normally meet. Watering down benefits and availability. Selfish, absolutely but why have a “ gold” level that requires under $1000 spend to retain?

Because it is more profitable to the airline to retain those people for $1000 then to have them go to competitors/not fly & earn $0 from them.

It's the same reason I can sit in a business class seat for $100 in cash while the person next to me has spent $10,000. Airlines rely on variable pricing with pretty much every aspect of their business because they sell perishable goods.

 

[MarkD]

Because it is more profitable to the airline to retain those people for $1000 then to have them go to competitors/not fly & earn $0 from them.

It's the same reason I can sit in a business class seat for $100 in cash while the person next to me has spent $10,000. Airlines rely on variable pricing with pretty much every aspect of their business because they sell perishable goods.

And thats the whole problem, why create a false status? In the whole scheme of things a person that spends $1000 on airfares in a year is not a frequent flyer. Frequent flyer status is eared by flying and the benefits are earned. Im certainly not a snob but this new age "Everybody has to have everything now" seems to be creeping in even to frequent flyer programs. You only need to read on here the dilution of benefits threads etc. The benefits have to dilute as they cant provide loung, extra luggage, extra point earn etc for someone who spends a huge $1000 PA with them.
Our spend is irrelevent to them unless we spend in the tens of thousands every year and if you think that they care if we fly with another carrier, they dont.

 

[elanshin]

And thats the whole problem, why create a false status? In the whole scheme of things a person that spends $1000 on airfares in a year is not a frequent flyer. Frequent flyer status is eared by flying and the benefits are earned. Im certainly not a snob but this new age "Everybody has to have everything now" seems to be creeping in even to frequent flyer programs. You only need to read on here the dilution of benefits threads etc. The benefits have to dilute as they cant provide loung, extra luggage, extra point earn etc for someone who spends a huge $1000 PA with them.
Our spend is irrelevent to them unless we spend in the tens of thousands every year and if you think that they care if we fly with another carrier, they dont.

The earning from a point flyer is the amount of points they sold to ccs and other partners. Whilst directly the customer only paid (say $1k) indirectly they've contributed many thousands more and have also generated the airline thousands in interest free loans on a currency that the airline can do whatever they want with.

Airlines WANT more of these people. People that build banks of points. I'd argue that in todays age, unless you have a very strong grip on the corporate balls (like QF does) other airlines are aware, more and more customers just find the best value flights.

 

[levelnine]

Frequent flyer status is eared by flying and the benefits are earned.

Frequent flyer programs can be whatever the airlines want them to be. Remember they are programs for their benefit, not yours.

In the US, you can get top tier status without ever setting foot on a plane through credit card/shopping portal spend.

Qantas has already started to move in that direction with Points Club.

Back to the topic at hand, Virgin agrees with you because they seem to think they can abandon DSC offers and not suffer a hit to the bottom line. Time will tell if that's a smart move or not.

 

[jase05]

VA status is so easy to earn that they don’t need DSC promos so something like this is more than adequate IMO.
I think people have been so acclimatised to getting DSC’s, status matches, extensions etc that no one wants to earn status the old way anymore and people just want it “now”.

 

[levelnine]

VA status is so easy to earn that they don’t need DSC promos so something like this is more than adequate IMO.
I think people have been so acclimatised to getting DSC’s, status matches, extensions etc that no one wants to earn status the old way anymore and people just want it “now”.

Status extensions and matches are mostly gone, which means there is a greater, not lesser, need for DSCs for VA to hit their elite targets (they would have a set of internal figures for roughly how many people they want at each tier).

As for whether VA can hit those targets without them, that's an open question. Leaving behind the DSC is a bold move because, as you say, so many people have become accustomed to them. As a result, savvy elites will have held off on purchasing flights in anticipation of it. If those people decide not to purchase those flights or switch to a competitor, it could be a big backfire.

 

[Happy Dude]

I think its ok. So a business provides bonus loyalty rewards and its poor? The reality is people have become to used to getting all these bonuses. Personally, i make the mark each year well and truly and the bonus sc has just elevated people to status they wouldnt normally meet. Watering down benefits and availability. Selfish, absolutely but why have a “ gold” level that requires under $1000 spend to retain?

Yes it is poor. How else would I describe it? I would make WP for 2025 with my April 2024 flights alone with DSC so no question this is a poor loyalty offering relative to a DSC for me. Others might fare better with it and that's great. It must be so irksome to share the lounge and EconomyX with so many undeserving cheapskates though. <Redacted>

 

[Bagpuss]

Last year's DSC ran along the similar timeframe (up until 31st March). All what's changed is it's based on the number of flights taken. So there's no real surprise and I wouldn't be surprised if Qantas follow suit.

I expect there will be a more normal DSC at the end of the year.

Wind back to pre-pandemic and DSC's were dying : https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/death-of-double-status-credits/

 

[levelnine]

Wind back to pre-pandemic and DSC's were dying : https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/death-of-double-status-credits/

But that article was premature. There was another DSC only a few months after it was published in February 2020 (before COVID set in). The aberration was 2018 where they were pumping them out at a crazy rate.

 

[elanshin]

QF will still run DSC, VA will as well, just that this time they're not running exactly a DSC.

On the QF side, they're still in damage control mode. Dropping DSC now will piss a lot of frequent flyers off.

VA likely wants to try something different. While this DSC won't mint any plats, itll make a lot more silvers and help people hit gold. It's a better offer if you fly regularly but fly in cheap fares.

It also might entice a few QF flyers (or even rex) to take some cheap VA flights which will boost them up a bit over the next month.