Maybe the problem is they reward J flights far too much
Always one that can be debated! However, on international flights with Velocity, business class fares earn 4 times as many SCs as discount economy, and business class fares normally cost about 4 times as much as discount economy (sometimes more), so I would say they have it about right. Also, the number of SCs Velocity grants for international J travel is almost identical to the number that QFF grants if you travel on a QF code. The difference between the programs is simply that QF punishes people for flying with partners instead of QF, whereas VA doesn't to the same extent - and that applies to all classes of travel.
In all honesty though, the comparison to QF on this is probably not fair. QF are renowned for being stingy with their partner earn, and the scenario you mention isn't that uncommon in many other airline programs. Not suggesting it's the ideal, but it's certainly not just VA - other airlines respect their partners too. My guess is they're trying to differentiate themselves (or make up for their half-alliance or lack of own metal routes) by actually having partners that have real benefits (the DL-VA partnership for example is hands-down the best deal any airline has with a North American airline IMO), which includes decent earn rates on partners compared to the competition.
I agree that QF are stingy with partner earn, but I raised that point in response to comments about VA making it more difficult to earn status by slashing SC earn on Getaway fares. The reality is, you need to view these things holistically, rather than focussing on individual aspects of a program. When viewed holistically, the Velocity program makes it very easy to earn status relative to any other FF program that I am familiar with (not just QFF). IMHO, the reduction to 5 SCs on short flights on Getaway fares is
far outweighed by the increased earn rate on Elevate fares + Family Pooling + good SC earn rate with partners + much lower qualification/retention thresholds.
FWIW as someone who is BFOD and essentially barred from any J (or even Y+) travel due to my place and nature of employment yet flies enough to earn WP both for me and Mrs G (through pooling) I do get the irrits when people complain that they reach SG or WP SCs but haven't met the eligible sector count.
I wasn't complaining about that - in fact I agree with the 8 eligible sector requirement for Platinum. I was just saying that was the only part of the retention criteria that required any effort on my part.
QF now seem to value discount Y more than VA Even with their latest changes), so they must benefit from that too - in fact, because of this I'd say if you are a BFOD traveller it is now probably easier to get QF WP than VA WP.
How do you work that out? If you are BFOD, you can almost forget about flying on QF codes internationally, so your international SC earn rate will be very low, or maybe even non existent. Domestically, while you are still guaranteed at least 10 SCs each way with QF, remember you need 1,400 SCs to reach Platinum (40% more than Velocity) and 1,200 to retain (50% more than Velocity), with no Family Pooling! As I said before, I very much doubt that many people are reaching Platinum solely through flying MEL-SYD in the lowest fare class. Furthermore, if you are genuinely BFOD, you won't even have the ability to choose QF or OW partners a lot of the time.
You have said yourself that you can get both you and your wife to Platinum with Velocity despite being strictly BFOD in Y - that would be completely impossible with QF. BTW, I have also got my wife to Platinum twice, and she has never dropped below Gold since 4 years ago, yet she hardly flies at all (again we had to go out of our way to get her 8 eligible sectors both times she made Platinum). In one of those years I also got my father in law to Platinum.
Also - how did you get 240 SCs from 8 Y flights? That doesn't seem possible from the VA earn rates. Was it family pooling from additional flights?
Yes I had explained that in a previous post. I have only flown 8 VA flights this year, all short domestic trips on Getaway/Elevate fares (2 MEL-ADL returns and 2 MEL-SYD returns), but my wife and kids were with me on 2 of those trips so I collected their SCs too. If those flights were with QF I would have earned only 80 SCs, instead of 240 SCs with Velocity.
