Further Status Extension to 28 Feb 2023

[SeaWolf]

Given QF have just announced a further 12 month status extension do we feel VA will follow?

I don't think they will, given that for the first half of this year every flight was earning up to double status credit and even reward flights were earning credits!

QF wasn't doing anything like that, hence the need for the further extension.

 

[Stealthflyer]

I don't think they will, given that for the first half of this year every flight was earning up to double status credit and even reward flights were earning credits!

QF wasn't doing anything like that, hence the need for the further extension.

Yes, I think it’s more likely they’ll have more bonus status promotions to drive bookings.

 

[ferntree]

Yes, I think it’s more likely they’ll have more bonus status promotions to drive bookings.

Now that would be music to my ears!

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Agree. You also can't enjoy most of the benefits of status without flying (and thereby earning more status credits to bother retaining), so it makes sense to incentivise both spend and experience of those benefits. If you're not flying the airline, who cares if they extend your status? If they extend it and you fly anyway, you're still earning the credits.

Additionally, sure, it's nice in principle to see my QF status extended, but the fundamental problems at QF haven't been fixed and fares continue to outpace competitors in virtually every market, so it won't mean much of a thing to me in practice. It's "nice to have," but not worth paying thousands of dollars more across all my travel.

The double SCs for an extended period without arbitrary chance booking windows was also a brilliant strategy. VA was clever with their DSCs on all flights from earlier this year and last. It helped me earn Gold almost accidentally while simultaneously actually experiencing the service and value proposition to decide it's worth it. (Though truth be told, it only took one experience of experiencing the ease of the Travel Bank to convince me when restrictions were still on across the country.)

I'll manage to get the rest of the way to Platinum over the next few months, and with VA's easier retention and soft landing policies, I'm committed to them for the time being and booking my forward int'l bookings with their partners. Coupled with my Star Gold status, it's easy to let go of QF. I'd love to see more expansion and reciprocity of loyalty recognition across VA's international partners, but at the end of the day, what I don't get at VA isn't worth the added cost at QF. Simple as that.

 

[Notyourbag]

With just over 4 months to go how is everyone tracking to retain Gold or Platinum? As my personal and business travel isn't what it is pre pandemic and I've made the call to retain QF Gold I'll have a soft drop to Gold with VA.

 

[AIRwin]

With just over 4 months to go how is everyone tracking to retain Gold or Platinum?

I took advantage of the bonus status credits on all flights until 30 June and have retained Gold until February 2024...

 

[serfty]

With just over 4 months to go how is everyone tracking to retain Gold or Platinum? As my personal and business travel isn't what it is pre pandemic and I've made the call to retain QF Gold I'll have a soft drop to Gold with VA.

Requalified by end of march. I rescheduled a few DSC trips from Jan to take additional advantage of the Bonus promotions. A MEL-OOL Business class via SYD/CBR earned earned 2x135 SC's one way - I did a couple of those/similar.

 

[MooTime]

I too took advantage of the bonus SC's + family pooling, easy hit the WP mark.

Upcoming J trip next month I'll gift a platinum to my bro. My 1st gift, well status membership type gift!!

 

[AIRwin]

Status run on 24 February with some reasonable Flex fares?

Pride Flight | Virgin Australia

Pride Flight 2023 is on sale NOW. Departing from Brisbane and Melbourne, we’ve also added maiden Pride Flight services from Adelaide and Perth – all bound for Sydney.

www.virginaustralia.com

 

[oz_ally]

I didn't qualify for an extension - I was PS at the time but with all the double SC offers I quickly made SG and not long after even though I think I had around 200SC to go before hitting WP I was upgraded to it early by Virgin. My WP expires on 22 Nov 2022 but I only have 16 SC to go and I have a ret flight booked (ROK - BNE) Choice fares 16 - 18 Nov so that will push me over the line. I'm not sure I'll be able to maintain WP next time though - unless there are more double SC offers. But a soft landing to SG isn't that bad as the WP perks personally aren't that much better than being SG. Being able to choose a free Economy X seat is really the only one I use. The 4 upgrade thingos aren't that enticing when you have to pay Flex fares to get it - as we all know on certain flights Flex is almost as expensive as Business and at times even cost more It would be nice to have more perks as a WP but as it stands I'll be happy just to be SG when the time comes in another 13 months.

 

[Saab34]

With just over 4 months to go how is everyone tracking to retain Gold or Platinum? As my personal and business travel isn't what it is pre pandemic and I've made the call to retain QF Gold I'll have a soft drop to Gold with VA.

I will drop to Silver and forgo Gold for the foreseeable future. The lounges they shut are the only ones I really use so not overly worth spending cash trying to maintain.

They might throw another extension or sweetener at us. Really should be doing everything they can to hold onto these premium passengers considering how competitive the corporate space is and Virgin is still only in early stages of turnaround. Doesn’t really cost them much to extend further on, less opportunity people will end up over the fence.

 

[Bagpuss]

They might throw another extension or sweetener at us. Really should be doing everything they can to hold onto these premium passengers considering how competitive the corporate space is and Virgin is still only in early stages of turnaround. Doesn’t really cost them much to extend further on, less opportunity people will end up over the fence.

I don't see that happening. They ran a very long promotion at the start of year, offered comp upgrades from Choice fares (as an extra benefit).

If they keep on extending they will annoy frequent flyers (like me) who keep qualifying to maintain status and then they extend everyone's status and such frequent flyers who are self funded wonder why they paid for such fares instead of redeeming.

They are throwing everything a businesses, extra points everywhere ... even using the estore for purchases. The thought process of giving "premium passengers" free status etc means they're not flying and they are not a premium passenger so they are just wasting money on funding consumption at lounges (plus maybe paying partner lounges), higher staffing on call centres and potentially loosing revenue of Economy x.

The reality is when you loose higher status, most hope to get a "special" extension to keep the perks.

FYI the common feeling seems to be that Qantas is currently a disaster zone. If Virgin can't tempt customers or businesses with this mind set they will never get them to convert. My belief is that customers / business relish "Qantas Frequent Flyer" and not the airline, so they tolerate the airline for QFF.

 

[JohnK]

I'm not sure I will get there by 28 Feb 2023.

I have 158 SCs but for some reason it says earned only 131 of 400 SCs towards Gold.

Have trip to Thailand in flexible class which should earn 150 SCs and wife/daughter 60 SCs pooled one way and that should get me to ~340 SCs.

So what's that BNE-SYD-MEL return to get over the line?

 

[randompunter]

Will likely drop to silver too. Also a bit nonplussed that in NQ there are no VA lounges now that CNS and MKY are closed. TSV lounge never built. That said I do prefer their BNE lounge over the QF Pub, they definitely have a superior beer selection

 

[openseat]

Looks like I won't retain Plat this year as I've changed positions at work. I now wish VA had a lifetime status reward scheme! I'll really miss economy x space.

 

[serfty]

I have 158 SCs but for some reason it says earned only 131 of 400 SCs towards Gold.

Generally the higher figure is what has been earned in the last 365 days, the lower one is that earned since your review date.

 

[Stealthflyer]

With just over 4 months to go how is everyone tracking to retain Gold or Platinum? As my personal and business travel isn't what it is pre pandemic and I've made the call to retain QF Gold I'll have a soft drop to Gold with VA.

I’ll retain WP. Just. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without international flights.

 

[jumpjam]

With just over 4 months to go how is everyone tracking to retain Gold or Platinum? As my personal and business travel isn't what it is pre pandemic and I've made the call to retain QF Gold I'll have a soft drop to Gold with VA.

I'll have a soft drop to Gold and try and retain Gold status the year after. I don't have too many regular flights apart from NCBR-NTL which isn't helpful for status.

 

[stm1sydney]

With just over 4 months to go how is everyone tracking to retain Gold or Platinum? As my personal and business travel isn't what it is pre pandemic and I've made the call to retain QF Gold I'll have a soft drop to Gold with VA.

Retained WP easily with a DSC J trip SYD/BNE/CNS vv, and a few other domestic Y trips. Can't even bear to think I might ever be forced to fly QF ever again.

 

[serfty]

As posted I requalified early last year into February 2024.

I have just received my new membership card and it has a "Review Date" of 13th March which is weird, considering the requalification tally includes flights taken between March 1st and March 12.