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

[ozstamps]

The Velocity wackadoodle status renewal system has always been a mess IMHO.

For couples a bigger mess, as if one gains a higher status during a year, the dates all reset IIRC.

Why Virgin simply does not learn from EXPERTS, like their partners United and Hilton and have a FIXED date each year of Feb 1 etc for EVERY member, the entire world knows exactly where they stand.

No way would Virgin do anything sane like that! Or learn from EXPERTS who have been doing this for many decades.

Earn Gold woth United in 2025, and it is good until early 2027 for EVERY member. SIMPLES.

Earn it by flying the very first times only in January or December - same story.

 

[MooTime]

The Velocity wackadoodle status renewal system has always been a mess IMHO.

For couples a bigger mess, as if one gains a higher status during a year, the dates all reset IIRC.

Why Virgin simply does not learn from EXPERTS, like their partners United and Hilton and have a FIXED date each year of Feb 1 etc for EVERY member, the entire world knows exactly where they stand.

No way would Virgin do anything sane like that! Or learn from EXPERTS who have been doing this for many decades.

Earn Gold woth United in 2025, and it is good until early 2027 for EVERY member. SIMPLES.

Earn it by flying the very first times only in January or December - same story.

Nope I think sinking every member with the same date is dumb.
So many reasons that doesn't work well, but I'm not into long winded posts.

Just cos the yanks in Hilton & United do it don't have any relevance to us down in Oz.

I like the rolling anniversary of VA.
I don't mind QF system either.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

The VA system took me some getting used to but eventually I figured it out (about just in time for it to no longer matter with the changes ).

I quite like the approach QF and many other carriers use as invariably I've signed up for some of those types of programmes shortly before a large trip, which meant getting a good head-start on status early in my membership year... it definitely engaged me and locked me in better than a programme ending December 31 would have and where my trip was in, say, September.

Pros and cons to all of it; you win some, you lose some.

 

[nutwood]

The Velocity wackadoodle status renewal system has always been a mess IMHO.

For couples a bigger mess, as if one gains a higher status during a year, the dates all reset IIRC.

Why Virgin simply does not learn from EXPERTS, like their partners United and Hilton and have a FIXED date each year of Feb 1 etc for EVERY member, the entire world knows exactly where they stand.

No way would Virgin do anything sane like that! Or learn from EXPERTS who have been doing this for many decades.

Earn Gold woth United in 2025, and it is good until early 2027 for EVERY member. SIMPLES.

Earn it by flying the very first times only in January or December - same story.

I can't agree. It's different and to be honest, it had me confuddled until recently, but what's wrong with 12 months from the date you tick the box? Assuming of course that I have actually got it straight now

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I can't agree. It's different and to be honest, it had me confuddled until recently, but what's wrong with 12 months from the date you tick the box? Assuming of course that I have actually got it straight now

From a business perspective, nothing wrong. It limits the higher status to 12 months.

Slightly less friendly to the passenger where many other programs give you the remainder of this year plus the year after to enjoy your status.

It probably suits VA where the previous status was so easy to achieve.

 

[stm1sydney]

The Velocity wackadoodle status renewal system has always been a mess IMHO.

For couples a bigger mess, as if one gains a higher status during a year, the dates all reset IIRC.

Why Virgin simply does not learn from EXPERTS, like their partners United and Hilton and have a FIXED date each year of Feb 1 etc for EVERY member, the entire world knows exactly where they stand.

No way would Virgin do anything sane like that! Or learn from EXPERTS who have been doing this for many decades.

Earn Gold woth United in 2025, and it is good until early 2027 for EVERY member. SIMPLES.

Earn it by flying the very first times only in January or December - same story.

Yeah, we get it mate. You really don't like VA, and will never fly them again...

 

[ozstamps]

If all the major American airlines, and American hotel chains have ALL used a common system for MANY DECADES where Status earned in 2025 is what counts for 2026, it clearly is the simplest and most easy to understand system.

Most here have never experienced it with airlines I feel sure. It never changes, and you can plan effectively, and with your partner flights/stays in lockstep all the way.

Simplicity is what folks like.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If all the major American airlines, and American hotel chains have ALL used a common system for MANY DECADES where Status earned in 2025 is what counts for 2026, it clearly is the simplest and most easy to understand system.

Most here have never experienced it with airlines I feel sure. It never changes, and you can plan effectively, and with your partner flights/stays in lockstep all the way.

Simplicity is what folks like.

logistically it doesn’t make sense to have 10, 20 or 30 million members all requiring membership packs on the same date and flooding the call centre with enquiries as to whether or not they’ve qualified/requalified.

Better to spread that out evenly through the year. Less impact on the call centre and shorter waiting times for passengers.

Give me a multiple double status credit promotions through the year rather than just at the end of the year with people trying to get across the line!

 

[ozstamps]

logistically it doesn’t make sense to have 10, 20 or 30 million members all requiring membership packs on the same date and flooding the call centre with enquiries as to whether or not they’ve qualified/requalified.

United Mileage Plus itself has more than 100 million members. Hilton HHonors is way over double that. Velocity is a true minnow.

Membership packs? What is that? I have not seen a Gold UA or Diamond Hilton card or pack for a decade or so. The Internet is now accessible in most places I understand? It tells you instantly your elite status as of Jan 1. No need to 'flood a call centre' any more.

Add in AA and Delta and Alaska etc, and the other main USA hotel Chains, and we are talking near a BILLION members. All working to the same logical and VERY easy to follow system.

I'll pass on your input to them that they've been badly mistaken for decades, and advise them - 'logistically it doesn’t make sense'.

You may get a free upgrade, or free hotel room for your very novel idea for them to move to wackadoodle rolling Anniversary dates. And then again you may not.


Hilton Honors had over 226 million members as of March 2025, according to Hilton's official corporate website. This number reflects a significant growth for the loyalty program, which aims to reward frequent guests across its global portfolio of brands.

 

[anat0l]

Does anyone ever pay QF domestic J prices out of their own pocket? I've always thought they put those prices there for the occasional person in the happy position where the company or the tax payer is picking up the tab.

Sad to say, yes "people" do pay Qantas's ridiculous world-record high prices for domestic biz class. And who are these unfortunate "people" - why, that's you and me paying through our taxes or our super funds for govt officials and corporate execs.

For those of us playing the status game (to make it worth it, i.e. get and be able to use it, and not from a cold start), some QF J fares, if bought in advance long enough, work out quite reasonably in terms of $ per SC. If you had to take that trip anyway, it isn't so ridiculous to pay QF J for it.

I had a trip to GLT once where the return sector had the cheapest available Y seat was a mere $100 less than the J price. That difference and the associated perks, albeit small ex-GLT, was worth $100 (but of course one could argue that the Y price was a rip off; needless to say it was a last minute trip).

Now anything between east coast and PER.... I have never been able to make sense of any price for J on that (except perhaps combined with an international sector).

Nope I think sinking every member with the same date is dumb.

I like the rolling anniversary of VA.
I don't mind QF system either.

I think it highly depends on where you started your loyalty journey. In LOTFAP (and Canada), so many programmes are based on the calendar year - that's just how it is. Many other places around the world it is based on a member-specific anniversary. Arguing which is better is more or less like arguing whether milk goes first or hot water goes first.

I got the VA system pretty quickly after it was released; many on AFF didn't, and me trying to explain it was met with even more confusion (and just a bit of derision).

I always think - their game, their rules, you don't need to play. But one advantage of VA rolling SCs is that if you fail to meet the retain target in time, it is still possible to obtain your former status again rather quickly, depending on the timing of your SCs.

 

[SCM]

logistically it doesn’t make sense to have 10, 20 or 30 million members all requiring membership packs on the same date and flooding the call centre with enquiries as to whether or not they’ve qualified/requalified.

That sounds like a business process problem more than anything else, any normal business will want to solve that - regardless of whether it happens all at once or throughout the year.

 

[odysseus]

If all the major American airlines, and American hotel chains have ALL used a common system for MANY DECADES where Status earned in 2025 is what counts for 2026, it clearly is the simplest and most easy to understand system.

Most here have never experienced it with airlines I feel sure. It never changes, and you can plan effectively, and with your partner flights/stays in lockstep all the way.

Simplicity is what folks like.

Just because a majority of Americans use a certain program convention doesn't make it the most sensible, best or anything else to recommend.

Until recently, Americans widely used cheques ("for many decades"), moreso than electronic payments. Doesn't make it better... and they've finally seen the light.

America still has varying state and city taxes, and disclosure arrangements, so the price you pay is more than not likely to be different from the price displayed. And that's not even getting on to the lack of "simplicity" with the wage subsidy that dominates there known as tipping varying that price you pay even more. Simple - definitely not.

Even now, America still relies on imperial measurements, again for many decades - miles, feet, quarts, and even fahrenheit. Against your claim, that is the opposite of "simplicity" compared to metric.

All you can say about the US is they're generally very slow to change and adapt to better methods and processes.

 

[clarkkent]

VA's rolling counts are better than hard cutoffs. If you narrowly miss out on renewal you are probably a lot closer to getting back up than starting at zero. And on your way up, there's no chance of "wasting" status credits that fall shortly before an arbitrary reset date. Earn enough in the past 12 months, go up. Simple.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

All you can say about the US is they're generally very slow to change and adapt to better methods and processes.

Indeed. In large part because they don't want to spend the money to do it; rather, they want to spend less. Corporate "culture" is the culture.

Precisely why this thread of now 56 pages exists, in fact. U-S-A, U-S-A!

 

[nutwood]

If all the major American airlines, and American hotel chains have ALL used a common system for MANY DECADES where Status earned in 2025 is what counts for 2026, it clearly is the simplest and most easy to understand system.

Most here have never experienced it with airlines I feel sure. It never changes, and you can plan effectively, and with your partner flights/stays in lockstep all the way.

Simplicity is what folks like.

QF have a fixed date. For me it's the end of September. If I do a lot of flying prior to September, once I hit WP, everything beyond that is wasted. Yes I get WP in, say, June 2025 and that's good through to September 2026 but my renewal count doesn't commence until September. VA would bump me up to WP in June and every flight after that is going to renewal in 2026.
I'm just making an example, as obviously it's possible to make cases both ways but I don't think one method is inherently better than the other. I think you get more artificial situations when you have a fixed renewal date but an inconsistent flying pattern. VA is best in this situation.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

QF have a fixed date. For me it's the end of September. If I do a lot of flying prior to September, once I hit WP, everything beyond that is wasted. Yes I get WP in, say, June 2025 and that's good through to September 2026 but my renewal count doesn't commence until September. VA would bump me up to WP in June and every flight after that is going to renewal in 2026.
I'm just making an example, as obviously it's possible to make cases both ways but I don't think one method is inherently better than the other. I think you get more artificial situations when you have a fixed renewal date but an inconsistent flying pattern. VA is best in this situation.

But for VA it doesn’t work that way for subsequent years. Once you reach platinum, it then has the same effect as QF… plat for the rest of the current year, and the year after.

The major benefit with QF is a meaningful lifetime silver or gold, with all the oneworld benefits that come with that. (Lifetime silver has saved me hours at check-in over the years, and thousands of pounds in BA seat selection fees for example.)

 

[nutwood]

But for VA it doesn’t work that way for subsequent years. Once you reach platinum, it then has the same effect as QF… plat for the rest of the current year, and the year after.

The major benefit with QF is a meaningful lifetime silver or gold, with all the oneworld benefits that come with that. (Lifetime silver has saved me hours at check-in over the years, and thousands of pounds in BA seat selection fees for example.)

That's true. I must admit I didn't realise VA had a rolling year until recently as I originally did a trial gold period (I was P1 on QF) and in that period I reached WP and there I've stuck, so the date didn't change. Horses for courses.
VA have lifetime gold, or will have at the end of the month. I've just passed over the line for it so now have lifetime gold with both VA and QF. I'm not going to live long enough to get lifetime WP so my interest in SC accumulation is going to hinge on whether VA's Platinum Plus provides any tangible benefits. If not, it's very much going to be price and service.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That's true. I must admit I didn't realise VA had a rolling year until recently as I originally did a trial gold period (I was P1 on QF) and in that period I reached WP and there I've stuck, so the date didn't change. Horses for courses.
VA have lifetime gold, or will have at the end of the month. I've just passed over the line for it so now have lifetime gold with both VA and QF. I'm not going to live long enough to get lifetime WP so my interest in SC accumulation is going to hinge on whether VA's Platinum Plus provides any tangible benefits. If not, it's very much going to be price and service.

Yeah… VA lifetime gold… which, minus the few lounges they have in Australia, is pretty much equivalent to QF lifetime silver. Especially when it comes to overseas partners.

Nice if you have it, but not sure I’d be buying that extra flight or two under a DSC promo to attain it?

 

[nutwood]

Yeah… VA lifetime gold… which, minus the few lounges they have in Australia, is pretty much equivalent to QF lifetime silver. Especially when it comes to overseas partners.

Nice if you have it, but not sure I’d be buying that extra flight or two under a DSC promo to attain it?

I think the catch with lifetime benefits is that if you're flying enough to obtain and appreciate them, you're probably flying enough to have the status anyway. Handy when you only occasionally fly with a particular airline though. I'm QF WP currently but will drop back in a few weeks, however I know Gold is as far as I can slide back, so still have lounge access etc.

 

[chocorins]

The velocity programme changes are completely unfair and the details were not communicated nor worded to a reasonable degree. I have been Platinum or Gold continuously for the past 20 years. I am flying 70,000 miles annually, but am now missing out on both Velocity Gold and Qatar Gold due to these programme changes. Let me sum up the problems:

***ISSUE #1) "From 1 October you need 50% to come from VA operated/marketed flights". I accumulated my required 400 status credits (under old programme) 3 months after my Feb 2025 review date, to maintain Gold. Mostly these came from international partner airlines. Those are a complete WASTE as the "after 1 October" statement is referring to "review dates after 1 October". The wording was ambiguous. Many other members have stated this below.

****ISSUE #2) Velocity is not willing to revert the allocation of miles/status to Velocity afterwards (like their partners such as Qatar Air are normally willing and able to do). Returning the miles and status credits would enable me to reach Gold with Qatar Air instead of having wasted them on my VA account. It will now cost me $5,000 to purchase the missing Qatar Air status credits.

***ISSUE #3) International travellers like me are totally disadvantaged, as there are almost NO VA marketed flights available internationally, and those that are available (weeks away from your preferred dates) will be 30+ percent higher priced than what the airline (e.g. SA, Qatar) charges directly on their website. No one-way flights coming into Australia, nor return flights from overseas to Australia, nor multi-city bookings, are possible to book on the Velocity website.

***ISSUE #4) Family pooling doesn't work to achieve status credits for your VA marketed flights. WHERE AND WHEN was this proactively communicated? I have just made business class bookings for my partner, to try achieve those missing status credits, only to find out this ALSO doesn't apply.

I have offered Velocity 2 zero-cost solutions but they have knocked them back. How can I file a formal complaint on this issue? Ridiculous measures taken by Velocity and with no sign of any understanding nor flexibility. They have become the new Qantas... actually worse. I was committed to them for the past 20 years and feel completely mistreated.