Q re if review date changes, when Velocity Status Changes.

[Jack_OC]

I understand the system perfectly and for us it sucks.

I've been top tier in airline plans for 40 years straight, and trust me the calendar year system (as used by most of the worlds FF schemes) works best - IMHO.

Those Airlines do not "give way" 12 months of status "free" - I'd suggest you are the one who clearly does not understand how the real FF world majority - outside Virgin, works, and has worked, for decades.

One needs to EARN Status before December 31 each year. Simple. Get to 100,000 flown Miles, or 100 flight segments on United by December 31, and you are 1K for the next year. Easy to understand and plan around.

I don't think you understood what the previous post was intended to mean.

With United, for example, when you are first attaining status, once you get to 100,000 flown miles/100 segments within a calendar year, I believe your new status takes effect immediately, and is valid until the end of the following calendar year. Qantas works basically the same way except based on an "anniversary" date instead of the calendar year.

Anyway, with these systems, it is true that people usually get more than 12 months of status when they first qualify, and in theory they could get almost 24 months (I believe that is what Vic meant when he referred to "upto an extra 12 months of status recognition for free"). Conversely, with Velocity, your new status is valid for 12 + 1 months no matter when you achieve it.

This is actually a downside for the customer of Velocity (and KrisFlyer) versus most other programs. However, it's only an issue when you first reach a new status level, and even then irrelevant if you're able to retain that new status on an ongoing basis.

Aside from that, @ozstamps, you still haven't explained why you believe the rolling system works to your disadvantage.

 

[serfty]

real FF world majority - outside Virgin

Maybe you should consider the existence Qantas, BA and all those other non USA carriers that don't specifically use a calendar year.

VA's is what it is and I have used it to my advantage quite a few times.

 

[Vic]

I understand the system perfectly and for us it sucks. As we are never on same renewal months unless you keep the same status forever.

I've been top tier in airline plans for 40 years straight, and trust me the calendar year system (as used by most of the worlds FF schemes) works best, and is simplest to be part of - IMHO.

Those Airlines do not "give way" 12 months of status "free" - I'd suggest you are the one who clearly does not understand how the real FF world majority - outside Virgin, works, and has worked, for decades.

One needs to EARN Status before December 31 each year. Simple. Get to 100,000 flown Miles, or 100 flight segments on United by December 31, and you are 1K for the next year. Easy to understand and plan around.

Really? Guess I just actually able to adapt to multiple different ways of doing things. Of actually understanding more than one system. Qantas does not even use a calendar year system. I'm even able to use the Virgin and other loyalty schemes to my advantage within the rules of each one. I guess you really don't know anything about my understanding.

As for the give away. You did write the following.

Make 500 or 1000 SC by December 31 and you are good til Feb 2020 as Gold or Plat.

So under the calendar year system, according to you, if you qualify to a higher level before December 31 (say in January) then you get that level for the rest of the year, PLUS all of the following year. So you would get more than 12 months of status recognition. Right? Which means the airline is giving away free status, beyond the 12 months alone that you get with Virgin. Again I'm pretty sure Virgin are happy to not be locked into an antiquated calendar system that means they have to give away freebies.

 

[CPMaverick]

When initially qualifying for status I greatly prefer the VA system. It can be a real pain with other airlines if you start flying a lot say, in September, but then your status counter resets a few months later.

The downside I think with VA is that after your initial qualification, you are locked into an arbitrary calendar for the forseeable future (if Platinum). So, you can run into the same problem.

 

[CPMaverick]

I think you misread the post @ozstamps . It did take me a bit to understand it.

The post says anytime you earn status before Dec 31st, you get the remainder of that year, plus the following year. This is correct. Most of the time this means you earn status towards the end of a year, and get a few extra months. But it can be up to (or even more than) two years.

For example, if I fly enough to earn UA status between Jan 1, 2019 and Feb 28, 2019, then I get that status as soon as I qualify for it, but have also earned status for the 2020 calendar year. And it is good until Feb 28, 2021. So, it is possible to earn two years of status by qualifying once, but only for those that travel a whole lot in the first two months.

A good reason to consider a US-based FF program if you have a few J trips to book in Jan-Feb...

 

[ozstamps]

The downside I think with VA is that after your initial qualification, you are locked into an arbitrary calendar for the forseeable future (if Platinum). So, you can run into the same problem.

Yes as per my initial post for us as a COUPLE, it gets messy if one Status on Virgin changes anytime during the year. Then, from going to both needing to Requalify in October say, one can become April or May.

For a single person, it really is of no big deal I agree. As you simply stick to a fixed date each year to aim at.

 

[Jack_OC]

Yes as per my initial post for us as a COUPLE, it gets messy if one Status on Virgin changes anytime during the year. Then, from going to both needing to Requalify in October say, one can become April or May.

Yes I think we all understand that you are talking about the implications for a couple, and that it bothers you if your requalification dates don't coincide.

What is not clear (at least to me), is why you think that's a bad thing. In my opinion, having staggered review dates is in fact a good thing, as it allows you to maximise the advantages of Family Pooling.

 

[Jack_OC]

When initially qualifying for status I greatly prefer the VA system. It can be a real pain with other airlines if you start flying a lot say, in September, but then your status counter resets a few months later.

The downside I think with VA is that after your initial qualification, you are locked into an arbitrary calendar for the forseeable future (if Platinum). So, you can run into the same problem.

Except the Velocity system is still better in this situation, because with Velocity only your retention status counter resets to zero. Your actual SC balance continues to be calculated based on what you have earned in the previous 12 months, which means if you just miss out on retaining Platinum, you won't have very far to go to get back to Platinum. For example, if you were on 700 SCs at your review date, you may only need 300 more SCs to get back to Platinum (depending on exactly when you earned your original 700 SCs). Conversely, if Velocity adopted a fixed 1 year system, you'd need to earn another 1,000 SCs to get back to Platinum.

 

[SuzieQ68]

Yes as per my initial post for us as a COUPLE, it gets messy if one Status on Virgin changes anytime during the year. Then, from going to both needing to Requalify in October say, one can become April or May.

For a single person, it really is of no big deal I agree. As you simply stick to a fixed date each year to aim at.

I'm part of a COUPLE and it works perfectly for us - we requalify 5 months apart and use the family pooling system to our advantage. Both manage to maintain SG (with partner actually going to WP soon with a DSC offer that we also took advantage of). Guess that what makes flying so interesting - there are lots of different loyalty programs on offer - so what works for you may not work for me and vice versa.

Enjoy your travels!

 

[Bagpuss]

In my personal view

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