Somethings Coming, and it's increased carrier charges

[oz_mark]

Velocity will be increasing carrier charges as detailed below to cover increased operating costs.

As a Velocity member, you can redeem your Points for flights to around 600 destinations worldwide, and we are committed to continually providing a competitive and compelling offering for our members.

The increased carrier charges will be effective for bookings made on or after 8 January 2020, on Virgin Australia operated flights.




The carrier charge can be paid with Velocity Points or a combination of Velocity Points and cash and will be applied during the booking process#.

Velocity Program Changes

experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com

 

[TheInsider]

Nice timing of the email. Not many will look and will probably just delete.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Who else is waiting for the inevitable points increase on top?

$10 is really starting to push the friendship but hey ho, where else are they going to find a return on the Velocity stake re-purchase...

 

[Spacetravel]

Who else is waiting for the inevitable points increase on top?

Yeah, personally I'm more worried about further redemption increases then carrier fees. But these also suck. I'm with virgin because its "cheaper" if the carrier charges and redemption rates match Qantas I might as well fly with them. Obviously its just speculation so right now I have no plans to change my habits, just grumbling because its large enough to annoy me, small enough its not worth leaving over.

 

[serfty]

$10 is really starting to push the friendship but hey ho, where else are they going to find a return on the Velocity stake re-purchase...

Well, Qantas charge $14.

At least LAX is not increasing.

 

[InfreqFlyer]

Did this just come out of the blue, or was there prior warning?

I didn't hear anything, not even a rumour, unless you count that "Something is coming" page.

 

[RisingPhoenix]

Well, Qantas charge $14.

At least LAX is not increasing.

Not much point increasing it when there's rarely any J availability besides last minute

 

[clipped_wings]

Hopefully the range of (pick whichever phrase suits) revenue-generating or counter-loss measures they are implementing will be small enough across the board to not affect any one passenger demographic. PS needs to do this, but at least he's trying to lessen the grief.

At work, most of our China-based and US based suppliers have steadily raised their prices over the last 2 years - to where we now pay over double for the same materials. We hate it, but must accept things as there is no local alternative and our suppliers are well aware of that fact. But I can tell you, if there was domestic competition, I'd be out of those overseas contracts before you could say CLOSE MY ACCOUNT.

I would hate to see Qantas have the monopoly again. We need VA more than they need us IMHO.

 

[Tommo_Aus]

Bummer, my credit card comes with a $129 voucher each year, a return points ticket in J from Adelaide to Melbourne currently costs $127.32 extra in carrier charges for two. Oh no!

 

[Must...Fly!]

Well, Qantas charge $14.

Which is also ridiculous...

 

[jakeseven7]

Well this is the third cost cutting enhancement now in the works (That we know about).

From a future business health initiative at least they are acting quickly I guess to stop the bleeding.

More to come I'm sure.

 

[HeavyElectricity]

Did this just come out of the blue, or was there prior warning?

I didn't hear anything, not even a rumour, unless you count that "Something is coming" page.

...

The increased carrier charges will be effective for bookings made on or after 8 January 2020, on Virgin Australia operated flights.

This is the warning/notice? 3 months.

 

[Mattg]

At least LAX is not increasing.

Virgin's carrier charge for J redemptions to LAX is already higher than Qantas as it stands (after the 18 September changes). How much higher could VA realistically make it before there's a backlash?

 

[jetset]

The timing of the announcement is cynical..

The ACCC review of customer loyalty schemes includes a section on frequent flyer programs and carrier charges. The deadline for comments/submissions was on the 3/10/2019.

When did Velocity announce these changes? I received an email on 4/10/19 at 3AM.

Coincidence? Yeah right...

 

[ftm]

Has anyone done the side by side comparison of VA carrier charges versus QF?

 

[Mattg]

The timing of the announcement is cynical..

The ACCC review of customer loyalty schemes includes a section on frequent flyer programs and carrier charges. The deadline for comments/submissions was on the 3/10/2019.

When did Velocity announce these changes? I received an email on 4/10/19 at 3AM.

Coincidence? Yeah right...

Normally they would implement these kinds of changes on 1 January (as they did last year), but this time it's 8 Jan. They need to give 3 months' notice. ACCC applications closed on 3 Oct. I also don't think it's a coincidence somehow...

 

[Mattg]

Has anyone done the side by side comparison of VA carrier charges versus QF?

Here you go:

Route	Class of travel	Qantas carrier charge (as of 18/9/19)	Velocity carrier charge (as of 8/1/20)
Domestic Australia	Economy/Business	$14	$10
Trans-Tasman	Economy/Business	$14	$10
Australia-Fiji	Economy	$14	$35
Australia-Fiji	Business	$14	$70
Brisbane-Port Moresby	Economy	$14	$35
Australia-Bali	Economy	$35	$35
Australia-Bali	Business	$105	$70
Australia-Hong Kong	Economy	$45	$45
Australia-Hong Kong	Business	$55	$98
Australia-Los Angeles	Economy	$60	$60
Australia-Los Angeles	Premium Economy	$165	$145
Australia-Los Angeles	Business	$215	$230

 

[ftm]

Here you go:

Brilliant - thank you. Fiji and J to HK are the standouts, in a bad way. Appreciate you posting that comparison.