The tough choice to stay WP or stay Velocity Platinum

[GCC]

I have been struggling a little with the choice between:

A) switching majority of flying to VA to maintain plat status, with corresponding drop to QFF gold

b) keeping majority of flying with QF, maintaining WP & having Velocity status drop to Gold

I don't mean to start another "VA versus QF" thread, but I am interested to know if others have faced the same decision, what they’ve decided and why?

My flying is mostly domestic, plus 3 or 4 flights to NZ, 1 (maybe 2) long hauls to UK or USA, and a family holiday in Fiji. I fly Y as I work for a not for profit, but policy is that I book upgradable flights and can use points (from all travel and from my corporate card) to upgrade as I choose.

Like others I have been very impressed with the customer service on VA on domestic flights. I’m generally getting better seats with them (row 3 or 4 in Y vs 5 – 9 on QF) and have even had one or 2 ops. I was all set to change but in the end a few things are still holding me back: No VA points upgrades, and no points + pay options for long haul flights

• No points or SC’s for VA reward flights.
• My understanding is that there is no lounge in SYD if we fly VA to Fiji?
• I do a lot of SYD – CBR, and I really don’t like VA’s new ATR 72 -500. Much prefer Dash 8.
• I only need about 400 SC’s to get QFF LTS.
• As it happens my long haul trip this year will take me SYD – LAX – DFW – SYD, so QF + AA makes good sense.
• I do like the SYD F lounge.
• It will be lot easier to regain Vel Plat from Vel Gold than it will be to regain WP from QF SG.

So in the end this year I will be working to keep FF WP, enjoying being a Velocity Plat on occasion, and watching Velocity with interest.

 

[markis10]

Not hard to keep both IMHO, Fiji on anyone other than QF is a no for obvious reasons (SCs with the NAN special, F lounge, lounge access at NAN etc). With DJ it should be noted the ATRs are temporary, the 600s will be a different experience again.

DJ do have some interesting benefits that set them above WP in many areas, namely:

1. Extra points for car hire based on status
2. The status fast track for hotels and car hire, I am finding europcar around 25% cheaper than the majors at present so thats $$$ in the bank
3. The cheap J points + pay redemptions
4. The lack of a 24 hour block on award redemptions
5. The offer of SCs on credit card accounts for new approvals.
6. Family pooling.

Luckily for me a lot of the lounge expansion is in the ports I regularly service, so thats good for me as well.

LTS in the QFF program is not worth the piece of paper its written on IMHO.

As always, the value varies by traveller and their travel patterns, so each person needs to look at doing what makes the most sense, I intend to keep both simply as there is no point going beyond WP once you hit the qual level.

 

[TonyHancock]

DJ do have some interesting benefits that set them above WP in many areas, namely:

1. Extra points for car hire based on status
2. The status fast track for hotels and car hire, I am finding europcar around 25% cheaper than the majors at present so thats $$$ in the bank
3. The cheap J points + pay redemptions
4. The lack of a 24 hour block on award redemptions
5. The offer of SCs on credit card accounts for new approvals.
6. Family pooling.

I'd add the four complimentary upgrades to that list too.

I am finding DJ significantly better for me domestically, but QF and oneworld offer more for me internationally. My goal is to maintain both in the medium term.

 

[simongr]

It is a tricky one - I am looking to change roles this year which should give me more clarity on what my next few year's of flying is likely to look like so at the moment I am sticking with QF as I am not sure if I have one, two or four int'l J flights this coming year.

I haven't been blown away by VA/DJ in the same way that you and others have (conversely my allocations on DJ/VA this week are row 8 compared to 25/23 on QF [being front row and third row of whY]). I am not impressed by the lack of any food in whY MEL-SYD in the evening - I couldn't even buy a pie. I don't think the SYD lounge is much cop (although the premium entrance is excellent) and the MEL lounge is ok but the food is very much QP rather than J lounge and combined with the lack of food on board I might even avoid the lounge on Thursday...

I think the hotel statuses etc are great but are for me a one off rather than a long term inducement. I would love to see some better SC partners from DJ/VA (Hawaiian for instance would tip me over the edge).

The flip side for me is that if I was flying enough to maintain WP in both I probably still wouldn't - it would mean I was either flying enough to be P1 or flying enough to be AA EXP and QF WP - it would also mean I was doing a lot of int'l travel which would mean I would need to be flying OW out of SYD.

 

[medhead]

My years tick over in August and September. I'm being very price sensitive until then, and I'll assesses the situation in July.

 

[Kefci2000]

My years tick over in August and September. I'm being very price sensitive until then, and I'll assesses the situation in July.

I have a RTW DONE4 in March which should net me over 1100 SC, and therefore virtually re-qualify me as WP until December 13.

I can then fly VA, use my remaining 3 upgrades, and then assess if I can remain WP by October.

Ideally would like to keep both.

 

[BVT]

I have a RTW DONE4 in March which should net me over 1100 SC, and therefore virtually re-qualify me as WP until December 13.

I can then fly VA, use my remaining 3 upgrades, and then assess if I can remain WP by October.

Ideally would like to keep both.

This is the approach that I have adopted.

I have already requalified for QFWP. My year starts on 1 May and by July I will have reqlalified for the next year again, all going according to plan. I will never get to P1 or PG levels, so I go to VA to requalify for Platinum there. After my status match, I am only 200 SC's away from requal with VA and have until September to do it!

At this stage, with my current travel patterns mainting WP in both is easy, without a status run.

Good luck.

 

[BAM1748]

How far along the line are you to QF lifetime status of some sort? If close (a relative term) then getting there first might be smart and then swapping.

Matt

 

[Kefci2000]

How far along the line are you to QF lifetime status of some sort? If close (a relative term) then getting there first might be smart and then swapping.

Matt

A long way off, only started travelling a lot in last 3 years.

Next DONE4 will get me LT Silver

 

[simongr]

If you are doing DONEs regularly then LTG is not that far away...

 

[GCC]

I think my qualifying periods being close together work against me maintaining both. For QF my qualifying year year is 31/10 and for velocity (platinum status match) it is 7/9. Then end of October - end January is my quiet period for travel.

 

[Kefci2000]

If you are doing DONEs regularly then LTG is not that far away...

I think 3 to 4 years depending on if it is 1 or 2 trips a year as I only do around 6 domestic per year

 

[oliverd]

I'm in the same situation after VA status match (currently QFWP and VA Plat). Was originally aiming to drop back to QFSG and VA Gold, but with an int J trip and personal FASA, may retain QFWP (and drop back to VA Gold).

I'd rather retain QF plat over VA plat if I can't keep both:

• I see more differentiation between Gold and Plat with QF then VA
• In particular, VA Gold gives me Priority boarding and lounge access...
• ...with QF, plat is required for priority boarding and Flounge access
• I'm more likely to transfer Amex points to QF for JASA/FASA personal travel, so having the highest (second-highest if you exclude CL) should give me the best access to seat availability

With SQ coming on board as a partner (plus EK), VA is becoming a viable alternative for a international travel, but I don't yet feel comfortable enough with the availability of J points redemptions to switch from OneWorld to VA as my preferred airline. The way VA is going, I reckon in another 12 months my response to this post may be different!

Oliver

 

[Tooner]

This has been a tough one for me too, with similar thoughts to everyone who has posted.

I'm not guaranteed much travel on either QF or DJ, but have made a start on requalifying with DJ at least.

My requal dates are May for QF and September for DJ, so I need to get my skates on for QF (only 340 SCs so far). I may be doing 1 if not 2 JFK trips (in J) so would be close to requalifying on those alone. As for DJ, with 250 in the bag (including a few family trips, plus double SCs), and prospects for the family of 5 flying to Europe in June/July, the opportunity to fly SQ and credit all 5 trips to DJ will go a long way to retaining Platinum there. I should also be able to spend enough to earn the 200 SCs from Virgin Money too.

I think, like others, I would travel QF to the US (Flounge & F check-in effectively wins here), but the family pooling (and timing of the Europe trip) swing the family holiday towards SQ (cheaper than QF too). Other (personal) trips may end up JASAs on QF.

If I earn the SCs to requalify with QF this year and next, I would be at LTG so assured of a LT soft landing. But I'd miss the Flounge

Of course, I'm interested to see what DJ will come up with next. QF is feeling the heat with our employer, ensuring they match saver fares booked at least 10 days out.

 

[Ozvirginuk]

This is a really interesting thread. I"ve been thinking about this similar situation over the weekend.

My situation is that I've already "banked" QF WP until Nov 2013 due to an AONE4 booked for later this year, but I'm just not sure I'm going to have enough flying to keep up the DJ WP aswell.

After our last domestic flights with QF over Christmas, my partner has told me he won't fly them again domestically unless there's no option. Our Christmas weekend was fraught with delays, terrible service, coughpy planes, and some of the rudest crew in the sky.

So, our next few flights are going to be on DJ, but at this point only have SYD-OOL (Mar) return and SYD-BNE (Apr) planned. I"m seriously considering getting the Virgin Money C/card to get the 241, and then perhaps a couple of J returns might be possible, but at best I can still figure I'm unlikely to get to DJ WP again. I do have a few work trips to do, but even with that (SYD-PER-MEL-SYD and SYD-BNE-SYD) I am still likely a few hundred SC away from WP, however, I may be able to get Gold.

Depending on how the AONE4 goes, will really be the decider if we move away from the Oneworld and QF WP addiction. I"m hoping it will be wonderful as my other half doesn't know we're in F.

I guess we'll just wait and see how it all works out. One thing that is great is that there is a real alternative now in terms of local FF (even if you don't like DJ, you can requal pretty easy using partners).

Cheers
Ozvirginuk

 

[777]

One thing worth remembering is that to hit VA Gold/ Plat is based on the last rolling 12 months not one Qual date to next Qual date. It is possible to drop back to VA gold (soft landing or by requalifying) but hit VA plat not too long after again (admittedly the threshold goes up to quaify again) with a few relatively well placed international fares - so it's possible to time (or even reset) your VA qual dates around your other commitments.

 

[leny]

My choice is to stay a WP. Velocity Plat is more or less the same as Velocity gold, with mostly the same benefits.

Qantas offers me better service in Australia, and the advantage of the OneWorld alliance is unbeatable. And as hard as Velocity tries to interlink and integrate itself into the Start Alliance, it comes nowhere near what Qantas has going on with OneWorld.

Better SC earn on every single flight allows be to earn more points and SCs for taking a scenic route, unlike DJ. Lifetime status credits are another big advantage. As are the much better QF/OW lounges, as I have found for Virgin and partner lounges to be rubbish.

 

[Kefci2000]

As are the much better QF/OW lounges, as I have found for Virgin and partner lounges to be rubbish.

The reciprocal rights for SQ and Etihad lounges plus the 4 free upgrades are the main draw cards, as is lounge access at OOL

 

[leny]

4 free upgrades

The main problem for me with that, is that fact that you have to be on an expensive flexible fare to be eligible. The one time that I tried to find out whether I would be able to get an upgrade, VA told me that there are only a few of these available on each flight!?

I was flying on a certain day, and they told me that I could only upgrade from a flexible fare to J on a 6am flight that day.

 

[markis10]

The main problem for me with that, is that fact that you have to be on an expensive flexible fare to be eligible. The one time that I tried to find out whether I would be able to get an upgrade, VA told me that there are only a few of these available on each flight!?

I was flying on a certain day, and they told me that I could only upgrade from a flexible fare to J on a 6am flight that day.

The terms and conditions state that you can upgrade on a seat available basis, if there was a J seat to be had later in the day you could have upgraded, some call centre people confused this with Velocity points upgrades which require award availability seating.