Velocity Chief Nick Rohrlach departs in management shakeup

[simmomelb]

It gets brought up a lot on here as something people here think might be one of the objectives, but its just speculation.

It was alluded to below, starting at 15:55 into the interview with Nick Rohrlach
("room in the lounges"), and also by the Velocity team during their recent focus groups.

 

[MooTime]

I don't know that I've ever seen this specifically mentioned by anyone at VA as an objective of the changes. It gets brought up a lot on here as something people here think might be one of the objectives, but its just speculation.

Personally I haven't had much issue with the lounges being excessively crowded, though obviously they do get busy during peak period. I think some people on the forum just have unrealistic expectations.

As @simmomelb posted above it has been mentioned by management. It's not just speculation.
In a couple interviews Little Nick gave.

 

[SeaWolf]

It was alluded to below, starting at 15:55 into the interview with Nick Rohrlach
("room in the lounges"), and also by the Velocity team during their recent focus groups.

OK, so there's been one fleeting mention of it. Hardly seems like this was a motivating factor and the way it's worded in that interview it sounds more like he's thought it up after the fact in response to noise on this forum. Hardly a "main goal" of the changes he implemented.

 

[simmomelb]

OK, so there's been one fleeting mention of it. Hardly seems like this was a motivating factor and the way it's worded in that interview it sounds more like he's thought it up after the fact in response to noise on this forum. Hardly a "main goal" of the changes he implemented.

In the focus group I was in, it was stated that there were a number of factors for the changes to the Velocity program and that a reduction of members in the lounge was one of many reasons, as they intend on improving their food and drink product for higher value members.
It was clearly stated that they didn't expect huge numbers to drop from the lounges, but enough to allow for more room in the lounges during peak periods.

 

[SeaWolf]

That's definitely interesting, although unverifiable. A lot of things get floated in focus groups and surveys that never eventuate into concrete action.

 

[stu961]

I don't know that I've ever seen this specifically mentioned by anyone at VA as an objective of the changes. It gets brought up a lot on here as something people here think might be one of the objectives, but its just speculation.

Personally I haven't had much issue with the lounges being excessively crowded, though obviously they do get busy during peak period. I think some people on the forum just have unrealistic expectations.

Think you right, we are assuming/speculating. At the end of the day it's usually comes down to making more money so I might replace "crowding" with guests eating and drinking etc etc more than VA makes on the seat. For me and my wife, who are both long time Platinum VA's, I'm not sure how they gain with the changes. We fly mostly international (biz) and have switched everything over to QR. So we still get VA lounge access for instance (as well as QF, so for domestic it's now $$$ for us) but VA is not involved for international and that's where we spend the $$$. But as I have said many times before, it's easy to be a critic, coming up with solutions is the hard game!! So c'est la vie in my case, hope it changes but their business, their call!!

 

[simmomelb]

That's definitely interesting, although unverifiable. A lot of things get floated in focus groups and surveys that never eventuate into concrete action.

I do have the names and emails of the 2 Velocity team members who stated this, but I doubt they will reply to me in writing with this, and I don't want to throw them under the bus.

I am sure there was another interview with Nick that more directly stated this. I will scour the internet to see if I can locate this.