Velocity introduces Forever Gold lifetime status tier

[Ausbt]

9,600 of 12,000 with 6,440 on VA operated. Honestly it was higher than I thought. Without COVID I'd be there for sure, but that changed everything really, well for most people I guess.

 

[Flyingwombat]

I’m miles off anyway but the VA requirement is silly. The total should be all status earned with all partners like Qantas do. And I strategically pooled with partner so lost all those… And why no LT silver… I flew lots with EY when I travelled to Middle East for work mid-2000s so many flights before 2013.

Oh well I’ve got my LT Silver with the roo so that will have to do!

 

[aamslfc]

I'm a hell of a lot closer to Forever Gold than I realised... but then I also realised that there was a second requirement which threw a spanner in the works.

In total numbers, it's barely 2 more years of regular flying with VA and their partners based on my average earn rate and travel patterns post-COVID. Well within reach, and keeps me in the VA ecosystem forever.

But that stupidly high VA metal requirement makes it completely unattainable - under the old status earn tables, I'd probably be ok with it, but under the "new and improved" system it's an unjustifiable expense for not much benefit.

Guess it's my fault that Virgin don't provide any VA marketed and operated flights to the dozens and dozens of international destinations I've visited over the years.

 

[JohnK]

4,596 of 12,000 Status Credits earned
You still need 7,404 (at least 6,790 from your VA marketed and/or operated flights) - you can earn these at any time.

The good thing about being 61 years old is that I no longer care about lifetime status.

Wife and I will keep trying to maintain Velocity Gold for as long as we can as that gives us lounge access and extra luggage allowance on SQ.

Wife has Platinum/Gold for another 21 months and I should be able to earn Gold easily 2 more times. After that one of us may be able to earn Gold so well have to rely on kindness for 3 of us to visit SQ lounges.

Once we move back to Sydney in 3.5 years time then any status on Velocity will be difficult without domestic flights

 

[MH_fan]

Close but no cigar for me. I'm on track to earn another 600-700SC on VA flights before the end of this year, which leaves me with needing another 2400SC to go before FG. That's another 3 years of maintaining WP (with my current travel patterns) from next year, which may or may not be achievable.

 

[Mondo]

I wonder how many actually qualified for it. Seems all the posts so far appear to show its clearly impossible

 

[Flyingwombat]

Grandfathering in a base of already loyal members is smart, and having a rules 'adjustment' moving forward, is how these things usually work.

I totally agree and also unfair for those of us who earned a lot of SCs prior to 2013! They should have given everyone who was a member prior something - maybe 1000 SCs added to the Lifetime total for all long term members.

 

[SYD]

I totally agree and also unfair for those of us who earned a lot of SCs prior to 2013! They should have given everyone who was a member prior something - maybe 1000 SCs added to the Lifetime total for all long term members.

7 additional years in my case….

Plus 5yrs before that during the DJ days.

 

[Caversham04]

I wonder how many actually qualified for it. Seems all the posts so far appear to show its clearly impossible

Same question from me - watching points that I have family-pooled (or have been pooled to me) vanish entirely because both my wife and I have strategically pooled over 3000 SC's to each other over the years to maximise status is particularly frustrating.......

 

[Caversham04]

7 additional years in my case….

Plus 5yrs before that during the DJ days.

Further up the thread, IainF noted that when he requested his SC history back in March, it had every flight he had credited to VFF since 2006. VFF claim that the 2013 date is as far back as they can go due to a switchover in their systems, but that's clearly incorrect based on IainF's post - so it seems that VFF either don't have the desire to include earlier flights, or they don't have the programmers capable of extracting the earlier data correctly, or both

 

[Flyingwombat]

7 additional years in my case….

Plus 5yrs before that during the DJ days.

I joined the very first day the program started back in 2005... and at that stage flew more VA short hops... and lots of Etihad in flex economy in mid-2000s... I'm now more likely to get QF LT Gold.

 

[IainF]

I wonder how many actually qualified for it. Seems all the posts so far appear to show its clearly impossible

I've got it and my wife has 20,000+ Total SCs and is just 346 Scs away from the "Flown on VA" section, which she will hit in the next 8 weeks.
I put all of my VA flying to Velocity and from 2016-2020 I would fly monthly to LAX & HKG on VA in J.
I was earning 6000+ SCs a year on VA, particularly when the double SCs were on.

 

[danintas]

I have 12,000 out of 12,000 so will qualify for FG, or should that be FEG? I'm assuming I haven't got exactly 12k SC; it would be interesting to know just how many I do have. I thought I might be in with a reasonable chance having done just over 500 flights on VA and SQ since 2012, so needed an average of 23 SC's per flight. Good to have the pigeon pair of LTG and FEG now I have retired and doing far less domestic travel.

 

[IainF]

I have 12,000 out of 12,000 so will qualify for FG, or should that be FEG? I'm assuming I haven't got exactly 12k SC; it would be interesting to know just how many I do have. I thought I might be in with a reasonable chance having done just over 500 flights on VA and SQ since 2012, so needed an average of 23 SC's per flight. Good to have the pigeon pair of LTG and FEG now I have retired and doing far less domestic travel.

You can go on the chat on the App and they will send you the excel sheet of all your earning flights.

 

[GrahamBRI]

I put all of my VA flying to Velocity and from 2016-2020 I would fly monthly to LAX & HKG on VA in J.
I was earning 6000+ SCs a year on VA, particularly when the double SCs were on.

Your outcome draws out some interesting reflections:
2000 Virgin starts as a LCC
2009 Virgin becomes a long haul international airline
2012? Virgin becomes a Full Service Airline
2020 Virgin becomes a zero cost parking lot
2021 to 2025 Virgin starts restructuring to back to a LCC

so which customers did it recognise the most and award FEG?
- Well those that flew long haul - a service it does not operate (the Qatar situation cannot be considered)
- And those that flew an absolute huge amount when it was a full service airline.
Some misalignment here between recognising their current/future customers vs recognising ghosts of the past?

We need to drop FEG as the acronym and align closer to the derivation of the WP acronym to describe the golden egg laying goose that laid this golden egg for the (lucky?) few.

 

[samas]

I wonder how many actually qualified for it. Seems all the posts so far appear to show its clearly impossible

I started significant travel with VA in 2011.
Mostly VA domestic and short haul, with the occasional odd EY or SQ perhaps every second year.

Have been WP for nearly all of the years since 2013, except for the odd 18 months or so as SG.
Had used family pooling a bit in both directions in this time and thought that might be the death of me also, but didn't use it as substantially as other members it appears.


I previously got the export of my activity since 2013 and estimated it would be around late 2026 or early 2027 I might hit forever gold, but was pleasantly surprised to find upon checking the new dashboard this week I'm basically already there, sans 5 status credits to go.

 

[twinaisle]

I hear WP+ will be joining the VIP tier

 

[MattA]

I wonder how many actually qualified for it. Seems all the posts so far appear to show its clearly impossible

Probably just the skewing effect of the people most likely to post about this being those who are annoyed at being furthest away. Clearly there are going to be many who have already qualified or are close. I'm sure VFF have done the numbers.

I do feel like they have set the bar too high relative to the value proposition of what you get with status, though, especially for anyone starting from scratch. Up to $144,000 of spend (without DSCs) with a minimum of $108,000 spent on personal travel on VA metal/codes is a mountain to climb, especially with the limited international network. Even if you're almost exclusively spending someone else's money, that's a heck of a lot (500 - 700?) of MEL - SYD sectors to get close. Easier if you're spending someone else's money and flying J, of course, but then you don't really need the status.

I'm not sure the current offering of barista coffee, toasties and cheap wine is worth actively chasing FG for. Someone starting fresh would surely be better off pursuing LTG with the other lot. Cost is probably similar but you get a much bigger lounge network, alliance benefits, and it's likely less of a slog to achieve with the greater international options for earn.

Personally, I'm just over half way on the overall requirement but only on 15% of the VA requirement for FG due to a combination of historic family pooling, long haul travel on partners not counting etc. Without DSC offers, that's over $90k of VA travel outstanding. Can't see that happening in this lifetime...

 

[kevrosmith]

I’ve qualified for Forever Gold. Mostly made up from 7 years of work travel between CNS and BNE/SYD on (first DJ and then) VA. For some years I also stayed QF WP (hit P1 one year also). I’ve reached QF LTG already, so now I can revert to BFOD for our occasional domestics family trips, though va Business is still a reasonable value proposition if bought early enough.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I hear WP+ will be joining the VIP tier

This status restructure just makes less and less sense.