Velocity vs Qantas Frequent Flyer

[Binzeeno]

Hi All,

First time poster looking for help.

Please go easy on me for posting a question that I am sure has been asked & answered many, many times... But every forum thread I've read suggests that the answer is different based on one's circumstances. So I'm hoping for help from you experienced folks based on my personal situation.

My current situation

• Gold on Velocity, on track to be Platinum in less than 6 months
• 300,000 points on Velocity
• Used to travel more domestic, but have been flying more internationally now, and into the future.
• From base of Sydney, will need to travel 4 x to Seattle, 2-3 times to Singapore, 2 x to Shanghai and 4-5 times domestically per year.
• It is also important for me to have direct access (including code-share) to Seoul, Korea once a year, as we have family there.

I am contemplating to start from scratch with QFF because they seem to have more access & options for international travel. For e.g. there doesn't seem to be direct flights available to Shanghai or Seoul for Virgin (they both need to transit via Singapore?). That said, it seems much more difficult in the QFF to reach and maintain the higher tiers... and I'm so close to Platinum on Virgin already.

Should I switch to Qantas with an eye to the future or should I stick with Virgin, hoping they will expand their international reach in the years to come?
What would you do in my situation?

Other random questions in line with this dilemma:

• Does Qantas have double status credit promotions often? As often as Velocity?
• Does anyone have insight into Virgin's international expansion plans?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[cove]

Use both systems is what I am thinking. We use SQ to get to Singapore.
We both used a double status credit offer so we flew Perth to New York and back to get 1440 status credits this Qantas year.
I have never had one from Velocity.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF .

One of the mottos on AFF is "Why fly direct when you can connect?". You may really want to fly as direct as possible, but connecting isn't bad for points and SCs (or equivalent) earn. What I'm saying is you could get almost everywhere you want to go via SIN on SQ and keep it all in one (or two, linked) accounts.

That said, I'm a fan of spreading loyalty across schemes so you are not tied to one to get lounge access. if you can maintain the two at Plat, or one at Plat and one at gold, that would be great.

Qantas don't have as many double status credit offers as they used to. I would suggest that you apply to them for a status match after you get VA Plat. They probably won't status match you, but will give you a status challenge - basically a fast track to their status if you fly X miles with them in the specified period. You'd probably want to time the application so as you can ace the challenge!

Going to Seattle, Alaska Airways probably comes into the frame. QF code-shares with them on some routes, including, I think LAX-SEA.

 

[eric2011]

Going to Seattle, Alaska Airways probably comes into the frame. QF code-shares with them on some routes, including, I think LAX-SEA.

Correct. i'm using AS later this year on this route

 

[Binzeeno]

Use both systems is what I am thinking. We use SQ to get to Singapore.
We both used a double status credit offer so we flew Perth to New York and back to get 1440 status credits this Qantas year.
I have never had one from Velocity.

Do you think I'll have enough to sustain Gold or above in both programs based on my travel plans?

Welcome to AFF .

Thanks for the welcome!

One of the mottos on AFF is "Why fly direct when you can connect?". You may really want to fly as direct as possible, but connecting isn't bad for points and SCs (or equivalent) earn. What I'm saying is you could get almost everywhere you want to go via SIN on SQ and keep it all in one (or two, linked) accounts.

What I forgot mention was that I have a young & growing family which makes it annoying to have to connect (though there are worse airports than Singapore to connect through). That said, I never thought about the positive impact to points and SCs.

That said, I'm a fan of spreading loyalty across schemes so you are not tied to one to get lounge access. if you can maintain the two at Plat, or one at Plat and one at gold, that would be great.

I doubt my travel per year will allow me to reach and maintain a Plat and a Gold though? I'm not sure if I'll ever have enough flying to spread it across schemes...

Qantas don't have as many double status credit offers as they used to. I would suggest that you apply to them for a status match after you get VA Plat. They probably won't status match you, but will give you a status challenge - basically a fast track to their status if you fly X miles with them in the specified period. You'd probably want to time the application so as you can ace the challenge!

Didn't realise that you could even try that (Status Match)? That certainly sounds like it'll be worth a try. I'll give that a go!

Are you currently with either VA or Qantas or both?

Thanks for all your advice! Super helpful.

 

[Lemon_Party]

Oneworld lounge access may be a better perk for your proposed travel plans than the VA alliance - but I couldn't tell if you were planning economy flights or business? This also affects the ease of obtaining both status levels.

Flying your two Shanghai trips on Singapore with one booked as a VA codeshare to get your eligible sectors up could get you close to 400 SCs in the right fare class. Semi flexible SQ economy could net 160-200 for a return trip from memory. 2 trips would renew gold for a year.

Unless you fly domestic in flexi and would benefit from the 4 free upgrades, there's not a huge benefit to VA platinum over gold, particularly in your situation with mostly overseas travel. So once you've renewed gold focus everything else onto QF and aim for gold/plat there - unless you are focused on maximising a points balance with one airline.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re status match, this may be of interest: Status matcher

I'm Plat with Qantas; I don't fly enough with Virgin to get very far, but as I get lounge access via an AMEX Plat card, that doesn't worry me much.

 

[eastwest101]

Welcome to the forum Binzeeno - in your situation and with your projected level of travel I think you can realistically stick with Velocity for several reasons, first of all the tie-up with SQ will get you just about everywhere that you need to get on a better airline and connecting through very good hub (SIN) better than anything Qantas and Oneworld can put together (except maybe CX but QF and CX aren't really freinds anymore). The ease of earning and qualifiying status on Velocity is much easier than Qantas, and you should have no problem qualifying as Gold on Velocity (especially if you use family pooling) if you fly SQ. Assuming you a resident of Australia then keeping Velocity as your home credit card point earn with a tie up to the vast SQ network may work best for you, then you can "dabble" in the QF world for your some of your domestic Australian flying and maybe for China Eastern/Qantas services to Shanghai. As a matter of fact the poll could have even had a third option of joining SQ's Krisflyer program which given your pattern of travel may be a viable option for you.

When you look at your destinations and travel pattern have a look at which airline (or alliance ) aligned with Qantas and Virgin serve your travel patterns, e.g.

Seoul: SQ JL CX (but a hub for KE and OZ)
Singapore: SQ hub so no contest there (but QF does serve)
Shanghai: MU hub (but QF does serve and so does SQ)
Seattle: DL AA or AS seem logical but all require painful transit in LAX? (Loss of Virgin America hurts here but note that DL flies directly from Seattle to Seoul and Shanghai)


If you can manufacture a way to get to Gold on both Qantas (and One World + EK ecosystem) and maintain Gold on the looser Virgin/EY/SQ/DL/NZ alliance system you have a good chance of lounge access nearly wherever you go - if lounge access is important to you.

If you went whole-heartedly into the Qantas and OneWorld alliance you get access to the CX, JL and AA networks which are fairly comprehensive and relevant to your travel patterns but still not as comprehensive as the SQ and DL networks combined. The rise of Chinese airlines and expansion of their services and where they fall into alliances will be relevant to you as well. At the moment transiting in China to go elsewhere is widely regarded as a PITA but I would think that with your travel patterns to Shanghai that you may be more comfortable with this than others whom haven't been to China as much.

 

[cove]

If I was getting going now I would be doing credit card sign ups to get points on both systems. Without status you can do pretty well with business class redemptions.

 

[Muppet501st]

With the Air Canada and VA hook this year, that may sway you into the VA camp. A friend who visits Seattle for work regularly from BNE, says the last trips with AC, it was smother and quicker than the transit thru LAX.

 

[Mattg]

Gold with both QF and VA would probably be the best overall option.

But if it's a choice of Qantas or Virgin I would choose Qantas simply because their international network and range of partner airlines is so much better. Virgin is alright if you only fly domestically, but if you're travelling overseas there are a LOT of gaps in Virgin's partner airline network.

I'd contact Qantas and request a status challenge based on your current Velocity status.

 

[RooFlyer]

With the Air Canada and VA hook this year, that may sway you into the VA camp. A friend who visits Seattle for work regularly from BNE, says the last trips with AC, it was smother and quicker than the transit thru LAX.

No doubt true, as pax will 'pre clear' USA customs & immigration while in Vancouver and it then becomes a domestic flight to SEA. But against that is the extra flying time to YVR. With the new-ish LAX set-up, transiting through there is a lot better than it used to be.

AC J is pretty good, but whY isn't.

 

[Binzeeno]

Thanks all for the replies...

What is strange to me is the poll result, because I see a much more even balance on the actual replies, but the poll is showing a whopping 7 to 1!

It's certainly not easy to decide... but I'm leaning towards getting to Platinum first with VA in the next couple of months, then asking QF for a Status Match/Challenge per RooFlyer's advice.

(You guys sure use a lot of acronyms! )

 

[cove]

There is no one correct answer and you may find yourself using both schemes. I also find value in both but have gone further with Singapore Airlines Kris Miles and American AA miles.

 

[ric_melb]

Looks like the Virgin advocates don't like voting.

 

[Buzzard]

Looks like the Virgin advocates don't like voting.

I just voted "Stick with Virgin" but that is a "for now" vote.

I would hang around long enough to get VA Platinum with hopefully a soft landing to Gold.
With Platinum in hand I would then approach QF for the status challenge.

 

[Deleted member]

In simple terms, if you fly often and fly Long haul, the QF (IMHO) offers the best option. That said if you're also flying often domestically, there is little wrong with keeping both FF memberships.
Personally, I dont fly enough to justify two FF programs, so QF is my go to. besides the longer term (QFF) lifetime benefits are (IMO) a better option as well

 

[Moopere]

As others have suggested, I'd go with VA in the first instance. With family pooling you'll get to Plat in no time and can then think about whether you want to try for a QF status match gamble or just accrue more SC's with VA for potential partner gold - depending on whether or not your other half ever travels alone.

Though you've got quite a bit of travel planned, I'm not sure you'd get to Plat on QF, you'd want to really plan that out properly to ensure you did. First time plat on QF is no easy thing to attain without the benefit of a -heap- of (usually) work related trips.

I travel throughout SE Asia and China a -lot- and for mine, SQ does the job very very well. For your USA trips, I don't know, probably QF on balance would be the better bet, but I doubt theres much in it.

 

[Binzeeno]

Looks like the Virgin advocates don't like voting.

It's like the US democrats - don't turn out on the polling booth but make the most noise (though they did win the popular vote.....)

As others have suggested, I'd go with VA in the first instance. With family pooling you'll get to Plat in no time and can then think about whether you want to try for a QF status match gamble or just accrue more SC's with VA for potential partner gold - depending on whether or not your other half ever travels alone.

Though you've got quite a bit of travel planned, I'm not sure you'd get to Plat on QF, you'd want to really plan that out properly to ensure you did. First time plat on QF is no easy thing to attain without the benefit of a -heap- of (usually) work related trips.

This helps. I too doubt that I have enough travel (most likely to stay economy) to get to Plat on QF. Am I correct in assuming Plat on QF is much better than Plat on VA? If not, I might as well focus on Plat with VA and just put up with the connections via SQ and LAX. With VA, I seem to get decent enough lounge access for most of my routes anyway?

 

[Binzeeno]

Gold with both QF and VA would probably be the best overall option.

But if it's a choice of Qantas or Virgin I would choose Qantas simply because their international network and range of partner airlines is so much better. Virgin is alright if you only fly domestically, but if you're travelling overseas there are a LOT of gaps in Virgin's partner airline network.

I'd contact Qantas and request a status challenge based on your current Velocity status.

Is Gold on both better than Plat on one? Is Plat not worth much? (sorry for noob question - i've looked through the airline sites that explain the benefits but I haven't fully digested).

Do Plats get upgraded more easily/cheaply or is that not a thing?