And to add to that, they have also removed the ability to use platinum upgrade with 3+ seats still available - it is now only upgradeable if a points seat is available.
Compared to Qantas Platinum 1, the Platinum Plus program is really a joke. Platinum 1 release seats all time - Virgin, cant even ask. Platinum Upgrades are again useless as they have decreased flights and never have business seats for upgrade. Even trying to buy business with the reduced schedule is hard. sometimes with no seats even for sale a week out.
The only think I think they could do would be to allow Beyond lounge membership for platinum plus (maybe at 2,500 status credits or something - at present there is no incentive once you have lifetime gold and have qualified for platinum plus). I will still have Platinum Plus due to amount of flying but Virgin gets about 25% of my domestic flying and my strong preference is now Qantas - better lounges, better treatment, larger network, international flights, more seats released, more flights and fly forward / same day changes that actually available (which is never available with Virgin business as they grant all the $50 upgrades the night before so no seats are for sale on the day).
While business class might seem to be cheaper on Virgin, due to the above, it comes with no real effective flexibility - I can see why Virgin cant win in the corporate market and most people stick with Qantas.
