Velocity points everywhere I look
Oct 20, 2016, 5:02 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Programs: Velocity
Posts: 11
Velocity points everywhere I look
Is it just me or have Velocity points become so common that the bank I have been working on for years is cheapening by the day? You get them buying a car, signing a home loan, joining a gym and now they throw status credits in with your groceries??? The new fare classes were designed to flush out Gold/Platinum members but no more than two months later they're gifting it to people who might fly LESS than those losing their status. The only result of all of these giveaway points is that redemption on meaningful tickets becomes harder and harder.
Oct 20, 2016, 5:29 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,026
Velocity is a separate company to Virgin and with different ownership. Selling frequent flyer miles/points for cash to airlines, credit card companies, retail outlets & others is a good profitable business. (Better than the airline business:-high capital & *** employees).
Oct 21, 2016, 12:31 am
#4
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Lifetime *G (MP), Lifetime PE (Bonvoy)
Posts: 1,465
Oct 21, 2016, 3:10 am
#5
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SYD
Programs: |QF Platinum|DL Platinum|HH Gold|ALL Silver|
Posts: 1,738
You shouldn't treat your points as a 'bank'. Your points have been devalued faster than cash in a zero interest rate environment and saving them up to use a long tome in the future only results in pain.
All the ways you can earn Velocity points is similar to how you have been able to earn QFF points for a long time, including on mortgages. QFF earns more profit in certain years than Qantas makes from flying.
The best way to be rewarded for loyalty to an airline is to buy their fully flexible First or Business Class fares.
All the ways you can earn Velocity points is similar to how you have been able to earn QFF points for a long time, including on mortgages. QFF earns more profit in certain years than Qantas makes from flying.
The best way to be rewarded for loyalty to an airline is to buy their fully flexible First or Business Class fares.
Oct 22, 2016, 5:41 am
#6
Join Date: May 2006
Location: GA
Programs: VA-PLT, QF-GLD, DL-GM, UA-ex1K, AA-exPLT, HH-DM, IHG-PLT, MR-GLD
Posts: 8,242
If you are still saying that people don't 'fly' enough to earn points, it does seem that you are not really separating Velocity from Virgin Australia.
Oct 23, 2016, 4:16 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Programs: Velocity
Posts: 11
You shouldn't treat your points as a 'bank'. Your points have been devalued faster than cash in a zero interest rate environment and saving them up to use a long tome in the future only results in pain.
All the ways you can earn Velocity points is similar to how you have been able to earn QFF points for a long time, including on mortgages. QFF earns more profit in certain years than Qantas makes from flying.
The best way to be rewarded for loyalty to an airline is to buy their fully flexible First or Business Class fares.
All the ways you can earn Velocity points is similar to how you have been able to earn QFF points for a long time, including on mortgages. QFF earns more profit in certain years than Qantas makes from flying.
The best way to be rewarded for loyalty to an airline is to buy their fully flexible First or Business Class fares.
Once again - not questioning Velocity's profitability.
Buying fully flexible tickets does not earn you any more loyalty from the airline, it simply gets you rewards quicker with more legroom in the process.
Oct 23, 2016, 4:17 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Programs: Velocity
Posts: 11
Oct 23, 2016, 5:19 pm
#10
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SYD
Programs: |QF Platinum|DL Platinum|HH Gold|ALL Silver|
Posts: 1,738
I lost hundreds of thousands of points when Ansett went under, and watch helplessly as my points with QF, AA, DL and other programs lose their utility whenever they 'enhance' their 'loyalty' programs. They are marketing and data mining schemes and as soon as I have enough to redeem for a flight I'm taking and can reduce the cost, I do that and bank the saving rather than the points.
Oct 24, 2016, 12:03 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Lifetime *G (MP), Lifetime PE (Bonvoy)
Posts: 1,465
I regard Velocity as a largely domestic airline (including NZ which I regard as a domestic destination) and a single overseas destination - LA. Other flights are all operated by partners who will make seat availability much more for their own members than their partners such as Virgin. SQ is a prime example - plenty of availability if you log on to KF, woeful availability via Velocity, and that's always been the case
Oct 25, 2016, 7:06 pm
#12
Join Date: May 2006
Location: GA
Programs: VA-PLT, QF-GLD, DL-GM, UA-ex1K, AA-exPLT, HH-DM, IHG-PLT, MR-GLD
Posts: 8,242
I regard Velocity as a largely domestic airline (including NZ which I regard as a domestic destination) and a single overseas destination - LA. Other flights are all operated by partners who will make seat availability much more for their own members than their partners such as Virgin. SQ is a prime example - plenty of availability if you log on to KF, woeful availability via Velocity, and that's always been the case
I'm not sure the partner availability is THAT bad. Certainly Etihad and Delta have been approximately equal when comparing direction redemption with Velocity redemption from my experience.
BTW Velocity is not an airline...
Oct 28, 2016, 2:45 am
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,330
Is it just me or have Velocity points become so common that the bank I have been working on for years is cheapening by the day? You get them buying a car, signing a home loan, joining a gym and now they throw status credits in with your groceries???
The new fare classes were designed to flush out Gold/Platinum members but no more than two months later they're gifting it to people who might fly LESS than those losing their status. The only result of all of these giveaway points is that redemption on meaningful tickets becomes harder and harder.
Velocity is tame.
Oct 28, 2016, 5:28 pm
#14
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Lifetime *G (MP), Lifetime PE (Bonvoy)
Posts: 1,465
Nov 3, 2016, 7:55 am
#15
Join Date: May 2006
Location: GA
Programs: VA-PLT, QF-GLD, DL-GM, UA-ex1K, AA-exPLT, HH-DM, IHG-PLT, MR-GLD
Posts: 8,242
Since Velocity points can be transferred to KF, its quite a silly complaint to say that you can find the flights on KF that you want, but not with VA. So transfer your points and book them then. Easy. Ok so there may be a small loss in the transfer rate but that is an entirely different complaint to saying flights aren't available to you.