I made a conscious decision to quit earning VS points late last year after several unannounced devaluations and the ever increasing surcharges ex-US on VS metal. I also cancelled my two BoA VS credit cards. Still I am sitting at mid-six figures worth of points. At this point ex-US J redemptions surcharges are a few hundred dollars less than a cash ticket so the only use of VS points for me are partner redemptions and one-ways back to the US on VS metal where I can leverage the somewhat less crazy ex-XX surcharges. I mean I would get less than a half a cent a point value booking a VS J flight ex-US these days. I honestly find it interesting there is no mention of surcharges, while it wasn't entirely a good thing I have found BA's RFS to make BA far more attractive to me when I want a direct flight from US to LHR.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Obviously the concern here is something Delta-like but VS doesn't have the scope of Delta (or BA) so I think that would be reward program suicide but that isn't to say they won't do it. I am hoping for something more like AF where there is decent saver award space (though you may have to look a bit harder for it at times) and the crazy last seat pricing which I just ignore.

And on the bright side at least they gave us a heads up which is more than the last few "enhancements" they have done.