Stick with Velocity Gold or chase Platinum?

15 replies

Tim Saunders

Member since 13 Sep 2016

Total posts 30

I've attained Velocity Gold and could chase Platinum but I honestly don't know if it's worth it. It would involves a few special 'status run' flights just so I could get to Platinum, I'm halfway there already, but can any Velocity Platinums tell me of the big differences if any compared to their experiences as Gold?

MattJelonek

Turkish Airlines - Miles & Smiles

Member since 08 Jun 2014

Total posts 90

Stick with Gold. Unless flying a few times a year overseas on EY... not worth it

ap_spd

Member since 12 Jul 2013

Total posts 28

If you can, then would suggest you do it.

1. Free Economy X seating
2. Soft landing to gold
3. Retaining is easier than attaining, so next year less SC needed to maintain platinum

banana0692

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 03 Oct 2016

Total posts 11

It depends on how much cost and effort it will take you. There is currently double SC promotion for flights booked between Australia and New Zealand if that helps you. I am about to get 360SC for $1000.


In addition to above you also get 1 year of Hilton Diamond status. This is a 1 time thing and you are unable to get it again even if you requalify for Platinum.

You also get some "soft" benefits or extra care when things go wrong such as priority re booking if your flight is cancelled.

adygry

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 04 Jul 2015

Total posts 21

It's not worth it, especially compared to QF Platinum (better lounge access as an example). Anyone can buy row 3 now, plus the rest of the usable benefits you can get with Gold (fly head, priority board/bags, lounge). I found the complimentary fare upgrades nice to have, but more often than not they were useless as can only be used on Freedom fares.

jch

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 15 Nov 2017

Total posts 143

I got Platinum from cheap business fares to China on Hainan/Capital airlines. Its quite good to buy a Getaway fare for domestic work travel and get the free lounge, baggage and economy X. Also been taking advantage of the upgrades with family trips SYD-PER, but wouldn't pay a the premium for a flexible fare for a SYD/MEL or SYD/BNE.

mickp99

Member since 06 Mar 2015

Total posts 3

I think it is worth it. Free economy X. Four business class upgrades on full fare economy. Complimentary fly ahead.

Russjking

Member since 12 Aug 2017

Total posts 31

Like the original post, I am almost at Platinum. The tangible benefit is to get free Economy-Plus seats. However my real wish is to get the business class upgrades (four per year I think). However you have to buy the most expensive Economy seat (Freedom?) to be eligible. Still cheaper than business class, but is it guaranteed? Has anyone used this perk?

waratahbay

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 14 Mar 2018

Total posts 6

I use the four upgrades year in and year out. However, they are not guaranteed to be available on every flight. What I do is check online the flights I want to take and then ring the Service Centre to see whether they will apply the upgrade on these flights and, if yes, we go ahead and book Freedom and then apply the certificate. Flights to NZ are included, too.

cardjunkie

Member since 07 Apr 2013

Total posts 1

I managed to reach Platinum through a bit of strategic family pooling and work flights over a 6 months period. While the extra lounge guests isn’t that much of a plus for me, the free Economy X upgrade is great - particularly on a 6am or late work flight, I’ve made use of 2 of my four Business upgrades so far and the fact I never seem to get bumped from my flight when there are delays. So if you can do it without it costing an arm and a leg, then yeah it’s worth it.

jch

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 15 Nov 2017

Total posts 143

I've used the free upgrades to Perth and there was good availability a couple of months ago even for the Xmas period. If there is a business award available for the flight you can then call up to upgrade your freedom to businees. Works out about double a cheap economy seat or half price of a business ticket. As said above not really worth it for the 1.5h hops but good on transcontinental routes. Just keep an eye out for change of aircraft as my 9am flight in the A330 ' the business' was switched to a 737 without notice, luckily was able to switch to the 7am without any fees and just had the upgrade reapplied to the new flight.

Last editedby jch at Nov 24, 2018, 10:52 AM.

xtfer

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 14 Mar 2017

Total posts 159

The benefits are nice, but its NOT WORTH IT if you have to pay for status runs, since you can just pay for Economy X, and the free upgrades are situational (I have used 1 in the last 12 months).

GB18

Member since 24 Oct 2018

Total posts 16

What value do you place on economy x I guess? Are you someone who regularly flys SYD - MEL for example, I attain my status each year typically on longer routes in premium cabins so I don’t value economy x all that much, although if I flew SYD - MEL or BNE once a week I’d certainly chase platinum.

njb

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 28 Feb 2018

Total posts 4

If a heavy domestic user, worth it for the X seats and priority seat selection when booking. Free upgrades not too shabby either

NoAngelNZ

Member since 29 Nov 2018

Total posts 14

I always thought the upgrades would be pointless as I'd never book a Freedom fare, however I'm doing WLG-PER return (via BNE) at Christmas and on 3 of the 4 legs, only Freedom was available, so I rang Velocity to check if there were business upgrades available on all four and there were, they booked the flights and so I managed to get a business class return trip for $1600 return from NZ which is pretty amazing. Other than that, and the soft landing to gold, I don't get any extra benefit from platinum. But the platinum card makes me happy every time I open my wallet :D

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