While some of the recent changes to the Velocity program have been negative, there are also some improvements coming through. As of December 1, 2018 there are a couple small, but significant, changes to Status Credit earning.
The first change increases the minimum Status Credit earn from 5 to 7 Status Credits. The second adds the ability to earn Status Credits on some Air Canada code-share flights.
Minimum Status Credit earn increased
Velocity will be increasing the minimum status credit earn from 5 to 7 status credits as of December 1. This may seem like a small change, and for a single flight it is, but working through the mathematics of the effect of the change is telling.
Consider that it only applies to Getaway fares (i.e the cheap ones), when flying less that 750 miles. So, we are looking at short hops, say from Sydney – Melbourne. At 5 Status Credits one way, you need to make 50 return trips to make it through to Gold status. By boosting the minimum to 7 Status Credits, you are now down to 30 return trips – something that might be easier for many than the 50 return trips.
As a point of comparison, on Qantas you would need to make 35 return trips on the red-e-deals to get to Gold. So, it does seem to be a bit of trying to line things up against the competition a bit better.
Air Canada code-shares
The second change adds Status Credit earning to VA code-shares on a number of Air Canada operated flights. From December 1, Velocity members flying on an Air Canada operated flight with a Virgin Australia flight number between Los Angeles and Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto will earn Status Credits.
This is quite an improvement. To date, while you have been able to earn points on the code-share flights, they were not awarding Status Credits. The reasons for this were never clear, but at least from December 1 this anomaly will be removed.