Gold & platinum frequent flyer benefits: Qantas vs Virgin Australia

This article has been updated to take into account the recent relaunch of Velocity Rewards.

Gold and platinum membership of a frequent flyer program is where the benefits really start to pile up -- but you have to spend a considerable amount with the airline to achieve it.

We're tackling both gold and platinum in this installment of our week-long comparison of Qantas Frequent Flyer and Virgin Velocity Rewards because platinum is really just an incremental improvement over gold -- it's not like the massive jump between silver and gold.

As it requires some concerted loyalty to a single airline to achieve gold or platinum (which may well mean buying more expensive tickets, flying at less convenient times or flying less direct routes), the benefits are important as a form of return on investment.

Virgin has a much lower barrier to entry for Velocity Rewards Gold -- passengers only have to earn 500 status credits to achieve it, against Qantas' 700 status credits.

Both airlines make it a bit easier to retain the gold status in subsequent years -- you only have to earn 600 with Qantas Frequent Flyer or 400 with Velocity.

Qualifying for Qantas Platinum is a tall order -- 1,400 status credits to achieve it in the first year, and 1,200 to keep it in subsequent years. Virgin Velocity Platinum is much easier -- 1,000 status credits in the first year, and 800 in subsequent years.

To get some real life examples of how many flights you'd have to take to achieve gold or platinum, check out our earlier analysis: the fastest path to silver, gold, and platinum.

What you get for going gold

Free lounge access!

Gold membership is the point at which you get the truly valuable benefit of free airline lounge access.

For Qantas, that means access to all Qantas Clubs in Australia, before a Qantas domestic flight, and Qantas International Business lounges worldwide, before flying with any oneworld airline including Qantas.

Since Qantas is a member of the oneworld airline alliance, Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold members also have oneworld sapphire status, which means they can access any oneworld member airline lounge anywhere in the world, whenever they fly with any oneworld airline (doesn't have to be the same one).

Virgin Velocity Gold status gives members access to Virgin Australia lounges in Australian domestic airports (both before departure and upon arrival, provided the lounge isn't too full), as well as 130 lounges with V Australia, Etihad, Delta, Virgin Atlantic and Pacific Blue.

However, you can generally only access them when flying with those airlines. See the full details.

Earn more points

Both Qantas Frequent Flyer gold and Velocity Rewards gold members earn 75% more points.

If you've hit gold, though, chances are that you're taking a fair few business class flights.

Our analysis shows Virgin Velocity is a much more rewarding program for business class domestic flights than Qantas Frequent Flyer, as points are awarded per dollar spent rather than miles travelled.

Take a Sydney to Perth business class return fare in September 2011 for example:

• Qantas fare $3,040 - 9,186 points
  (4,082 points + 2,042 cabin points + 3,062 gold bonus points)
• Virgin fare $2,798 - 24,482 points
  (gold members earn 8.75 points per dollar)

Given the number of points needed for award flights is fairly similar between Qantas and Virgin Australia, this difference is striking -- you earn nearly three times more points with Velocity.

For international flights, the two airlines are comparable, as they both issue points based on mileage travelled, rather than dollars spent.

Higher priority for upgrades

As Australian Business Traveller reported yesterday, Qantas Frequent Flyer still has an advantage over Velocity Rewards in terms of upgrades. Virgin has improved substantially since introducing a comprehensive upgrade system, but it still lags Qantas on some important points.

Qantas Frequent Flyer has a very comprehensive system for cabin class upgrades, with an easy online system to do it for both domestic and international flights.

Because Qantas only gives upgrades if seats remain unsold on the plane, it issues them in order of Frequent Flyer status. Gold members are almost at the top of the list, only below Platinums.

Gold members can also make upgrade requests at the airport rather than having to apply for them in advance -- a capability not available to bronze or silver frequent flyers.

Baggage bonuses

Gold members get baggage allowance bonuses with both airlines.

For economy domestic, that means a total baggage allowance of 32KG free with both airlines (and Virgin has the natural advantage of still allowing any number of pieces, while Qantas limits passengers to one bag.)

For business domestic, Velocity Gold is surprisingly unrewarding -- there is no extra baggage allowance, just the 69KG that is already included with a business class ticket. Qantas gives gold members flying domestic business a second 32KG bag. That being said, Virgin's 69KG total for business class is still more than Qantas' 64KG total for gold members, so it's hard to find fault with Virgin's lack of additional baggage for gold members.

For international economy, Velocity Gold has slightly better benefits than Qantas: an extra bag with V Australia to the USA with the same weight allowance as the class booked, 10KG extra to other destinations and 15KG extra with Etihad. Qantas only provides one extra bag to the USA, or 9KG extra to other destinations.

For international business, Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold has more benefits: an extra 32KG bag to the USA and an extra 32KG weight allowance for other international destinations (but no extra bag). Velocity Gold provides an extra bag with V Australia to the USA, 10KG extra to other destinations, 15KG extra with Etihad.

However, Qantas gives gold members international priority baggage handling, whereas Virgin Australia doesn't -- and this can make quite a difference to how long you have to stand at the baggage carousel while dog-tired at the end of a long flight.

Jump the queue

Gold status gives you the ability to jump the queue as often as possible at the airport.

Virgin Velocity Gold has the benefit of kerbside access to the Virgin Lounge in Sydney Airport, which means you can go straight into the airport lounge, including private security screening. (See our review).

Qantas has the advantage of dedicated security lanes for gold and above frequent flyers in many Australian airports, though, which can be a big time saver. Virgin is phasing these in, beginning with Melbourne Airport.

Both airlines give you domestic priority check-in, but only Virgin gives priority aircraft boarding to gold members (in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth).

Qantas offers gold members international priority check-in too, at Qantas Club or business class counters, while Virgin only provides this to V Australia passengers.

Qantas also offers gold members its chip-embedded plastic card for one-touch check-in at an airport terminal, and two electronic permanent wireless bag tags, allowing bag-drop without printed labels.

Side-by-side: Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold vs Velocity Gold

Verdict: Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold has terrific benefits for international travellers. There's no question that if you fly internationally, the oneworld sapphire status is more valuable than Velocity gold, as you'll be able to get into an airport lounge as long as you are flying with a oneworld alliance airline. Velocity gold membership will really only be useful while flying on a Virgin-marketed flight.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold is not the most rewarding program for domestic business class flights, though, which is quite a problem considering people who attain gold will probably be flying business class at least some of the time. For people flying domestic business class often, Velocity Gold is a much better value program than Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold.

It's also worth bearing in mind that Velocity Gold has a lower barrier to entry than Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold. If your travel is mostly domestic, you'll be able to enjoy gold benefits sooner with Virgin than Qantas.

Platinum perks

Platinum status is an incremental benefit over gold with both Qantas and Virgin Australia.

Qantas Platinum members get all of the gold benefits above, plus:

• 100% points earning bonus rather than 75%
• oneworld emerald status (all sapphire benefits plus first class check-in with any oneworld airline)
• Access to domestic business class lounge (better food and decor than the standard Qantas Club)
• Access to international first class lounges where available
• Use of the lounge on arrival, not just pre-departure
• At 2,400 status credits, choice of a gold membership to give to a friend, three valet parking or chauffeured transfer vouchers, or 50,000 points.
• For domestic economy and business flights, two 32KG bags free
• Extra 23KG bag to USA, 41KG extra to other international destinations.
• Use of first class counters to check-in

If you've skipped reading the gold section above, do go back and read it, because the same caveats that apply to Qantas Frequent Flyer gold largely apply to platinum as well.

Velocity Rewards Platinum provides the above benefits of Velocity Gold plus:

• 100% points bonus rather than 75% on Virgin Australia group airlines
• Free upgrades from time to time
• Priority economy seat purchase
• Free gold membership to give to a companion at 1,500 status credits, and then free platinum membership at 2,000 status credits.
• A higher level of Membership with IHG/Hilton Hhonors, Hertz/Europcar

Gold better than platinum?

The most important one to bear in mind is that Velocity Rewards provides far more points for domestic business class flights than Qantas.

Take a Sydney to Perth business class return fare in September 2011 for example:

• Qantas fare $3,040 - 10,206 points
  (4,082 points + 2,042 cabin points + 4,082 platinum bonus points)
• Virgin fare $2,798 - 27,980 points
  (10 points per dollar)

For international flights, the two airlines are now more or less equivalent. Take Sydney to London return economy as an example:

• Qantas ($2720, direct): 42,344 points
  21,172 mileage points, 21,172 platinum bonus points
• V Australia ($2739 via Abu Dhabi): 43,962 points
  21,846 mileage points, 21,846 platinum bonus points

Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum vs Velocity Platinum

Verdict: Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum has some great status benefits -- access to first class lounges before international flights is a real pleasure, and the domestic business class lounges are a cut above the Qantas Club, too.

It's not the most rewarding program for domestic business class flights, though, which is quite a problem considering most people who achieve platinum will be flying business class often.

For people flying domestic business class often, Velocity Gold is actually a better choice than Qantas Platinum.

Qantas Frequent Flyer vs Velocity: the in-depth analysis 

1. Which program gives more points for domestic flights?
2. Which program earns the most points for international flights? 
3. Which program gets you to silver/gold the fastest? 
4. Ease of getting upgrades 
5. How paid lounge membership compares
6. How silver perks compare
7. How gold and platinum perks compare [you are here]

danwarne