Tonty I think you're pretty much spot on.
Yes VS could have communicated this better and given decent notice. But we don't know the exact reason they've done it: for all we know there could have been an incident that forced them to take immediate action.
Or, as International Hitman suggested up thread, if +1s were being publicly offered to all and sundry on Twitter VS may have had to crack down to stop it getting out of hand. A discreet arrangement between two V-Flyers is one thing but Twitter is quite another and for all we know the CH reception could have been suddenly inundated with people trying it on because they'd seen a tweet.
So yes, in an ideal world VS would have given advance notice. But perhaps they had no choice but to act immediately. We don't know so it's unfair to judge them.