Virgin Australia announces changes to Velocity frequent flyer program

Virgin has just announced a one million domestic reward seat sale, along with changes to its loyalty program. The devil is in the detail, here’s how it will affect you.

Virgin Australia’s Velocity frequent flyers will now be able to secure a one-way domestic economy flight for as little as 5900 points.

But they will have to pay more to get more status credits on flights overall, as the airline makes a number of changes to its program.

From April 2, 2025, status credits will not be calculated on route and fare type. Instead, it will be based on fare type and price.

Members on Choice, Flex and Business Class fares will earn 1 status credit per $12 spent and Lite fares will earn 1 status credit per $24 spent.

Points hack expert Steve Hui from iFLYflat said while it takes the “gamification” out of the program, it will be fairer as travellers can work out how much they need to pay to achieve their status.

“The status is now based on how much you paid for the ticket. So if you paid $240 for a Choice ticket you will get 20 status credits, compared to a Choice domestic fare from Sydney to Melbourne which earns 15 credits at the moment,” he said.

“And if you pay $800, you’ll get 66 status credits vs getting the same 15 status credits.

“It’s what all airlines are doing, we’ve seen it in America, it’s a trend all airlines are moving away from sectors to price.

“It’s not unusual, their business is to make money and the more money you spend the more you get.”

A Virgin Australia is changing its Velocity frequent flyers program. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Mr Hui said the change makes Virgin’s frequent flyer program more competitive than Qantas which recently introduced its Classic Plus Rewards which are dynamically priced.

“With Qantas you need to have 700 status credits to get to Gold, 14,000 to get to lifetime Gold and with Virgin you need 12,000 for lifetime Gold and normal Gold status is 500 status credits,” he said.

“It’s still lower than Qantas and they deliberately ensure that’s the case.”

In a bid to soften the blow, Virgin also launched a one-million domestic-seat reward sale for four days starting Thursday (today) until Sunday October 20. However, these flights are expected to disappear very quickly.

Among the other changes, which will roll out over the next 12 months, members will now earn four points per $1 spent on eligible Virgin Australia flights, instead of five - except if they use a Velocity points-earning credit card.

Points hack expert Steve Hui from iFLYflat. Picture: Supplied

Meanwhile, the number of points required to redeem reward seats on partner airlines will also increase across a number of cabins and routes from January 21, 2025.

The number of status credits earnt while flying with partner airlines will also reduce from October 1, 2025.

On top of that, in order to upgrade or maintain status with the airline, customers will also have to earn at least 50 per cent of their credits on Virgin Australia marketed flights.

This may surprise travellers planning international trips, especially after Qatar Airways announced plans to buy a 25 per cent stake in the airline earlier this month in a bid to increase competition with Qantas and boost international connectivity.

“I was thinking, like a lot of people, that Virgin was trying to get back into the international market,” Finder points expert Angus Kidman said.

“Certainly, in the near term, the competitive distance between Qantas and Virgin has grown a bit in Qantas’s favour – that gap is a little bit bigger than it was before.”

Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian

“The bottom line is Velocity points are going to be worth a little less and it’s going to be a little harder to earn them and redeem them,” Mr Kidman said.

“They’ve also said that on most routes you are going to require more points to actually get hold of a flight, so ultimately you’re going to need to spend more.”

There is a little bit of good news for elite members, with two new categories of high-level memberships joining the ranks: Forever Gold and Platinum Plus.

From October 1, 2025, Forever Gold members will be eligible for Gold Status benefits for a lifetime including access to Virgin Australia and select partner loungers, priority check-in and boarding, preferential seating and more. All status credits from February 1, 2013 will be counted when calculating eligibility.

Platinum Plus members recognises frequent flyers who will be classified as a ‘VIP’ with access to benefits including an Australian-based VIP phone service, priority recognition when flying, the ability to get a Companion Platinum Membership, and four complimentary Business Class upgrades that can be used on certain fares.

“Today’s changes to the Velocity program represent our focus and investment in areas that matter most to our members,” Velocity Frequent Flyer chief executive Nick Rohrlach said.

But the loyalty program boss acknowledged the new suite of changes needed to be “balanced by adjustments to other areas” of the program to ensure it remains competitive.

Originally published as Virgin Australia announces changes to Velocity frequent flyer program