Virgin Australia’s Velocity members seek seats on other airlines including Etihad, Delta

Velocity members have rushed to use points stockpiled during Covid to secure seats on partner airlines. Here’s how many points you’ll need for the top destinations.

Virgin Australia’s frequent flyers have rushed to use Velocity points on other airlines including Etihad Airways following the reopning of international borders. Picture: Etihad

Virgin Australia frequent flyers have burned through 150 million Velocity points in three days to secure seats on international flights with other airlines.

Since announcing Velocity members could use points with “partner airlines” such as Etihad Airways, Delta, Air Canada and Hawaiian, Virgin’s website has been swamped with demand for redemptions.

Seats with Etihad were the most sought after on routes including Abu Dhabi to Sydney, Abu Dhabi to Melbourne and Abu Dhabi to London and Rome.

Sydney-Los Angeles with Delta Air Lines was the fifth most popular, followed by Virgin’s own services between Sydney and Fiji.

At least 75,000 points were needed for flights with Etihad from Sydney to Rome or Paris, or 139,000 for a business class seats.

Velocity members hoping to score a seat in economy on a Delta flight from Sydney to Los Angeles needed at least 44,800 points, or 95,500 for business.

Flying to Fiji with Virgin required a points balance of at least 17,800, or 35,500 for a seat upfront.

Although Virgin had retained its partnership with Singapore Airlines, Velocity members were not yet able to use their points with the carrier.

They could continue to earn status credits and points on eligible bookings with Singapore Airlines however.

Velocity frequent flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach said the first three days of November had been the airline’s biggest for redemptions with members burning through 50 million points each day.

“What we’ve seen in terms of customer behaviour and points redemptions in the first two days of this week signals a really strong return to the skies for our passengers and our business,” Mr Rohrlach said.

“It’s so exciting to see Velocity members getting back in the air and making the most of our extended partner network to hundreds of destinations across the world.”

Nick Rohrlach, CEO of Velocity at Virgin Australia. Picture: Dallas Kilponen/Virgin Australia

Mr Rohrlach said the option to use points on international travel with Virgin Australia’s partners, had also led to the highest rate of conversions from searches to bookings since 2018.

“On Tuesday, we experienced one of the busiest days we’ve had in Velocity Points expenditure on international travel,” he said.

“Velocity members are also putting their points to use on our domestic network, especially as we ramp up in the lead up to the summer season.”

The response to the Velocity offer aligned with the findings of a travel survey undertaken by Celebrity Cruises.

More than 1,000 people took part in the survey with almost half (45 per cent) nominating travel for leisure as their top priority in 2022.

Of those, a third were planning longer, more expensive, multi-destination trips abroad, and anticipated spending an average $8,000 a person.

A little more than 40 per cent said not being able to travel overseas had impacted their wellbeing over the last 20-months.

With restrictions now starting to ease, Italy topped travel wish lists followed by the UK and Greece, then France, Spain and Portugal.

Virgin was preparing to resume regular international services for the first time since March 2020 on December 16 with flights to Fiji.

New Zealand and Bali were expected to follow as travel restrictions eased and Australia opened up to international visitors.