Virgin looks to offload 5 million seats to frequent flyers

Forget paying for an airline seat. Virgin Australia is asking passengers to use points for any domestic flight they want to take.

Velocity CEO Nick Rohrlach is putting every economy seat on every domestic flight available for points redemption. Picture: Dallas Kilponen

Virgin Australia is making every economy seat on its planes eligible for purchase using Velocity points to help fill aircraft and allow members to work through massive stockpiles of points accumulated throughout the Covid pandemic.

For Monday and Tuesday only, every economy seat on every domestic flight will be available for points redemption for travel from December 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022.

Velocity CEO Nick Rohrlach said the move effectively meant 5 million “reward seats” were up for grabs for as little as 7800 points.

“Velocity members will be able to choose their preferred flight, and any available economy seat that can be purchased with cash will also be available as a reward seat using points, and there’s no blackout dates – not even for the night before Christmas,” said Mr Rohrlach.

“We’re putting the power back in Velocity members’ hands to use their points their way. If they want to take a flight, they can choose the flight that best suits them. If they don’t have enough points for their reward, then they can buy points with a 20 per cent discount.”

The move highlighted the fierce competition among airlines as domestic travel capacity boomed heading into the summer holiday season.

Qantas and Virgin Australia both plan to have all of their staff stood up from December 1, with a packed domestic flying schedule planned.

Qantas frequent flyers also recently boosted the number of reward seats available for redemption and launched a new “status matching” program to attract other airlines’ most loyal customers.

With 14 million members, Qantas frequent flyers had the edge on Velocity, with just over 10 million members.

But it was engagement that mattered most, with airline partners unwilling to buy points to distribute to customers if they were not considered valuable.

Mr Rohrlach said Virgin was an airline that “did things differently” and the latest offer was a great example of that.

“We are reinventing what it means to be a Velocity member and just how easy it is to use points,” he said.

“We’re also extremely focused on bringing more value to our members, whether that’s through our long list of everyday earn partners, or offering some of the lowest priced redemptions seats than any other Australian carrier.”

A one-way flight from Sydney to the Gold Coast would require 7800 points, while 11,800 points were needed for Melbourne to the Gold Coast.

Routes such as Melbourne-Perth and Perth-Sydney were among the most “costly” at 17,800 points.

Mr Rohrlach said in the past fortnight the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane triangle had received the most interest from Velocity members seeking reward seats, with more than 100 million points redeemed on those routes.

“It’s also clear that members are using points for beach holidays, with flights to Cairns and the Gold Coast more popular for points bookings than pre-Covid,” he said.

“Unsurprisingly, services between Perth and Broome are more popular than ever for points redemption bookings, which is consistent with the current West Australian border restrictions.”