Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer Award Booking Instructions

Virgin Australia is the second-largest Australian airline behind Qantas and under the Virgin Group corporate umbrella, the same holding company that owns Virgin Atlantic. For most of its history, Virgin Australia operated almost exclusively in Australia. However, in recent years, the airline has been expanding its international network and now serves destinations such as Doha, Rome, London, Athens, Paris, Tokyo, Bali and more.

Virgin Australia also operates its own frequent flyer program called Velocity Frequent Flyer, which is only available to residents of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. So, if you don’t have legal residency in one of the aforementioned countries, you won’t be able to earn or redeem points through the Velocity Frequent Flyer program.

If you do live in an eligible country, signing up for the Velocity Frequent Flyer program could help you save a lot of money on flights with Virgin Australia and its airline partners. With this program, you can earn Velocity points in a variety of ways and then redeem those points for free flights on Virgin Australia or one of its airline partners (some of which include Air Canada, ANA, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic).

But, navigating the process of redeeming points for award flights through the Velocity Frequent Flyer program can be a little confusing. So, in this article, we’re going to give you a step-by-step-guide on how to book award flights with Virgin Australia Velocity points.

Joining Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer

Before you can earn or redeem points through the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, you’ll need to be a member of the program. To join Velocity Frequent Flyer, visit the Virgin Australia website and click the “Log in” button in the top-right corner of the homepage.

Select the “Velocity Frequent Flyer” option from the drop-down menu that appears. You’ll then be redirected to a new sign-in page, where you’ll need to click the “Join Velocity for free” button near the bottom of the page.

On the next page, you’ll enter some personal information, including your country of residence (which must be either Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga or Vanuatu), title, name, date of birth and email address. Then, click the red “Continue” button at the bottom of the page.

From here, you’ll be asked to create a password, security question and PIN, which you’ll use to sign in to your Velocity Frequent Flyer account in the future. You also have to provide your home address and your phone number.

Finally, accept the terms and conditions and click the red “Join” button at the bottom of the page. Once you’ve done so, you’ll be assigned a Velocity Frequent Flyer account number, which you can use to sign in to your account and earn Velocity points in the future. You should also receive a welcome email containing this number.

How to Earn Virgin Australia Velocity Points

As a member of the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, you’re eligible to both earn and redeem Velocity points. However, before you start booking award flights through this program, you’ll need to earn enough points to afford one. Currently, the minimum price for an award flight through Velocity Frequent Flyer is 6,200 points (which is the minimum price for a domestic Virgin Australia award flight under 601 miles), so you’ll need to have at least that many points in your account balance to book an award flight.

There are many ways to earn Velocity points. However, some of these earning methods are far more effective than others. So, in the following sections, we’re going to briefly look at some of the most effective ways to earn points so that you can quickly save up enough for an award flight.

Transfer Credit Card Points

If you have a credit card from certain issuers in one of the eligible Velocity Frequent Flyer countries, you can transfer points from your credit card rewards program to the Velocity Frequent Flyer program. Some of these credit card rewards programs include American Express, Bank of Melbourne, Citi, HSBC and more.

The transfer ratio depends on the credit card program you’re transferring from, the credit card you have from each issuer and the country you live in. For example, if you have a Citi Prestige or Citi Strata Premier® Card, you can transfer Citi points to Velocity Frequent Flyer at a 2:1 ratio. However, if you have the Citi Rewards card, you can transfer Citi points to Velocity Frequent Flyer at a 2.5:1 ratio.

For instance, if you had the Citi Prestige card (registered in Australia, New Zealand or one of the other eligible countries) and you transferred 60,000 Citi points to Velocity Frequent Flyer, you would receive 30,000 Velocity points.

For many Velocity members, this is a great way to earn Velocity points through everyday spending.

Virgin Australia Velocity Co-Branded Credit Cards

Another very effective way to earn Velocity points is to sign up for one of the many Virgin Australia Velocity co-branded credit cards. These credit cards allow you to earn Velocity points directly for making everyday purchases as well as elevated spending bonuses in special categories.

There’s a wide variety of Velocity co-branded credit cards from different issuers, each of which have different welcome bonuses, spending bonuses, perks and annual fees. Here are a few of the Velocity co-branded credit cards you may want to consider if you live in an eligible country:

• The American Express Velocity Escape Plus Card ($95 annual fee)
• The American Express Velocity Platinum Card ($440 annual fee)
• Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Card ($149 annual fee)
• Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Card ($329 annual fee)
• Westpac Altitude Black Credit Card with Velocity Points ($175 annual fee plus $75 annual Rewards Program Fee)
• Westpac Altitude Platinum Credit Card with Velocity Points ($150 annual fee for the first year, then $295 annual fee)

Some of these credit card offers also include valuable benefits, such as complimentary Virgin Australia flights, airport lounge access and more. So, if you fly with Virgin Australia often, it’s definitely worth looking into one of these co-branded credit cards.

Flying with Virgin Australia and Partner Airlines

Another good way to earn Velocity points is to take paid flights on Virgin Australia or one of its eligible airline partners. In order to earn Velocity points for your flight, you’ll need to select Velocity Frequent Flyer as your frequent flyer program of choice and then enter your membership number either when booking your flight or when checking in for your flight. The amount of time it takes for Velocity points to land in your account depends on the airline you fly with. However, at times it can take up to four to six weeks.

The number of Velocity points you’ll earn for flying on Virgin Australia depends on the cost of your airfare. If you’re a Red member in the Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer program (the basic, entry-level status tier), you’ll earn 5X points per Australian dollar spent on your airfare. So, if you were to book a Virgin Australia flight for 300 Australian dollars and you were a Red member, you’d earn 1,500 Velocity points (300 Australian dollars x 5 = 1,500 Velocity points).

If you have elite status in the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, you’ll earn even more points per Australian dollar spent on Virgin Australia flights. Silver members earn 50% more points, Gold members earn 75% more points and Platinum members earn 100% more points. So, for example, if you took that same Virgin Australia flight that cost 300 Australian dollars and you were a Platinum member, you’d earn 3,000 Velocity points with your elite status bonus.

On top of earning Velocity points from flights on Virgin Australia, you can also earn points on flights with Virgin Australia’s partner airlines. While Virgin Australia doesn’t belong to any airline alliance, it does have a fairly extensive list of partners that you can earn with. Here are those partner airlines:

Unlike Virgin Australia flights, partner flights accumulate Velocity points based on the actual distance of your flight (in miles), your fare type and your fare class. To view the earning table for a specific partner airline, you need to visit the partner airlines page of the Virgin Australia website and click on the partner you plan on flying with.

From there, you’ll multiply the distance of your flight in miles (which you find using tools like Great Circle Mapper) by the percentage associated with your fare class to find out how many Velocity points you could earn on your partner flight.

How to Book Award Flights Through Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer

Once you have enough points in your account to afford an award flight through the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, you can begin the booking process by visiting the Virgin Australia website and signing into your Velocity account. To log in, click the red “Log in” button in the top-right corner of the homepage and then select “Velocity Frequent Flyer” from the drop-down menu that appears. You’ll then need to enter your account credentials and click the “Log in” button at the bottom of the page.

Once you’ve successfully logged in, you can return to the Virgin Australia homepage and scroll down until you find the flight booking tool box. To search for award flights, click the “Use Velocity Points” toggle button near the upper-left corner of the box.

From there, the process of booking an award flight is very similar to booking a cash flight. You’ll enter your departure and arrival airport and click the “Next” button at the bottom of the page.

After that, you’ll be brought to a calendar view, where you can choose whether you want to fly round-trip or one-way and then select the desired dates for your flights. Once you’ve done that, click the “Next” button at the bottom of the page again.

On the next page, you’ll see a summary of the search parameters you’ve entered and you’ll also be asked to input passenger information (including how many adults and how many children will be flying on your itinerary). Then, click the “Let’s fly” button to conduct your search.

On the next page, you’ll be shown all flight results that match your search query, including flights operated by Virgin Australia as well as any of its partner airlines. These flight results can also be sorted by price, departure time, arrival time, number of stops and flight duration.

Once you identify a flight you’re interested in, click on the cabin class next to that flight. When you do that, several different fare options will appear (such as Lite or Choice) as well as what’s included with each fare, such as baggage allowance, seat selection, cancellation and change options. Select the fare you want and add it to your itinerary. Repeat this process for your return flight if you’re flying round-trip.

After you select the flights you want to book, you’ll be able to see the total number of Velocity points and total taxes and fees required for your award flight itinerary.

You’ll then need to enter some personal information for anyone traveling on your itinerary, including name, date of birth, country of residence, home address, email address and phone number. You’ll also be able to select your seat if that’s an option with your fare class.

Finally, you’ll need to enter a payment method to cover any applicable taxes and fees for your itinerary. Once you’ve done so, you can confirm your award flight booking and you’ll receive a confirmation number, which you’ll need to check in for your flight. You should also receive a confirmation email with this number.

If you wish to cancel your award flight booking, you may not incur a fee if you submit your cancellation request within 24 hours of making your booking. However, if you cancel your award flight more than 24 hours after you made your booking, you’ll incur a fee of 4,500 Velocity points or 35 Australian dollars per traveler for Virgin Australia domestic bookings or, for Virgin Australia international or partner bookings, you’ll incur a fee 7,500 Velocity points or 60 Australian dollars per traveler. Cancellations cannot be made within 24 hours of the first scheduled departure time (which means you wouldn’t be issued a refund).

The Bottom Line

Through Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer program, members can earn Velocity points in a variety of ways, including transferring points from credit card rewards programs, spending on Virgin Australia co-branded credit cards, taking paid flights with Virgin Australia or one of its partner airlines and more.

These Velocity points can then be redeemed in a variety of ways. However, the best way to maximize the value of Velocity points is to redeem them for award flights with Virgin Australia or one of its partner airlines. Luckily, the Virgin Australia website makes it very easy to search for and book award flights with Velocity points.

Unfortunately, you aren’t eligible to join the Velocity Frequent Flyer program unless you’re a resident of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga or Vanuatu. So, at the current time, if you don’t live in one of those countries, this program will be of no use to you.

But, if you do live in one of the aforementioned countries and you occasionally fly with Virgin Australia, you should definitely look into the Velocity Frequent Flyer program as it could save you lots of money on future flights.