Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer Program Guide: Everything You Need to Know

The second-largest airline in Australia behind Qantas, Virgin Australia has had a major footprint in Oceania and Southeast Asia for over a decade. However, in recent years, Virgin Australia has been continuing to expand its international route network and now operates several long-haul international flights out of its main hubs in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. In fact, the airline even began operating routes to Los Angeles in 2020.

Unfortunately, you currently cannot 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, if you aren’t a resident of any of these countries, this article isn’t very relevant to you.

With this program, you can earn Velocity Points by flying with Virgin Australia or one of its airline partners, by spending on co-branded credit cards, by renting cars, by booking hotel stays and in many other ways. Then, you can redeem those Velocity Points for award flights, upgrades, merchandise, donations and more.

Another major way for members to rack up Velocity Points is to transfer points from Citi Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards and other credit card rewards programs. This is probably the best way to boost your balance quickly.

If you live in Australia or one of the other eligible countries, you’ll definitely want to join the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, especially if you fly with Virgin Australia often. This program offers some high-value redemptions for premium-cabin Virgin Australia flights as well as premium-cabin flights on partners like Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways and Delta Air Lines.

In this article, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about the Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer program, including elite status, how to earn Velocity Points, how to redeem Velocity Points and which of those redemption options offer the most value.

Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer Program Overview

Virgin Australia is a relatively new player in the airline industry, having only been formed in 2000 under the name “Virgin Blue” with two aircraft operating on a single route. However, with the collapse of Ansett Australia (one of the country’s largest carriers at the time) in 2001, Virgin Blue was suddenly given a golden opportunity to grab a large portion of the Australian market share.

In the years following Ansett Australia’s demise, Virgin Blue expanded its fleet significantly and easily gained access to terminal space that had been left vacant by Ansett Australia, making it the second-largest commercial airline in Australia.

In 2006, Virgin Blue launched a wholly-owned subsidiary called “V Australia” that operated flights between Sydney and Los Angeles and later began operating flights between Melbourne and Brisbane and the United States. Eventually, in 2011, Virgin Blue and V Australia were consolidated and the organization was rebranded as Virgin Australia.

Today, Virgin Australia is still the second-largest airline in Australia and operates a significant network of international flights. The airline also has several codeshare agreements, meaning that customers can book flights all over the world through the Virgin Australia website. These airline partners include the following:

Virgin Australia not only allows you to book flights on all of the airlines listed above on their website, but you can also earn Velocity Points by flying with any of these airlines and crediting those flights to your Velocity Frequent Flyer account.

However, Velocity Points can only be redeemed for flights with Air Canada, ANA, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Australia.

Additionally, only some of these previously listed airlines allow you to earn Status Credits for their flights, which can help you move closer to earning elite status with the Velocity Frequent Flyer program.

Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer Elite Status

Like many other frequent flyer programs, the Virgin Australia Frequent Flyer program allows members to earn elite status and unlock certain benefits when at the airport, and flying with Virgin Australia or certain airline partners. The Velocity Frequent Flyer program currently has four membership levels: Red, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

All Velocity Frequent Flyer members start at Red status and can level up to Silver, Gold and Platinum status by accumulating a certain number of both Status Credits and Eligible Sectors within a 12-month benefit period.

Status Credits and Eligible Sectors are valid for 12 months from the date that they’re originally earned and your balance of Status Credits and Eligible Sectors is reviewed daily. So, if you reach the threshold of Status Credits and Eligible Sectors required to upgrade to a certain status tier, you will be upgraded within 24 hours. Then, your status will be eligible for 12 months from the date that you originally earned that status.

The following table includes the required number of Status Credits and Eligible Sectors to upgrade to each status tier:

However, once you’ve already achieved an elite status tier, the requirements for maintaining that status are lower. The following table includes the number of Status Credits and Eligible Sectors that you need to earn in 12 months from the date that you originally earned your elite status to maintain that status:

If you fail to meet the minimum number of Status Credits and Eligible Sectors required to maintain your current status, you’ll drop down to the next lower tier for the next 12 months. For instance, if you had Gold status and you failed to accumulate 400 Status Credits and 4 Eligible Sectors over your 12-month benefit period, you would drop down to Silver Status for the next 12 months.

Status Credits can be earned in five different ways, including:

• Taking eligible Virgin Australia flights
• Taking eligible flights with partner airlines
• Family Pool your Status Credits
• Earning with Flybuys
• Earning with Virgin Australia co-branded credit cards

The number of Status Credits you’ll earn for flying with Virgin Australia depends on whether you’re flying international or domestic (within Australia), the distance of your flight and your class of service. Virgin Australia publishes several Status Credits earnings charts, all of which can be found on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website. In general, you’ll earn between 5 and 105 Status Credits for domestic flights on Virgin Australia and between 7 and 200 Status Credits for international flights on Virgin Australia. That means it’s possible to earn Silver Status by taking just two flights on Virgin Australia.

Similar to earning Status Credits on Virgin Australia, Status Credits earned on partner flights depend on the airline that you’re flying with, the distance of your flight and your class of service. For instance, you can view the Status Credits earnings chart for United Airlines on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website to see how many Status Credits you’d earn on any United Airlines flight.

Status Credits can be earned on certain flights with any of Virgin Australia’s airline partners except for FlyPelican. To see how many Status Credits you could earn with each airline partner, you can visit the Airline Partners page of the Velocity Frequent Flyer website, click on the partner you plan to fly with, select the “Earn Status” tab and then refer to the earnings chart.

If you set up Family Pooling, then all Status Credits earned by up to six accounts in your Family Pool can be transferred into one beneficiary account. For instance, if you were to take a flight with your family of five people from Sydney to Melbourne in Virgin Australia business class, each member of the family would earn 55 Status Credits. You could then pool all of those Status Credits into one single account and the beneficiary would have 275 Status Credits, enough to reach Silver Status. However, that beneficiary member would still have to meet the minimum requirement of two Eligible Sectors to earn Silver Status and Eligible Sectors can’t be pooled.

You can earn Status Credits when you link a Flybuys account to your Velocity Frequent Flyer account. Flybuys is an Australian shopping rewards company that allows you to earn rewards points when shopping at certain retailers. After you link your accounts, you can earn 1 Status Credit per 100 Australian dollars spent at Coles, Coles Online, Liquorland or First Choice Liquor Market (up to a maximum of 10 Status Credits per month).

Finally, you can earn Status Credits by spending on Virgin Australia co-branded credit cards. Most of the Virgin Australia co-branded cards have welcome offers that include a set number of both Status Credits and Velocity Points for new cardmembers who spend a set amount on their card in a certain amount of time after account opening. Some of these cards also offer additional Status Credits. For instance, with the American Express Velocity Platinum Card, members who spend at least $50,000 on their card per year will receive 100 Status Credits. These Virgin Australia co-branded credit cards are only available in Australia.

When it comes to earning Eligible Sectors, you’ll earn an Eligible Sector for any flight that has a VA flight number excluding Reward Seats, Economy Lite fares and some Choice fares in fare classes P, Q, T, I, and S.

With how to earn Status Credits and Eligible Sectors and how to meet the requirements for each status tier out of the way, let’s look at why you might want to do so in the first place. The following table includes the benefits that members of each status tier are entitled to:

As you can see, Virgin Australia Velocity elite status includes some very valuable benefits such as bonus Velocity Points on flights with Virgin Australia and certain partner airlines, lounge access, complimentary luggage and complimentary upgrades.

How to Earn Virgin Australia Velocity Points

The most obvious way to earn Velocity Points is by taking flights with Virgin Australia. However, you can also boost your Velocity Points balance in a myriad of other ways, including flying with airline partners, family pooling, renting cars, booking hotel stays, spending on Virgin Australia co-branded credit cards, buying travel insurance and more.

In the following sections, we’ll discuss all of the different ways to earn Velocity Points to help you save up for your next award flight.

Flying with Virgin Australia

The most straightforward way to earn Velocity Points is to take flights with Virgin Australia. You can earn Velocity Points on both domestic and international flights. All you need to do is input your Velocity Frequent Flyer account number when making your booking.

Virgin Australia Red members earn 5X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent on all Virgin Australia fares, regardless of whether their flight is domestic or international, which fare class they’re booked in and the distance of their flight.

For example, if a Red member books a Virgin Australia flight between Sydney and Melbourne in Flex fare that costs 200 Australian dollars, they’d earn 1,000 Velocity Points (200 Australian dollars x 5 = 1,000 Velocity Points). If a Red member books a Virgin Australia flight between Sydney and Auckland on Business fare that costs 800 Australian dollars, they’d earn 4,000 Velocity Points (800 Australian dollars x 5 = 4,000 Velocity Points).

The number of Velocity Points that you earn on a specific Virgin Australia flight is based solely on the price of your airfare and whether or not you have elite status with the Velocity Frequent Flyer program. Here are the bonus Velocity Points that elite status members earn on Virgin Australia flights at each tier:

• Silver – 50%
• Gold – 75%
• Platinum – 100%

For instance, if a Gold member books a Virgin Australia flight between Sydney and Melbourne in Flex fare that costs 200 Australian dollars, they’d earn 1,750 Velocity Points ((200 Australian dollars x 5) x 175% = 1,750 Velocity Points). If a Platinum member books a Virgin Australia flight between Sydney and Auckland in Business fare that costs 800 Australian dollars, they’d earn 8,000 Velocity Points ((800 Australian dollars x 5) x 200% = 2,000 Velocity Points.

Flying with Partner Airlines

In addition to earning Velocity Points on Virgin Australia flights, you can also earn Velocity Points on flights with Virgin Australia’s airline partners. All you need to do is select Velocity Frequent Flyer as your rewards program of choice and include your membership number when making your booking.

However, whereas Virgin Australia earns Velocity Points based on the price of your airfare, partner flights accumulate Velocity Points based on the distance of your flight (in miles), your fare type and your fare class.

For instance, here’s the Velocity Points earnings chart for inter-island flights operated by Hawaiian Airlines:

So, suppose you were to book a 104-mile flight between Maui and Honolulu in Hawaiian Airlines Economy Class (fare code Z) and credit it to your Velocity Frequent Flyer program. In that case, you’d earn 26 Velocity Points (104 miles x 0.25 = 26 Velocity Points).

All partner earnings charts work the same way. So, if you want to find out how many Velocity Points you could earn for a partner flight, you simply need to visit the airline partners page on the Virgin Australia website, click on the partner you plan on flying with and multiply the mileage of your flight by the earnings rate for your fare class.

Hotel Stays

As with many other frequent flyer programs, Velocity Frequent Flyer allows you to earn Velocity Points by booking stays with eligible hotel partners. With most hotel partners, you’ll earn 3X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent.

However, you could earn as much as 35,000 Velocity Points for a single stay with the Virgin Limited Edition collection, a portfolio of luxury hotels and retreats curated by Sir Richard Branson, co-founder of the Virgin Group. This collection includes a private island retreat in the British Virgin Islands, a Moroccan kasbah in the Atlas Mountains, a luxury safari lodge in South Africa’s Kruger National Park and a mountain chalet in the Swiss Alps.

Of course, you can also earn Velocity Points with more run-of-the-mill hotel stays as well. The following table includes all of Virgin Australia’s hotel partners and the number of Velocity Points you can earn with each one:

It’s worth noting that many of the hotel partners listed above have their own rewards programs. And, if you choose to earn Virgin Australia Velocity Points on your next hotel stay, you’ll forfeit the opportunity to earn that hotel’s own rewards currency.

Likewise, many of these hotel partners also have partnerships with other airlines that allow you to earn other frequent flyer currencies. So, before you decide to earn Velocity Points on your next hotel stay, you should be sure that you wouldn’t rather earn a different rewards currency instead.

However, if Velocity Frequent Flyer is your rewards program of choice, crediting hotel stays with the aforementioned partners is a great way to boost your Velocity Points balance.

Car Rentals

You can also earn Velocity Points by crediting car rentals with certain partners to your Velocity Frequent Flyer account. These partners include Dollar, Europcar, Hertz, Sixt and Thrifty. All of Virgin Australia’s car rental partners offer the same earnings.

If you’re renting within Australia and New Zealand, the amount of Velocity Points you’ll earn depends on how much money you spend and your status in the Velocity Frequent Flyer program. Here’s a breakdown of how many Velocity Points you could earn on car rentals within Australia and New Zealand:

• Red members earn 3X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar
• Silver members earn 4.5X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar
• Gold members earn 5.25X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar
• Platinum members earn 6X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar

If you’re renting a car outside of Australia and New Zealand, you’ll earn a flat rate of Velocity Points for each rental, regardless of the price or length of that rental. Here’s a breakdown of how many Velocity Points you could earn on car rentals outside Australia and New Zealand:

• Red members earn 800 Velocity Points per rental
• Silver members earn 1,200 Velocity Points per rental
• Gold members earn 1,400 Velocity Points per rental
• Platinum members earn 1,600 Velocity Points per rental

So, for example, if you’re a Velocity Frequent Flyer Gold member and you rent a car in the United States with any of Virgin Australia’s partners, you’ll earn 1,400 Velocity Points. It doesn’t matter if you rent with Hertz or Thrifty or any other partner.

If you’re a Virgin Frequent Flyer Silver member and you spend 400 Australian dollars on a car rental in Australia, you’ll earn 1,800 Velocity Points (400 Australian dollars x 4.5 = 1,800 Velocity Points) regardless of which partner you make that rental booking with.

Unlike hotel partners, most of the car rental companies listed above don’t have their own rewards programs, so there’s no downside to choosing to earn airline miles for your car rentals.

All of these car rental partners also have partnerships with other frequent flyer programs besides Velocity Frequent Flyer. So, before you choose to earn Velocity Points on your next car rental, you should make sure you wouldn’t rather earn another airline’s rewards currency instead.

You can also earn Velocity Points on bookings made through Flexicar, a short-term car rental service. New members will earn a bonus of 500 Velocity Points after their first completed booking. Then, the number of Velocity Points you’ll earn depends on your status in the Velocity Frequent Flyer program. Here’s how many Velocity Points you’ll earn with Flexicar at each status tier:

• Red – 2X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent
• Silver – 3X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent
• Gold – 3.5X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent
• Platinum – 4X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent

If you live in Australia and tend to rent cars with Flexicar often, you could earn a lot of Velocity Points by linking your Velocity Frequent Flyer account and your Flexicar account.

Cruises and Holiday Experiences

Virgin Australia also partners with several cruise and travel experience companies that allow you to earn Velocity Points for making eligible bookings. The following table includes these partners and how many Velocity Points you could earn with each:

If you’re looking to book a cruise or holiday experience, then you should try and pick up some extra Velocity Points by booking through one of the partners listed above.

Spending on Virgin Australia Co-Branded Credit Cards

Virgin Australia offers several co-branded credit cards that allow you to earn Velocity Points for making everyday purchases. These cards include:

• Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Card (issued by Virgin Money)
• Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Card (issued by Virgin Money)
• Westpac Altitude Black Credit Card with Velocity Points (issued by Westpac)
• American Express Velocity Platinum Card (issued by American Express)
• Westpac Altitude Platinum Credit Card with Velocity Points (issued by Westpac)
• American Express Velocity Business Card (issued by American Express)
• BOQ Specialist Signature Card (issued by BOQ)
• BOQ Specialist Platinum Card (issued by BOQ)
• American Express Velocity Escape Card (issued by American Express)

These credit cards are only available to residents of Australia. So, if you live in one of the other Velocity Frequent Flyer countries (such as New Zealand, Fiji or Tonga), you won’t be able to earn Velocity Points with co-branded credit cards.

Transfer Partners

You can also boost your Velocity Points balance by transferring points from other rewards programs. The transfer ratio varies from partner to partner (as well as from card to card). You can check the transfer ratios by clicking on your desired partner on the “Transfer Credit Card Rewards Points to Velocity” page on the Virgin Australia website.

Unfortunately, this option isn’t available to consumers outside of Australia and New Zealand. Nevertheless, if you live in Australia or New Zealand, here’s a list of Virgin Australia’s transfer partners:

If you’re going to use any of these transfer partners to move points into the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, we recommend that you only utilize partners that offer a 1:1 transfer ratio.

In addition to transferring points from financial institutions, you can also transfer points from several other rewards programs to the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, including hotel rewards programs, shopping rewards programs and recycling rewards programs. Here are some of these transfer partners and their respective transfer ratios and minimum transfer amounts:

• Flybuys (2:1 transfer ratio)
• e-Rewards (4:1 transfer ratio)
• Envirobank (3:1 transfer ratio)
• Marriott Bonvoy (3:1 transfer ratio)
  • Minimum transfer amount of 3,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
  • Receive 5,000 bonus Velocity Points for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer in one transaction
• Hilton Honors (10:1.5 transfer ratio)
  • Minimum transfer amount of 10,000 Hilton Honors points
• IHG One Rewards (5:1 transfer ratio)
  • Minimum transfer amount of 10,000 IHG One Rewards points
• Choice Privileges (5:2 transfer ratio)
  • Minimum transfer amount of 2,000 Choice Privileges points
• Shangri-La Circle (1:1 transfer ratio)
  • Minimum transfer amount of 1,000 Shangri-La Circle points

In general, transferring points from most of the hotel programs listed above is a poor idea. These points are more valuable when redeemed through their native program than when transferred to any frequent flyer program. Even though both Accor Live Limitless and Shangri-La Circle offer 1:1 transfer ratios, both of these reward currencies are far more valuable than Velocity Points, so transferring is still a bad idea in most cases.

Shopping Online and In-Person

The Velocity Frequent Flyer program is partnered with several retailers that allow you to earn Velocity Points for buying merchandise both in-store and online. The easiest way to earn Velocity Points for buying merchandise is to shop online through the Velocity e-Store.

Through the Velocity e-Store, you can easily shop with over 300 different retailers and earn Velocity Points every time you make a purchase. These retailers typically offer between 1X and 5X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent. However, with certain partners, you can earn thousands of Velocity Points for a single transaction.

For instance, if you sign up for a subscription to Foxtel Residential Plans (an Australian cable television provider that includes over 1,000 movies as well as Netflix), you could immediately earn 10,000 Velocity Points.

The Velocity e-Store is also partnered with many other well-known retailers including Apple Australia, Samsonite, Aveda, Clinique, HP Australia, LEGO, Sony Australia and more.

You can also earn Velocity Points for making purchases in person with certain retailers, including 7-Eleven Australia. Velocity members can earn 2X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent on premium fuel, 1X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent on regular fuel, and 2X Velocity Points per 1 Australian dollar spent on eligible in-store purchases with 7-Eleven. Plus, you can earn an additional 250 Velocity Points for making your first purchase using the 7-Eleven mobile app.

You can also earn Velocity Points by shopping with several other retail partners in-store and online. The following table includes these partners and how many Velocity Points you could earn with each:

All in all, you probably won’t earn the majority of your Velocity Points from shopping with retail partners. However, if you shop with some of the aforementioned retail partners anyway, you may as well earn some extra Velocity Points while you’re at it.

Special Offers

If you’re a Velocity Frequent Flyer member, you should check for “Special Offers,” which can be found on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website homepage, for ways to earn Velocity Points even faster. These offers often include bonus points for spending with certain partners. For instance, Virgin Australia has a limited-time offer for double Velocity points earnings for stays booked with TFE Hotels.

By staying up-to-date with these special offers, you can often find great ways to rack up Velocity Points even quicker.

Buy Velocity Points

Like many other frequent flyer programs, Velocity Frequent Flyer offers the option to purchase Velocity Points with cash. Unfortunately, purchasing Velocity Points is typically a bad deal. The cash price of Velocity Points depends on how many you purchase at once. Here’s the price chart for Velocity Points purchases from the Virgin Australia website:

As you can see, if you purchase 26,000 Velocity Points at once, you’ll be paying a little under 2.7 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 1.8 cents per point in United States dollars). If you purchase only 1,000 Velocity Points at once, you’ll be paying exactly 3.6 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 2.4 cents per point in United States dollars). In both cases, you’ll most likely be paying far more for those points than the value you’ll get out of them.

The only case in which you may want to consider buying Velocity Points is if you only need a few thousand more to purchase a specific reward and you can’t quickly earn those rewards in any other way.

Aside from that, you should avoid purchasing Velocity Points with cash.

How to Redeem Virgin Australia Velocity Points

Now that you’re familiar with all of the different ways to earn Velocity Points, let’s talk about how you can spend them. There are plenty of different ways to redeem Velocity Points, including booking flights with Virgin Australia, booking flights with airline partners, booking flight upgrades, buying merchandise, booking hotel stays, renting cars and more.

However, if you want to maximize the value of your Velocity Points, you should stick to redeeming for flights on Virgin Australia and its airline partners.

Nevertheless, in the following sections, we’re going to look at all the different ways to redeem Velocity Points and which of those redemption methods offer the most value.

Flying with Virgin Australia

The most obvious way to redeem Velocity Points is to book flights on Virgin Australia. You can redeem Velocity Points for both domestic and international flights with Virgin Australia and you can pay for flights either entirely with Velocity Points or with a combination of cash and Velocity Points using the “Points + Pay” feature.

Generally, you’ll get much more value out of your Velocity Points if you buy reward flights entirely with points rather than using the Points + Pay feature.

The number of Velocity Points you’ll need for a specific Virgin Australia reward flight depends on whether you’re flying domestic or international, your fare class and the distance of your flight. Virgin Australia publishes two distance-based award charts (one domestic and one international) that explain how many Velocity Points you’ll need for a Virgin Australia-operated flight.

All domestic Virgin Atlantic reward flights (whether in Economy or Business) have carrier charges of 10 Australian dollars.

As you can see, this chart doesn’t exact prices for domestic Economy awards but rather lists ranges. This makes it much more difficult to predict the value you can get out of domestic Economy awards.

Here’s the award chart for Virgin Australia trans-Tasman and short-haul international flights:

All trans-Tasman Virgin Atlantic reward flights (whether in Economy or Business) have carrier charges of 10 Australian dollars. Short-haul international Virgin Atlantic flights in Economy have a carrier charge of 35 Australian dollars and short-haul international Virgin Atlantic flights in Business have a carrier charge of 70 Australian dollars.

So, if you want to find the price of any Virgin Australia award flight, you can use a tool like the Great Circle Mapper to search the distance between any two airports and then use that distance to reference one of the award charts above (depending on whether you’re flying domestic or international).

However, when we searched for award flights, it seems that the values listed in these award charts are only accurate sometimes and flights are often priced much higher. Still, with some searching, you should be able to find some award flights priced according to those award charts and find Virgin Atlantic-operated award charts that offer solid value per point.

You can often find decent value on domestic flights around Australia. For instance, we found a flight from Sydney to Melbourne for 6,200 Velocity Points in Economy and 15,500 Velocity Points in Business. With both flights, you’d also have to pay about 43 Australian dollars in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the exact same flight with cash instead of Velocity Points, it would cost you about 147 Australian dollars in Economy and 369 Australian dollars in Business.

So, if you were to book these flights as awards rather than paying cash, factoring in the additional taxes and fees of about 43 Australian dollars that you’d have to pay to book these award flights, the Economy redemption would give you a value of about 1.7 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 1.1 cents per point in United States dollars) and the Business redemption would give you a value of about 2.1 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 1.4 cents per point in United States dollars). Both of these values are decent but pretty unimpressive. But, booking domestic flights around Australia is a very practical way to use Velocity Points for Australian citizens.

In general, though, you can usually find better value for your Velocity Points by redeeming for partner-operated flights instead of Virgin Australia-operated flights.

Flying with Airline Partners

Velocity Points can also be redeemed for flights with Virgin Australia’s airline partners. Virgin Atlantic has two partner award charts: one that applies to Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines and another that applies to Air Canada, ANA, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and South African Airlines. For both award charts, award prices are determined by fare class and flight distance.

Here is the partner award chart for flights operated by Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines:

Here is the partner award chart for flights operated by Air Canada, ANA, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and South African Airlines.

While you can find decent value on redemptions with any of Virgin Australia’s airline partners, you’ll typically get the most value per point on partner award flights operated by Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines. And, as with most frequent flyer programs, you’ll typically get more value per point on premium cabin awards compared to economy class awards.

However, as with Virgin Australia-operated award flights, you should be aware that the award prices listed above are simply the minimum award prices and actual award prices can often be much higher when searching in the Velocity Frequent Flyer booking engine. But, with some searching, you should be able to find award flights priced according to the award charts above.

To get you started, we’ve included some of the best sweet spots in the Velocity Frequent Flyer program that offer great value per point.

Short-Haul Flights Around the United States on United Airlines

One of the best ways to get good value from your Velocity Points is to take short-haul flights around the United States on United Airlines. You can get excellent value on these flights if you’re able to find premium cabin award space. However, you can get outsized value on economy class awards as well.

For flights under 600 miles operated by United Airlines, you can pay as little as 7,800 Velocity Points, which can be a great deal. For instance, we found a one-way United Airlines-operated flight from Newark (EWR) to Charlotte (CLT) for just 7,800 Velocity Points and 15.50 Australian dollars in taxes and fees in economy class.

If you were to book the same economy class flight on the same date through the United Airlines website, it would cost you 358 Australian dollars.

By choosing to book this flight with Velocity Points instead of cash, you’d be getting a redemption value of about 4.4 cents per mile in Australian dollars (or about 2.9 cents per mile in United States dollars), which is great for an economy-class award flight.

So, if you’re from Australia or New Zealand or any of the other Velocity-eligible countries and you’re planning to do a tour of the United States, booking short-haul United Airlines flights around the country is a great way to do so.

Flights Within the Middle East and Between the Middle East and Africa on Qatar Airways

Another great way to maximize the value of your Velocity Points is to book Qatar Airways-operated flights within the Middle East and between the Middle East and Africa. Qatar Airways has its main hub in Doha, so it’s fairly easy to find Qatar Airways-operated flights into or out of Doha through the Velocity Frequent Flyer program. And many of these award flights offer great value per point as well.

For instance, we found a one-way Qatar Airways flight from Kilimanjaro (JRO) to Doha (DOH) for just 20,000 Velocity Points plus about 163 Australian dollars in taxes and fees in economy class and 38,000 Velocity Points plus about 362 Australian dollars in taxes and fees in business class.

If you were to book the same flight on the same date in cash through the Qatar Airways website, it would cost you 1,075 Australian dollars in economy class and 3,324 Australian dollars in business class.

If you were to book this flight as an award through the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, you would get a value of about 4.5 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 2.9 cents per point in United States dollars) in economy class or about 7.8 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 5.1 cents per point in United States dollars) in business class, both factoring in the taxes and fees that you’d have to pay to book either award flight. Those are fantastic values and some of the best you’ll find in the Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer program.

Flights Between the Middle East and Asia on Etihad Airways

You can also get great value out of your Velocity Points by booking flights between the Middle East and Asia operated by Etihad Airways. Out of its main hub in Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways operates a wide range of flights to East Asia and Southeast Asia, including to cities such as Manila, Osaka, Bangkok, Jakarta, Seoul and more. And these flights often provide solid value when booked with Velocity Points.

For instance, we found a one-way Etihad Airways-operated flight between Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Osaka (KIX) for 31,000 Velocity Points plus 144 Australian dollars in taxes and fees in economy class.

If you were to book the same flight on the same day with cash through the Etihad Airways website, it would cost you 4,115 United Arab Emirates dirhams (which is equal to about 1,719 Australian dollars at the current conversion rate).

So, if you were to book this flight through Velocity Frequent Flyer as an award flight, you’d be getting a value of about 5.1 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 3.3 cents per point in United States dollars), which is a great value for an economy class award.

As you can see, by redeeming Velocity Points with certain airline partners (specifically, with Etihad Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines), you can find some excellent outsized-value redemptions.

Upgrades

Velocity Points can also be used to book upgrades to business class on Virgin Australia domestic and international flights. The price of an upgrade to business class depends on whether you’re flying domestic or international, the distance of your flight and whether you’re already booked in Economy Choice or Economy Flex. Those who are booked in Economy Lite fares may not use Velocity Points to upgrade to business class.

Here’s the award chart for upgrades to business class on domestic Virgin Australia flights:

Here’s the award chart for upgrades to business class on international Virgin Australia flights:

It’s impossible to say how much value per point you can get from redeeming Velocity Points for upgrades because Virgin Australia uses an auction system to sell its cash upgrades. That means that you make an offer of how much you’re willing to pay for an upgrade to business class and then that offer is compared against other offers and you’re only charged if you win the auction.

We’d recommend redeeming your Velocity Points for reward flights instead of upgrades.

Redeem for Travel Through Luxury Escapes

Like most frequent flyer programs, Velocity Frequent Flyer allows members to redeem their Velocity Points for hotel stays and car rentals with certain partners. According to the Velocity Frequent Flyer website, you can redeem Velocity Points for hotel stays through their search engine. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article, this search engine isn’t showing any results.

Likewise, Virgin Australia claims that you can redeem Velocity Points with their car rental partners, such as Europcar, Hertz and Sixt. But, when you click on the “Redeem Points” button on each partner’s page, you’re redirected to a blank page.

However, while these options are currently unavailable, you can still book hotels and rental cars (as well as cruises, travel experiences and much more) with Velocity Points through Virgin Australia’s partner Luxury Escapes.

This third-party travel agency allows you to book luxury travel packages at some of the finest locations all around the planet. Unfortunately, if you’re looking to book budget hotel stays with your Velocity Points, it seems that you’re currently out of luck.

You can, however, book affordable car rentals as well as luxury car rentals by clicking on the “Car Hire” tab on the Luxury Escapes homepage.

Luxury Escapes markets car rentals from all of Virgin Australia’s car rental partners as well as several other car rental partners. Here are some of the car rental companies you can book with on Luxury Escapes:

• Alamo
• Avis
• Budget
• Enterprise
• Europcar
• Hertz
• Sixt
• Thrifty

Regardless of whether you’re booking a car rental, a hotel stay, a dining experience package or any other travel experience through Luxury Escapes, if you want to pay using Velocity Points, you can simply proceed to the checkout page as you normally would.

However, when you get to the checkout page, you’ll need to select “Use Velocity Points” as your payment type.

You’ll be asked to link your Velocity Frequent Flyer account to your Luxury Escapes account. Then, you’ll be able to select whether you want to pay the entire cost of your travel with Velocity Points or split the cost of your travel between Velocity Points and cash.

Unfortunately, we were unable to find out how much value per Velocity Point you’ll get when redeeming this way. However, in all likelihood, the value you’d get from redeeming your Velocity Points through Luxury Escapes will be far less than the value you’ll get from redeeming for reward flights directly through Velocity Frequent Flyer.

If you want to use your Velocity Points to book cruises, luxury dining packages and other interesting travel experiences, then it may be worth looking into Luxury Escapes redemptions. However, if you’re more concerned with maximizing the value of your Velocity Points, then you probably want to avoid Luxury Escapes.

Buying Merchandise and Gift Cards Through the Velocity Frequent Flyer Rewards Store

Velocity Frequent Flyer members can also redeem their Velocity Points for merchandise as well as gift cards from a wide variety of retailers through the Velocity Frequent Flyer Rewards Store. Available brands span multiple categories including electronics, travel, health and beauty, fashion, home and garden and more.

Unfortunately, redeeming Velocity Points for merchandise or gift cards through the Velocity Rewards Store typically provides fairly poor value per point. For instance, there’s a current offer to purchase a gift card to Kmart worth 50 Australian dollars for 10,002 Velocity Points.

This redemption would provide you with a value of about 0.5 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 0.3 cents per point in United States dollars), which is very poor compared to the value that you can get when redeeming your Velocity Points for award flights.

Likewise, there’s another current offer to purchase an Apple AirTag (1 Pack) for 9,149 Velocity Points.

If you were to purchase the same item through the Apple Australia website, it would cost you 49 Australian dollars.

Thus, this redemption would give you a value of about 0.5 cents per point in Australian dollars (or about 0.3 cents per point in United States dollars), which is very low.

All in all, you’re much better off purchasing these products or gift cards with cash and saving your Velocity Points for reward flights.

Donating Velocity Points

Like many other frequent flyer programs, the Velocity Frequent Flyer program gives members the option to donate points to charity. Currently, the only charity to which you can donate your Velocity Points is the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

You have the option of either making a donation of 50 Australian dollars, which costs 9,901 Velocity Points, or making a donation of 25 Australian dollars, which costs 4,950 Velocity Points. Either way, the value of these redemptions is going to be about 0.5 cents per point in Australian dollars (or 0.3 cents per point in United States dollars), which is very low.

But, while you can get much more value out of your points by redeeming them for award flights, if you want to use your points to support sick kids, donating Velocity Points to the Starlight Children’s Foundation is a great way to do so.

Buying Merchandise Through Myer

You can also redeem your Velocity Points for merchandise through the Australian department store chain Myer. To do so, you can visit the Myer website and shop as you normally would. Then, when you’ve selected which products you’d like to purchase and you proceed to the checkout page, you can select “Velocity Points” as your payment method.

To proceed, you’ll have to log in to your Velocity Frequent Flyer account. Then, you can decide whether you want to pay for your merchandise entirely with Velocity Points or with a combination of points and cash. If you’re going to pay with Velocity Points, whether entirely or partially, you will have to redeem at least 3,000 Velocity Points for any one transaction.

We were unable to discover how much value per point you’d get for using your Velocity Points through Myer. However, we expect that the value would be far less than you could get by redeeming your points for award flights on Virgin Australia or one of its airline partners.

The Bottom Line

Unfortunately for any readers that don’t live in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga or Vanuatu, you must be a resident of one of the aforementioned countries to join the Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer program. This is particularly unfortunate for our U.S.-based readers as the Velocity Frequent Flyer program offers a great way to book United Airlines flights around the continental U.S. at favorable rates.

Among other ways to get great value out of Virgin Australia Velocity Points are redeeming for flights within the Middle East and flights between the Middle East and Africa on Qatar Airways and for flights between the Middle East and Asia on Etihad Airways.

In general, if you want to maximize the value of Velocity Points, you’ll want to stick to redeeming for flights operated by Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and United Airlines. You can find decent value on award flights operated by Virgin Australia and other airline partners. However, award flights operated by these three airlines tend to consistently offer outsized value.

When it comes to earning Velocity Points, there are plenty of ways to boost your balance from flying with Virgin Australia or airline partners to booking hotels and rental cars. However, if you’re an Australian citizen and you want to boost your Velocity account balance, you should consider signing up for a Velocity Frequent Flyer co-branded credit card or transferring points from one of Virgin Australia’s financial partners (including American Express, Citi and more).

All in all, points and miles enthusiasts who live in Oceania should familiarize themselves with the Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer program. This program makes it easy to rack up Velocity Points and then redeem those points for outsized value on award flights all around the world.