Earn Velocity points: Hainan, Hong Kong Airlines, Beijing Capital

Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer members can now earn Velocity points and status credits when travelling aboard Hainan Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines and Tianjin Airlines flights.

With Hong Kong Airlines, points can be earned on all flights except those to and from North America, while the others offer Velocity points on flights within or between Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan).

Velocity points and status credits are calculated based on the exact distance flown in miles – as already happens with Velocity's other partners – rather than using a zone-based system as with Qantas Frequent Flyer.

Book a business class flight with Hainan Airlines (HU) or Beijing Capital Airlines (JD) and you’ll pick up between 1.25 and 3.0 Velocity points per mile flown depending on your fare type – while in economy, you’ll collect 0.5-1.25 Velocity points per mile, again depending on your fare:

Both airlines adopt the same earning table, except that flights booked in the ‘P’ fare class only earn points and status credits on Hainan Airlines, not Beijing Capital Airlines.

Aboard Hainan Airlines’ Sydney-Xi’an flights which are 5,449 miles in length, that sees business class travellers earning approximately 6,811 to 16,347 Velocity points and 160 status credits per one-way flight, while in economy, it’s 2,724-6,811 Velocity points plus either 40 or 80 status credits as the fare type dictates.

Hong Kong Airlines (HX) adopts a different earning table, with business class guests fetching 1.3-2.0 Velocity points per mile flown, but economy flyers netting as few as 0.1 Velocity points per mile on the lowest-cost fares:

On the airline’s Gold Coast-Hong Kong route, that pegs the typical business class haul at between 5,670 and 8,724 Velocity points and at 120 status credits on all pointy end fares, with 436 to 5,670 Velocity points on the table in economy aside 60 status credits on fares that earn at least one Velocity point per mile flown, or 30 status credits on all others in the table above.

With Tianjin Airlines (GS), travellers can earn 1.25-2.0 Velocity points per mile flown in first class, 1.0-1.5 Velocity points per mile flown in business class and 0.5-1.25 Velocity points per mile flown in economy.

The agreement also covers codeshare flights with Virgin Australia booked on an HU, JD, HX or GS flight number – so if you book an international journey with one of these airlines and have a Virgin Australia connecting flight, you’ll earn points and status credits on that flight at the rates above.

Virgin Australia’s arrangements with these carriers don't yet extend perks such as priority check-in, airport lounge access, priority boarding and extra checked baggage to Velocity Gold and Platinum members – nor can Velocity points currently be used to book reward flights with these airlines – with these improvements set to be announced in the coming weeks.

The new earning partnerships come as Virgin Australia launches its own flights between Melbourne and Hong Kong, with plans also to debut Hong Kong flights from both Sydney and Brisbane.

Velocity points can now be earned when travelling with Virgin Australia and 18 partner airlines – the roster of which includes Air New Zealand, Delta, Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and more.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.