Last day for Virgin ‘Switch-a-Roo’ Qantas status match
Enjoy three months of complimentary Velocity Gold status, and upgrade that into a full year of status with just one flight.
By Staff Writers, May 24 2024
Virgin Australia is inviting frequent flyers with rival Qantas to parlay their status with those airlines into Gold or Platinum membership in Virgin’s own Velocity rewards program – but those frequent flyers will need to move fast, as the offer ends at midnight Friday May 24 and is “limited to the first 3,000 eligible applicants.”
The status match will elevate any Velocity Red or Silver member to Velocity Gold – or more specifically, to what Virgin calls Discover Gold – with that gratis status theirs for three months.
To keep that Velocity Gold status for a full year, all you need to do is
- take one eligible Virgin Australia flight, and
- earn 80 Status Credits during the three-month Discover Gold trial period
Given that Velocity Gold usually requires 500 Status Credits, this is an exceptional shortcut on the road to Gold.
And if you currently hold Platinum (or equivalent) status with a competing airline, earning 200 Status Credits on flights with a VA flight number operated by Virgin Australia will lock in Velocity Platinum status for 12 months.
Virgin Australia lounge access is a key drawcard of Velocity Gold status.
Velocity Gold and Platinum come with the usual perks such as lounge access, a higher checked baggage allowance (excluding Lite fares), priority boarding and priority seating – they also deliver equivalent perks with selected partners such as Air Canada, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines.
Also, don’t overlook the potential of Family Pooling to have the status credits of a family member’s flying funnelled into your Velocity account during this 90-day period (although you’ll still need to make at least one Virgin flight to chalk up that “eligible sector”).
How to apply for the Virgin Velocity status match
You’ll need to hold Gold status (or the equivalent) or higher status in any airline loyalty program that is not a Velocity partner.
Virgin obviously has Qantas in its cross-hairs, but this status match also applies to most other airlines from Oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance plus non-aligned airlines such as Emirates.
One business class trip is all it takes to lock down Velocity Gold status until the end of 2024.
Then, fire off an email to [email protected] by midnight AEST this Friday 24 May 2024 with your full name, Velocity membership number and “evidence of other valid non-partner airline frequent flyer membership card indicating the equivalent of Velocity Gold status or higher.”
“Only 3,000 Switch-A-Roo Discover Gold trials are available as part of this promotion, and only the first 3,000 eligible Applications will be awarded a Discover Gold trial,” Virgin says.
“Velocity reserves the right to end this promotion at their discretion, based on the number of Applications received. It may take up to 4 weeks to receive the upgrade into Switch-A-Roo Discover Gold trial status.”
However, note that according to Virgin’s Discover Gold Terms and Conditions, you must not have held Silver, Gold or Platinum Status with Velocity since April 2020.
For more information, visit the Virgin Velocity Switch-a-Roo page.
Looking for a status match which goes the other way, from Virgin Velocity to Qantas? Read our guide to the little-known Qantas Tier Accelerator program.
UA
30 Jun 2015
Total posts 36
Ho hum. My Gold status with QF, VA and SQ all cease on July 1. That said I am Gold for Life on *A via United.
I have more than enough status points for QF Gold renewal, but only one of the four QF flights needed. Ca va!
Will regain the Oneworld status via JAL by Christmas anyway.
But it barely matters when flying J anyway. And in Oz domestic most of the airport bars are way better.
Which begs the question, why bother?
And a postscript. In the US where credit card spend is the primary source of elite status the lines to enter some lounges now extend for 100's of meters. Now that is how is reward your frequent flyers!
07 Mar 2022
Total posts 66
Do people actually swap their flying habits in a status match? Doubt it. If I was Scotty from Marketing I’d improve the service to current customers first and go for organic growth. But that’s me Gold Fingers…
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
20 Jul 2012
Total posts 16
I totally agree.
I spent 12 years as a VA platinum and recently dropped back to gold as I have stopped flying with them after repeated cancellations, downgrades etc etc.
I have been bombarded with special offers to get me back to platinum but if a marketing person just looked at member activity they'd ask themselves "why has this guy suddenly stopped flying with us"
So some may take up the offers and incentives, but only service will get them to stay.
Jason
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 766
Are you saying you haven't even received a telephone call from Virgin/Velocity asking if you'd like to answer their questions?
28 Apr 2021
Total posts 32
Possibly a wake up call for Vanessa and her side kicks to look very closely especially at the long time Gold and Platinum Passengers and seek 'Feed Back' where Qantas needs to raise the bar not only with much better In Flight Catering and Cabin service, but also ensuring that a higher degree of recognition is provided to those with those particular Status levels.
To prioritize and implement such meaningful actions, may avoid the further loss of Loyal Passengers to other higher ranked Airlines.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 766
It's Virgin offering the Status Match mentioned above, not Qantas.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Jul 2018
Total posts 7
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