Virgin Australia shakes up Velocity reward seats

There’s a lot happening in the world of Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program.

Lifetime Velocity status is on the way, along with a new perk-laden Platinum Plus tier.

The number of status credits you earn on a Virgin Australia flight will be directly tied to the price of your ticket.

But rippling through it all, and starting from today, there are some significant changes to earning and redeeming Velocity Points on Virgin Australia and its partner airlines.

To begin with, there’ll be an even lower baseline for booking points-based reward seats.

For example, short-hop flights in Zone 1 (1-600 miles, which covers the likes of Sydney-Melbourne and Sydney-Brisbane) will now start at 5,900 Velocity Points, down from 6,200 Velocity Points.

However, as of 21 January 2025 they’ll also be going up, with a new ceiling for most expensive reward seats.

Again, using Zone 1 as an example, the most expensive economy seats will climb from 9,900 to 12,900 Velocity Points.

The end result will be a broader spectrum of reward options, as shown in the table below and detailed on the Velocity website.

This suggests a move towards more ‘dynamic pricing’, where the number of points required for a specific flight will fluctuate based on factors such as demand, route popularity and time of year.

While this could mean higher costs for some flights, it also introduces the possibility of securing reward seats for fewer points, especially for travellers who can be flexible with their plans.

Partner airlines take a hit

Also taking effect from 21 January 2025 is a double-whammy for travellers on Virgin’s alliance of partner airlines such as Air Canada, ANA, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airliners and United Airlines.

A revamped set of partner tables will see an increase in the number of Velocity points needed to claim a reward seat on "selected cabins and routes” – something Velocity attributes to escalating operational costs across the airline industry.

Here are some examples based on popular routes across several partner airlines:

• Sydney-Tokyo business class with ANA: increases from 78,000 points to 82,000 points
• Sydney-Rome business class with Qatar Airways: increases from 139,000 points to 158,000 points
• Sydney-Los Angeles business class with United Airlines: increases from 95,000 points to 102,000 points
• Sydney-New York business class with United Airlines: increases from 127,000 points to 136,000 points

The next date to circle in your calendar is 1 October 2025, when there’ll be a drop in the number of Velocity status credits earned on partner airlines.

Also read: Virgin launches lifetime Velocity status, Platinum Plus tier and Virgin moves to spend-based Velocity status earning