Virgin moves to spend-based Velocity status earning

Virgin Australia’s Velocity frequent flyers will no longer need to carefully calculate the number of status credits they earn based on the length of their flight and the type of ticket they’ve booked. 

As part of a sweeping overhaul to the Velocity rewards program, status credits will in future be directly tied to the cost of your airfare.

The more you spend, the more status credits you’ll earn on your journey to Velocity Silver, Gold, Platinum or the new Platinum Plus tier (while also steadily working your way towards lifetime Forever Gold status).

Starting from 2 April 2025, Velocity status credits will be earned as follows:

• One status credit for every $12 spent on Economy Choice, Economy Flex, and Business fares
• One status credit for every $24 spend on Economy Lite fares

Status credits booked on flights with Virgin Australia partner airlines will still continue to be earned the ‘traditional’ way, although you’ll earn fewer status credits on those airlines as of 1 October 2025.

'Eligible sectors’ scrapped

Velocity is also removing the need to fly a set number of what it calls ‘eligible sectors’ as part of earning Silver, Gold, Platinum and soon Platinum Plus status.

The rationale is that, based on feedback from Velocity members, many people simply don’t understand what an ‘eligible sector’ is – despite that it’s simply a Virgin Australia flight beginning with a VA flight number.

As part of a push towards simplifying status, the eligible sector requirement will be dropped as of 1 October 2025 (the same date as the launch of lifetime Velocity Forever Gold and the new Velocity Platinum Plus tier).

To reach or retain Velocity Silver, Gold, Platinum or Platinum Plus status, members will need to earn at least 50% of their status credits on ‘Virgin Australia marketed flights’ – which covers Virgin’s own flights as well as codeshare flights with partner airlines booked under a VA flight number.

In common with the shift to fare-based status earning, Velocity says the move reinforces its focus on rewarding those who consistently choose to fly with Virgin Australia.

Putting a price on status

This spend-based model makes it possible to put a ‘price’ on each Velocity status tier; the numbers below represent the spend on Economy Choice, Economy Flex, and Business fares (so double them for Economy Lite fares).

To earn Velocity Silver requires 250 status credits, equivalent to a $3,000 spend (retaining Silver status year-on-year requires 200 status credits, or a $2400 spend).

To earn Velocity Gold requires 500 status credits, equivalent to a $6,000 spend (retaining Gold status year-on-year requires 400 status credits, or a $4,800 spend).

To earn Velocity Platinum requires 1000 status credits, equivalent to a $12,000 spend (retaining Platinum status year-on-year requires 800 status credits, or a $9,600 spend).

To earn the new Velocity Platinum Plus tier requires 2000 status credits, equivalent to a $24,000 spend (retaining Platinum Plus status also requires 2000 status credits, or another $24,000 spend).

Simpler and fairer..? 

Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach described the new spend-based system to Executive Traveller as being an inherently “simpler” way to track and earn status, and estimates that just over 80% of published fares “will actually see an increase in status credits.

It will also remove some inconsistencies in the current system.

“A good example is that sometimes you can see people who get discounted business class actually paying less than some on the (economy) Flex fare.”

“From a loyalty perspective (it means) that we’re actually under-rewarding those who are booking last-minute Flex fares,” so the new spend-based structure “will recognise those who are booking those last-minute fares will therefore get a lot more status credits.”

Spend-based status shakes things up  

How the new spend-based status earning impacts frequent flyers will of course depend on their own unique travel habits, and specifically the fares they (or their company) purchases.

Executive Traveller priced a number of Virgin Australia fares on 9 April 2025, ranging from the short Sydney-Brisbane hop to Brisbane-Perth and Melbourne-Bali – and it quickly became clear there can be significant differences in current and future status credit earnings.

For example, between Sydney and Brisbane, the $115 Economy Choice fare will plummet from 15 status credits to just 9 – a drop of 40%.

Likewise, a $384 Business fare slumps from 55 to 32 status credits.

However, the more expensive $434 Economy Flex fare surges in status power, from 25 to 36 status credits.

A similar pattern played out for some fares on the Brisbane-Perth route, with an Economy Flex fare of $828 increasing in status power (from 45 to 69 status credits) while a $969 Business fare drops from 105 to 80 status credits.

Even the cheapest $315 Economy Lite fare between Brisbane and Perth nudged north from 10 to 13 status credits, yet for Melbourne-Bali a $515 Economy Lite fare slipped from 25 status credits to 21.

ET readers: what’s your take on Velocity’s spend-based status earning, and how will it affect your Velocity status in the future?