Virgin's "Earn While You Burn" Velocity offer: status credit rates

In the dark about how many Virgin Australia status credits you'll funnel towards your Velocity Frequent Flyer account if you redeem points for flights under the new "Earn While You Burn" promotion?

The airline didn't specify which earning bracket business, premium economy or economy would fall into in its announcement last week, leaving anyone trying to make a points booking this week a bit at a loss.

Australian Business Traveller raised the question with Virgin Australia, and a spokesperson has confirmed that points earning will be the same as if you paid cash — but in economy, you'll earn in the half-rate Discount Economy bracket.

A trip from Sydney to Los Angeles would thus net you 160 status credits in Business, 120 in Premium Economy, or 40 in the discount economy band — not the 80 in the full fare economy column. Check out the status credits calculator if you need precise numbers.

Keep that in mind if you're planning to use the Earn While You Burn option to top off your Velocity status for the year while jetting off on a trip.

And when you're booking, don't forget that you now earn two sets of status credits on a connecting flight rather than just the point-to-point distances. So Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane will net you 80 SCs in business, up from the 60 you'd have earned previously.

Virgin has a new set of fine print down the bottom too: "An itinerary that involves a change in aircraft but retains the same flight number is considered a single flight segment, whereas an itinerary that consists of a change in flight numbers, even if the same aircraft is used for the entire itinerary, will be considered two flight segments."

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John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.