With restrictions for international travel further easing from Monday 1 November 2021, Velocity Frequent Flyer has today announced the first tranche of its post-lockdown international ‘earn and burn’ partnerships with seven leading airlines, to open up travel for members to hundreds of destinations.
By leveraging Velocity’s partnerships with leading global airlines and Virgin Australia’s own international network, the airline group is building an enviable international network, starting with:
- Virgin Atlantic
- Air Canada
- Delta Air Lines
- Etihad Airways
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
The network of destinations will go live in stages as restrictions ease and international travel resumes.
From 11.59 pm AEDT Monday 1 November 2021, Velocity members will redeem their Points for bookings on Reward Seats and earn Velocity Points and Status Credits for eligible regular fares on selected flights with Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, and South African Airways. Travel dates will vary for each carrier and reward; they expect seat and route availability to grow in line with international travel demand returning to the market.
Singapore Airlines will be next to offer Velocity members Reward Seats as the airline expands its network and services to and from Australia. Meanwhile, Velocity members will continue to earn Points and Status Credits when traveling on eligible revenue bookings made with the carrier.
They will reveal more partnerships and more destinations in the coming months. In the meantime, we encourage Velocity members to get in early to book their Reward Seats because of the limited availability on offer until partner airlines increase their network and services as travel demand returns.
Virgin Australia’s own international services are scheduled to resume with the first flight to Nadi, Fiji, taking off from Sydney on 16 December 2021. All up, Virgin Australia has approximately one million Reward Seats now available to be booked across the Virgin Australia domestic and international network, which is great news for Velocity members who are eager to travel again.
Velocity members will also continue to enjoy status benefits on eligible regular airfares, such as lounge access, additional baggage allowances, express immigration screening, and priority boarding, depending on the benefits offered with Virgin Australia and/or the partner airline.
To coincide with the announcement, Virgin Australia has extended its Flexible Flying policy for travel on international services operated by Virgin Australia, including Reward Seat bookings made on partner airlines for travel before 31 December 2022.**
CEO commentary
Making his first significant announcement in his new role as Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO, Nick Rohrlach said he was excited to give members the chance to once again earn and redeem Points on international travel.
“On behalf of the entire team, I want to thank every one of our 10 million members for their patience as we worked around the clock to negotiate some great deals for our members with some of the world’s leading airlines,” said Mr. Rohrlach.
“I am thrilled to offer customers an extended network to hundreds of destinations across the world.
“Virgin Australia will always have a strong core of its own international flights and then through Velocity will partner with leading airlines to offer an enviable network to travel-hungry Australians.
“After being grounded for so long, many of us can’t wait to reunite with family and friends and experience fresh places–now Velocity Points will once again make it possible.
“Virgin Australia and its airline partners are determined to offer some of the best value fares on the market as we do our part to rebuild the travel industry and the millions of jobs it supports globally.
“As we rebuild and reopen, we look forward to offering even more opportunities to earn and redeem Points for our savvy members,” he said.
Bonus Points for Velocity members who transfer by 30 November 2021
From 1 November 2021, Velocity will launch a lucrative bonus Velocity Points promotion, giving members even more reason to transfer their credit card reward points from participating partners into the program to book international Reward Seats or other dream rewards.
Velocity members will receive at least 20 percent bonus Points when they transfer their credit card reward points from participating partners to Velocity by 30 November 2021, with AMEX and ANZ offering a whopping 25 and 30 percent bonus Points, respectively.^
For more information, visit https://experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com/member-support/velocity-update#international (website live, 4.15 pm AEDT).
Edited by: Stephen Morton
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