Virgin Australia ‘Elevate’s’ points & status credit earn on International and codeshare flights

First, they introduce, dive to the bottom ‘light’ fares, and then they increase points earn by 20% and status credits earn by up to 50% on ‘Elevate’ economy airfares.

This move was predicted by some, but not by this little black duck!

So, I suppose this is a trade-off customers can make – pay less with no flexibility and minimal earn, or pay more for flexibility and more points and credits.

These changes apply to Virgin Australia flights booked after 23 January, for travel post 23 April 2020.

Hong Kong and Tokyo

For Sydney-Hong Kong and Brisbane-Tokyo flights booked on/or after 23 January 2020 and flown on/or after April 23 2020, you earn 20% more Velocity points and you earn on Status Credits goes up by 15%.

Los Angeles

Virgin Australia flies direct from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to Los Angeles. On an Elevate ticket you will receive 20% more points, and roughly 12% more status credits. The same dates of purchase and travel apply.

Codeshare partners

Virgin Australia has codeshare agreements with:

• Alitalia
• Delta
• Etihad
• Hainan Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• Virgin Atlantic

If travelling on a Virgin Australia issued ticket (your flight number needs to start with VA) on these codeshare partners then you will earn 20% more Velocity Points and an additional 10 status credits (5 each way) – per return trip. These apply to all trips, so you can game the system better on short flights than longer flights.

The same eligibility dates apply to these codeshare flights.

Where to find these new Tables

You can find the new earn rates tables here (scroll down past the ‘book now’ button – earn rate has gone from 0.5 per dollar to 0.6) and for status credits here – scroll down the page – its just above the International Airline Partners at the bottom of the page.

2PAXfly Takeout

Increased earn rates on the face of it are a good thing, rare, but a good thing. However, the cynic in me looks for the motivations. Probably these are changes to level the playing field to keep Velocity members in the fold, so they don’t defect to partner frequent flyer programs, or there will be a ‘Quit Pro Quo’ in redemption rates later?

You should also note that these only affect the ‘Elevate’ economy earn rates. No increase for Premium Economy of Business. Yawn!