VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: Double Status Credits on flights booked before 30 October for travel before 31 December 2023

This is the perfect time to top up your Velocity status credits to meet that tier qualification with some Christmas season travel. You only have until the end of October to book, that’s six days ’til Monday 30 October. But you have to book for travel until 31 December, so you only have two months to catch those flights.

This is the third and almost certainly final double-status credit deal Virgin/Velocity will offer this year.

Flights that qualify

The deal is restricted to domestic and international flights flown on Virgin metal with a VA flight number. Codeshares with other airlines do not qualify. So, flights on VA partners like All Nippon Airways (ANA), Air Canada, Qatar, Singapore or United Airlines will NOT qualify.

How to qualify

You need to be a member of the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, and register for the promotion at the Velocity Frequent Flyer website.

Velocity Status Tiers

The Velocity Frequent Flyer scheme used by Virgin Australia has four status tiers with levels of status credits and eligible sectors that have to be reached within a 12-month period:

• RED = entry level
• SILVER = 250 Status Credits + 2 eligible sectors
• GOLD = 500 Status Credits + 4 eligible sectors
• PLATINUM = 1,000 Status Credits + 8 eligible sectors

An Eligible Sector is any flight that begins with a VA flight number, excluding Reward Seats and Economy Lite fares. It also excludes some Choice Fares in fare classes P,Q,T,I,S for the portion of the flight that is operated internally within Canada.

Earning examples

If you fly between Melbourne and Sydney in Business, you would normally stand to earn 55 Status Credits. Under the promotion, that doubles to 110. I’ll leave you to do the maths on how many of those flight you would need to take to earn Gold.

2PAXfly Takeout

Status with Velocity/Virgin is ‘easier’ to earn than the same status with Qantas. And by easier, I mean that you tend to earn more status credits on what are usually cheaper flights. Qualifying levels are also a bit lower. However, depending on who you talk too, or how you value these benefits, you get less than you do with Qantas. I think that’s arguable. Put it this way, Gold gets you into the lounges. Given the crowding, that can be a mixed blessing. But in my opinion, they do have better food, but more limited drinks.

Feel free to discuss in the comments!