VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: Frequent flyers get what when Qatar Airways 25% ownership is approved?

According to an interview on The Insiders on Sunday, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers should announce whether the Qatar Airways acquisition of a 25% minority stake in Virgin Australia, has been approved.

Given Qatar Airways’ membership of the OneWorld alliance and Virgin Australia’s non-membership of any alliance, frequent flyers are wondering how this partnership will affect them.

Background

Virgin Australia has sought government approval for Qatar Airways to buy 25% of its shares. It has also sought approval to wet-lease Qatar aircraft to run an international service between Australia and Doha, and on to other Qatar Airways destinations.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has indicated its intention to approve. All that remains is for the Treasurer to announce his decision, which will be driven by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) recommendations, already received but not publicly announced.

What advantages do the Qatar-Virgin Australia shareholding and wet-leasing bring?

The tie-up will bring new opportunities for frequent flyers, with more ways to earn and redeem points, and will return Virgin Australia to long-haul flying.

It also allows Qatar Airways to sidestep the Transport Minister’s decision in 2023, preventing them from increasing their flights to Australia.

Starting in June 2025, passengers can book Virgin Australia routes to Europe via Doha, with guaranteed market-leading Qsuite business class seats. This wet-leasing agreement is expected to bring more tourists to Australia and put downward pressure on airfares.

It’s expected that return Business Class airfares to Europe, would be available from AU$7,500. That may have been so when fares were first announced. Now for the second half of 2025, you are looking at more than AU$10,000

Benefits for frequent flyers

Velocity members were offered up to 20,000 bonus points on long-haul business return flights. 10,000 points on economy return flights. That was for bookings made before January 20, 2025, for travel on selected dates.

The point of confusion occurs because Qatar Airways is a member of the OneWorld Alliance, and Virgin is not. In Australia, Qantas is the OneWorld member.

Also, Qatar Airways runs the Privilege Club frequent flyer program which uses Avios as its currency. That’s a currency we usually associate with British Airways!

Virgin Australia runs its own Frequent Flyer scheme, Velocity. So, who’s point will you accrue when you book a Virgin Australia numbered flight to Doha, and onward to Europe?

All the details have not been released, but forget about earning points and status credits you can apply to a OneWorld airlines loyalty scheme like Qantas. You will almost certainly earn Velocity points with Virgin Australia if you choose a flight with a VA number on a wet-leased Qatar Airways aircraft. That’s because it is ‘officially’ a Virgin Australia flight.

What happens on the Doha to Europe leg, which is actually a Qatar Airways code-shared flight? I am not sure. At the moment it looks like you will, but at the applicable partner rate. That’s much lower, starting at two points per dollar plus a status bonus instead of five for VA-numbered wet-leased flights.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club

The alternative to crediting your points to Virgin Australia’s Velocity frequent flyer program is to credit to Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Presuming that is possible, you can use this calculator to determine how many Avios you will earn. It doesn’t look like you will earn any Qpoints – the equivalent of Status Credits.

You can, however, book Virgin Australia flights using Avios via the Qatar Privilege Club scheme.

Lounge Access

Unfortunately for Qantas frequent flyer members, your status is unlikely to count when trying to access lounges on these Virgin wet-leased flights. Your class of travel and possibly your Velocity Status will determine which lounge you can enter in Doha.

In Australia, it’s an easier question to answer, and it’s addressed on the Virgin Australia website specifically. For example, in Sydney, it’s the Air New Zealand Lounge, and in Doha, it’s the Gold or Platinum lounge, depending on your status.

If your status is below Gold and you are travelling in economy, I’m sorry, but it’s down on the concourse for you.

2PAXfly Takeout

Conflicting frequent flyer status, class-of-travel and alliance membership all come into play when travelling on Virgin Australia’s wet-leased Qatar flights.

Your OneWorld status will be fairly useless if you are travelling Virgin Australia wet-leased flights on Qatar metal.

The big decision will be where to credit your flights. Should you use Virgin Australia’s Velocity program or Qatar’s Privilege Club? That’s a tricky question and will depend on your individual travel aspirations.