Major Changes Coming to Velocity Frequent Flyer: Who Wins and Who Loses?

New perks, more points, and tougher rules – here’s how the Velocity changes stack up.

Virgin Australia has today announced a raft of significant changes to its Velocity Frequent Flyer program. Set to roll out gradually across the next 12 months, these updates will impact how members earn status, redeem points, and access certain perks.

Let’s dive into the key areas where changes are happening and what they mean for members:

Forever Gold and Platinum Plus: New tiers, not so new perks

Kicking in from 1 October 2025, Velocity’s introduction of Forever Gold and Platinum Plus marks a significant expansion in its loyalty program, offering both long-term recognition and exclusive rewards for high-spending frequent flyers.

Forever Gold: Recognising long-term loyalty with a generous backdating policy

A standout feature of the Velocity program revamp is the introduction of the Forever Gold status, which rewards long-term loyalty with lifetime Gold status. To qualify for Forever Gold, members must accumulate 12,000 status credits over time. However, it’s not just about the total number of status credits – members will need to earn at least 9,000 status credits on Virgin Australia-marketed flights.

The remaining 3,000 status credits can be earned through a variety of different ways, such as Family Pooling, Flybuys, or using Velocity-linked credit cards. This approach gives members more flexibility in how they reach their Forever Gold status, but it still encourages frequent flying with Virgin Australia.

So how does this stack up against Qantas? Qantas Lifetime Gold requires 14,000 status credits but does not restrict a high proportion of status credit earn to Qantas metal (there is no restriction on the number of status credits that can be earned across any of Qantas’ partner airlines).

Platinum Plus: A new tier for high spenders

Velocity has also introduced a new, more exclusive tier – Platinum Plus – aimed at high-spending frequent flyers. To qualify for this new status, members must earn 2,000 status credits in a 12-month membership period, with 1,500 (75%) needing to be earned via Virgin Australia flights.

Key perks of Platinum Plus include access to a dedicated VIP call centre, access to Fly Ahead and the ability to gift companion Platinum membership (a benefit previously available to regular Platinum members who earned an additional 1,000 status credits beyond the required threshold (1,800 status credits)).

Under the new system, only Platinum Plus members will have access to this benefit, which means Platinum members will lose the option unless they qualify for this higher tier.

Platinum and Gold member perks get watered down

From 1 October 2025, Platinum members will no longer be able to gift companion Platinum membership unless they qualify for the new Platinum Plus tier (2,000 status credits, of which 1,500 must be earned from the member flying on Virgin Australia marketed flights). On top of that, earning companion Gold status will now require 650 of the required 1,300 status credits to come from Virgin Australia flights.

Gold members will lose the Guaranteed Economy Reward Seat benefit, although Virgin Australia CEO Nick Rohrlach told The Champagne Mile that this benefit was rarely used.

Removal of eligible sector requirement

Fom 1 October 2025, Eligible Sectors will no longer be required to upgrade or maintain Velocity status levels.

To be eligible to upgrade into Silver, Gold, and Platinum Status, Velocity members must earn the required Status Credits during the previous 365 days, with at least 50% earned on Virgin Australia marketed flights flown by the member.

Domestic award seat availability: Points pricing changes

As part of the changes, from 21 January 2025, Velocity will introduce a new, higher-priced tier of one way domestic economy award seats aimed at increasing availability for members.

This move is designed to make it easier to book reward seats, but it raises concerns that cheaper seats may become harder to find. Similar to Qantas’ Classic Plus system, Virgin Australia could potentially allocate more seats to the higher-priced tier, reducing access to the best-value redemptions for savvy frequent flyers.

However, alongside the introduction of more expensive seats, Velocity will also offer cheaper priced seats on certain routes. One-way domestic economy reward seats will start from 5,900 points, offering members more opportunities to redeem points for short-haul trips at a lower cost.

While these lower-priced seats could benefit members looking for budget-friendly options, the key question is how many of these seats will be made available and whether they will become more difficult to secure as the higher-priced award seats hit the system.

Status Credits on Virgin Australia flights: Moving from distance-based to spend-based

Velocity is also making a significant change to how status credits are earned, moving from a distance-based system to one based on how much you spend. This means the more you spend, the more status credits you’ll earn, instead of it being based on the distance flown.

So how do current and future status credit earn rates stack up? The Champagne Mile today crunched the numbers on current pricing for a Melbourne to Sydney one way flight in late November across all fare types, comparing the current and future status credit earn:

As can be seen, the new system is designed to reward high spenders, with Flex fares – often close to Business in price – being the clear winner under the new model.

This change is likely to be met with some discontent by savvy frequent flyers. With the shift to spend-based earning, double and triple status credit promotions are likely to lose their appeal, as it diminishes the ability to ‘gamify’ Velocity status at low cost.

Status credit earn rates for international partner airlines to reduce

In addition to changes in the way status credits are earned on Virgin Australia flights, the status credit earn on international partner airlines is also set to reduce. Often lucrative, flying on partner airlines like Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways will no longer earn as many status credits as before.

For Velocity members who fly regularly on international routes with partners, this reduction in earning potential may be a key consideration moving forward. It further emphasises Velocity’s focus on incentivising flying with Virgin Australia itself, as earning status credits on partner airlines will no longer be as rewarding.

Point pricing increases for short-haul Virgin Australia and international partner reward seats

Velocity has flagged upcoming price increases for short-haul reward seats, as well as for select international partner airlines, including Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways. These changes are due to kick in from 21 January 2025.

Reviewing the information on the Velocity website this morning, The Champagne Mile has observed moderate points pricing increases of up to 13% across both economy and business reward seats.

Carrier Charges on Singapore Airlines Awards to Increase

On top of points increases, from 21 January 2025, Velocity will also raise carrier charges for Singapore Airlines reward seat bookings. High carrier charges have been a source of frustration for members redeeming points on partners like Etihad and Qatar Airways, so its unsurprising that Singapore Airlines award seats will see increases.

Based on information received by The Champagne Mile, Singapore Airlines carrier charges for one-way flights under 4,200 miles will rise by up to 44% as follows:

Points earning on Virgin Australia flights: A 20% cut (unless you have a Velocity credit card)

From April 2025, the standard points earn rate on flights will drop from 5 points per $1 to 4 points per $1, a 20% reduction.

However, members with a Velocity-linked credit card will continue to earn 5 points per $1, giving more incentive to sign up for co-branded credit cards to maximise points earning. “This points cut incentivises members to use co-branded credit cards, meaning those without one will miss out on maximum earning potential.

Changes to UpgradeMe points pricing

From 18 November 2024, Velocity will transition to a single points price for upgrading Choice and Flex fares using UpgradeMe Points.

The minimum points required to upgrade will increase, with upgrades now starting from:

• 10,000 Velocity Points for Virgin Australia Domestic routes, and
• 8,000 Velocity Points for Virgin Australia Trans-Tasman and Short-Haul International routes.

These changes reflect a streamlined approach to upgrade pricing but also mark an increase in the number of points needed for upgrades on eligible fares, excluding Economy Lite fares.

Conclusion

Velocity’s program changes signal a mix of positive updates and new challenges for frequent flyers. While the introduction of Forever Gold and Platinum Plus rewards loyalty and high spenders, the shift to spend-based status credits and higher points pricing for reward seats may make it harder for some members to extract the best value.

While the new Platinum Plus tier adds a level of exclusivity, these changes may feel like a mixed bag for existing Gold and Platinum members. Some benefits have been scaled back, particularly for Gold, and the increased threshold for companion Gold will likely make it harder for Platinum members to unlock this coveted perk.

The implementation of minimum thresholds on status credits earned on Virgin Australia metal and the reduction in status credits earned on international partner flights further reflect a focus on driving loyalty to Virgin Australia itself.

As more details emerge, we’ll continue to update this article with the latest information to help members navigate the changes effectively.

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