As has been widely reported, Virgin Australia has been placed into voluntary administration this morning. Velocity Frequent Flyer, while owned by the Group, is a separate company and is not in administration.
However, it’s fair to say that the 10 million members of the Velocity program are watching closely to see how the situation unfolds.
But if you’ve hurriedly logged onto the Velocity Rewards Store this morning with a view to liquidating your points, unfortunately, you’re out of luck.
A message on the Velocity website states that steps have been taken to pause all redemptions for an initial period of four weeks, effective immediately. Members won’t be able to redeem their points for rewards such as goods, giftcards or wine during the pause.
Transfers to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program remain off limits, with this option closed to members several weeks ago.
The notice from Velocity seeks to provide some assurances, advising members that:
- Points will remain in accounts during the pause.
- Existing points will not expire through this period, with Velocity extending the expiration period for existing points by the timeframe of the pause.
- Points can continue to be earned with partners, although you won’t be able to redeem them during the pause.
Although the initial timeframe for this restriction is four weeks, Velocity has advised this period may be extended (and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was).
So, if you still hold a hard-earned stash of Velocity Frequent Flyer points, there’s really no option but to sit tight and wait to see what the future holds.
We’ll continue to update this story as more information comes in.
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Last week I redeemed points for non-flight rewards – on Wednesday 15th April – and received a receipt for the goods I ordered.
It stated that “The following order #xxx has been processed and the Points have been deducted from your Velocity Frequent Flyer account.”
It’s now with the merchants to deliver those items.
I’m hoping I’ll be OK – but there is no information to say that my order will be completed by the merchants.
I did lose when Ansett folded, so I hope I’m not seeing history repeating.