Is it Time to transfer/withdraw points from Velocity?

[Bibendum]

Hi All,

I need some advice from the brains trust on this forum.

I, like many on here, have hundreds of thousands of points sitting with velocity. With the current COVID-19 situation and virgins financial position I’m concerned that if the airline was declare bankruptcy points may disappear..

What’s the likelihood of this happening and should I withdraw my points by purchasing gift cards to get some cash value at what I have..?

am I making a mountain out of a mole hill.. or is there a real threat to my velocity points been wiped out..?

 

[Bct]

Millions of people with points to spend would of course be a valuable asset for a receiver to sell to a retailer or a bank. No doubt the value to us of each point would reduce but we could still buy toasters.

In that context perhaps the mass redemption of points is less important than retaining the 10 million or so Velocity members. I have tried to redeem most of my points but at this stage will stay with the scheme.

 

[tomlee1986]

I have a bad feeling about this... it doesn't look good to be honest (NO inside information what so ever), but if the government is NOT injecting funds, investors not helping - then there is a huge possibility this airline will definitely go bust

Post automatically merged: Apr 16, 2020

In that context perhaps the mass redemption of points is less important than retaining the 10 million or so Velocity members. I have tried to redeem most of my points but at this stage will stay with the scheme.

I am the same as well

 

[AIRwin]

Weirdly, I logged on and was given access to some else's account. The name was hilarilously impossible to pronounce (lots of v's, z's, c's and few vowels - would be a ripper in Scrabble if names were allowed ) but he/she was SG with a balance of about 120k.

Oh did you have full access even to redeem?

 

[theblank]

you blokes keep forgetting, the Velocity program is an independant company, that actually continues to make a profit, and is not tied solely to the airline for points revenue. If VA was to go into receivership, then Velocity remains a viable asset to be sold.

There isnt many airlines in the world that are not at risk of failing at the moment. A recent article says Air Asia woudl be out of cash in 5 months, compared to 6 for VA.

The seperattion of Virgins FF program is a good thing.

 

[TheInsider]

you blokes keep forgetting, the Velocity program is an independant company, that actually continues to make a profit, and is not tied solely to the airline for points revenue. If VA was to go into receivership, then Velocity remains a viable asset to be sold.

There isnt many airlines in the world that are not at risk of failing at the moment. A recent article says Air Asia woudl be out of cash in 5 months, compared to 6 for VA.

The seperattion of Virgins FF program is a good thing.

And people redeeming Velocity points for what exactly?
All good for the program to survive, but it simply wouldn't be the same.

From what i remember there isn't really many programs out there that are completely independent of the airline that have been successful.

 

[Lomandriel]

the website is now completely down... was crawling earlier. Not good. But yes the program is profitable so maybe it will be safe to hold on but the big issue is if your airline is bust the inherent value drops alot. After all how many collect points to trade for gift cards? Far cheaper to do so outside of FF programs.

 

[Mr H]

The separation of Velocity and VA does mean that the Velocity point would continue to exist if VA went bust. And that could be great news if another airline (Tiger?) were to step into VA's shoes and partner up with Velocity.

But being pessimistic, with no airline to earn and redeem with, the scheme would be significantly less attractive to its members - hence they would have less of a value proposition to sell to partners. So earning potential would wither as partners walk away, and redemption options would probably become much less attractive (think $100 vouchers to use on package holidays with an overpriced travel agent with a limit of one voucher per transaction - or a free carwash at some chain that only operates in the Gold Coast). Hence, punters would walk away. So the balances would last for ever but the scheme would die a slow death by 1000 cuts.

 

[Happy Dude]

Oh did you have full access even to redeem?

Presumably, if I was the type to try. I only noticed that it wasn't my account because it was more points than I had. Thought I had a windfall for sec....

 

[tomlee1986]

the website is now completely down... was crawling earlier. Not good. But yes the program is profitable so maybe it will be safe to hold on but the big issue is if your airline is bust the inherent value drops alot. After all how many collect points to trade for gift cards? Far cheaper to do so outside of FF programs.

I had the same issue on log in too..

 

[pauly7]

Selfish I know but i hope my orders for gift cards get processed before it all goes kaboom

I suppose there is a chance that all VA’s Velocity partners are also reading the same news as us all and demanding same day / weekly payment terms at the moment.... or perhaps the redemption partners have put the brakes on themselves for fear of VA not paying them. Who knows....

My neighbour has done daily gift card redemptions starting 2 weeks ago and has received nothing and no email confirmations either.

 

[Spacetravel]

I've been holding strong sitting on a 600k point balance I was planning on using for a trip to Europe on SQ in July. I lost my nerve today and pulled the trigger, cashed them out on the estore.

I figured, its likely velocity will be sold off one way or another, either to give virgin a cash injection to survive or it goes into administration and is sold off to pay debts.

If it is sold off and Virgin survives, the program will likely stay the same but even if they do I think they will be operating a reduced network for at least 12 months to come regardless if the government restrictions go away or not.

If they don't survive then as others mentioned the balance will stay but redemption options will be cough.

So I decided its not worth the risk anymore, found a couple things I was shopping for anyway and pulled out.

If they survive I can amass another stash in 6-12 months.

Good luck to those who are holding their balance to see through to the other side!

 

[Bct]

My neighbour has done daily gift card redemptions starting 2 weeks ago and has received nothing and no email confirmations either.

Me the same, started 11 days ago.

 

[Goaty]

Pls see post 467

Thanks SCR77... I think i have read just about all these questions and answers ..Sorry i missed the one that was relevant ... I read somewhere on here that if the flight was not a VA number and it was eg EY that there was more of a chance which got me thinking therefore the question to AFF... I am so looking forward to my Dyson,blender and every other kitchen appliance ..Cheers

 

[jakeseven7]

I've been holding strong sitting on a 600k point balance I was planning on using for a trip to Europe on SQ in July. I lost my nerve today and pulled the trigger, cashed them out on the estore.

I figured, its likely velocity will be sold off one way or another, either to give virgin a cash injection to survive or it goes into administration and is sold off to pay debts.

If it is sold off and Virgin survives, the program will likely stay the same but even if they do I think they will be operating a reduced network for at least 12 months to come regardless if the government restrictions go away or not.

If they don't survive then as others mentioned the balance will stay but redemption options will be cough.

So I decided its not worth the risk anymore, found a couple things I was shopping for anyway and pulled out.

If they survive I can amass another stash in 6-12 months.

Good luck to those who are holding their balance to see through to the other side!

What I'm looking foward to is all the AFF selfies on this thread with their brand new Dysons as they arrive!

And do you know what, you are right - if they somehow manage to pull through then great, we can all resume earning points again - and there will be HUGE bonuses on offer everywhere I'm sure to try and jump start the economy.

I suspect not many AFF members are left holding their balance now anyway, but ditto - good luck to them if they are.

 

[SOPOOR]

I suppose there is a chance that all VA’s Velocity partners are also reading the same news as us all and demanding same day / weekly payment terms at the moment.... or perhaps the redemption partners have put the brakes on themselves for fear of VA not paying them. Who knows....

My neighbour has done daily gift card redemptions starting 2 weeks ago and has received nothing and no email confirmations either.

I hope everyone who has ordered successfully gets their orders,

ethically, we have worled/paid hard for these points,

I have made unavoidable mistakes in life that I ve regretted later, had I used common sense and not get emotional/greedy, so now I just go with my gut

 

[Lomandriel]

Store's back online. Looks like it was temporary blip not an effort to stop redemptions haha. Do items disappear once sold out?? Gift cards say in stock... i would think if sold out it would note?whereas i swear i saw two dymocks gift cards. The $50 one no longer shows and only $30 remains.? Do they disappear off there rather than showing out of stock?

 

[jakeseven7]

Store's back online. Looks like it was temporary blip not an effort to stop redemptions haha. Do items disappear once sold out?? Gift cards say in stock... i would think if sold out it would note?whereas i swear i saw two dymocks gift cards. The $50 one no longer shows and only $30 remains.? Do they disappear off there rather than showing out of stock?

Both - I've seen 'out of stock' on some and then some just mysteriously evaporate...

VA IT still doing their very best to make it as confusing and difficult as possible to transact in anyway, shape or form with VA!

 

[Lomandriel]

My neighbour has done daily gift card redemptions starting 2 weeks ago and has received nothing and no email confirmations either.

What date did the gift card redemption limit of 1 per day begin?? Some from 3rd apr and 4th have just received some so i presume anyone ordering after has 11+ day waits. Probably worse now.

We dont know if redemption partners are even processing requests. Maybe not. And my common sense is they wouldn't be without payment given public knowledge out there.

 

[SOPOOR]

share suspended for 7 days, I guess thats more time for existing orders to be able to be processed

 

[deebens]

Okay, so I've had one move from pending to complete (i haven't seen it)
Another move from pending to processing. Both were from the 7th.

Another still sitting on pending from the 9th.

Also ordered some whisky from the wine store. Seen nothing on that yet. Seems I got one of the last bottles.

Gin seems to have reappeared there now.