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..?

 

[Lomandriel]

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!

Which have you seen out of stock on? curious to see. Surprised jb gift cards etc. Are still in stock. or perhaps others find it better to redeem for items.

I doubt 7 day share suspension makes a diff. Id imagine partnera may not be processing new orders anyway as surely virgin isnt paying them for it currently.

Post automatically merged: Apr 16, 2020

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.

Was your 7th and 9th orders gift cards? What whisky did you manage to snag and for how many points?

This is the wine store right? Didnt even know it had gin or whisky on there.

 

[Scr77]

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.

Tiger is owned by Virgin. If Virgin fails, there is no Tiger, unfortunately.

 

[deebens]

Which have you seen out of stock on? curious to see. Surprised jb gift cards etc. Are still in stock. or perhaps others find it better to redeem for items.

I doubt 7 day share suspension makes a diff. Id imagine partnera may not be processing new orders anyway as surely virgin isnt paying them for it currently.

Post automatically merged: Apr 16, 2020

Was your 7th and 9th orders gift cards? What whisky did you manage to snag and for how many points?

This is the wine store right? Didnt even know it had gin or whisky on there.

Stuff on 7th was two orders, one with something from HN and Poppink. The other an order from Poppink. HN seems to be the laggard there from inspecting the details.

On the 9th it was a gift card from JBhifi.

Yeah, the wine store has a spirits tab. I'd never been there before, so I just grabbed what was available and it was Aberlour Double Cask 18 Year single malt. IIRC it was 38k points. That was the only thing they had.

Right now some gin has appeared on there for 12k points.

 

[Mr H]

Tiger is owned by Virgin. If Virgin fails, there is no Tiger, unfortunately.

I thought it might operate as a separate company and therefore be able to come through a VA liquidation unscathed. But I don't understand corporate things.

Whatever happens, I believe there will always be a demand for a second airline to operate Australian domestic routes, whether it is based in Australia or an offshoot of an overseas airline (e.g. Silk Air, Air Asia, NZ, etc.)

 

[NoName]

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.

Agree. It may be profitable now but how profitable would it be without being linked to a major airline? Surely loses a lot of its value as an asset and appeal to the consumer if VA is gone.

 

[firstclasser]

Update: My iPhone 11 Pro arrived today, order was placed on the 4th. However no sign of the JB HIFI GC which was placed in the same order, but obviously that gets fulfilled by a different company so no surprise that did not arrive with the phone.

 

[mickfrombris]

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!

I too succumbed to the dreaded realisation that I didn’t want to risk it all and redeemed points for an Apple Watch this morning and hoping the order is fulfilled. I left a bit over 200k points in there and willing to gamble to see if there is a light at the end of this tunnel. If VA somehow pull through then I have a decent stash if points for upgrades and If not then at least I’ve ended up with something which is better than nothing at all.

 

[Lomandriel]

Stuff on 7th was two orders, one with something from HN and Poppink. The other an order from Poppink. HN seems to be the laggard there from inspecting the details.

On the 9th it was a gift card from JBhifi.

Yeah, the wine store has a spirits tab. I'd never been there before, so I just grabbed what was available and it was Aberlour Double Cask 18 Year single malt. IIRC it was 38k points. That was the only thing they had.

Right now some gin has appeared on there for 12k points.

Is the winestore independent to virgin? Cause its run by Langwraiths?

If one was to redeem for the gin i presume shipping for just one bottle is included?

 

[kyle]

Stuff on 7th was two orders, one with something from HN and Poppink. The other an order from Poppink. HN seems to be the laggard there from inspecting the details.

On the 9th it was a gift card from JBhifi.

Yeah, the wine store has a spirits tab. I'd never been there before, so I just grabbed what was available and it was Aberlour Double Cask 18 Year single malt. IIRC it was 38k points. That was the only thing they had.

Right now some gin has appeared on there for 12k points.

I've got the reverse. HN order fulfilled but not Popink.

 

[TheInsider]

Is the winestore independent to virgin? Cause its run by Langwraiths?

If one was to redeem for the gin i presume shipping for just one bottle is included?

The normal store is also independent, I think run by Collins Group.

 

[deebens]

Is the winestore independent to virgin? Cause its run by Langwraiths?

If one was to redeem for the gin i presume shipping for just one bottle is included?

Not sure who the owner is. Just looked the gin is 12,320 and the shipping is 2,399

 

[Lomandriel]

Not sure who the owner is. Just looked the gin is 12,320 and the shipping is 2,399

Aww man the shipping kills it if just getting 1 bottle

I just received a share registry letter stamped 4 april from over east in wa. Seems like those who ordered around 4th and just received items that mail over here from around 4th april is only just being delivered. Its normal postal letter so even if they send your gift cards i suspect mail is so heavily delayed.

 

[jakeseven7]

Which have you seen out of stock on? curious to see. Surprised jb gift cards etc. Are still in stock. or perhaps others find it better to redeem for items.

When I was redeeming, itunes (larger denominations) were not there anymore. I'm all done now, so don't know if they are back.

 

[b773]

Feedback on the velocity order and delivery. I ordered an Apple watch on the 6-April and it arrived today (10 day turnaround). Supplier is Harvey Norman. The status on Velocity is still showing up as 'Pending'.

 

[JennyMG]

Imagine the chaos in the 'warehouse' / admin / shipping / communications departments.
Absolute debacle I bet.
I'm still not sure what to do.
Any one NOT redeeming? why? (just heard on the news that it's likely they'll go into receivership.)

 

[Must...Fly!]

Any one NOT redeeming? why? (just heard on the news that it's likely they'll go into receivership.)

Me. I don't see any point, if you excuse the pun. I have 170,000 points, I'm rolling the dice in a sense but I'm still of the belief they survive.

I have used about 130,000 in the last 12 months on domestic flights, so maybe if I still had those I would hedge my bets, but I'm happy to just wait it out and see what happens.

 

[Mr H]

Any one NOT redeeming? why? (just heard on the news that it's likely they'll go into receivership.)

I cashed out my balance to KF but I'm expecting another 24k points to arrive from wine purchases. I won't cash them out because I collect points for flights in premium cabins. I already have access to wine and stuff and I would never find that an acceptable substitute for the flights - so if VA goes under I just have to accept that I have lost my potential flights. Maybe I'd think differently if it were a million points, but I doubt it. And I would have transferred to to KF anyway.

 

[RaRa]

Ipad ordered on 05April arrived today. Reading posts here was taking the optimism away and at times I started doubting if that order will ever be fulfilled. The fact that Velocity are not prompt enough to update the order status from pending to processed/complete was not helping either

Anyways, to all 'penders' out there, just ignore the order status on velocity website and hang in there. There appear to be 10-14 days lead time in deliveries.

Thanks velocity for fulfilling the order, despite the fact this will deplete unearned revenue from the balance sheet. I sincerely hope VA will survive and come out the other side. Will fly VA again whenever the opportunity arrive.

 

[tomlee1986]

Feedback on the velocity order and delivery. I ordered an Apple watch on the 6-April and it arrived today (10 day turnaround). Supplier is Harvey Norman. The status on Velocity is still showing up as 'Pending'.

Ordered an iPad on 03/04/2020 - only received the confirmed order email - never received any shipping notice, and I received it today - status was still showing pending too

 

[flyingfan]

Any one NOT redeeming? why? (just heard on the news that it's likely they'll go into receivership.)

I'm not redeeming because with <50k points I don't think it's worth it. I don't want a Smeg kettle or exercise ball. I know my puny tally remaining won't materially help VA and I do hope they pull through but signs aren't good.