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..?

 

[tomlee1986]

Such different experiences - i read on their facebook page that people have gotten envelopes from Virgin without gift cards!

''
Do you mean an empty enverlope?

 

[travelbee26]

View attachment 215590

Thanks for this screen shoot. I’ll keep my fingers crossed to see if my apple watch will arrive. They have taken the points out of my account, bu5 it’s still pending, even though it says shipped, so I can only hope.

 

[travelbee26]

I ordered apple watch 15 April (added some of my own cash too) and received an email from Harvey Norman after enquiring with them saying "we have been advised today that Velocity will be contacting all members with outstanding orders placed after 12 April in the coming days." They redirected me to the Velocity page that talks about the pause. They finished with "rest assured your order will be despatched from us when we are advised, but please allow the new expected delivery time instructed from Velocity to expire before contacting us again" ie we cant help you until Velocity pays us......

Virgin and Harvey Norman both on my blacklist now! former long term Platinum member!!

Have they taken the points out of your account yet?

 

[fseng]

ppl who received their apple products, are they shipped by Harvey Norman? I placed my order in for an iPhone only on 16. ：（

 

[dmchart]

"Saturday at 11:32 AM

sweet, my jb gift card orders have just changed to complete! and tracking info. ordered 5 x jb gift cards on the 4th April, one after each other ( even with daily limits in place ) I did email the address in the original email asking about my order 2 days ago , not sure if that helped!"

Arrived today in separate envelopes normal mail!

 

[Chad2020]

''
Do you mean an empty enverlope?

yes!

 

[maccaisking]

I managed to book half a trip to Europe late this morning flying SQ, (got the Aus - SIN - Aus legs) but then I couldn't book the remainder. Will be interesting to see what happens now. SQ website shows it as confirmed but not ticketed.

 

[JohnK]

Worth noting however that the ASX release says "Velocity Frequent Flyer, while owned by the Group, is a separate company and is not in administration."

A separate company but you can't access your points so can we make the assumption that Velocity Frequent Flyer does not have the funds to cover the points?

 

[Rob.au]

A separate company but you can't access your points so can we make the assumption that Velocity Frequent Flyer does not have the funds to cover the points?

Paul Scurrah claimed no on The 7:30 Report last night.

Virgin Australia's CEO Paul Scurrah on the company going into administration

Leigh Sales: There's also been a freeze on people's ability to redeem their frequent flyer points. Is that because you've had a run on them in the past 48 hours with people fearing the company would collapse?

Paul Scurrah: Well it's actually been longer than that, Leigh. When we first approached the government at the very start of the crisis, we - like every airline in the world - we had our revenue cut off. All the borders were shut. We pretty much shut down and that put a lot of pressure on our business. When we went to the government and first suggested we had a liquidity need of $1.4 billion, unfortunately that become public and that actually caused a lot of concern and a loss of confidence in our airline. So ever since that time we've seen a run on points in our frequent flyer program and I think in order to preserve the value of the asset that the administrators are working with, that's an important decision to make to give us the best chance at getting the best value. I have to say though, Leigh, those points are not at risk. They are covered. They are cash-backed in a trust, so our customers can be assured that those points are safe."

There's also the statement on the Velocity site: Program Update 21 April

We’re seeing more members use Points to shop online for items such as gift cards, electronic goods, and wine. This unexpected demand has made it difficult for our suppliers to provide these offers and limits the availability for all members to redeem their Points.

The problem of course is what the true value of those points are, but there's four weeks now for everyone to take a breath.

 

[Nathant123]

I wonder if they'll continue to offer the status credit gift for the month of May and June. Its still too early to tell if status or points will mean anything if/when the airline reemerges. I also assume the current relationship between Flybuys and Velocity remains unaffected with the ability to transfer points and earn status credits on shopping?

 

[cove]

The new owners of Virgin and Velocity will need loyal customers to succeed. Nothing will stay totally the same and it will be a shame if the A330s with their lovely business class seats disappear.

 

[Dee#]

Wonder if wine ordered on 7th & 10 April is on its way? 12 April seems to be cut off. Delivery to the west will take longer than original order specified .

 

[tomlee1986]

ppl who received their apple products, are they shipped by Harvey Norman? I placed my order in for an iPhone only on 16. ：（

I did order an iPad on the 7th, and I did receive the product - the box did not say it comes from there at all

 

[Dee#]

The new owners of Virgin and Velocity will need loyal customers to succeed. Nothing will stay totally the same and it will be a shame if the A330s with their lovely business class seats disappear.

Yes we used to ensure Perth to Syd business was always on the A300. No point paying the same for the premium economy type buiz domestic seats elsewhere. Really liked the economyX platinum front seat free too.

 

[travelbee26]

ppl who received their apple products, are they shipped by Harvey Norman? I placed my order in for an iPhone only on 16. ：（

They come from a drop ship partner of Harvey Norman, and don’t have access to Harvey Norman stores or online. So they are at the mercy of whoever controls the processing of orders.

 

[Dee#]

Not looking forward to rides with Qantas. Now Perth to Syd and Darwin will just be like a bus trip. Have 200,000 Q points from cc but as a basic member will never get to use them on flights. Might spend at shop before devalued.

 

[Rembrandt]

Not looking forward to rides with Qantas. Now Perth to Syd and Darwin will just be like a bus trip. Have 200,000 Q points from cc but as a basic member will never get to use them on flights. Might spend at shop before devalued.

I wonder how difficult it will be to obtain reward seats world wide once this crisis is over or close to over. I'm guessing airles will want full paying customers. However,

 

[jakeseven7]

A separate company but you can't access your points so can we make the assumption that Velocity Frequent Flyer does not have the funds to cover the points?

All the VA PR is saying ‘they are safe’.

VA is probably going to be bought and restructured.

They will need a FF program so I think it’s fair to say VFF will emerge in some way shape or form in 4 weeks for people to begin using points again.

The problem of course is what the true value of those points are, but there's four weeks now for everyone to take a breath.

I actually suspect most people with points still stuck in Velocity will be holding their breath not taking one

But it does allow all the merchants VA uses to restock, work through the back log of orders and prepare for hopefully a re-open in 4 weeks where no doubt they will be slammed again.

Lets hope they stock up on gift cards!

 

[MooTime]

I suspect a deal won't be sealed with 4 weeks. I fully expect an extension to that time frame. Although I also all to be fine in time when flying domestically opens.
All will be good, some of the velocity point shoppers may regret getting a phone instead of J flights..... Only if the A330's still in operation that is.

 

[Mr H]

Not looking forward to rides with Qantas. Now Perth to Syd and Darwin will just be like a bus trip. Have 200,000 Q points from cc but as a basic member will never get to use them on flights. Might spend at shop before devalued.

I can almost understand people wanting to cash out Velocity points for gift cards, but cashing out QFF too? This is a frequent flyer forum aimed at those who either fly frequently, or who go to extraordinary lengths to collect and extract value from FF programmes. We have members who have been willing to spend hundreds of dollars on unnecessary flights just to secure status. We have people who fly in shorthaul J even though Y would be much cheaper and not much less comfortable. Yet these same people are now worried about losing the value of a few gift cards when the prize they always wanted was long haul F or J...

Crazy times.