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]

My Velocity Amex will keep earning points for me, and I've got flights booked for later this year that will net some points too. Though they probably won't be able to be used to their full potential until we can freely travel again.

I personally hope you can redeem those points when VA is up and running again as an airline, if not, at least the rewards store can be restarted for you to redeem even more products if needed

 

[Dee#]

Agree. Who knows. If Virgin become a low cost airline I will be spending my remaining 140,000 points at the shop and going to Qantas.

 

[BNEFlyer]

Agree. Who knows. If Virgin become a low cost airline I will be spending my remaining 140,000 points at the shop and going to Qantas.

It's unlikely they'll be an LCC again. I mean anyone can do anything with their points but the last thing I'd do personally is go shopping with them.

 

[DavidFlynn]

FYI: Virgin Australia is reactivating Velocity Frequent Flyer redemptions from this afternoon, but only for selected "popular domestic routes" – the Rewards Store is expected to follow, albeit no timeline as yet, but no transfers to Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer.

Virgin Australia unfreezes Velocity Frequent Flyer points

The program's four-week ban on members using their points is starting to lift, with domestic flights the first cab off the rank.

www.executivetraveller.com

PS Velocity members should see emails on this from later this arvo.

 

[tomlee1986]

FYI: Virgin Australia is reactivating Velocity Frequent Flyer redemptions from this afternoon, but only for selected "popular domestic routes" – the Rewards Store is expected to follow, albeit no timeline as yet, but no transfers to Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer.

Virgin Australia unfreezes Velocity Frequent Flyer points

The program's four-week ban on members using their points is starting to lift, with domestic flights the first cab off the rank.

www.executivetraveller.com

PS Velocity members should see emails on this from later this arvo.

I would not be surprised if people still want to redeem points for goods.... not flights as travel is still not fully available domestically either

 

[BNEFlyer]

I would not be surprised if people still want to redeem points for goods.... not flights as travel is still not fully available domestically either

Not right now, but bookings are still open. I had to cancel a trip to visit family at Easter so I've rebooked for November. If we can't travel by then I'm assuming the flight will be cancelled and the funds will go back into Travelbank or I'll get a refund. But I'd rather go on the trip.

 

[DavidFlynn]

List of those destinations is now up at Domestic Flight Redemptions are back

 

[tomlee1986]

Not right now, but bookings are still open. I had to cancel a trip to visit family at Easter so I've rebooked for November. If we can't travel by then I'm assuming the flight will be cancelled and the funds will go back into Travelbank or I'll get a refund. But I'd rather go on the trip.

I would say you are correct... almost everyone wants a trip now... lol , but careful on Travelbank as we dont know what Virgin MK 2 looks like

 

[futaris]

travel from 1 September 2020 ...

 

[tomlee1986]

travel from 1 September 2020 ...

hopefully situation would be back to as normal as possible

 

[DavidFlynn]

There's about 20 actual routes, if you discard the double-counting.

 

[jakeseven7]

Just curious, when VA are back up and running and let's assume Velocity doesn't change, will those who have spent points on wine/iPads/gift cards etc. resume accumulating points?

Velocity redemptions are availabel again from today so I'm going to look at upgrading some existing flights.

Depends on what VA2 looks like.... is it a LCC? Will it have better partnerships? Will it fly anywhere internationally ever again?? A few questions for me.

Also, VA2 will be a bit risky probably as well for a while.

So I have redirected all point earnings to QF.

Will re-evaluate in 12 months or so whether Velocity is worth it.

 

[bigbadbyrnes]

I'm still waiting on gift cards ordered on the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th of April, did them one day at a time as the guidelines suggested.

Going by what others have said, they're due any day now.

 

[jakeseven7]

I would not be surprised if people still want to redeem points for goods.... not flights as travel is still not fully available domestically either

No one knows what VA2 will be in September or if they will even be flying so I agree, I expect the second the Velocity store is opened again they will be slammed with people redeeming again v booking on a 'maybe' airline.

Pity they have kept the Krisflyer escape hatch closed.

 

[tomlee1986]

No one knows what VA2 will be in September or if they will even be flying so I agree, I expect the second the Velocity store is opened again they will be slammed with people redeeming again v booking on a 'maybe' airline.

Pity they have kept the Krisflyer escape hatch closed.

I am not surprised the Krisflyer route is shut still as SQ may not receive any money from VA from any redemption flights

 

[NoName]

Won’t be redeeming for flights until they actually get through the current situation. Hopefully transfers to KF resume shortly as I’m still earning on the VA side.

 

[travel_bug]

Interesting note from the VFF email re flight redemptions from 1 September:

• fees waived for any changes made until 1 Sept; and
• "if you or VA cancel your flight before 1 Sept, we'll refund your points/cash in full to the original form of payment (except for booking or cc fees)."

I wonder if that means Velocity is wearing the cost of cancelled flights then, as the recent court order only limited the administrator's liability for conditional travel credits, and notably states they cannot be transferred to a refund or unconditional credit.

 

[Mattg]

Won’t be redeeming for flights until they actually get through the current situation.

Exactly. I'm not sure what the benefit in redeeming now would be, when you can't travel until September. Why not just book in August once we have a better idea of the situation with VA and the state borders? It's not like availability is likely to be an issue...

Hopefully transfers to KF resume shortly as I’m still earning on the VA side.

I don't think transfers to KrisFlyer will resume any time soon.

 

[desafinado74]

Damn it, i really hope transfers to Krisflyer will resume ASAP.

 

[WLGFlyer]

Overall I think this is good news, however probably mostly a move to boost confidence for people with point balances. I would make sure to pay only with points and not lay out cash for taxes etc.

Worst case the new owners won't honor these flights, but then the points will be worthless as well. Not to mention the general uncertainty surrounding any kind of travel this year.