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..?

 

[Stealthflyer]

FYI: Virgin Australia is reactivating Velocity Frequent Flyer redemptions from this afternoon, but only for selected "popular domestic routes"

I’m a bit worried about the lack of Tasmanian routes on that list.
It could be because the Tasmanian premier was the first to close state borders. I reckon Tasmania will likely be the last to re-open too.
I just hope Virgin doesn’t give up on Tasmania long term.

 

[jakeseven7]

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

Suspect this isn’t coming back for a very long time....

 

[tomlee1986]

Suspect this isn’t coming back for a very long time....

if at all is the better answer

 

[Dee#]

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

No Virgin flights to Darwin or Alice at all on the list. I want to go Perth-Darwin. Surely NT and WA will open borders around the same time. Flights used to be fairly full all the time. Wonder what Q is up to. Oh No. not the stopping flight up the coast like it used to be 20+ years ago. Might be redeeming at Velocity shop. Having middle seat vacant looks good.

 

[Legoman]

Yep, all my QF flights recently have had the middle seat blocked out. Is good. I'm with others in here. Get what you can that's useful out of your VF points as quick as you can and then concentrate on QF instead. Sad to say, but you've gotta accept reality and protect your own interests first and it's better to get something for your points than just lose them all.

I need a wireless charging station pad for iPhones, so as soon as the store opens up for redemptions that's where my 115K points are going.

 

[DavidFlynn]

Suspect this isn’t coming back for a very long time....

I'll see your 'very' and raise you a 'very very'...

 

[DavidFlynn]

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...

So there's a theory being floated around on that.

The theory is that Virgin Australia needs money, and a lot of it, and fast - reported in FFX today that Virgin has but $100m left in the kitty, and there are serious concerns it will run out of money before its new owner is chosen, let alone signs on the dotted line (as there's still a cash burn going on even now).

Hence, unlocking Velocity redemptions is expected to see people turning Velocity points into Virgin Australia seats, at which point Virgin can hit up the Velocity trustee for the value of those seats and get some of those Velocity dollars flowing its way.

This could also explain why the Velocity Rewards online shopping store is not yet active - as points would flow out to partners and cost money, rather than flowing back to Virgin.

I'm not sure I subscribe fully to this theory, although I can see why it's been put forward.

One reason for my hesitancy is, how much money does Virgin really expect to claw back from Velocity for domestic-only bookings, given such uncertainty around the airline and travel right now? Also: if you really wanted to rake in that cash, wouldn't you make redemptions available on all routes?

A few other reasons I don't buy this fully at the moment, but you can see some logic behind it...

 

[Legoman]

Yep, I can see all that logic. I can also see all potential buyers stalling for as long as possible signing on the line until the company has burnt all its cash so they can then get an absolute bargain distressed sale price by picking the bones of the carcass.

It won't take all that long with them burning cash at the rate of $40mil/mo just for the leases on 117 mothballed aircraft sitting on taxiways with the engine covers on.

 

[DavidFlynn]

Yep, I can see all that logic. I can also see all potential buyers stalling for as long as possible signing on the line until the company has burnt all its cash so they can then get an absolute bargain distressed sale price by picking the bones of the carcass.

Definitely can't rule that out either! There is, as you can well imagine – and this by all reports plus some first-hand 'evidence' I have – so much manoeuvring and strategy and game-playing going on behind the scenes and also being played out in view of the public (all those 'leaks' to the papers, Rex's capital city announcements, the well-timed interviews which have appeared in the last 48hrs leading up to today's deadline for first bids – all very cleverly orchestrated).

Honestly, you could wait until the dust has cleared on all this and then turn it into a TV series to screen on Netflix or Stan!

 

[GSP]

Honestly, you could wait until the dust has cleared on all this and then turn it into a TV series to screen on Netflix or Stan!

I suspect it will be premiered on Velocity In Flight Entertainment.

 

[DavidFlynn]

I suspect it will be premiered on Velocity In Flight Entertainment.

It'll be like Godzilla vs King Kong - they'll shoot two endings, one for Virgin Australia to screen and the other for Qantas! (okay, the "King Kong vs Godzilla two endings" thing is a myth, but why spoil it for the facts?)

 

[jakeseven7]

I suspect it will be premiered on Velocity In Flight Entertainment.

Velocity Airways as an ultra LCC owned by IndiGo and Frontier will not have IFE

 

[Guy Incognito]

Hi all, long time listener first time caller.

I placed my order on the 20th near on midnight after doing battle with the web store crashing a bunch. Got the first item today (coffee machine) - order email said it was to be fulfilled by Harvey Norman, sent from Druin P/L via Parcel Post. No sign of the date they sent it.

Still waiting on a pair of headphones and a gift card.

 

[jakeseven7]

So there's a theory being floated around on that.

The theory is that Virgin Australia needs money, and a lot of it, and fast - reported in FFX today that Virgin has but $100m left in the kitty, and there are serious concerns it will run out of money before its new owner is chosen, let alone signs on the dotted line (as there's still a cash burn going on even now).

No one with a brain is going to redeem seats on VA1. Everyone has seen the news.

So, I think the only reason they opened some flights up for redemption is to give some illusion that earning Velocity points is still worth caring about and encourage poor old Joe Blo to keep spending on his Velocity credit card and earn them some $ that way.

I’d bet my house on the fact most people have tossed their Velocity earning cards in a cupboard until VA2 emerges. I bet that Velocity’s revenue has ground to a halt. Certainly on here in the CC thread no one is actively earning Velocity points.

I also suspect they will delay opening the Velocity store again for as long as they can. Because I suspect Velocity’s revenues have collapsed.

My thoughts

 

[ICMP10X]

So I think I might email the Harvey Norman contact re. my order placed on the 11th APril. I've receieved the Semg toaster and Apple TV but no sign of the kettle. Unless it's out of stock, no emails or tracking.

 

[Legoman]

I’d bet my house on the fact most people have tossed their Velocity earning cards in a cupboard

I cancelled a Velocity Escape AMEX today

 

[tomlee1986]

Velocity Airways as an ultra LCC owned by IndiGo and Frontier will not have IFE

I doubt many people would use IFE now with their own tablets or laptops as entertainment on domestic services... maybe even international services too

 

[serfty]

I doubt many people would use IFE now with their own tablets or laptops as entertainment on domestic services... maybe even international services too

Doesn't work too well when you want to use the tray table for something else ...

 

[Legoman]

I doubt many people would use IFE now with their own tablets or laptops as entertainment on domestic services... maybe even international services too

True. On my work flights where there is IFE, the only use it has is to show the pre-flight safety video. Literally no-one watches it. Admitedly that's a very experienced passenger sample who fly all the time who have equipped themselves to make that experience as painless as possible, but I would imagine something similar in the wider community too. They have now loaded up the IFE with so many ads and interruptions it's suffered exactly the same fate as FTA TV. You can either watch your own device with your own pirated shows with no ads through noise cancelling headphones to avoid the PA announcements, or you can watch forced endless Qantas commercials telling you how good they are. It's a difficult choice I struggle with each flight.

The in-flight wi-fi is going the same way slowly too I've noticed. Just as the tech has finally got to maturity such that it can actually handle the load and be reliable and work properly, they now load it up with so many forced ads you have to watch before it will connect, that no-one bothers with that either. Combined with the bloody captain constantly switching it off so he can "have your attention" to tell you the weather at the destination (sunny and hot), so then you have to sit through all the bloody Qantas ads again to reconnect… you very quickly get tired of the pain and just give up.

 

[tomlee1986]

Doesn't work too well when you want to use the tray table for something else ...

true especially for meal service