Virgin Australia launches 'coronavirus status extension' plan

[oz_mark]

If you already have a review date in 2022, it does not affect you, so won't get you an extension.

 

[Stealthflyer]

If you already have a review date in 2022, it does not affect you, so won't get you an extension.

The rules are so odd. I don’t understand why they don’t extend everyone who is eligible by a year. Why does someone whose period ends on the 31st December get an extension (albeit a short one), but not someone on the 1 Jan?

 

[lobo76]

Yea it seems very arbitrary and I don't know how they can expect people to be able to maintain status in this climate. There's no change of getting back to normal for international travel (and probably even domestic) for the rest of this year...

 

[jase05]

Yea it seems very arbitrary and I don't know how they can expect people to be able to maintain status in this climate. There's no change of getting back to normal for international travel (and probably even domestic) for the rest of this year...

Domestic travel is pretty normal currently. Should be very easy to maintain status under current conditions.

 

[AIRwin]

Should be very easy to maintain status under current conditions.

Especially with family pooling

 

[Stealthflyer]

Domestic travel is pretty normal currently. Should be very easy to maintain status under current conditions.

If it was normal, VA wouldn’t have just amended their status extension and the government wouldn’t have offered half price flights. Plus many Velocity members gain status through international flights. We have quite a way to go yet.

Post automatically merged: Mar 14, 2021

Especially with family pooling

Not everyone has a family to pool with.

 

[oz_mark]

The rules are so odd. I don’t understand why they don’t extend everyone who is eligible by a year. Why does someone whose period ends on the 31st December get an extension (albeit a short one), but not someone on the 1 Jan?

While the details are a bit different, they seem to have drawn inspiration from Qantas, which has the same limitation - Jan and Feb 2022 folk are not included.

I would expect that the airlines will deal with this down the track if need be. They've had a couple of goes at it, so I suspect they will have another go at it..

 

[jase05]

If it was normal, VA wouldn’t have just amended their status extension and the government wouldn’t have offered half price flights. Plus many Velocity members gain status through international flights. We have quite a way to go yet.

Post automatically merged: Mar 14, 2021

Not everyone has a family to pool with.

You can currently retain Gold for around $2k and Platinum for around $4k. Pretty much all of Australia is open to each other currently and plenty of opportunity to fly domestically.
Yes some people are still hesitant to book for fear of border closures but if you are willing to be flexible there is still plenty of choices out there. We have had no problems finding plenty of flights to suit us

 

[Jzwl]

Hi all,

I am really confused as well, I received the following in an email (screenshot attached) on 8th March. The reason for my confusion is that my Velocity account does not reflect any of what I understand it means.

1. If I am correct, my status will be extended once they review it between 28 -31 March, is that right? What are they reviewing?
2. Does that mean the 5000 points has been added already as it is not shown in my account & I have flown 5 sectors in the last month.
3. I thought this meant I had complimentary access to Economy X seats but when I tried to select seats in my flight yesterday, they wanted $40 and there were plenty available.

My current status is gold and had the 1 year covid extension applied already and anniversary date is June 2021. I was hoping to get some help with this so I don't have to call them.

Thank you in advance.

 

[ols]

2. Does that mean the 5000 points has been added already as it is not shown in my account & I have flown 5 sectors in the last month.
3. I thought this meant I had complimentary access to Economy X seats but when I tried to select seats in my flight yesterday, they wanted $40 and there were plenty available.

I've done four flights.
I got my 5000 points automatically after my second flight.
You have to ring to get Economy X seats-annoyingly not automatic.
I was told I would have been refunded if I had booked Economy X through the website but wonder how long that takes and seems like a lot of mucking around on their behalf.
Would be easier if you were just flagged after 3rd flight.

 

[lobo76]

You can currently retain Gold for around $2k and Platinum for around $4k. Pretty much all of Australia is open to each other currently and plenty of opportunity to fly domestically.
Yes some people are still hesitant to book for fear of border closures but if you are willing to be flexible there is still plenty of choices out there. We have had no problems finding plenty of flights to suit us

$4k? I'd love to know how. I'm self funded and still working 40-60h per week so can't be flying off every other weekend...

 

[Stealthflyer]

I've done four flights.
I got my 5000 points automatically after my second flight.
You have to ring to get Economy X seats-annoyingly not automatic.
I was told I would have been refunded if I had booked Economy X through the website but wonder how long that takes and seems like a lot of mucking around on their behalf.
Would be easier if you were just flagged after 3rd flight.

I think their strategy is to made it as difficult as possible to redeem and therefore a percentage of us won’t bother.

 

[jase05]

$4k? I'd love to know how. I'm self funded and still working 40-60h per week so can't be flying off every other weekend...

ADL-MEL and SYD-MEL for instance is going at $299 one way for 50SC’s so 8 return trips over a year for $4800 but there are other better earning flights. ADL-MEL-CBR for $1100 return and 200SC’s, ADL-MEL-OOL for $1100 return and 220SC’s. That’s not bad value if you ask me and probably other routes out there with similar earnings but as I’m in ADL they are my common routes

 

[ff-jr]

Domestic travel is pretty normal currently. Should be very easy to maintain status under current conditions.

I would disagree. Sure, borders are open and flights are available, but many businesses remain grounded. I'll take a stab and suggest that very few of us reach or maintain status on domestic leisure travel alone.

Checked with VA this week and thankfully they'll be extending my status through to my review date in mid-May 2022. Last years extension will apply to me this year since I'd already requalified for 2020 prior to Covid hitting.

 

[serfty]

Checked with VA this week and thankfully they'll be extending my status through to my review date in mid-May 2022. Last years extension will apply to me this year since I'd already requalified for 2020 prior to Covid hitting.

Same for me - I have safely stored the email from Velocity confirming this.

 

[BNEFlyer]

I think their strategy is to made it as difficult as possible to redeem and therefore a percentage of us won’t bother.

If it only takes a phone call to save $80-$100 per trip then that's what I'll do. It would be easier if it was available online, but it's not difficult to call.

 

[AIRwin]

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