A great feature of Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program is that it’s possible to convert Velocity points into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles – and vice versa. This can be a very useful benefit. Unfortunately, it’s also a highly unique benefit that is not offered by most other airlines.

Because it’s possible to transfer Virgin Velocity points to another frequent flyer program, some people assume that you can also transfer points between other airlines. For example, people often ask if they can convert their Qantas points to Velocity points. This is a common misconception.

As nice as it would be to have the option, it is definitely not possible to convert Qantas points into Velocity points – nor to any other frequent flyer program. Once you have points sitting in your Qantas Frequent Flyer account, your only options are to redeem them, transfer them to a family member, or let the points expire if your account has no activity for 18 months.

That said, you can redeem Qantas points to book Classic Flight Reward seats on other airlines that partner with Qantas Frequent Flyer. This includes all the airlines that are members of the Oneworld alliance:

You can also use your Qantas points to book reward flights on the following non-Oneworld airlines that partner with Qantas:

• Air France (Economy or Business Class only)
• Air New Zealand (New Zealand domestic flights only)
• Air Vanuatu
• Bangkok Airways (Economy only)
• China Airlines (Australia to Taipei only)
• China Eastern
• El Al
• Emirates (excluding Premium Economy)
• Fiji Airways
• Jetstar
• KLM
• LATAM Airlines
• Westjet (Economy only)

The same goes for other frequent flyer programs. You generally cannot transfer points from one airline to another airline. But you can use points to book flights on other airlines that partner with that airline’s frequent flyer program.

Transferring other types of points into frequent flyer programs

Although it’s not generally possible to transfer frequent flyer points out of an airline account, you can transfer points into a frequent flyer program from many hotel, credit card, car rental and supermarket loyalty programs.

For example, you could transfer points into Qantas Frequent Flyer from other non-airline loyalty programs including:

• Woolworths Everyday Rewards
• Accor ALL
• Hilton Honors
• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt
• Choice Privileges
• Amex Membership Rewards Premium Ascent (this program is exclusively for Amex Platinum and Centurion cardholders in Australia)
• Many US-based credit card rewards programs

It’s also possible to transfer points into Velocity Frequent Flyer from other loyalty programs including Flybuys, various hotel loyalty programs and most major Australian credit card rewards programs.

Converting airline miles into hotel points

While it is not a common feature of most airline-operated frequent flyer programs, some do offer the ability to transfer your airline points or miles into a hotel loyalty program. These are exceptions to the rule.

For example, you could convert Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or Finnair Plus points into IHG One Rewards points. United MileagePlus or Cathay Asia Miles can be converted into Marriott Bonvoy points. And miles with a small handful of airlines including Aegean and LATAM Airlines can be transferred into Accor ALL, where points have a fixed dollar value.

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.