Do you know someone who hasn’t used their Velocity Frequent Flyer account for a while? Their points could be at risk of expiring in less than two weeks.
During the pandemic, Virgin Australia’s frequent flyer program has had a particularly generous policy regarding the expiration of points. Normally, Velocity points expire if you don’t earn or redeem at least one point every two years. But due to COVID-19, Velocity Frequent Flyer paused the expiration of points until 30 June 2023.
This policy has given Velocity members more time to use their points while there were fewer travel options. But the extension will come to an end on Friday next week.
This is what Velocity Frequent Flyer said when announcing the suspension of its usual points expiration policy:
Due to the impacts of Covid, Velocity has made the decision to continue to protect our members’ Points balances. Members who have found it difficult to earn or spend any Points over the last 24 months will find that their Points will not expire before 30 June 2023. Staying active in our program will ensure your Points don’t expire, as from 1 July 2023 we will be looking at your previous 24 months activity to determine if your Points expire.
It’s easy to prevent your Points from expiring – every time you earn, redeem, or buy Points, you’re renewing your Points for another 24 months.
Velocity emailed affected members last month to notify them that their points would soon expire if their accounts remained inactive.
How to ensure your Velocity points don’t expire
The good news is that it’s very easy to stop your Velocity Frequent Flyer points from expiring. All you need to do is earn or redeem at least one point every two years.
According to the Velocity Frequent Flyer terms & conditions, the only types of account activity that won’t reset the validity of your points for another two years are:
- Family transfers,
- Points earned via Family Pooling, and
- Earning status credits.
For many Australians, the easiest way to earn Velocity points is by shopping at 7 Eleven. You don’t even have to buy petrol – you can also earn points simply by scanning your Velocity card when buying a $2 coffee in-store. (Actually drinking the coffee is optional 😉 )
Of course, there are many other ways to earn Velocity points as well. For example, you could fly with Virgin Australia or its partner airlines, spend on a Velocity co-brand credit card, convert points from Flybuys or buy wine – to name just a few options. See our guide to preventing Velocity points from expiring for more ideas.
Make sure the activity is counted by 30 June
If you want to prevent your Velocity points from expiring on 30 June 2023, it’s very important that any points earned are credited to your account by that date.
When you book a Virgin Australia flight, note that the points will credit to your account after you’ve flown – rather than when you book. And when shopping via the Velocity eStore, you could be waiting weeks or even a few months after making your purchase before you receive your allotment of Velocity points.
If you need to earn points quickly, shopping at 7 Eleven could be a good idea. Points earned from 7 Eleven generally post within a day or two.
Points transferred from Flybuys to Velocity also generally arrive quickly. You can even earn 5-15% bonus points when transferring Flybuys points to Velocity until the end of June.
Alternatively, when you redeem points, they’re deducted from your account immediately. So, you could simply redeem some points for a flight – or anything else that you can get with Velocity points.
We wouldn’t usually recommend using your points at the Velocity Rewards Store. But if you want to make a small redemption in order to keep your points alive, the cheapest reward available appears to be a $25 “Ultimate” gift card costing 4,903 points.
What happens if your Velocity points expire?
Unfortunately, if you let your Velocity points expire, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get them back. Velocity Frequent Flyer doesn’t have a formal pathway to getting expired points reinstated – even in exchange for a fee or some sort of challenge.
What about points in other frequent flyer programs?
Velocity Frequent Flyer is one of several airline loyalty programs that paused the expiration of points during the pandemic. But it has continued protecting its members’ points for longer than most other programs. For example, Emirates Skywards ended its pause on the expiration of its miles in September last year.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer has also extended the validity of its members’ miles throughout the pandemic, but that policy is also due to end on 30 June.
Qantas Frequent Flyer points expire after 18 months of account inactivity. Qantas never made any changes to this policy throughout COVID-19.
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