Virgin Australia and Air Canada have been partners since early 2021. But until now, Virgin’s Velocity Gold and Platinum members have not received any additional benefits when flying on Air Canada. This is now changing.

Since the partnership launched, Virgin Australia Velocity members have been able to earn and redeem points for Air Canada flights. Velocity members can also earn status credits on Air Canada.

But there have been no status tier benefits for Velocity Silver, Gold or Platinum members when travelling on Air Canada. This has resulted in a bizarre situation where you can earn status credits on Air Canada in order to qualify for a status tier that gives you no benefits whatsoever when travelling on that airline.

In the other direction, Air Canada Aeroplan members can earn and redeem Aeroplan points on all Virgin Australia flights and earn Status Qualifying Miles (SQM) on Virgin domestic flights. But, similarly, there are no additional status benefits for Aeroplan elite members when travelling on Virgin Australia.

The good news is that, as of yesterday, Velocity Gold and Platinum members can now access Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges when travelling on an Air Canada marketed and operated flight. Up to one guest is also permitted, including children.

Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges are available at the following airports:

• Calgary
• Edmonton
• Frankfurt
• Halifax
• London (Heathrow Terminal 2)
• Los Angeles
• Montreal
• New York (La Guardia)
• Ottawa
• Paris (Charles de Gaulle)
• Regina
• Saskatoon
• St. John’s
• Toronto
• Vancouver
• Winnipeg

See the Air Canada website for more details about lounge locations.

Lounge access is not available, however, at airports where Air Canada does not operate its own lounges. This includes in Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland where Air Canada sends its own frequent flyers to lounges operated by Star Alliance partner airlines.

So, if you’re a Velocity Gold or Platinum member flying with Air Canada from Australia to Vancouver in Economy or Premium Economy, you still won’t receive any lounge access. Air Canada Business Class passengers can use the lounge based on their class of travel.

At this stage, according to the Velocity Frequent Flyer website, there are also no other status benefits like priority check-in, priority boarding or additional baggage allowance offered to Velocity Silver, Gold or Platinum members on Air Canada.

This is clearly an improvement over the previous situation. Velocity still has work to do to make the Air Canada partnership competitive and attractive to frequent flyers, but they have hinted that more changes are coming.

That said, this is still a better deal for Velocity members than Qantas’ partnership with Canada’s second-largest airline WestJet. Qantas Frequent Flyer members can earn and redeem points on some WestJet flights, but there is no ability to earn status credits, no status benefits provided, and Qantas points are not currently earned on WestJet Business Class tickets.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: No Velocity status benefits on Air Canada?

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.