Velocity Frequent Flyer points in inactive accounts will not expire until 30 June 2023, Virgin Australia’s loyalty program announced this week.
Velocity points normally expire if your account is inactive for 24 months. In other words, your Velocity points will expire if you don’t earn or redeem at least one new point every two years (noting that family pooling and points transfers don’t count as qualifying activity).
However, Velocity has announced a new moratorium on the expiration of points “due to the impacts of Covid” until 30 June 2023. No Velocity points will expire between now and then.
This new policy is stated on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website:
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.
From July 2023, points sitting in inactive Velocity accounts will continue to expire in accordance with the loyalty program’s terms & conditions. But the good news is that it’s very easy to maintain activity in your Velocity account. Our article on how to stop Virgin Australia Velocity points expiring contains lots of suggestions.
Other frequent flyer programs including Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer have implemented similar pauses on the expiration of points during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is significantly more important in the case of KrisFlyer because account activity in Singapore Airlines’ loyalty program does not reset the expiry date of your miles.
This week, Velocity Frequent Flyer also announced various changes to reward seat pricing and the reintroduction of point transfers to the KrisFlyer program.
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.
