Velocity Frequent Flyer has decreased the number of points needed to redeem for some domestic Virgin Australia flights in Economy Class by around 20%. But, from next month, some domestic Economy redemptions will also become 20-25% expensive.

Under Velocity’s new Virgin Australia Domestic Reward Seat table, there are three tiers of Economy Reward Seat pricing:

The following notice appears below the new table on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website:

There are three different base Reward Seat fare prices (in Points) that apply to a Virgin Australia Domestic Economy Reward Seat redemption within each given ‘one way zone’, based on the availability of & demand for Economy Reward Seats for a particular flight at a given time. These are referred to as Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3.

To determine which Tier price (in Points) is available for a given flight, check the base fare Point quote provided on the Virgin Australia booking portal. The lower Tier Points prices indicated above cannot be guaranteed or reserved without making a Points redemption booking and can only be secured on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

*The Tier 3 Points price flagged with an asterisk will not apply to any bookings made before 5 July 2023.

Tier 2 pricing is identical to the previous regular Velocity Reward Seat rates. The Tier 1 pricing amounts are just below the number of Qantas points required to book Jetstar Economy flights.

“We are proud to now offer the lowest domestic flight redemption rates of any Australian airline. This shows our commitment to bringing value to members who can really drive their dollar further for being part of Velocity,” Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach said.

The higher Tier 3 pricing won’t be introduced until 5 July 2023. That’s because the Velocity Frequent Flyer terms & conditions require the program to give at least 30 days’ notice before increasing the cost of redeeming points for rewards.

There are no changes to Velocity redemptions for international or partner airline flights. There are also no changes to Business Class redemptions on Virgin Australia.

Which Virgin Australia flights are in Tiers 1, 2 & 3?

Effectively, this means that Velocity domestic redemptions on Virgin Australia will now be priced dynamically, within a designated range.

At a quick glance, there doesn’t appear to be an obvious pattern behind which flights are priced at each of the various tiers. For example, we searched for Velocity Reward Seats from Melbourne to Sydney on 15 June and found Tier 2 pricing for the 8am and 9am departures, but Tier 1 pricing at 8.30am.

In the above example, the 8.30am and 9am flights both have availability on the same revenue fare classes (RBDs), so that doesn’t seem to be the secret sauce. It also doesn’t seem to be directly related to the number of reward seats still available to book on each flight.

So, this aspect of the new redemption rates isn’t entirely transparent. But as a general rule, we would expect more popular flights to be priced at the higher levels – and vice versa.

In addition, Velocity Gold and Platinum members redeeming their annual “guaranteed reward seat for a family holiday” benefit will have to pay the higher Tier 3 pricing on those seats from 5 July 2023.

“1 Point Rewards” and a million reward seats available

Until 18 June 2023, as a limited-time promotion, Virgin Australia has also released a million extra domestic Economy Reward Seats for booking with Velocity points, excluding to Cocos (Keeling) & Christmas Islands. These additional seats are available to book during the following selected date ranges over the next year or so (which generally exclude school holidays):

• 5 June 2023 – 23 June 2023
• 17 July 2023 – 15 September 2023
• 9 October 2023 – 15 December 2023
• 8 January 2024 – 28 March 2024
• 27 April 2024 – 30 April 2024

Velocity will also offer a series of rewards over the next four weeks including flights and products from the Velocity Rewards Store at undisclosed times for just one Velocity point. See the Velocity website for more details on that.

“Velocity means fast”

This is one of a series of changes to the Velocity Frequent Flyer program promised as part of the loyalty program’s new rebranding campaign.

“We know that Velocity is already fast to earn and climb the Status ranks and you’ll continue to see more innovations that lead the way in terms of rewards and recognition for our members – this is just the start,” Rohrlach said.

The loyalty program’s new tagline is “Velocity means fast”. Although some physicists would point out that the word “velocity” doesn’t literally mean “fast”, Velocity Frequent Flyer explains…

We know the word Velocity doesn’t actually mean fast – it means the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time. But it’s pretty close… and we’re really serious about being fast.

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.