Virgin Australia has announced another new status extension offer for many of its Velocity Frequent Flyer Silver, Gold and Platinum members. Depending on which offer they qualify for, selected Velocity members will now get to enjoy their status for an extra five or eight months.
Velocity Gold and Platinum members who previously participated in last year’s Status Rewards promotion will receive another five-month extension to their status. Members who qualified for this offer from 2020 (by booking at least one Virgin flight) had already been given a status extension until 30 September 2022. This will now be extended until 28 February 2023.
Other Velocity Silver, Gold and Platinum members with a current review date between 30 September 2021 and 30 April 2022 will receive an 8-month status extension on their next review date. This will happen automatically, even if the member hasn’t earned enough status credits or eligible Virgin flight sectors to renew their status under the normal criteria.
In both cases, the status extensions will be automatically applied. There is no need to register for this offer, and you don’t need to do anything.
Many AFF members have welcomed this offer.
Velocity members who are eligible for either of these offers should have already received an email from Velocity. You can read the full status extension terms & conditions on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website.
At this stage, Virgin Australia hasn’t announced any further status extensions for other Velocity members whose current status is due to expire beyond April 2022.
Current Velocity Gold members who took advantage of last year’s Virgin Australia status match offer, and retained their status by completing the Discover Gold challenge, don’t qualify for either of these new offers.
Many airlines giving further status extensions as COVID-19 lingers
Last month, Qantas expanded its 12-month status extension offer to cover frequent flyers with membership years ending between January and June 2022. Previously, the Qantas offer only covered members with status due to expire up to December 2021.
Unlike the Qantas offer, these new Virgin Australia status extensions do not require Velocity members to book any new flights.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 restrictions are still very much impacting the ability for many people to travel in 2021. In recognition of this, most airlines around the world are continuing to offer complimentary status extensions to their frequent flyers who remain temporarily grounded.
“We’ve already given Velocity members more than 18 months of Status extensions during the course of the pandemic and our announcement today will give members even more certainty that they’ll continue to enjoy the tier benefits they value when flying with Virgin Australia or our international partner airlines well into the future,” acting Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO David Marr said.
“Many of our loyal members have earnt their highly sought-after Velocity Status memberships over many years and so we’re guaranteeing that eligible members will hold onto their tier benefits with more flying opportunities on the horizon.
“Loyalty works both ways and this is our way of reaffirming our commitment to Velocity members who have remained loyal to us,” Mr Marr added.
Little incentive for some to earn new status credits in the near-term
With the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, only status credits earned in the 12 months prior to your review date are counted towards your status renewal.
If you now qualify for a status extension up to 28 February 2023, this means there are now more than 12 months until your review date.
If you’re currently a Silver or Gold Velocity member with more than 12 months until your review date, you can still benefit from earning status credits as it’s still possible for you to upgrade to a higher tier at any time.
But if you’re currently a Platinum member and your next review date is on 28 February 2023, there may be little point in earning new status credits between now and March 2022. Your status credits can still count towards gifting a Companion Gold or Platinum membership, if you’re flying enough. But any status credits earned before March 2022 won’t count towards renewing your Platinum status beyond February 2023.
Velocity status credits will not “roll over” into your next membership year (as they can in some cases with Qantas Frequent Flyer). Virgin Australia doesn’t have lifetime status so they won’t count towards that either.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Further Status Extension to 28 Feb. 2023
