Virgin Australia flights to Doha are now available to book as Velocity Reward Seats for the first time. At the time of writing, there are currently even up to four Business Class reward seats available on each flight!
Virgin’s new flights from Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne to Doha, which will be operated by Qatar Airways, first went on sale last month. But Virgin did not release any Reward Seat availability on these flights until today.
The flights themselves will launch in June 2025, except the Melbourne-Doha route which begins in December.
Coincidentally – or not – Velocity Frequent Flyer also increased its Reward Seat prices today. Fortunately, those price increases weren’t too drastic… and at least the availability of Velocity Reward Seats to Doha is now pretty good.
If you’ve been trying to use your Velocity points to get to the Middle East or Europe in style, now is your chance!
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About the new Virgin Australia flights to Doha
The flights will be operated by Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER aircraft featuring Economy and Business Class. The latter will feature the airline’s famous Qsuite product, which is arguably one of the best Business Class seats in the world.
The Virgin Australia flights to Doha are still subject to regulatory approval.
In the (I would say unlikely) event that Virgin Australia does not receive final approval to run these flights, Virgin must provide an alternative flight or a refund. The airline will also be liable to cover any incidental expenses you may have incurred as a result of the cancellation. So, there’s very little risk in booking a ticket.
There is lots of Reward Seat availability
As of this morning, many Virgin Australia flights between Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Doha had up to four Business Class Reward Seats available to book using Velocity points.
Many flights also have at least nine Velocity Reward Seats available in Economy Class.
The Virgin Australia long-haul flights are designed for short connections via Doha onto Qatar Airways flights to other destinations across the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Qatar Airways typically has up to two Business Class reward seats available on its own flights. So, if you’re trying to get your family of four to Europe, consider taking separate flights beyond Doha to your final destination (or perhaps different airports) in Europe. For example, two of you might fly into London Heathrow and the other two into London’s Gatwick Airport.
How to book a seat using Velocity points
These flights are available now to book using Velocity Frequent Flyer points on the Virgin Australia website. Simply search for Velocity reward seats by selecting the “Use Velocity Points” slider.
This wide-open availability is unlikely to last long. So if you’re thinking about booking, don’t wait! You can always cancel Velocity Reward Seat bookings for a small fee down the track if you aren’t able to take the flight.
Connecting via Doha to/from Qatar Airways on the same ticket
If you wish to travel beyond Doha, you can book a connecting Qatar Airways flight on the same ticket. However, when redeeming points, make sure to look for the flights marked as “Reward Seats available”.
In the above example, the itinerary on the top uses a codeshare flight between Doha and Vienna, which isn’t available as a Velocity Reward Seat. Therefore, the Virgin Australia website is instead showing a “Points Plus Pay” price for that particular itinerary.
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Booking with another points currency
Alternatively, you can book Virgin Australia flights using Qatar Airways Avios on Qatar’s website. However, the Qatar Airways website won’t show mixed-airline itineraries with a Virgin Australia flight connecting to or from a Qatar Airways flight. So, online bookings are only available with Avios if you’re flying to or from Doha as your destination or origin.
When redeeming Qatar Avios for Virgin Australia flights, beware of the high carrier charges.
You could also book a seat using Air Canada Aeroplan points on the Air Canada website. As an added bonus, Aeroplan does not pass on airline-levied carrier charges.
However, as Qatar Airways is not an Aeroplan partner, you won’t be able to book a connecting flight beyond Doha with Qatar Airways on the same Aeroplan award ticket.
How many Velocity Points do Virgin Australia’s flights to Doha cost?
From today, Virgin Australia’s long-haul flights between Australia and Doha are priced according to a different reward table to other Virgin Australia flights.
Here are the amounts of Velocity points you can expect to pay for a one-way redemption:
| One-Way Miles (Example Route) | Economy | Business |
|---|---|---|
| 4,801-5,800 (e.g. Perth-Doha) | 42,000 | 89,500 |
| 5,801-7,000 (e.g. Perth-Doha-Baku) | 50,000 | 104,000 |
| 7,001-8,500 (e.g. Sydney-Doha) | 56,000 | 119,500 |
| 8,501-9,500 (e.g. Perth-Doha-London) | 65,000 | 139,000 |
| 9,501-20,000 (e.g. Brisbane-Doha-Sao Paulo) | 80,000 | 158,500 |
You’ll pay exactly the same amount of Velocity points to book a Virgin Australia flight between Sydney, Brisbane, Perth or Melbourne and Doha as you would to fly Qatar Airways. However, the carrier charges are just slightly higher on the Virgin Australia services.
If you redeem Velocity points for an itinerary with a Virgin Australia flight to Doha, connecting to a Qatar Airways flight on the same ticket, the number of points required will still be based on the sum of the total distance flown – as it would be if you flew Qatar Airways the whole way. In other words, you won’t be penalised in terms of the points cost for booking connecting flights via Doha.
However, if you connect between a Virgin Australia domestic or short-haul flight and a Virgin Australia long-haul flight, the number of points will be based on the sum of the two separate redemptions. An example of this would be a booking from Hobart to Doha via Melbourne.
Velocity carrier charges
Virgin Australia is adding a carrier charge of USD60 (~AU$96) per segment in Economy and USD230 (~AU$367) per segment in Business Class on its long-haul flights to/from Doha. This amount is included in the taxes & charges being quoted at the time of booking.
