This guide is worth reading alongside this piece on the best use of Qantas Points. Both programs have their own strengths and weaknesses which, in order to get the most from your points, are worth being aware of.
1. Redeem for Business Class on domestic Virgin Australia-operated flights
Redeeming Velocity points for Virgin Australia-operated flights represents the best value in the following situations:
- When travelling domestically in Business Class with multiple people: I have booked Business awards for four out of a total of eight seats in the Business Class cabin of some of Virgin Australia’s domestic flights
- On shorter domestic flights: where peak-time Economy fares are relatively expensive, you can often book a Business Class short-haul domestic redemption for 15,500 points
- Velocity can have better award seat availability than Qantas: Virgin generally has a greater supply of seats, at reduced cost in terms of points and cash, which means a more competitive point-per-point value than their main competitor. They have also priced their award chart at slightly less than Qantas’ for the same flight on the same route. For example, a Business Class seat on a Sydney-Los Angeles flight costs 95,500 Velocity points vs 96,000 Qantas points but accompanying taxes are also usually a fair bit lower, meaning a lower cash co-payment
Virgin Australia A330 Business Class
2. Transfer your points to KrisFlyer for better award space and/or a free stopover
Singapore Airlines releases more Saver award space to its own members, so sometimes it is worthwhile to transfer your Velocity points to KrisFlyer.
In addition, KrisFlyer no longer applies fuel surcharges to its own flights.
Whether you use Velocity points or KrisFlyer miles will depend on the specific Singapore Airlines redemption you have in mind, and you’ll need to compare the points and taxes in both Velocity and KrisFlyer to come to the best decision for your situation.
Singapore Airlines (old) A380 First Class
And if you transfer enough points and book a return ticket on KrisFlyer, you can get another perk, which Virgin does not offer: a free stopover.
For example, given that you currently have to fly from Australia to New York via Singapore and Frankfurt (although direct flights are back from October 2018), if flying on a return ticket, you can request a stopover (a stop in a city for more than 24 hours) in one of those cities for free. Or, if you’re on a one-way Saver ticket, you can just buy that stopover for US$100.
You could get a free/cheap stopover in Singapore or Europe on your way to the US
3. Fly Premium Economy to the US for 71,700 points one-way
With Business and First Class seats on nonstop flights to North America hard to come by, a good compromise is to look at Premium Economy.
On Virgin Australia, you’ll get superb food and a comfortable seat with less attentive customer service than in Business Class.
Redemptions from Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to LA cost 71,700 Velocity points one-way.
4. Plan your points transfers with Velocity’s bonus transfer promotions
Velocity are unique in our region in consistently offering the opportunity of transferring in from credit card programs with an additional 15-60% bonus.
This is, by far, the optimal time to transfer and book your Velocity reward seats for any of the above redemption opportunities.
On top of the cheaper pricing I explained above, you’ll then be able to gain even more value from your bank’s flexible points balance. Here’s to hoping this pattern of offers continues.
5. Fly in Business Class to the South Pacific for 71,000 points return
Virgin Australia flies direct from the East Coast to Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa. These flights fall into Zone 3 (1,201-2,400 miles), meaning it costs only 35,500 miles for a one-way Business Class ticket, which is the same as a flight from the East Coast to Perth.
And you’ll save money on the ground being in a cheaper destination than Western Australia.
During select dates, Virgin Australia flies its A330 with fully-flat Business Class beds from Sydney and Melbourne to Nadi, where you can wake up to this view
6. Fly in a lie-flat seat to Honolulu from 65,000 points one-way
Whilst Qantas almost never releases Business Class award seats on its flights between Sydney and Honolulu, Velocity members have access to more ample Hawaiian Airlines availability from Brisbane (65,000 points one-way) and Sydney (78,000 points).
These routes enjoy Hawaiian’s newest Business Class seats, albeit without direct-aisle access for all passengers.
You’ll need to search for award space on the American Airlines website and then call Velocity to book, with more details in our using points to fly to Hawaii guide.
What’s not so good?
There are definitely weak points to Velocity. Specifically, these include:
- Carrier Charges added to all Virgin Australia and some Delta redemptions
- A very discouraging and heavy charge of US$205 per Business Class and US$300 per First Class sector flown on Etihad, with its new Etihad Airways Reward Seat Carrier Charge, making a return First Class ticket from Australia to Europe via Abu Dhabi US$1200 more expensive
- Virgin’s limited international network of their own flights means you have to redeem Velocity points for partners for most international travel. With two partner redemption tables, the more expensive partners (including Singapore Airlines, Etihad, Air New Zealand and Hawaiian Airlines) are not as affordable
- You cannot mix cabins or carriers on Velocity redemptions
Summing up
While there are a number of downsides to the Velocity program, it still offers good value for Business and First Class redemptions across its own network (flying on Virgin Australia-operated flights) as well as Singapore Airlines, for which you can book seats in all cabins.
And Velocity’s transfer bonus promotions are an added incentive to make sure this program does not disappear from your frequent flyer repertoire.
Looking for more inspiration for how to spend your hard-earned frequent flyer points?
Here is a comprehensive list of all of our Best Uses of Points guides. There may be some overlap but each guide has its own twist.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Best uses of Qantas Points
- ‘Ultimate’ uses of Qantas Points
- Best uses of 60,000 Qantas Points
- Best uses of 80,000 Qantas Points
- Best uses of 100,000 Qantas Points
- When it makes sense to use your Qantas Points for domestic travel in Economy (and when it doesn’t)
- Best uses of Qantas Points from the East Coast
- Best uses of Qantas Points from Perth
- Reader responses: what is the best use of Qantas Points?
- Seven of the cheapest Qantas Points redemptions for luxurious Emirates flights
- The cheapest ways to fly Cathay Pacific First Class with Qantas Points
Velocity Frequent Flyer
- Best uses of Velocity Points
- Best uses of 40,000 Velocity Points
- Best uses of 80,000 Velocity Points
- Best uses of 100,000 Velocity Points
- Five flight redemptions that maximise your Velocity points balance
American Express Membership Rewards
Asia Miles
KrisFlyer
Etihad Guest
- Best uses of Etihad Guest miles
- Etihad Guest vs Velocity for Virgin Australia flights comparison guide
How do you get such a cheap flight? I can only see flights for 600,000 points – many times your example.
Am I looking in the wrong spot?
No, you’re looking in the correct spot, however what you are viewing is the ‘any seat’ reward price rather than the much cheaper, but also more limited ‘reward seat’ flights. A reward seat in Business class between Sydney and Los Angeles costs 95,500 Velocity points, however these are not always available. The ‘any seat’ are always available so long as a Business class seat is available for purchase by cash. The number of points required for these seats is based on the cash cost of the seat and will fluctuate up and down. This is the reason why the number of points is so much more, and also highlights the excellent value you can receive when you do manage to find ‘reward seat’ availability.
From our guide to American Express Lounges:
“Access is free for Platinum Card and Centurion members, as well as either their immediate family (spouse or domestic partner and children under 18) or two other guests.
One-day passes can be purchased by other American Express cardholders for $50 USD subject to space availability and one child under 18 can enter with you for free.”
You might get more responses if you post this in our Questions section where Keith and many others will be able to answer.
I’m looking into using my Velocity points to redeem economy flight from Sydney to Hong Kong via Singapore. Is this possible to be done via Virgin Velocity, I.e. without converting the points into Krisflyer?
Cheers, J
If you want more specific help then go ahead and ask a question in the Questions section where more people will see your question and you should be able to get a detailed answer.
I am trying to investigate points required for a Business Class flight from Melbourne to London on Singapore Airlines via the Virgin Australia site. No matter how far ahead I’m looking – even as far as the calendar will allow – there seems to be no availability – other than business seats for 843,500 points which not only seems crazy, but contradicts what I read in this article about Business one way being 139,000 pts. What is the best way to look for flights? Am I looking too far ahead for Singapore Airlines to release seats?
I might write a separate post on this…
For premium class travellers, Virgin point earn (especially domestic Business earn for it’s Platinums) is fantastic and Virgin gives amazing availability for premium redemptions on it’s own metal. Domestic Business redemptions are so widely available that if coming back on an international leg, I can always redeem a domestic business connection flight on arrival to get me home.
Qantas is very stingy in comparison, even to its Platinums, and it’s only sweet spots in terms of point earn and burn are First Class tier credit earn (due to Virgin giving the same tier credits to both Business and First) and that you can search more partner awards online via it’s engine than you can compared to Virgin’s engine.
And going beyond just earn and burn respects, Velocity is a better program overall too. I just get so much back from the program.