Velocity Frequent Flyer is offering a 100% points bonus when buying Velocity Points during the month of October, equating to 1.06c per point at the top tier if purchasing the maximum 100,000 points per transaction.
This is the best price that points have been offered at since Velocity started selling them through promotions 18 months ago.
In previous times, buying Velocity Points might make sense when topping up your balance for specific reward seat bookings on Virgin Australia, or a partner like Singapore Airlines, Delta or Hawaiian Airlines.
However, with the uncertainty surrounding new owner Bain’s direction with parent airline Virgin Australia, we would not recommend you buy any points right now unless you could use it for a specific flight in the near future.
For the select few that might benefit from the deal, this guide covers the latest Velocity buy points promotions. If you need further instruction, we also have a dedicated guide on how to buy Velocity Points.
100% bonus points deal: what you need to know
If you are short of the required Velocity Points for a redemption, you can buy the remaining points needed online. With a 100% bonus points deal, you’ll essentially get double points on what you originally purchased.
These are the key caveats:
- Each purchase must be a minimum of 1,000 points and a maximum of 100,000 points
- A maximum of 250,000 points purchased per calendar year applies
- The price per point varies according to the level
- No limit to the frequency of points purchases up to the maximum
- While you must tell Velocity how you think you’ll be using the points that you buy, there is nothing that appears to hold you to this choice
The value per points gets better as you buy bigger amounts. Say you purchased 10,000 points with a 100% bonus: each point would cost you 1.48c. However, if you buy the maximum of 100,000 points with a 100% bonus, then that drops the per-point price down to 1.06c each.
Note: Velocity Points expire after 24 months of inactivity in your account, so make sure to keep your account active by earning/redeeming points regularly.
Offer history
Sometimes Velocity offers a bonus and sometimes a discount. The 100% bonus deal in October 2020 is the best to date.
| Month | Bonus (%) | Discount (%) | Price per point | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2020 | 100 | 1.06 | lowest price | |
| February 2020 | 15 | 1.99 | highest price | |
| October 2019 | 20 | 1.87 | ||
| May-June 2019 | 20 | 1.95 | ||
| February 2019 | 20 | 1.95 | ||
| August 2018 | 15 | 1.99 | highest price | |
| April 2018 | 15 | 1.99 | highest price | |
| Average | 20 | 15 | 1.96 |
Summing up
Make sure there is reward seat availability for the redemption you are eyeing off before you can purchase the extra points needed. As of October 2020, our advice remains to not purchase Velocity Points speculatively as there is still much uncertainty about the direction of Virgin Australia.
For other ways to earn Velocity Points, check out this guide.
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This article was originally written by Matt Moffitt.
Do you know anything to the contrary?
We have not heard anything regarding Velocity Points purchased through Virgin Australia’s Points Booster offering not being able to be used for reward seats. The only requirement is that points are purchased to redeem a specific Reward.
I’m a little confused about the purchase table comment. When I click through to the buy Velocity Points page, it does show amounts right up to 250,000 points in the table. Perhaps try a different browser?
Thanks for the reminder. This promotion was also offered in April of this year and I posted it on the Deals and Tips page of the Community section. Wasn’t sure how else to get the message out there.
IIRC you may purchase 50% of your current points balance, which is not the same as 50% of the points needed!
An important difference – for example, if you need 150 points for your redemption you would need to have an existing balance of 100 points in order to maximise the 50,000 point max allowable purchase, thus one third not one half of points needed for the redemption.
(That said, I’m not sure if VA would allow the two annual point purchase in quick succession – if you are able to do back to back purchases you could indeed double your points from a 100,000 pt starting point to a 200,000 point end point by making two 50,000 point transactions! You could theoretically even more than double your points if starting with less than 100,000 points!)
Do you know if I can use my velocity points to upgrade a person travelling with me also? I have enough points for 2 upgrades from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.
Thanks.