How to Redeem the Amex Velocity Platinum Free Flight

A key perk of the American Express Velocity Platinum credit card is a free annual return Virgin Australia domestic flight. This, along with unlimited complimentary Virgin Australia Lounge access and two annual lounge guest passes each year, more than make up for the card’s $440 annual fee.

So, how does the free Virgin Australia flight benefit work? Here’s everything you need to know…

What routes are eligible for the Amex Velocity Platinum free flight?

The complimentary Virgin Australia Economy flight for Amex Velocity Platinum cardholders is available between selected Australian destinations. You can see what routes are available from your home airport by entering your departure city on the American Express website.

There’s also an interactive flight map on the American Express website that shows you what routes you can book from each departure airport. Note that, as this map is a bit out of date, there are actually a few more routes available than what the interactive map shows (including Adelaide to Darwin, Hobart and Launceston, as well as Brisbane-Launceston).

For example, from Cairns, the free Virgin flight can be used to travel to Brisbane or Sydney. Or from Darwin, the free flight is available to Brisbane or Adelaide. From Perth, the available destinations are Kalgoorlie, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

To redeem the free return flight, there would need to be availability in both directions on non-stop Virgin Australia flights to/from an eligible destination in either the “T” or “Q” fare classes. These booking classes correspond to Economy Choice fares which include checked baggage.

You can book a one-way flight if you prefer, but you’ll forfeit the free return leg.

How to check for flight availability

Not all flights have availability in T or Q class. If you would like to check for available flights before booking, you could conduct a “flight availability” search on ExpertFlyer.

ExpertFlyer is a paid subscription service. If you don’t have an ExpertFlyer account, you could also get assistance from the AFF community by posting your question on our Flight Availability/Loadings & Upgrade Probability Help Desk thread.

Alternatively, you could use a free tool like ITA Matrix and use an advanced control to specifically search for seats available in T or Q class. After clicking “Show Advanced Controls”, enter the code “F bc=t|bc=q” into the “Extension Codes” fields as shown below:

By searching in this way on ITA Matrix, only results with availability in the specified fare classes will be displayed. Therefore, any flights shown in the search results will also be available to book using your complimentary Amex Velocity Platinum flight. This is a handy trick if you’re having trouble finding availability because ITA Matrix will let you search for flights across an entire month in one search!

How to book your complimentary Virgin Australia flight

In general, you should be able to redeem your free return flight by going to compflight.virginaustralia.com. However, this online booking portal doesn’t appear to be working for everyone.

If the online booking system isn’t working for you, you can instead book your free American Express flight by calling Virgin Australia on 1300 153 006 (instead of the usual Guest Contact Centre phone number). This phone number will put you through directly to the team that deals with complimentary Amex flight bookings. Tell the operator that you were unable to book online and they should waive the phone booking fee.

If you’re calling from outside of Australia, you can instead call +61 7 3119 7006.

Before calling, we would recommend checking for flight availability using either of the methods shown above. This will make things quicker and easier for everyone!

The American Express Velocity Platinum credit card

If you don’t already have an American Express Velocity Platinum card, and you travel frequently with Virgin Australia, it could be worth considering.

As well as the free annual Virgin Australia flight and lounge access, you can earn an uncapped 1.25 Velocity points per $1 spent on this card. Plus, earn an additional 1 point per dollar on eligible purchases from Virgin Australia.

You can also earn up to 100 Velocity status credits per year for spending on your card, which count towards your Virgin Australia status tier.

This card also has a great Velocity Frequent Flyer sign-up bonus points offer! Until 21 January 2025, you could earn 60,000 bonus Velocity points when you spend at least $3,000 within the first 3 months.

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.