How I Maintained Velocity Platinum Status in 2026

I’ve held Velocity Platinum status since 2023. I don’t consider it as valuable as Qantas Platinum or even Star Alliance Gold status, which I also hold, especially when travelling overseas. But I do enjoy the perks of Velocity status when travelling domestically on Virgin Australia.

Until the recent changes to the Velocity program, I largely overlooked the fact that Virgin doesn’t provide any lounge access for frequent flyers on its international flights. Or that Velocity status benefits with its international partner airlines can be very hit-and-miss. Why? Because Velocity status used to be much easier to earn than Qantas status – so on balance I decided it was still worth getting.

That changed last year, when Velocity changed how it awards status credits. It now gives status credits based on how much you spend, removing most of the loopholes I used to use to attain status relatively cheaply.

I did some quick maths when this was announced, and realised that to maintain my Velocity Platinum status under the new system, I would probably need to spend many thousands of dollars more than I used to. The cost of getting status had gone up, but the benefits had not, so I decided it was no longer worth it for me.

Why I decided anyway to go for Velocity Platinum for one more year

My most recent Velocity review date was in May 2026. By February, I was sitting on 235 status credits (which I’d earned from a combination flights and Flybuys).

This was well short of the 800 status credits I would need to retain Platinum. So, I was fully expecting to drop to Gold status after my review date.

But then, in the first few months of 2026, two things happened:

• On 23 February, Velocity launched an offer of up to 125 bonus status credits if you took 6 Virgin Australia flights between 12 January and 31 March 2026
• Virgin Australia Holidays ran a double status credits promotion for holiday bookings made between 16-23 March 2026

I did some more quick maths, and realised that – using both of these promotions – I could still retain Velocity Platinum status for an amount that I considered reasonable. But the journey wasn’t as smooth as I’d anticipated…

The flights I booked to retain Platinum status

I’d already taken a Virgin Australia flight on 20 January 2026, and the offer of 125 bonus status credits specifically stated that it applied to “past and future bookings, taken between 12 January 2026 and 31 March 2026”. I was planning to go to Cairns at the end of March, so booked a trip there and back which included the other 5 sectors I thought I needed.

During the double status credits promotion for holiday bookings, I then booked a Virgin Australia Holidays “status run” from Canberra to Adelaide via Melbourne, flying Business Class and staying one night at the cheapest available hotel in Adelaide. This cost me around $800.

Since Virgin Australia Holidays still awards status credits based on the distance and cabin you fly – not spend – this worked out to give a much higher status credit return relative to the amount spent. With double status credits, I was earning around 1 status credit per $2.50 for this trip, rather than the usual 1 status credit per $12.

I calculated it so that I’d end up with exactly 800 status credits after accounting for the status credits I’d earn from the flights to Cairns and back, the 125 bonus status credits, and the Virgin Australia Holidays booking.

I figured that this was worth doing because I’d not only get another year of Platinum, but would then fall back to Gold the year after if I didn’t retain it again. This meant I’d still get lounge access and most of the other Velocity status benefits that I value until at least May 2028.

So, what could possibly go wrong? 😳

Hiccup #1: My January flight didn’t count after all

The Velocity promo made it pretty clear that any flights taken between 12 January and 31 March 2026 would count towards the 125 bonus status credits – even if booked before the promo was announced. Or so I thought.

Well, not so fast. After booking all my flights, I checked the fine print one more time and noticed that the T&Cs defined an eligible flight as one that was “ticketed and flown during the Promotion Period”.

Hang on… that “ticketed” clause wasn’t mentioned anywhere outside of the small print in the T&Cs. It meant that the flight I took in January wouldn’t actually count, since I’d booked and “ticketed” that flight in December 2025. And if I didn’t get the full 125 status credits from that promotion, my entire plan would be scuppered.

I ended up changing one of the flights I’d booked on my way back from Cairns from a direct flight to a connecting itinerary with a stop, in order to ensure I got that sixth sector.

But not everyone was so lucky. I’ve heard from several Velocity members who missed that fine print, and therefore have lost the status they’d expected to retain through that promotion. In my opinion, this is very poor as this major catch was not adequately explained.

Hiccup #2: Velocity stopped rounding up without telling anyone

When Velocity first announced its change to spend-based status credits, it said that it would round up the airfare amount to the nearest $12 for the purposes of awarding status credits.

Well, at some point last year, it stopped doing that. Without telling anyone, it decided to simply round to the nearest $12, rather than always rounding up. This may seem trivial, but it’s not when you’re planning to earn exactly the number of status credits you need to requalify.

I noticed that something didn’t seem right in some of the calculations I was seeing, so I wrote to the Velocity Membership Contact Centre and asked if there had been a change to how Velocity calculates status credits. I received this ridiculous, nonsensical response:

To clarify your concern regarding the Status Credits earn calculation, please be assured that Status Credits are rounded up to the nearest whole number. For example:

• If the total fare amount of your flight is 294.84 AUD, dividing this by 12 gives 24.57, which is rounded up to 25 Status Credits.
• However, if the total fare amount is 289.20 AUD, dividing this by 12 gives 24.10, which will be rounded down to 24 Status Credits, as it does not meet the threshold to round up.”

Say, what? So, status credits are rounded up to the nearest whole number… except when they’re not. 🤦‍♂️

When you book a flight on the Virgin Australia website, you can at least see the number of status credits you’ll earn for that flight. But not when you book on the Virgin Australia Business Flyer portal – which I was doing, in order to get a small discount on Flex fares.

I ended up having to book slightly more expensive tickets than I had planned to, in order to avoid ending up 1-2 status credits short.

As an aside, Velocity really ought to show how many status credits you’ll earn for any upcoming flights when you view your bookings on the Virgin Australia website or app. Currently, it’s just too confusing and many people are simply left guessing what they might earn – especially for bookings made through corporate travel agents, or with multiple sectors, etc.

Hiccup #3: A diverted flight

I had booked to fly from Cairns to Sydney via Brisbane. Shortly after take-off from Cairns, the pilot announced that there was a radio issue with the aircraft and that we’d have to return to Cairns.

I got rebooked on a direct flight from Cairns to Sydney a few hours later… which would mean I’d miss out on one of the sectors I was counting on. Thank goodness for original routing credits!

Hiccup #4: The bonus status credits didn’t arrive before my review date

The bonus status credits from the Virgin Australia Holidays promotion posted to my Velocity account within a few days. (I did also happen to get 3 extra status credits in March and April from Flybuys.)

But the 125 status credits from the other promo took almost six weeks to arrive after the end of the promotional period. In fact, even though the promotion ended on 31 March, I was still waiting for the bonus status credits when my review date came around in early May. This was my Velocity account status on my review date:

There were reports on AFF that people with review dates in April had already had their status downgraded by this time, since the bonus status credits from this promotion had not arrived.

Thankfully, mid-way through my review period, those 125 status credits did finally arrive – and were backdated to 31 March. So, I ended my year on 803 status credits. Phew – all that effort hadn’t been for nothing, after all!

Was it worth it?

So, I now have Virgin Australia Platinum status for another year. If I don’t renew it – and I probably won’t – I’ll at least get Gold the following year as well.

Was it worth going this far out of my way to get it? In hindsight, probably not. I’ll enjoy the extra perks over the next couple of years, but it was harder to retain Platinum than I’d counted on – even with all those bonus status credits. Mainly due to Virgin’s poor IT and clumsy wording.

Ultimately, I think Velocity really needs to offer more benefits in exchange for the higher spend now required to earn and maintain Velocity status. For example, the Virgin Australia Lounges really could use better food and drink options. I don’t think the menu has changed at all in the past several years, and frequent flyers have noticed. The wine is particularly poor.

Furthermore, I spent way too long trying to calculate how many status credits I would actually earn from all the flights I was looking at. I literally used to do this stuff for a living, so that’s a problem. Velocity needs to be careful that its program hasn’t become too complicated for its own good. If people can’t understand it, they’ll lose interest.

Anyway, that’s how I maintained Velocity Platinum status under the new system in 2026. If you held Velocity status before last year’s changes, did you maintain it? And if so, how did you do it? Let us know on the AFF forum!