Prior to COVID-19, Virgin Australia offered lounge access for up to an hour after arrival at the destination airport to Business Class passengers and Velocity Platinum members. Arrivals lounge access was also offered, subject to availability, to Velocity Gold and Virgin Australia Lounge members. This simple but useful benefit allows frequent flyers and Business passengers … Continued
Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer members can finally redeem their points to book Singapore Airlines reward seats in Business Class again. From today, Velocity Frequent Flyer has restored access to Business Class redemptions on most Singapore Airlines routes, except to and from Hong Kong or mainland China. Velocity reward seats are available to book on … Continued
In early 2021, I wrote that Qantas in-flight catering was miles ahead of Virgin Australia. But Virgin Australia has massively improved its Business Class offering since then… while also slashing its Business airfares. At a basic level, Qantas and Virgin Australia now provide very similar domestic Business Class products. Both airlines have lounges, the Boeing 737 … Continued
New Zealand will reopen its border to Australian tourists next month, with quarantine-free travel from Australia resuming from 13 April 2022. Following this announcement, Qantas quickly announced an increase to services from Sydney to Auckland from the date of the border reopening. It will also resume daily Brisbane-Auckland, Melbourne-Auckland and Sydney-Christchurch flights from 13 April, … Continued
In 2020, Bain Capital purchased Virgin Australia out of voluntary administration after months of negotiations. The Boston-based US private equity firm now owns almost 95% of Virgin Australia, along with Richard Branson’s Virgin Group which owns around a 5% share. A small stake in the airline was also purchased by the Queensland government. Following the sale to … Continued
Virgin Australia will now give 45-100% more Velocity status credits on all flights taken from October 2021 until June 2022, following a 3-month extension to this promotion which was previously due to expire at the end of March. This offer is available to all Velocity Frequent Flyer members and will even be applied retrospectively to … Continued
Velocity Frequent Flyer members will soon be able to convert their points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles again, with Velocity CEO Nick Rohrlach promising to bring the option back within months. The ability to transfer points between the Velocity and KrisFlyer loyalty programs was a hugely popular program feature until it was suspended in April … Continued
Virgin Australia has pushed back the resumption of direct flights between Sydney and Canberra – a route that it hasn’t served for almost two years. In early December 2021, Virgin announced that it would return to the Sydney-Canberra route in partnership with Link Airways from 30 January 2022. The flights would be marketed by Virgin … Continued
Virgin Australia is giving its Platinum frequent flyers more time to use their complimentary Business Class upgrades when booked on an Economy Choice ticket, with this offer now extended until June 2022. Velocity Frequent Flyer Platinum members receive four annual complimentary upgrades. These can be used on any Virgin Australia domestic or short-haul international flight, … Continued
Virgin Australia has improved the range of food and drinks available for sale in its onboard retail menu, with new options including hot food for passengers in Economy Class on domestic and international flights. Virgin has added nine new menu items to its buy on-board retail menu including muffins, Violet Crumble chocolate bars and Cheezels. … Continued
Virgin Australia will end its long-standing partnership with Delta Air Lines next year, switching instead to United Airlines. Subject to government approval, the new agreement between Virgin Australia and United is due to begin from April 2022. Members of Virgin’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program will soon be able to earn and redeem points, and earn … Continued
Virgin Australia will finally return to the Sydney-Canberra route from 30 January 2022, after an absence of almost two years. But it won’t be flying its own planes on the hour-long hop between Australia’s largest city and the national capital. Instead, the flights will be operated by Link Airways, which rebranded last year from its … Continued
