Velocity Introduces Carrier Charges on Singapore Airlines

Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program has announced a range of changes to redemptions on Singapore Airlines, and there’s both good and bad news.

The good news is that Singapore Airlines Premium Economy reward seats are now once again available to book using Velocity points. Velocity Frequent Flyer has also announced that the ability to transfer points to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer loyalty program will resume later this month.

Since reinstating partner airline redemption options, Velocity has brought back reward seats on Singapore Airlines in stages. It first reintroduced access to Singapore Airlines Economy rewards in February 2022, then Business seats in March 2022. Premium Economy rewards are now available again too on the Virgin Australia website, but Velocity members still can’t access Singapore Airlines First Class and Suites reward seats yet (as they could before the pandemic).

Velocity introducing Singapore Airlines carrier charges

Unfortunately, Velocity Frequent Flyer is introducing carrier charges that need to be paid when redeeming Velocity points for Singapore Airlines reward seats on or after 5 October 2022. These aren’t as bad as the carrier charges payable on Etihad Airways redemptions, but they will hurt (especially for families booking multi-sector itineraries).

Here are the new carrier charges that will apply from 5 October 2022, as per the Velocity website:

Velocity also imposes carrier charges on Virgin Australia and Etihad Airways reward bookings, but not with other partner airlines. Carrier charges need to be paid at the time of booking in addition to any third-party fees & taxes.

There are no carrier charges applicable when redeeming KrisFlyer miles for Singapore Airlines flights.

Changes to Velocity’s partner airline reward seat table

From 5 October 2022, Velocity Frequent Flyer is also making some minor changes to the number of points required when redeeming for reward seats on most partner airlines. This affects Velocity reward bookings on Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways, Air Canada, Hawaiian Airlines and South African Airways.

Here’s the current reward chart:

And here are the new rates from 5 October 2022:

As you can see, Velocity has introduced new reward zones for flights between 3,001-3,600 miles and 4,201-4,800 miles. This affects routes such as Adelaide-Singapore and Cairns-Singapore which fall within the 3,001-3,600 mile range.

For flights between 2,400 miles and 4,800 miles in length, the number of Velocity points required for an Economy reward seat is actually being reduced slightly. But the number of Velocity points you’ll need for a Business reward in Zones 4-7 on the new chart will be slightly higher.

As an example, it currently costs 65,000 Velocity points + $117.30 for a Singapore Airlines Business reward from Brisbane to Singapore. But after the changes on 5 October, the same redemption would cost 67,000 Velocity points + approximately $249 in taxes & carrier charges.

Book by 4 October 2022 to access the current rates

Velocity has at least given 3 months of notice about this, so you can still redeem Velocity points for Singapore Airlines flights at the current rates (and without paying carrier charges) until 4 October 2022.

However, the Velocity Frequent Flyer website states:

Any voluntary changes (by you) to Reward Seats ticketed up to 4 October will, from 5 October 2022, require cancellation and refund (if applicable) of the original ticket. Any new International Partner Airline Reward Seat ticketed from 5 October 2022 will be according to the new Points redemption table.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Enhancements to VA partner redemptions

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & 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.