Velocity Won’t Rebook Cancelled Qatar Airways Reward Flights
Given the recent conflict in their region, many Middle Eastern carriers have understandably had to cancel a lot of flights in recent months. Qatar Airways, which also operates flights between Australia and Doha on behalf of Virgin Australia, is no exception.
Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia are now gradually restoring their networks between Australia and Doha. However, both airlines are operating fewer flights now than they were before February 2026, and are continuing to adjust their schedules for the foreseeable future. This inevitably means that many flights have been changed or cancelled.
Velocity members struggling to get rebooked onto new Qatar Airways flights
When you book a flight and the airline subsequently cancels it, that airline would usually give you the choice of an alternative flight or a refund. But many Qatar Airways passengers who had booked using Virgin Australia Velocity Points are being left without alternative flights – only the offer of a refund. In fact, many of these people say they weren’t even notified when Qatar Airways cancelled their flight.
A large number of Velocity Frequent Flyer members appear to be affected by this because Qatar Airways, which owns a 25% stake in Virgin Australia, is one of Velocity’s main partner airlines offering reward seats from Australia to the Middle East and Europe.
Here’s what one AFF member had to say:
Hi all, I’ve booked a Qatar Airways flight in business class from Canberra to London via Melbourne and Doha in September. I booked this late last year using Velocity Frequent Flyer points on a Qatar operated Service. I’ve now had it confirmed via the Flighty app and the Velocity contact Centre that this flight will not be operating. There is no willingness to rebook me. The only thing they say is that I can have a refund of the points and the taxes and they say that because it is a Qatar cancellation is out of their hands. Does this sound right given I had a confirmed ticket?
I have escalated this to someone pretty senior at Virgin Australia who after a couple of weeks has also confirmed there is nothing that can be done and I will need to rebook a cash fare with a different airline.
nuthq on the AFF forum
Another AFF member did get rebooked by Qatar Airways because they had used Avios (not Velocity Points) to book a reward seat on Qatar Airways. Unfortunately, Qatar Airways rebooked them onto a Virgin Australia flight which wasn’t suitable. This person wrote on our forum:
Have spent several hours going back and forth between VA and QR call centres and live chats, trying desperately to get either one of them to take some sort of responsibility and assist me, but so far have had zero offers of assistance outside of them rebooking me to something else with reward availability (near zero at this short notice). Their only other solution is to offer me a full refund, again highly unhelpful at this late stage.
I am genuinely not sure what to do next aside from trying the avenues of contacting their executives via email and or LinkedIn, something I never thought I’d have to do (nor do I want to).
gibbo24 on the AFF forum
Not everyone is affected
Qatar Airways passengers who booked regular commercial tickets, directly through the airline, are generally being rebooked onto other flights without issue.
Velocity members who redeemed their points to book a Virgin Australia flight to/from Doha, rather than a Qatar Airways flight, are also having better luck with getting rebooked onto an alternative Virgin Australia flight.
Some people have also had better luck with getting rebooked on Qatar Airways flights if they originate in Europe. That’s because, under EU261 rules, airlines that cancel flights are obligated to provide a suitable alternative flight at no extra charge.
Why won’t Velocity rebook passengers onto other flights that are still running?
Unfortunately, Velocity is either unable or unwilling to rebook passengers who had redeemed Velocity Points for a Qatar Airways flight that is now cancelled. Velocity is even refusing to rebook passengers onto Virgin Australia flights, which are still running – albeit less frequently.
Effectively, Velocity is acting as a third-party agent whose hands are tied.
Velocity can rebook passengers onto other Qatar Airways flights with available reward seats at the time of the request. However, most flights no longer have any reward seats available in the original class of travel – especially in Business Class. In this case, Velocity is only offering a refund.
Australian Frequent Flyer asked Virgin Australia whether the airline felt this was fair, and if it had tried to coordinate with Qatar Airways to get these passengers rebooked onto other flights. A Virgin Australia spokesperson did not directly answer those questions, but provided the following statement:
As a result of the escalation in the Middle East, many international carriers were required to rebook guests onto alternative services following temporary airspace closures. The widespread disruption has resulted in guests requiring reaccommodation across the network with limited operating schedules, impacting cabin and fare class availability. We anticipate availability will improve as operations continue to stabilise.
For what it’s worth, the Velocity Frequent Flyer T&Cs say that “you may be eligible for a refund if an airline partner cancels your flight”. However, the Velocity T&Cs don’t say anything about arranging alternative flights. They simply defer to the operating airline’s fares rules and conditions of carriage.
Do other frequent flyer programs rebook passengers with cancelled flights?
Unfortunately, this is one of the risks of using frequent flyer points to book a seat on a partner airline.
When you redeem points for a flight, and the operating partner airline cancels, many frequent flyer programs will coordinate with that partner airline to rebook passengers onto alternative flights. This is usually what Qantas does, for example – but it does rely on the partner airline’s willingness to offer an alternative.
For what it’s worth, this is what the Qantas Frequent Flyer Terms & Conditions say about this:
If a Classic Flight Reward is cancelled by the airline and reasonable alternative travel cannot be arranged, as determined by Qantas acting reasonably, Qantas will waive the Cancellation Refund Fee on the Reward submitted for refund and will re-credit the applicable number of Qantas Points.”
In practice, however, we’ve reported numerous cases in the past where Qantas has refused to offer a suitable alternative flight and would only give a refund.
Sadly, if the partner airline refuses to provide an alternative seat, there’s not much the frequent flyer program can do. The two things Velocity can do if Qatar doesn’t cooperate – rebooking those passengers onto Virgin Australia flights, or paying for commercial seats on Qatar Airways – would cost Velocity money. It seems Velocity would rather leave its members stranded than spend that money.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Brandon from Point Hacks recently redeemed Air Canada Aeroplan points for a Business Class trip from London to Perth flying Air Mauritius. The operating airline cancelled his flight at the last minute, so Aeroplan rebooked him onto Emirates at no charge.
What this means for Velocity members booking reward seats on Qatar Airways
If you want to get to Europe, redeeming Velocity Points on Qatar Airways can be a good deal. But given the ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East, you need to be aware that you’re taking a risk. If Qatar Airways cancels, you may be left with no flight at all.
One strategy to minimise the risk would be to book one of the Virgin Australia flights to Doha, instead of a Qatar Airways flight, as this gives you a better chance of getting rebooked in the event of a cancellation. If you do choose to book a Qatar-marketed flight, I would try to book a route and flight number that is currently operating because this is less likely to be cancelled.
Alternatively, you might want to try redeeming your Velocity Points to fly to Europe with another partner airline like Singapore Airlines or even United. You could even consider converting your Velocity Points to KrisFlyer miles and redeeming on a different Star Alliance airline.
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