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Virgin Australia’s family pooling scheme is a unique benefit that allows up to six family members to combine their Velocity points and status credits in one account. This family-friendly initiative makes it much easier to earn Virgin Australia status when travelling together.
How family pooling works
A family pool can consist of up to two adults and four children under the age of 18. All family members must be living at the same address. One member of the pool – the beneficiary – receives all the Velocity points earned by each of the other family members – the contributors. Depending on how family pooling has been set up, the beneficiary can also choose to receive all status credits earned by the contributors (as well as Velocity points).
Once family pooling is set up, all points and/or status credits earned by any contributor will be immediately transferred to the beneficiary’s account. Family pooling cannot be backdated and transfers also cannot be reversed. So make sure you set it up before travel, and unlink accounts if you no longer wish to pool the points and status credits.
Earn Velocity status with one family holiday
By using family pooling, you can earn Silver, Gold or even Platinum status with Virgin Australia after just one family holiday! Using family pooling means you can receive the points and status credits earned by each of the other family members travelling with you. If you have a family of five, you’ll earn points and status credits 5x faster!
As an example, you’ll earn 100 status credits for a return Economy booking from Sydney to Los Angeles via Brisbane. Without family pooling, nobody earns enough status credits to reach a higher status tier. But by pooling all the status credits into the beneficiary’s account, one person will earn 500 status credits – enough to reach Gold Velocity status.
The whole family then benefits from this status when travelling together. Virgin allows Gold and Platinum members to bring up to 2 children with them into Virgin Australia lounges. This is in addition to the normal limit of 1 or 3 guests, respectively.
How to set up family pooling
It is easy to set up family pooling on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website. Simply log in to your Velocity account, select “My Account” and then “Family Pooling”.
Family pooling T&Cs
Each beneficiary can add a maximum of five new contributing accounts to their family pool per calendar year. And individual accounts can contribute to a maximum of two new beneficiaries per year.
Beware that Virgin Australia has previously closed Velocity Frequent Flyer accounts where it suspected members were abusing the family pooling scheme. Therefore, do not set up family pooling with anyone other than family members living at the same residential address. If you wish to transfer Velocity points to family members that aren’t living at the same address, simply make a “family transfer”.
Velocity Frequent Flyer also offers a Guaranteed Reward Seat benefit for families. Gold and Platinum Velocity members are guaranteed up to 4 Economy Reward seats for an annual family holiday by booking at least six months in advance.
Have a question about Virgin Australia family pooling? Ask on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Velocity Family Pooling
