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Have you received a Virgin Australia travel bank or Future Flight credit? You’re not alone. Tens of thousands of Australians have ended up with Virgin Australia travel bank credits – wanted or unwanted – after their flights were cancelled or they were unable to get a refund for a Virgin Australia or Tigerair flight booked prior to Virgin Australia entering voluntary administration in 2020.
There are two main types of Virgin Australia flight credits. Virgin customers with cancelled flights who booked before 21 April 2020 would have received Future Flight credits. But if you originally booked after 21 April 2020, you probably have a regular travel bank credit.
Virgin Australia Future Flight credits will remain valid until 31 July 2022, and can be used to book new Virgin flights for travel until 30 June 2023. But there are some limitations on the use of Future Flight credits, which cannot necessarily be used on all flights. See our article on how to use Virgin Australia Future Flight credits for more information.
If you have a regular Virgin Australia travel bank credit, you can redeem this for any flight across the Virgin Australia network. Virgin has resumed operating domestic flights to many destinations across Australia and is also now selling international tickets to Nadi, Bali and Queenstown.
Virgin Australia travel bank credits expire after 12 months. You must redeem your credit before it expires, but may travel beyond the credit’s expiry date. Virgin Australia flights can be booked up to 11 months in advance.
Travel banks issued before the end of July 2021 have had their expiry dates extended until 31 July 2022.
You can check the balance of your travel bank by logging into the Virgin Australia travel bank portal. Alternatively, log into your Velocity Frequent Flyer account on the Virgin website and select “My Bookings” – your balance should be shown in the dashboard.
What can you use a Virgin Australia travel bank for?
You can use a travel bank credit to pay for Virgin Australia marketed flights (including “VA” flights operated by partner airlines), fare and tax differences on new flight bookings, change fees on flight bookings, checked baggage, and seat selection fees on Economy Lite tickets.
If your travel bank credit was issued on or after 15 May 2020, you can use also use it to pay for Economy X seat selection fees, excess baggage fees, carbon offsets and single-use lounge passes.
Travel credits cannot be used towards Business Class upgrades, gift vouchers, reward seat bookings, unaccompanied minor fees, service fees or on-board food and drink purchases. Full terms & conditions are available on the Virgin Australia website.
How to redeem Virgin Australia flight credits online
To redeem Virgin Australia travel bank credits issued after 21 April 2020, you can book a flight on the Virgin Australia website as you normally would. When you get to the final page, select “Travel Bank” as the payment type.
If you are a Velocity Frequent Flyer member, your travel bank credit should be linked to your Velocity account. If this is the case and you are logged into your Velocity account, your travel bank details should appear automatically.
Otherwise, enter the username and password send to you in the email you received from Virgin Australia when your travel bank was created. This email generally is sent from “[email protected]”. If you’re unsure, your username and password could be your Velocity Frequent Flyer number & password.
You’ll then be asked to enter the amount of the travel bank that you wish to use towards the new booking. You can use the slider to choose how much of the booking you want to pay for using your travel credit.
If the funds in your travel bank are lower than the amount required for the new ticket, you’ll need to pay the remaining amount by credit or debit card and a card payment fee will apply (even though Virgin doesn’t provide an alternative payment method)…
There are some further instructions on the Virgin Australia website.
If there is still value remaining in your travel bank after you’ve completed your booking, you will be able to use the residual value towards another future booking using the same method.
Beware that if you pay for part of your booking using a travel bank, and part using money, the entire amount will be refunded to another travel bank if you subsequently cancel your booking! For example, if you use a $10 travel bank towards a $500 booking, then your flight gets cancelled, you would end up with a $500 travel bank credit.
There is a discussion about Virgin Australia travel banks on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: VA no longer issuing credits to travelbank (or anywhere else)
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Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil, New Zealand & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.
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I received an email cancelling our flight in July to Bali (was DSC) advising I have a conditional credit. I don’t like that the credits don’t show up anywhere in my Virgin account, I don;t care how ‘ugly’ it may look on the screen as long as i know it exists and shows my balance. I also checked and I don’t have the option to pay online using my conditional credit.
At the moment, Virgin Australia Holidays is not taking new orders because 1) website shows holiday packages but cannot book online, therefore you need to call. 2) not taking any phone calls due to “call centre working remotely during COVID-19”. 3) if you email them, this is their reply: “Thank you for your email. As you may be aware, Virgin Australia has entered into voluntary administration. Our business operations are continuing, including our limited domestic schedule, cargo and charter services. We have temporarily paused new accommodation bookings at this time while we wait for direction from the administrator. Unfortunately we… Read more »
I spent $680 for a flight in April that was cancelled due to covid19. Why is my travel bank balance so low.
If you ring the 136789 number that Virgin provides it does not answer, i have been on hold 3 times for about a hour each time and still no answer. Please employ more people to answer you phones.
I tried to book a return flight from Sydney to Gold coast departing 11/3 and returning 14/3. I have $1100 in credit and the fare was about $720 return. You refused to accept booking. Why?
You would need to ask Virgin Australia about this. We are not affiliated in any way with the airline.
How do I obtain the flight credit numbers/ code to submit when booking new flights?
You should have received an email from Virgin Australia with the relevant information. If not, please contact the airline.
How do i get my money back from Travel Credits if do not want to book another flight
If you have a Virgin Australia travel credit for a flight booked before 21 April 2020, you probably won’t be able to get a refund unfortunately because of Virgin’s voluntary administration. But if in doubt, please contact the airline.
If you no longer want to travel, the best option may be to try to use the credit to book a flight for a friend or family member.
Hi Just before Xmas 2020 I booked to with Virgin to fly from Coffs Harbour to Melbourne to see my mother in dementia care, yes I had to cancel due to covid. Virgin gave me travel bank credits. Again I tried again to get to Melbourne for Xmas. Virgin gave me travel credits again. I am grateful as I knew I would redeem them before they expired. BUT Virgin decided on the 14th April,2021 that it was ceasing it flights out of Coffs Harbour. For me to use the credits now I have to drive three hours to Ballina and… Read more »
To me, all what I can see that Virgin is doing, holding customer credit and eventually refuse them by claiming everyone money under their fraudulent expiry policy is amount to ripping people off. I booked flight for myself, my wife and children for holiday return from UK in March 2020, and government close border to international travel, in which the border has not been reopen up till now. if its not fraudulent by the Virgin Airline, how can they claim the travel ban expired in 12month while no body is allow to leave the country. I cannot believe this is… Read more »
I rang Virgin staff member to book a flight to Hamilton Island using my travel bank credits. She stated the flight I wanted was non existent & she could not access my credit. Booked the flight at a travel agency ( the non excising one, which my brother & sister-in-law was on as well) travel agency stated she couldn’t access travel bank either. I don’t have a computer & 72yrs old, I don’t rely on other people for very much but I was disappointed. Needed a flight to Melbourne & went to flight centre & asked re my credits. Very… Read more »
Sorry to hear this. Were these Future Flight credits (for a Virgin Australia booking originally made before 20 April 2020)? If so, they should have been valid until July 2022. If it was a different type of credit, it may be subject to different rules.
As you’ve found, you do need to deal with whichever travel agency you originally booked with.
Very disappointing that virgin Australia Travel bank Credits expire after 12 months. My flight was cancelled by Virgin in February 2020, and due to covid lockdowns, there has been no opportunity to use them until now and I find that they have expired. Jetstar on the other hand has extended their credits by 2 years.