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Virgin Australia Velocity points expire if you don’t have any activity in your account for 24 consecutive months. This means your Velocity points will be safe as long as you earn or redeem at least one point every two years.
That seems simple enough. But if you haven’t earned or used any Velocity points for a while, your points could be at risk of expiring. If you’re not actively using your frequent flyer account, it can be easy to forget about the points… then, when you decide to use them, they’re gone!
So this doesn’t happen to you, we’ve put together a guide to ensuring your Virgin Australia Velocity points never expire…
Contents
What counts as Velocity Frequent Flyer account activity?
Since Virgin Australia Velocity points expire after 24 months of account inactivity, you need to ensure you make a qualifying transaction on your account at least once every two years.
In general, any time that you earn or redeem Velocity points is counted as activity on your account. This includes transferring points from another loyalty program such as Flybuys into Velocity Frequent Flyer. It also includes transferring Velocity points to KrisFlyer and buying points through Velocity Points Booster.
But according to the section 3.1 of the Velocity Frequent Flyer terms & conditions, the following activities don’t stop your Velocity points from expiring:
- Family transfers
- Points earned via Family Pooling
- Earning status credits
Easy ways to earn Velocity points
To keep your Velocity points, all you need to do is earn or redeem at least one point every two years. The good news is that this is relatively easy to do, especially if you live in Australia.
If you have a Velocity co-brand credit card or choose to set up Velocity Auto Transfer on your Flybuys account, points will be regularly deposited into your Velocity account. This “set and forget” approach should ensure your points never expire.
Great Credit Cards for Earning Virgin Australia Velocity Points
- Card Name
- American Express Velocity Escape
- Earn
- 0.75
- Signup Bonus
-
No current signup bonus
- Annual Fee
- $0 p.a.
- Read more
- Read the guide
Velocity Frequent Flyer Velocity Points on everyday purchases
- Card Name
- American Express Velocity Platinum
- Earn
- 1.25
- Signup Bonus
-
100,000 bonus Velocity Points
Apply by 15th May 2024
- Annual Fee
- $375 p.a.
- Read more
- Read the guide
Velocity Frequent Flyer Velocity Points on everyday purchases
Some other easy ways to earn Velocity points include:
- Make a purchase and scan your Velocity card at 7-Eleven (even just a $2 coffee)
- Manually transfer 1,000 points from Flybuys
- Take a flight on Virgin Australia or another Velocity partner airline
- Buy something online via the Velocity eStore
- Buy wine from the Velocity Wine Store or Virgin Wines
- Transfer points from a hotel loyalty program
- Transfer points from PayRewards
- Buy points through Velocity Points Booster
See the Velocity website for a full list of Velocity Frequent Flyer partners.
If you live near a 7-Eleven store, buying a $2 coffee from 7-Eleven is arguably the quickest and easiest way to earn a couple of Velocity points. You can earn 2 points per $1 spent in store or 1-2 points per litre of fuel. The points from 7-Eleven purchases also credit to your Velocity account quickly.
If you’re buying something from the Velocity eStore, keep in mind that the points could take several weeks (or even a few months) to arrive in your Velocity account. This could be a problem if your points are due to expire imminently.
Velocity Points Booster purchases also credit to your account quickly, but this is a very expensive way to buy Velocity points. It would cost $36 to buy the minimum $1,000 Velocity points, which isn’t particularly good value. But if your points are due to expire in a few days and you don’t live near a 7 Eleven store, that could be a small price to pay to stop your Velocity points expiring!
There are also a couple of free ways to earn Velocity points:
- Recycle bottles or cans with Envirobank (get 15 Crunch Credits per bottle, which converts to 5 Velocity points)
- Complete e-Rewards surveys
Ways to redeem Velocity points
To maintain account activity, you could instead redeem a small number of Velocity points. Ways to redeem Velocity points include:
- Booking a Virgin Australia reward flight or upgrading your flight with points (reward flights start at 6,200 Velocity points + taxes)
- Buying wine from the Velocity Wine Store
- Buying a gift card or product from the Velocity Rewards Store (the cheapest – a $25 “Ultimate” gift card – costs 4,903 points)
- Redeeming Velocity points towards a hotel or car hire booking (minimum 2,000 points required)
- Donating points to charity (you can make a $25 donation to the Starlight Foundation for 4,950 points)
Keep track of your Velocity points so they don’t expire
Several years ago, the Velocity Frequent Flyer terms & conditions said that the program “will provide the Member with reasonable prior written email notification that the Member’s Points will expire shortly unless the Member engages in Account Activity”. But no such clause exists any more, meaning you can no longer rely on Velocity to warn you before your points expire!
If you’re not regularly earning and redeeming Velocity points, it’s a good idea to use a third-party service like AwardWallet to keep track of your points and their expiry date.
AwardWallet is free to use and can monitor all of your loyalty program accounts (not just Velocity) in the background. If your points become at risk of expiring imminently due to account inactivity, Award Wallet will send you an email alert so that you have time to earn or redeem at least one point before losing your points.
What to do if your Velocity points have already expired?
Officially, Velocity Frequent Flyer says that expired points cannot be reinstated. Unlike Qantas Frequent Flyer, Velocity also does not have a formal program to allow members to reclaim some or all of their expired points.
But Velocity may make a rare compassionate exception if there were extenuating circumstances such as illness, hardship or family responsibilities which impacted your ability to travel and earn points. If you think this may apply to you, you could try contacting the Velocity Membership Contact Centre and asking about getting your expired points back. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee you’ll be successful – but the worst they can say is “no”.
