Virgin Australia has been all over the news this week, as it suspended trading on the Australian stock market and considers voluntary administration. But, while much of the media was distracted by other events, Virgin Australia has achieved something quite remarkable this week. Last Tuesday morning, a Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300ER departed from Paris and … Continued
Velocity Global Wallet cardholders will earn fewer points on transactions within Australia from 4 May 2020. Fees for using the travel money card are also changing, with some charges being reduced or eliminated. New Velocity Global Wallet earn rate Currently, you can earn 1 Velocity point per $3 spent within Australia using the Velocity Global … Continued
New Change.org petitions, calling for the Australian government to assist Virgin Australia through the COVID-19 crisis, have attracted huge support from the Australian travelling public. One petition, titled “Keep Virgin Australia In The Skies”, has already attracted over 30,000 signatures. It calls on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to “support Virgin Australia by offering the industry assistance … Continued
Some Australian frequent flyers are getting nervous about their Velocity points, after Velocity Frequent Flyer started blocking point transfers to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program. The loyalty program of Virgin Australia has also started imposing limits on gift card redemptions from the Velocity rewards store. Transfers between Velocity and KrisFlyer suspended On Friday evening, Velocity … Continued
Virgin Australia is temporarily no longer providing complimentary snacks to Economy class passengers on domestic flights. The airline has also stopped serving tea, coffee, juice and complimentary Happy Hour drinks in Economy class as part of a new “simplified” onboard food and beverage menu. This includes flights to and from Perth, where a full meal … Continued
The Virgin Australia Group will cancel around 90% of its domestic flights from midnight on Friday 27 March 2020, as most Australian states move to shut their borders to contain the spread of COVID-19. This is in addition to the grounding of all international Virgin Australia flights from 30 March, and is a further cut beyond … Continued
Virgin Australia will extend the status of all Velocity Frequent Flyer members for 12 months. It will also gift its Silver, Gold and Platinum Velocity Frequent Flyer members with monthly bonus status credits for the next three months. Virgin initially announced that it was only offering extra status credits for 3 months. But now that … Continued
Airline call centres worldwide are struggling to cope with the current surge in demand, leaving many calls unanswered and others on hold for many hours. Qantas customers, for example, have reported waiting well over 5-6 hours on hold – or simply being hung up on – over recent weeks. Qantas call centre staffing levels were … Continued
Just days after Qantas announced further cuts to international flights until September, Virgin Australia has revealed more flight reductions of its own. Among the changes, Virgin Australia will temporarily reduce flights to Japan, Los Angeles and New Zealand, and permanently axe its two fifth-freedom international routes. Frequencies on some domestic routes will also be reduced … Continued
Virgin Australia has now followed Qantas and Jetstar in waiving change fees on international bookings until 31 March 2020. Virgin’s policy is similar to the Qantas & Jetstar change fee waiver, but it’s more generous as it also applies to existing bookings made prior to 10 March 2020. Unlike with Qantas, Virgin Australia guests also … Continued
Virgin Australia will no longer print Velocity Frequent Flyer membership numbers on boarding passes issued by airport check-in kiosks. The change, which appears to be for privacy and security reasons, took effect from yesterday. In addition, Velocity Frequent Flyer members are now required to show their digital membership card along with their boarding pass in … Continued
The Virgin Australia Group will cut capacity and accelerate the retirement of aircraft, it announced on Wednesday as it revealed a $100 million loss in the first half of the 2019-20 financial year. Much of the cost-cutting is focused on Tigerair, which is 100% owned by Virgin Australia. Here is a summary of the key Virgin … Continued
