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Virgin Australia freezes Velocity points
Virgin Australia’s loyalty programme Velocity has moved to freeze all accounts for an initial period of four weeks.
It comes as the airline enters voluntary administration with its future still unclear.
Although owned by Virgin Australia Group, it is a separate company and not part of administration.
Velocity said it has a trustee appointed to look after the interests of members.
Virgin only took back full control of the loyalty programme recently and is one of the few business units that is profitable.
Velocity emailed members this week saying accounts on currently on hold.
"We know how much you love to plan your travel and use your points to redeem flights. However, the ongoing travel restrictions and reduced flights have limited the options for you to use points for flights," the it said.
"We’re seeing more members use points to shop online for items such as gift cards, electronic goods and wine. This unexpected demand has made it difficult for our suppliers to provide these offers and limits the availability for all members to redeem their points."
"We will continue to assess a range of options for the program and we want that to include a continuation of our longstanding partnership with Virgin Australia."
Due to the points freeze, members’ current status will be extended in line with the eventual length of the points freeze.
"You can continue to earn Points with our partners, although you won’t be able to redeem them during the pause," Velocity added.
However redemptions will likely be frozen for longer than a month and possibly until Virgin Australia’s fate is known.
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