Virgin Australia Velocity Silver Frequent Flyer Guide

Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program has been around since 2005 and in that time has emerged as a serious and worthy foe for its larger, Red-tailed competition.

Offering a similar tiered loyalty structure to Qantas Frequent Flyer, with Silver, Gold and Platinum status, Velocity is an edgy, colourful scheme which appeals to a wide cross-section of the airline marketplace.

After starting out on the bottom rung of Red, the step up to Silver is highly achievable. A few trips around Australia in a middle to high fare or a couple of international flights on a Virgin Australia partner airline and voila, Silver status can be yours.

Silver is the easiest elite status to achieve for Aussie business travellers. In return for their loyalty, Silver members earn 50% more points on eligible flights, enjoy priority check-in when heading abroad and receive a boosted baggage allowance on most flights.

How to earn Virgin Australia Silver frequent flyer status

Earning a mere 250 status credits in a 12-month period is enough to land you a Velocity Silver card, provided that at least two of your flights were taken on a Virgin Australia VA flight number.

In the years that follow, you’ll need only 200 status credits and another two ‘eligible sectors’ flying with Virgin Australia to keep your Silver tier – making Velocity Silver easier to retain than Qantas Frequent Flyer Silver.

Points and status credits are earned when flying with Virgin Australia, plus most of its partner airlines including Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and its newest partners, United Airlines and Qatar Airways.

If your travel is mostly domestic, nine return trips from Sydney to either Melbourne or Brisbane on Choice economy fares get you over the line for Silver status in the first year, as would three return business class journeys between the same cities.

Naturally, longer journeys make the path to Silver much shorter. Combine one return business class cross-country jaunt from any of the three eastern capitals to Perth with a mid-range Choice economy return trip, such as Sydney to Cairns, and Silver will be in your pocket.

Fly across Australia and back in business class and Silver status will almost be yours.

International travel makes Velocity Silver a walk in the park – one business class roundtrip from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to Singapore with partner Singapore Airlines would almost do the trick, with a single return Sydney-Melbourne economy Lite flight on top taking you to 250 status credits.

Lounge access for Virgin Australia Velocity Silver members

Silver frequent flyers can visit Virgin Australia’s domestic lounges twice each year (or burn both passes by taking a companion for one visit), after which they can purchase a discounted lounge membership for access whenever they travel with the airline.

Virgin Australia's Melbourne lounge.

That’s just $399 for a year of membership, with no joining fee. If you wish to commit to Virgin Australia (or at least its lounges) forever, a lifetime lounge membership is also available for $9,750.

Unlike Velocity Gold and Platinum members, Velocity Silver comes with no lounge access on Virgin’s raft of partner airlines itself.

Checked baggage allowance for Virgin Australia Velocity Silver

On domestic and short Virgin Australia international flights, Silver members can bring an extra 23kg bag on economy fares for no extra charge, although there's no extra boost for the business class allowance.

Some of VA’s international airline partners also afford Silver cardholders a slightly higher baggage allowance, including Etihad, Hong Kong Airlines and South African Airways.

Business class upgrades for Virgin Australia Velocity Silver

Using Velocity points for upgrades to business class on domestic flights is another benefit of Velocity Silver frequent flyers, who can nab confirmed upgrades from the moment the booking has been made.

The first two rows on Virgin's Boeing 737 fleet are for business class passengers.

That’s a significant advantage over the ‘Bid Now Upgrades’ system at Qantas, where better seats are only dished out closer to departure.

Bonus points and perks for Virgin Australia Velocity Silver

More points on your purchases

Virgin Australia flights come with 50% more Velocity points for Silver guests, as do journeys booked with a VA flight number but taken on United Airlines. 

You’ll also earn 4.5 points per 1$ spent on the ground with partners such as Hertz, Europcar and Thrifty for car hire, plus a 10% bonus on Etihad flights with an EY flight number.

Fast-track your airport experience

Additionally, Silver guests can use priority check-in when flying internationally with Virgin Australia and with Capital Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and South African Airways – although on Virgin Australia domestic flights, you’ll need to join the back of the queue.

Singapore Airlines is a partner airline of Virgin Australia, with which you can earn status.

Etihad also gives Velocity Silver flyers access to the priority boarding lane: a perk not offered by Virgin Australia to its own Silver Velocity members.

More Velocity Silver perks

Silver members receive priority phone support over and above non-members and those with base-level membership, which means less time spent waiting in the queue when using points to upgrade to business class or when changing or cancelling flights.

If you can't fly business, Silver members can sit closer to the front than their Red counterparts.

You’ll also be able to sit slightly further forward than Red members on Virgin Australia flights, although the extra-legroom emergency exit rows still come at a fee.

Finally, Silver frequent flyers stuck at the airport on standby have a higher chance of getting a boarding pass than other travellers, which could mean the difference between being home in time for dinner or arriving after your children have already gone to bed.