Virgin frequent flyer shake-up: $12,000 for Gold status?

Starting this week, it’s about to become much more expensive to earn frequent flyer status on Virgin Australia.

Just how expensive?

Travellers could have to pay as much as $12,000 to earn Velocity Gold status for the first year – that’s the sweet spot for lounge access, extra luggage, priority boarding and so on.

Velocity Platinum status, which is the next rung the loyalty ladder, will require spending as much as $24,000 in airfares.

That’s the take-away from a sweeping overhaul to the airline’s Velocity rewards program which comes into effect this Wednesday 2 April, 2025.

Business class passengers will earn one status credit for every $12 they spend.

Under the new system, the earning of status credits will be directly tied to the cost of your airfare, at the following rates:

• One status credit for every $12 spent on Economy Choice, Economy Flex, and Business fares
• One status credit for every $24 spend on Economy Lite fares

The previous system saw an approximate match between the number of status credits earned, based on the length of a flight as well as the type of ticket booked.

Naturally enough, the cheaper tickets came with very few status credits – pay more, especially for a Flex or Business Class fare, and more status credits came your way.

Business class passengers will earn one status credit for every $12 to $24 they spend.

However, calculations by Executive Traveller illustrate there can be significant differences in status credit earnings under the new system.

For example, between Sydney and Brisbane, a $115 Economy Choice fare plummet from 15 status credits to just 9 – a drop of 40% – while even a $384 Business fare slumps from 55 to 32 status credits.

At the same time, the more expensive $434 Economy Flex fare surges from 25 to 36 status credits.

A similar pattern played out for some fares on the Brisbane-Perth route:

• an Economy Flex fare of $828 jumps from 45 to 69 status credits
• a $969 Business fare drops from 105 to 80 status credits.
• the cheapest $315 Economy Lite fare nudges north from 10 to 13 status credits

Frequent flyers will now have to spend as much as $2,400 for that Velocity Platinum card .

The controversial spend-based status model has already been adopted by several North American airlines, alongside the likes of British Airways and Finnair.

(Noe that status credits booked on flights with Virgin Australia partner airlines will still continue to be earned the ‘traditional’ way, although you’ll earn fewer status credits on those airlines as of 1 October 2025.)

Why is Virgin moving to spend-based status?

Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach has previously described the new spend-based system to Executive Traveller as being an inherently “simpler” way to track and earn status, and estimates that just over 80% of published fares “will actually see an increase in status credits.

It will also remove some inconsistencies in the current system.

“A good example is that sometimes you can see people who get discounted business class actually paying less than some on the (economy) Flex fare,” Rohrlach suggests.

“From a loyalty perspective (it means) that we’re actually under-rewarding those who are booking last-minute Flex fares” – so the new spend-based structure “will recognise those who are booking those last-minute fares will therefore get a lot more status credits.”

Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach says the new system is both simpler and fairer.

Velocity is also removing the need to fly a set number of what it calls ‘eligible sectors’ as part of earning Silver, Gold, Platinum and soon Platinum Plus status.

The rationale is that, based on feedback from Velocity members, many people simply don’t understand what an ‘eligible sector’ is – despite that it’s simply a Virgin Australia flight beginning with a VA flight number.

As part of a push towards simplifying status, the eligible sector requirement will be dropped as of 1 October 2025 (the same date as the launch of lifetime Velocity Forever Gold and the new Velocity Platinum Plus tier).

To reach or retain Velocity Silver, Gold, Platinum or Platinum Plus status, members will need to earn at least 50% of their status credits on ‘Virgin Australia marketed flights’ – which covers Virgin’s own flights as well as codeshare flights with partner airlines booked under a VA flight number.

Flights on Virgin Australia partners such as Singapore Airlines will only count towards 50% of your annual status credit tally.

In common with the shift to fare-based status earning, Velocity says the move reinforces its focus on rewarding those who consistently choose to fly with Virgin Australia.

Calculating the true cost of Velocity status

How the new spend-based status earning impacts frequent flyers will of course depend on their own unique travel habits, and specifically the fares they (or their company) purchases.

But the spend-based model makes it possible to peg a ‘price’ against each Velocity status tier.

How much value do you place on that free cup of coffee in the airport lounge?

The numbers below represent the spend on Economy Choice, Economy Flex, and Business fares (not Economy Lite fares) and assume status-earning flights are taken only on Vigin Australia.

• To earn Velocity Silver requires 250 status credits, equivalent to a $3,000 spend (retaining Silver status year-on-year requires 200 status credits, or a $2400 spend)
• To earn Velocity Gold requires 500 status credits, equivalent to a $6,000 spend (retaining Gold status year-on-year requires 400 status credits, or a $4,800 spend)
• To earn Velocity Platinum requires 1000 status credits, equivalent to a $12,000 spend (retaining Platinum status year-on-year requires 800 status credits, or a $9,600 spend)
• To earn the new Velocity Platinum Plus tier requires 2000 status credits, equivalent to a $24,000 spend (retaining Platinum Plus status also requires 2000 status credits, or another $24,000 spend)

Also read: How to get a lifetime of Virgin Australia Gold perks