Your guide to Velocity Points and effortless travel savings with Virgin Australia Business Flyer

For many savvy points collectors, Velocity Points are part of the playbook. With access to reward flights on carriers as eclectic as Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, United and All Nippon Airways, the opportunities are bountiful.

Such partnerships are one of Velocity’s biggest strengths. Being able to burn points on premium seats to the Middle East, Asia, North America and Europe is a significant drawcard especially when Velocity reward seats aren’t impossible to come by, which isn’t the feeling with some other programs.

Here’s how you can unlock exciting rewards with Velocity, via Virgin Australia Business Flyer and PayRewards.

PayRewards Points can become Velocity Points

With PayRewards, you’re not locked into having points with just one frequent flyer program. PayRewards Points are flexible, and you can convert your bounty into Velocity Points among your many options.

Your business needs to be registered with Virgin Australia Business Flyer (don’t stress, it’s free). Then, you can convert PayRewards Points into Velocity Points at a 2.5:1 rate. For instance, if you convert half a million PayRewards Points, you’ll receive 200,000 Velocity Points.

Those Velocity Points are credited directly to your company’s Business Flyer account. When you’re ready to travel, you can extract those Velocity Points from Virgin Australia Business Flyer into any personal Velocity Frequent Flyer account at a 1:1 rate.

How can you spend Velocity Points?

You don’t need many Velocity Points to take off, with short domestic hops starting at only 5,900 Velocity Points. That’s one method to save your business some coin. But you probably know by now, the best value reward bookings come at the aptly nicknamed ‘pointy end’.

You could turn that bounty into a business-class ticket on Virgin Australia to places like New Zealand, Fiji and Indonesia. From mid-2025, that’s also true of Virgin’s planned ‘wet lease’ flights to Doha.

Velocity Points could nab you a reward flight with Air Canada also, along with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA), Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Until 31 May 2025, you can book Etihad Airways flights, too.

Flying to North America on Velocity Points

Last-minute business trip? Velocity Points are great for grabbing a cheeky United Polaris business class seat on flights to the US. They’re also handy for Air Canada Signature Class (business class) to Canada – or even to the US via Canada.

I’ve done both, and I’d happily fly either if there’s availability to suit. Especially if landing a last-minute United flight to Los Angeles, in row one, booked literally on the day of departure, as I did. Paid tickets were almost $8,600, one-way. But with Velocity, I paid less than $150 on top. I was glad to have PayRewards Points that day!

If you’re plotting your own Stateside adventure, here are the routes and airlines taking you there.

Happily, there are no carrier-imposed charges when booking Air Canada or United with Velocity Points, so you’ll only pay the actual tax. That’s typically $100-$150 AUD, one-way. You can also use Velocity Points on Hawaiian Airlines from Sydney to Honolulu and beyond, but availability is tight and you can only book by calling Velocity.

Europe

If you’re bound for Europe or the UK instead, you could use Velocity Points to get there aboard Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airways, for starters. You can also combine a Virgin Australia ‘wet lease’ flight to Doha with a Qatar Airways service for the connection.

From Australia’s east coast to most major European destinations, you can now expect to pay 158,500 Velocity Points, one-way in business class. The same is true if booking United Airlines to Europe via the US, or with Etihad Airways until 31 May 2025. If you can find a seat on Air Canada via Vancouver, though, it’s a flat 150,000 Velocity Points each way.

Five tips to find and book your reward flights

To search for flights using Velocity Points, head to the Virgin Australia website. Tick ‘Use Velocity Points’, then key in your route, dates and passenger count. Make a note of these top tips.

• Make sure you’re booking a Reward Seat
  The Virgin Australia website shows lots of ‘Any Seat’ options, which aren’t usually great value. The flights you want are ‘Reward Seat’ bookings. They’re labelled as such, and the rates are much more reasonable.
• Some airlines can only be booked by phone
  Planning a trip with Hawaiian Airlines, South African Airways or Virgin Atlantic? You can only spend Velocity Points with these airlines over the phone – never online. Call Velocity on 13 18 75.
• Combining airlines cost extra points.
  Say you’ve found United Polaris to LA, then Air Canada business class onwards to London via Vancouver. That’ll cost you more miles than a standard connection, akin to booking two separate tickets – Australia to the USA, and the USA to Europe (via Canada). For the best value, stick to one airline when you’re changing planes, if you can.
• Velocity status doesn’t help with availability
  Unlike some airlines, Velocity doesn’t provide extra reward seats for its highest-tiered members. You also can’t request a reward seat to be created, as some can do with Qantas. Okay, there’s Velocity’s Guaranteed Economy Reward Seat perk, but it’s highly restrictive, needs to be booked far in advance and only covers Virgin Australia’s own flights. It’s not a trick that can get you into row one.
• Be flexible; consider travelling in pairs
  Particularly at peak times, you could struggle to find reward seats if you’re fixated on one specific airline or flight. The same is true when jet-setting as a large group. Be open to alternatives – including reuniting at the destination.

Troubleshooting tips

If the basic moves aren’t working for you, don’t give up – you still have options.

• There are teams and tools to help
  Websites like ExpertFlyer and aero can fast-track searching for reward flights. Don’t forget about our PayTravel service, either. Task us with finding and booking your points flights and you’ll be relaxing long before you settle into business class (subscription required or fees may apply).
• Fly to the US via Canada
  It sounds silly, but it’s fantastic, so embrace those Air Canada reward seats. You’ll clear US passport control on Canadian soil, meaning you’ll walk straight out of the airport when you land in the US. You don’t have to collect and re-check your bag in transit, and flying from Sydney to New York via Vancouver takes only 15 minutes longer than via Los Angeles: it’s a no-brainer. Just brush up on the Canadian eTA requirements in addition to US ESTA.
• Get really In 2024
  I needed to fly to Hamburg for a conference… along with 16,000 other people on the same date. With no obvious reward seats to snap up, I did the logical thing… and booked a flight to Phoenix instead – via Hawaii, with an onward leg to New York, a detour through London and a hop through Helsinki. Okay, I probably should have just paid for a ticket. But I made it work, no oceans were crossed in an economy seat, and my expense account was the better for it. Go on, be a little crazy… in your own way.
• Accept that you won’t always secure a seat
  (Unless you’re stubborn and flying to Hamburg, ahem!) But don’t give up: your PayRewards Points are flexible. By keeping them in PayRewards until you’re ready to book, you’ll keep your options open.
• Look to other channels through PayRewards
  Bound for the US? If you can’t find anything on Velocity’s partner airlines, a different frequent flyer program could help secure seats flying Qantas, American Airlines or Fiji Airways to the same destinations.
• Have a bit more time up your sleeve?
  Consider flying Velocity’s partners to a destination outside their usual market from Australia. Fly Singapore Airlines to New York via Singapore, for instance, and take a stint aboard the world’s longest flight.

A trick to keep in your back pocket

If you’ve already converted a stack of points to Velocity but now can’t find a seat, remember – you can convert points from within Velocity to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, which could open a few doors. You’ll take a haircut on the 1.55:1 transfer rate – and if KrisFlyer miles are your goal from PayRewards, it’s better to send them to KrisFlyer directly. But it sure beats being stuck with points you can’t use! We’ve all been there…

Written by Chris Chamberlin

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About the author

Chris enjoys making the most of frequent flyer points, which have taken him around the world – usually, at the front of the plane. He’s travelled over 1.5 million miles sampling the best in Business Class and First Class. That’s further than three return trips to the moon! Chris is based at Point Hacks' Melbourne office as News Editor, and shares his experiences via @chris_chamberlin on Instagram. When he’s not travelling, he enjoys tennis, keeping fit, and discovering new gins.