Members of Virgin Australia’s frequent flyer program Velocity have a new airline on which to redeem points for flights as part of an expanded partnership with Tigerair Australia.
Starting Thursday, Velocity points can be used to pay for any Tigerair flight, with the number of points required depending on the cost of the ticket and what optional extras, such as seat selection, meals and checked baggage, are added to the booking.
A dummy booking on the low-cost carrier’s website showed a $95 one-way flight from Sydney to Melbourne would require 14,616 points, while a $115 one-way ticket for the same journey required 17,693 points.
The figures suggested one Velocity point was worth a little under 0.65 of a cent towards the cost of a Tigerair ticket.
By way of comparison, a one-way flight in economy class between Melbourne and Sydney on Virgin was priced at 10,200 Velocity points, or 6,900 points plus a co-payment of $21.11.
Previously, Velocity members were only able to use points to book flights on Tigerair’s three international routes from Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth to Bali.
While the new partnership allows redemption of points for all Tigerair flights, Velocity members cannot earn points from flying on the low-cost carrier. Virgin owns 100 per cent of Tigerair.
Tigerair commercial director Adam Rowe said the partnership with Velocity gave passengers more choice and members of the frequent flyer program access to 12 destinations – including international service to Bali – in the low-cost carrier’s network.
“We are very excited to be partnering with Velocity Frequent Flyer, and to offer this new opportunity for Velocity members to use their Velocity Points to travel on our network,” Rowe said in a statement on Thursday.
“Tigerair Australia continues to grow in line with consumer demand and today’s announcement is further evidence of this.”
Velocity had 5.7 million members at December 31 2015, Virgin said at its 2015/16 first half results on February 11, with an average of 2,595 new members a day joining the program. The company is targeting having 7 million members by 2017.
