Good news Velocity members, you can now redeem points on Qatar Airways. Even better, these bookings can be made online. For a news of this magnitude, the airline has been surprisingly coy, best I know there was no media release.

Virgin Australia had announced the partnership with Qatar a few months ago and we knew the day was coming, even so, it’s un-Virgin like to do anything without a bit of drumbeating 😉

Here’s what we know so far:

• Velocity members can redeem points for Qatar Airways in Economy, Business as well as First Class which is awesome.
• Like I mentioned earlier, the bookings can be made online without needing to call Velocity Contact Centre.
• I cannot say this conclusively, but based on about half a dozen searches I ran, it would appear that Velocity members have access to the same number of Reward Seats as Qatar’s own Privilege Club members.
• All of Qatar’s network is open to Velocity members including it’s fifth freedom service between Adelaide and Auckland. Redemptions aren’t just limited to Qatar’s Australian flights as we sometimes see with other airline partnerships.
• Privilege Club members will have first dibs to any Reward Seats. This is because while Qatar opens up redemptions for it’s own members 360 days in advance, Velocity Reward seats can only be booked 330 days ahead.

Al Safwa First Lounge, Doha Airport

How many Velocity Points?

Velocity operates 2 distance-based redemption charts. One for it’s own flights as well as those of United and Virgin Atlantic. This chart has a more favourable pricing as you can see over here.

Qatar Airways have been relegated to the 2nd chart which feature the likes of Singapore Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Etihad among others. This redemption chart is slightly pricier meaning members need to shell-out higher number of points for flying the same distance. That said, the difference in pricing is not ridiculous.

Here are a few examples of Velocity points pricing;

• You can fly Qatar Airways Economy Class between Australian East Coast Cities (incl Adelaide) and Doha for 56,000 Velocity points. Flights between Perth and Doha come cheaper at just 42,000 points.
• You can fly Qatar Airways Q-suites between East Coast Australian Cities (incl Adelaide) and Doha for 104,000 Velocity points.
• You can fly Qatar Airways First Class between Sydney and Doha for 152,500 Velocity points.
• You can fly Qatar Airways Q-suites between Adelaide and Auckland for 38,000 Velocity points.

Note that as of the time of writing, First Class is only offered on flights to Sydney.

Redeem Velocity Points to fly Qatar Airways First Class

As mentioned earlier, Velocity members have access to Qatar’s global network. This opens-up redemption opportunities on flights to Europe and beyond. For instance;

• You can fly Qatar Airways Q-suites between East Coast Australian Cities and Paris for 139,000 Velocity points.
• You can fly Qatar Airways Q-suites between Perth and London for 121,000 Velocity points.
• You can fly Qatar Airways Q-suites between Australian East Coast Cities and Cairo for 104,000 Velocity points.
• You can fly Qatar Airways Q-suites between Doha and Amsterdam for 53,000 Velocity points.
• You can fly Qatar Airways Q-suites between Perth and Boston for 139,000 Velocity points

Redeem Velocity points to fly Qatar Airways Q-suites

In Conclusion

No matter how you slice it, this is a huge deal for Velocity members. As one of the world’s leading airline, Qatar’s network spans more than 160 destinations and traverses the length and breadth of the planet.

So while prospects of Virgin Australia’s own long-haul International operations remain uncertain, the airline is doing its best to ensure it’s 11 million+ members do not feel the gap in offerings.

Do you plan to redeem Velocity points on Qatar Airways? Leave a comment below.