Virgin Australia Pauses the Redemption of Velocity Points
It is the largest airline collapse that has ever happened in the history of Aussie aviation
Virgin Australia is in a mess and trying hard to get over it. A few days before, the company was placed in the hands of administrators. Now, the company is reassuring its customers that the flight credits issued for flights that were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic are still valid but can only be redeemed after a while.
It is the largest airline collapse that has ever happened in the history of Aussie aviation. Virgin Australia has opted for voluntary administration. One of the consequences of this decision is that about 16,000 jobs are at risk. Another is that the domestic airline industry of the country might soon be a Qantas monopoly.
The coronavirus cannot be solely blamed for the mess Virgin Australia is dealing with. It has been reported that the airline was struggling even before the cancellations of flights due to COVID-19. The company has AUD 5 billion in debt, and the latest travel restrictions were just the final nail in the coffin.
When the flight cancellations began, Virgin Australia allowed the customers who had paid for the tickets to put the money in a Travel Bank that could be used for future flights when the travel restrictions ended. But after Virgin Australia opted for administration, customers feared what would happen to those credits.
To allay the fears, the officials of the company stated that all travel credits are still valid. In an official statement, it was mentioned “We know you might be worried about what the voluntary administration news means for us and your flights,” but that “your travel credits also remain valid” nonetheless.
When it comes to the pause in redemptions, it was stressed, “We’ve made the difficult decision to pause all redemptions for an initial period of four weeks, effective immediately. This means members won’t be able to redeem their points for rewards during the pause.”
For the time being, only essential health workers are able to fly can use those credits. The rest of the customers just have to wait for the travel restrictions to end to be able to use the credits made available by Virgin Australia. All a customer can do right now is wait and watch.
