Hacking Gold or Platinum Velocity Status

Immanuel21/03/2019

Who doesn’t like airline status? You can either earn it the hard way (bum in seat X amount of times) or wait for interesting promotions… like the one we’re going to discuss. OK, the title is a bit far fetched; we’re not really hacking anything, but rather taking advantage of a promotion which looks rather lucrative.

Hacking Gold or Platinum Velocity Status 1

Corporate Travel Management just launched a promotion which allows you to fast track to the next status level by simply completing 6 flights with Virgin Australia. (Update: Corporate Travel has advised it’s 6 flights only and not 8 which was previously stated. They have since updated the t&c’s). This means instead of chasing status credits; you can just book the most cost-effective and shortest routes to achieve mission success: Silver, Gold or Platinum.

This promo is most beneficial for those who already have Gold Status with Velocity since it will be the easiest and cheapest way to get to Platinum which then comes with a soft landing to Gold if you do not retain it in the following 12 months. That’s 2 years of status for less than $1,000.

Here’s how the promo works:

Register for a free SMART Corporate Travel account (must be ABN holder)
Register your Velocity Frequent Flyer membership number via this form.
Book 6 one way flights (3 return, or split it up in a multi-stop) via SMART Corporate Travel. (Update: After contacting Corporate Travel it turns out they made a mistake in the T&C; only travel booked through their own SMART platform is eligible. This means flights booked through Flybuys Travel are not eligible.
Book all travel before March 31, 2019 ( Now extended until April 12, 2019)
Complete your travel by May 31, 2019.

Hacking Gold or Platinum Velocity Status 2

How the upgrades work:

Entrants whose Velocity Status is Red will receive a Velocity Pilot Gold Membership. Velocity Pilot Gold Memberships are valid for a period of 3 months from the date of upgrade, after which time the member’s Velocity membership tier will be determined if you meet the minimum status credits required to keep it.
Entrants whose Velocity Status is Silver at the commencement and conclusion of the promotion period, who have booked and flown 8 eligible flights in accordance with the terms and conditions will receive a Velocity Gold Upgrade.
Entrants whose Velocity Status is Gold at the commencement and conclusion of the promotion period, who have booked and flown 8 eligible flights in accordance with the terms and conditions will receive a Velocity Platinum upgrade.
Any Velocity members who are Platinum Members at the commencement and conclusion of the promotion are ineligible to enter.
Any Platinum members at the commencement of the promotion, who are downgraded to Velocity Gold during the promotion period are eligible, to enter and will be upgraded to Platinum.
Any Entrants whose Velocity Status changes to a higher tier during the promotion period, are required to fly 8 eligible one-way flights in accordance with the terms and conditions after the date on which their Velocity status tier changed to be eligible to receive a further upgrade.

The cost

I’m personally considering taking up this promotion and will probably do 2 multi-city flights to Hobart from Sydney; it’s a short trip, and prices for a total of 4 flights come in around $420 and flights to Ballina NSW can be had for around $150 return on some days. In total I booked 6 flights for $652 to gain platinum status. Not bad! It can be done for even cheaper if you have time to spread out the flights.

Hacking Gold or Platinum Velocity Status 3

Important: Please note that since I wrote this, Corporate Travel Management has updated its terms and conditions to exclude bookings through Flybuys Travel. Only flights booked directly with through the SMART Corporate Travel Management website are eligible.

Conclusion

I strongly recommend you go and read the full terms and conditions of this offer here: https://info.travelctm.com/smart-corporate-travel-and-virgin-australia-status-climb before locking in your flights.

It’s an excellent deal, especially if you already have Velocity Gold status. For those that can spread out their flights over multiple days/weeks, there are opportunities to achieve the status upgrade for just over $450 (SYD-BNK are very cheap on Wednesdays for some reason)

CTM told me that the status will be updated automatically by Velocity after the flights have been flown. In case it’s not applied you can fill out the claims form – you can access it here).