VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: All about what to expect in new Platinum Plus loyalty tier

We have a date and a cost. The new Velocity Platinum Plus tier will debut on 1 October 2025. It will sit above the simple Platinum tier, but below the invitation-only Beyond tier. The new tier is at a parallel level to the Qantas Platinum One tier. It is designed to capture those who earn status above Platinum through spend, but do not warrant an invitation to the Beyond tier.

How much will it cost?

With the Velocity loyalty program transitioning to a spend-based model, it is possible to assign a price to the ‘cost’ of the new Platinum Plus tier. You can do the sum.

Depending on what fare you purchase, the lowest you will pay for a point is AU$12 (Economy Choice, Economy Flex, and Business fares). You need 2,000 status credits to qualify for Platinum Plus, so, if my maths is correct (a risky statement in itself) that means you need to spend AU$24,000 in a year to qualify. That is, barring any double status credits promotions.

If you are an inveterate cheapskate, which sometimes includes me, then buying Economy Lite fares will double that cost, since they earn half as many status credits. That means the cost of one status credit inflates to AU$24.

Let’s put some context around this. You can earn these status credits in other ways than flying on Virgin Australia. Or, you can fly on a partner airline like Singapore, United, Canada, Qatar or any one of 13 other airlines. You can pool your status credits with other family members. Finally, you can earn them via FlyBuys or the use of certain credit cards.

What are the benefits?

So, now we know what it will cost, what are you buying besides a lot of air travel? Here are the key benefits:

• VIP priority hotline – Members get access to an Australian‑based VIP phone service.
• Four Business Class upgrades per year, usable on both Economy Flex and Economy Choice fares (standard Platinum members can only upgrade from Flex).
• Gifted companion status – Ability to gift a companion Platinum membership (this former perk has been removed from mere Platinum members).
• Fly Later – Same‑day free flight changes let’s members move to a later flight without penalty.
• Priority recognition – Platinum Plus members receive the highest priority for seat upgrades and other forms of recognition.
• Further perks to be announced – Virgin is promising more future benefits to be announced closer to the October launch.

You will need to work out whether these benefits plus your travel, work out to equal that AU$24,000 spend, over and above what you might get from say spending the same amount of money with Qantas.

Qualification requirements

OK, so how do you qualify? First up, you have to amass those 2,000 status credits within a 12-month period. You can earn them on Virgin Australia flights and those of their partners. However, 15,000 of them must come from Virgin Australia-marketed flights – that includes codeshare flights booked under a ‘VA’ flight number.

You can augment this earn through pooling status credits with other family members, and watch out for Double Status promotions which will hhelp halve your costs.

Impact on other velocity tiers

Virgin Australia is doing a bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul with this scheme. It is removing some of the benefits of mere standard Platinum membership and making them exclusive to Platinum Plus members.

First up is gifting Platinum. That, as of 1 October 2025, is the exclusive domain of Platinum Plus members. It is also fiddling with companion Gold status. Gifting that will now require members to earn 650 of the 1,300 status credits for Platinum status from Virgin Australia-marketed flights.

2PAXfly Takeout

I welcome the introduction of this new tier, which gives some added benefits. My issue is the downgrading of some Platinum benefits to facilitate this tier. There is nothing that can better piss off existing customers than removing benefits for their loyalty.

My big issue with the Velocity scheme is the crowding and limited locations of Virgin Australia lounges. Although Virgin has been doing a bit of refreshing of lounges, it’s not enough for me. The Sydney lounge, which would be my local, is small and cramped and usually overflowing.

Although I like what is offered in the Virgin Lounges, particularly the food, the Sydney lounge is just not that nice a place to spend time in. Virgin also doesn’t have a premium lounge concept. Nothing to rival the Qantas Business lounges. Now that facility I value highly, and along with the International First Lounges, is probably what will keep me loyal to Qantas.