Redemption on Velocity Frequent Flyer points have been suspended for four weeks after Virgin Australia collapsed into administration.
However, administrator Deloitte has confirmed there are no plans to cancel customer credit for cancelled flights, and members will be able to continue to maintain and earn points throughout the pause.
On Tuesday, the Virgin Australia Group entered into voluntary administration after it struggled to service billions of dollars’ worth of debt, and couldn’t secure a bailout from either national or state governments.
Deloitte partner Vaughan Strawbridge stressed Velocity is a separate company that hasn’t itself gone into administration.
“Frequent Flyers is a separate legal entity,” said Strawbridge. “It is well set up and the members are well protected, with a trustee and separate CEO.
“We are going to work with them during this process. There will be a pause on redemptions during this process … and then we will work through the restructuring with them.
“There is a lot of goodwill associated with credits and the airline. There is no process to cancel the credits, we will work through this as part of the process.”
Velocity has, however, warned members that the four-week pause may be extended. On Monday night, as news of administration leaked to the media, customers crashed the site as they tried to redeem their points.
Tuesday saw a number of positive announcements over the airlines future, including Deloitte claiming it’s speaking to 10 interested investors, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson pledging to do everything he could to save the airline.
Source: australianavaition.com