How to book Qatar Airways Flights using Velocity Points

This guide walks you through booking Qatar Airways flights with Velocity Points—focusing on Business Class redemptions. The first VA-coded, Qatar-operated service (a wet-leased 777 from Sydney to Doha) took off on 12 June, kicking off a five-year deal that lets Qatar add more Australian flights via Virgin Australia. Beyond the VA flight number, everything on board is pure Qatar: crew, cabin and catering.

How to redeem Velocity Points for Qatar Airways flights

Look, let’s be brutally honest here: while Virgin Australia might market and advertise these new flights as their own, they are 100 per cent Qatar Airways, which isn’t a bad thing.

When it comes to redeeming flights, it really doesn’t matter whether you book a QR-coded flight or a VA-coded one, both cost the same in Velocity Points for an outright redemption. Only one major difference comes into play if you plan to use your Velocity Points for an upgrade. While we don’t yet have the full details, it’s unlikely that Velocity Frequent Flyer will allow upgrades on QR-marketed flights. Once we know more, we’ll update this guide.

The big win for travellers from this wet-lease agreement is more Qatar Airways flights to and from Australia, which means more award space for Velocity Frequent Flyer and Qatar Airways Privilege Club members.

How to find Qatar Airways award space with Velocity Frequent Flyer

My go-to method for quickly finding award space on Qatar Airways using Velocity Points is to use premium tools such as SeatFinder (get 35%off with our code "HACKS35") and Seats.Aero. While their accuracy can be hit-and-miss, they generally give you a good overview of what’s available.

Here’s a quick video on how to search for award seats using Seats.Aero.

And here’s a quick overview of how to find them using SeatFinder.

Once you’ve located some dates, verify the seats on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website:

1. Head to the Velocity website.
2. Log in to your Velocity account.
3. Click Book, then Book flights using points.
4. Make sure the Velocity Points toggle is on.
5. Enter your departure point, destination and date.

If your dates have award seats, you’ll now see them. As a rule of thumb, there are no awards over 200,000 Velocity Points, so if you see tickets costing millions of points, only Points + Pay seats are available—these are extremely poor value and should be avoided.

Now, let’s say you’ve found your award seat. Proceed to checkout to complete the passenger details. Here you’ll face “the points slider”. Do you slide it all the way right and pay zero taxes and fees, or do you use as few points as possible and pay more cash? From a value standpoint, the only correct answer is not to use your points to cover the cash component. Elementary-level maths tells us our points are worth more than what Velocity Frequent Flyer offers at this step.

Can I cancel my award seat?

Yes, you can. If you cancel within 24 hours, the fee is usually waived. Call and explain you booked the wrong date; the generally helpful Velocity team will waive the charges.

After 24 hours, you’re on the hook for a small fee of $60. Your taxes, fees and segment charges will be fully refunded along with your points.

Cancellations must be requested at least 24 hours prior to first scheduled departure and refunds are subject to a 7,500 Points or $60 charge per guest per booking. This is why we like to book one way flights! It gives you more flexibility to cancel the return for minimal charges.

What are segment surcharges?

As if carrier surcharges weren’t high enough, Velocity Frequent Flyer also aims to fleece its members with a “segment fee”. These fees are in addition to carrier surcharges and taxes and can push the cost of your redemption up quite a bit. Rest assured, it’s not as outrageous as what Emirates charges for award tickets, but it’s up there.

Velocity charges a US$200 segment fee for any Qatar Airways flight over 4,000 miles. This means all flights from Australia to Doha attract that surcharge. To complicate matters, onward flights from Doha to the many destinations Qatar Airways serves also attract a segment fee, but this time it’s based on distance bands.

As you can see, continuing on to Europe will, in most cases, add another segment fee of US$200. A one-way flight from Australia to Europe in business class will therefore cost at least US$400 in segment fees, on top of the already high carrier surcharges and taxes.

If you’re flying as a family and thought kids were off the hook, think again. Carrier charges apply per segment for adults, children and infants occupying a seat. Infants not occupying a seat pay 10 per cent of the adult segment charge (rounded to the nearest US dollar).

What about lounge access in Doha?

Qatar Airways offers some of the world’s best business lounges at its Doha hub, notably Al Mourjan and Al Mourjan The Garden. Both lounges are reserved exclusively for business-class travellers; status alone won’t get you in. Since Qatar Airways now sells “Lite” business fares without lounge access, you’ll only get into the Al Mourjan Business Lounge if you’re Qatar Airways Privilege Club Platinum. Velocity Platinum and Gold members are directed to the B-grade lounges. They’re not terrible, but don’t expect luxuries such as showers that are readily available to those on higher-priced tickets.

Good news: award redemptions come with all the bells and whistles you’d wish for. If you redeem Velocity Points for a Qatar Airways flight, you’ll receive the same benefits as someone on one of the more expensive business-class cash fares.

Which Cities Will Have the Wet-Lease Virgin Australia Flights?

Australian frequent flyers have been able to purchase tickets on the new Virgin Australia flight numbers since last year. From today (21 January), you can also redeem Velocity Frequent Flyer points for flights departing Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane to Doha. From Doha, you’ll have access to the extensive Qatar Airways network.

Before you start hunting for award seats, note the following start dates for these flights:

• Sydney: Flights start 12 June
• Brisbane: Flights start 19 June
• Perth: Flights start 26 June
• Melbourne: Flights start 1 December

How Many Points Do You Need from Australia to Doha?

Here’s how many Velocity Points you’ll need to book Virgin Australia wet-lease flights to Doha:

• Perth to Doha Business Class: 89,500 Velocity Points + $471.79 in fees
  

• Sydney to Doha Business Class: 119,500 Velocity Points + $500.60 in fees
  

• Brisbane to Doha Business Class: 119,500 Velocity Points + $508.43 in fees
  

• Melbourne to Doha Business Class: 119,500 Velocity Points + $495.76
  

Any Sweet Spots?

Since Velocity Frequent Flyer uses a distance-based award chart, you can find destinations in Qatar Airways’ network within a lower distance band. This means shorter flights can be cheaper, while still offering access to Europe and other destinations.

Perth enjoys a significant advantage due to its proximity to Doha, falling just within the 8,500 air-mile requirement for 119,500 Velocity Points in business class.

Here are some of the sweet spots you can book for 119,500 Velocity Points in business class:

• Perth to Rome via Doha
• Perth to Munich via Doha
• Perth to Vienna via Doha
• Perth to Prague via Doha
• Perth to Athens via Doha
• Perth to Mykonos via Doha
• Perth to Venice via Doha
• Perth to Zagreb via Doha
• Perth to Istanbul via Doha
• Perth to Warsaw via Doha
• Perth to Budapest via Doha
• Perth to Belgrade via Doha
• Perth to Bucharest via Doha
• Perth to Moscow via Doha
• Perth to Antalya via Doha
• Perth to Sofia via Doha

As you can see, there’s no shortage of great-value destinations! While these examples focus on Europe, there are plenty of options in Asia and the Middle East as well.

For other major European cities such as London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Brussels, you’ll need 139,000 Velocity Points + $852.39 in taxes and fees.

How Much Are Flights from Australia’s East Coast to Europe and the USA?

Travellers from Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane will need a few more points for business class flights. For European destinations, the cost is 158,500 Velocity Points one way, plus taxes and fees of approximately $881, depending on your departure city.

Velocity applies a surcharge on reward bookings over 4,000 miles, charged per segment. This adds around US$60 in economy and US$230 in business class per segment to your ticket cost.

Flights to the USA will also cost 158,500 Velocity Points, with similar segment fees. A business class redemption will include segment fees totalling US$460, excluding fuel surcharges and taxes.

Summing Up

Velocity Frequent Flyer is one of the most valuable programs available to Australian travellers. Thanks to it's extensive partnerships, redeeming points for business class is by far the best way to get maximum value from your frequent flyer points.