Almost all frequent flyer programs offer their points for sale directly to consumers. As a result, buying points won’t typically make financial sense, unless of course there’s a tempting discount or bonus to make a points purchase worthwhile.
As it turns out, Velocity Frequent Flyer is offering its points at up to 40% off the regular cost. But you’ll need to act fast, as the offer runs for four days only, until 28 July 2023.
Purchasing Velocity Points makes the most sense if you need to top up for a specific redemption with Virgin Australia, or an airline partner like Etihad or Singapore Airlines. But sometimes, buying points can offer up some decent savings for business class travel.
As a general rule, we don’t suggest purchasing points just because they are on sale. Remember to earn and burn, as frequent flyer points don’t increase in value over time.
In this post:
Save Up To 40% On Velocity Points Booster
Velocity’s latest promotion is one of the best offers we’ve seen to date, with the largest 40% discount unlocked on purchases of 110,000 points or more.
Discounts are tiered based on how many points you purchase in a single transaction;
- 10% discount: 1,000 – 5,000 points
- 20% discount: 6,000 – 50,000 points
- 30% discount: 60,000 – 100,000 points
- 40% discount: 110,000 – 250,000 points:
Naturally, the value per point improves on larger purchases. For instance, purchasing 10,000 points with a 20% discount works out to a cost per point of 2.6 cents. However, if you go all in and purchase a whopping 250,000 points at 40% off, you’d pay 1.4 cents per point. Keep in mind this price isn’t a “steal”, in fact, it’s still pretty high! Ideally, we aim to obtain Velocity Points at 1 cent or less per point.
It’s worth keeping in mind that although there is no limit on the number of times you can purchase points, members can buy a maximum of 250,000 Velocity Points per calendar year.
Ready to buy Velocity Points? Click here to visit the promo page.
Is There Any Value To Be Had?
Velocity has run several of these point-purchase sales over the years, and most of the time, they aren’t worth writing about. Although this time, there is some value to be had when it comes to buying Velocity points at a discount. Here are a few examples;
United Business Class – Sydney to Los Angeles
For this flight, you would need 95,500 Velocity Points plus A$117 in taxes for a one-way business class redemption onboard United. If you purchase those points at 1.4 cents a pop, you’d pay A$1,337 + A$117 in taxes.
Considering a United business class ticket to the City of Angels costs around A$8,500 – you’d save around 83% by purchasing points.
Qatar First Class – Perth to Doha
Eleven hours in Qatar first class at 79% off – take my money!
A redemption from Perth to Doha in Qatar first class will require 114,000 Velocity Points plus A$532 in taxes. Those points will cost A$1,596 to purchase under the current promotion, for a final price of A$2,128 once the taxes are factored in. It’s an acceptable price when tickets on this route generally sell for upwards of A$10,300.
Singapore Airlines Business Class – Melbourne to Singapore
You will need 67,000 Velocity Points plus A$224 in taxes to enjoy Singapore Airlines business class on the flight from Melbourne to Singapore. With a 40% discount, those points cost just A$938 to obtain, bringing your outright cost to A$1,158 for eight hours of unlimited Singapore Sling intake.
If you’d rather get ripped off, a business ticket on this route costs around A$4,300. In other words, you could purchase enough points to make a return trip with a partner for the same cost as a one-way cash booking.
Save Even More With Cashrewards
Velocity sells its points via Points.com, which in turn is eligible for cashback via Cashrewards. Right now, you could score up to 7% cashback when purchasing points at a variety of airline partners. Unfortunately, the cashback for Velocity Points isn’t quite as high, but seeing it’s essentially free money, we won’t complain!
New to Cashrewards? Click to join via Flight Hacks and score a $20 bonus!
Previous Velocity Points Booster Offers
Before taking advantage of the current offer, it’s worth knowing what Velocity has previously offered. Here’s a list of Velocit’s points-purchase offers over the years;
- July 2023: 40% tiered discount (1.40)
- November 2022: 40% tiered discount (1.40)
- April 2022: 30% tiered discount (1.64)
- November 2021: 20% discount (1.87)
- October 2020: 100% bonus (1.06)
- February 2020: 15% discount (1.99)
- October 2019: 20% discount (1.87)
- May 2019: 20% bonus (1.95)
- February 2019: 20% bonus (1.95)
- August 2018: 15% discount (1.99)
- April 2018: 15% discount (1.99)
Hi Tom,
I tried to find the flight from Perth to Doha and I think it’s 113,000points for eco omy not business.
Hi Tina, you’re most likely looking at points+pay which isn’t a reward flight, we have a guide on this very subject you can check it out here: https://flighthacks.com.au/classic-reward-vs-points-pay/
I’ve also added a screenshot with the award pricing to the article.