Virgin goes after Qantas frequent flyers in “Velocity switch-a-roo” offer

Virgin Australia is coming after Qantas’ most loyal customers, with an offer to status match gold frequent flyers as public opinion of the flying kangaroo has dropped.

The new “Velocity switch-a-roo” campaign means Qantas gold members can trial gold membership at Virgin for 12 months. Platinum flyers are also invited to join Virgin’s top status after three months in gold tier.

Velocity frequent flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach said the campaign is in response to increased demand the airline has received from members of other loyalty programs.

“Since the July school holidays, we have been inundated with requests from customers of competitor airlines who want to move their loyalty to Virgin Australia, but don’t want to start from the bottom of the status ranks,” Rohrlach said.

“The switch-a-roo campaign is a game changer for these members who can now almost immediately climb to Velocity gold status by submitting a simple application on the Velocity website.”

Rohrlach said Virgin offers business and leisure travellers lounge access, preferential seating, priority screening and boarding and lower-priced checked baggage.

“We also know we can offer something no one else can, and that’s our wonderful people, who deliver our service with a smile no matter what seat number is on your boarding pass,” Rohrlach said.

“Importantly, our operational performance is also really strong, and we’ve achieved record low cancellation rates over the past few weeks.”

Velocity membership sits at 10.9 million, while Qantas Frequent Flyers has about 14 million members.

The offer comes alongside Virgin’s new partneship with Myer, which counters Qantas’ points deal with David Jones.

“As Australians face rising inflation, we know that value is more important than ever and our members will easily find impactful ways to use their points online at Myer to stretch their dollar further,” Rohrlach said.

Virgin’s campaign comes after the airline scored a fifth consecutive month of better on time performance than Qantas, according to Cirium. Virgin landed almost 70  per cent of flights on time during August, ahead of Qantas with 66.14 per cent and Jetstar with 57 per cent.