With today’s news that Virgin Australia lost $350 million in the last year and is likely to cut routes and jobs, I am wondering what will happen to my velocity points if they go under? I have 100k saved up and can’t use them straight away because I am studying.
the people with lifetime lounge membership at Ansett probably said the same thing… Just sayin'.
I lost 300k points when they folded
I had 150k and was actively trying to book flights to use them when they folded - at least I didnt make the flight and get stranded.
Dont think Virgin are going down either but if it did the global nature of the Virgin brand might count for something to avoid negative sentiment towards other Virgin airlines and products. You'd think they'd at least look at allowing them to be used on other Virgin flights.
Air New Zealand were the ones who let Ansett collapse and die but the logo is different so psychologically we don’t (well most of us…) associate Air New Zealand as being the ones who robbed us of the points - Virgin wouldnt want that association.
My Dad lost 1million+ points with Ansett that he had saved up to take the whole family to/from Europe when the next year's July points seats were going to be opened to bookings…
His very strong message to anyone who ever mentions frequent flyer points since is spend any points immediately.
The Airline industry is highly competitive & lots of airlines have gone bankrupt and disappeared.
Other than Ansett, other examples internationally are the US airlines PanAm and TWA, which had a huge international presence in the 1960s and 1970s, but then suffered losses and disappeared.
They'll probably get converted to bitcoin
When I studied it was great, we had semester breaks.
The Velocity program was actually the only division of VA to make a profit, and I reckon you’ll still have options to use Velocity points even in the rare event they go bankrupt. They are nowhere near Ansett status!
The same thing that happened to my Ansett Global Rewards points I imagine
Market Cap
1.39bn
Think it overvalued though lol .
technically virgin Australia can't go bankrupt……. in liquidation maybe
bankrupt is is limited to individuals only in Aust.
If you're worried, sell them on the classifieds for 1.1cpp. They'll go quickly.
Richard will reimburse you from his own stash
The precedent is Ansett Golden Wings Frequent Flyer Program
You could try to convert them to Etihad or Singapore. You'll loose some though.
You'll loose some though.
loose
adjective
free or released from fastening or attachment: a loose end.
free from anything that binds or restrains; unfettered: loose cats prowling around in alleyways at night.
lose
verb
to suffer loss: to lose on a contract.
to suffer the deprivation of: to lose one's job; to lose one's life.
released from a struggling frequent flyer program?
released
*Realised
Yeah, that misuse annoys me too.
The Virgin rewards program isn't even owned by Virgin…
It's 64% owned by them at the moment.
The best time to use your points is while you're studying. Once you start full time work you will no longer have time to travel.
Keep saving your points, looks good on your statement, they make money on your points saved and not paying out. They won't go broke.
If Virgin goes under, then the points will most likely become worthless. The administrator could decide out of the kindness of their hearts to pay something out to points holders, if there are enough excess funds, but there is no legal obligation to do so.
A similar & very recent example is Dick Smith. After Dick Smith went bankrupt, the administrator set an arbitrary purchase cut-off date for existing gift cards holders. Any gift cards purchased before that date became worthless and ineligible for a refund, and a lot of people lost money. (I was one of them.)
Didn't Kogan honour the DSE cards & vouchers?
No. They just bought the DSE name. They claim that the new DSE is a "different entity" from the old DSE.
For a limited time, Kogan had offered to give Kogan cards in exchange for the old DSE cards, but this offer was capped to a maximum of $25 per customer.
But didn't the politicians want to legislate for this type of scenario? Is there now legislation to this end and maybe it covers redeemable rewards points?
Edit: Did a little searching and found that rewards points holders might be considered an "unsecured creditor" in a winding up of a company, but I'm not sure how broad the definition is. Also the unsecured creditors are given lower priority than other creditors…
The claims of gift card holders will then rank alongside all other unsecured creditors of the company. Sections 555 — 563AAA of the Corporations Act provide for the priorities of creditors' claims in the winding up of corporations.83 In a winding up, the interests of unsecured creditors (including gift card holders) are subordinate to a number of other interests, including claims by secured creditors, the costs associated with the liquidation and wages owed to former employees.84 As a result of this low ranking, gift card holders will often receive only a fraction, if any, of the total value of their claim.
Source: https://treasury.gov.au/publication/gift-cards-in-the-austra…
FF points holders were unsecured creditors when Ansett went bust. I received nothing for my points from the liquidators.
Yes but that was ages before Senator Xenophon had a talk fest about changing the law to protect the gift card holders.
When Toy R Us went into liquidation and date was set for close . All GC's could be used by x date with plenty of warning .
BTW the bargains happened after that date lol .
I think the Virgin setup is quite different to Ansett.
Ansett was Peter Able's toy and he didn't have a clue. You only had to look at the mix of aircraft types and his overpriced winning bid to be the flag carrier for the 2000 Olympics to see that.
At what point does Singapore, Etihad, HNA, Nanshan (80% of the ownership) and Branson (10%) decide they want to pull the pin or do like ANZ in 2016 and sell it to another chump?
From what I can gather, HNA got their stake through a capital raising in 2016?????
Out of interest, what would happen to an existing booking on a PARTNER airline if say Virgin went the way of Ansett? Eg. Booked on SQ metal, but ticket redeemed via VFF.
Would the booking stand? Wasn't in this space when Ansett went belly up, so curious to know if anyone has experience?
Gonski..I said a while back on FB, that Virgin Australia was gonna go.. response to that was like 'nah, nah it won't happen' Everyone is doing tough except those with tons of $$$…
Good job. What prize do you want?
How about flyer points from Richard Branson?
LOL I predicted this back in September last year.
Richard Branson makes $20 million a year from licensing the Virgin name. Richard Branson needs to honor these points or else the Virgin name is worthless.
Ah I remember buying cds and videos at virgin darling harbour.
Lol they are not going to…