The Virgin Australia, Qatar Airways partnership: what you need to know & More News Here

Executive Traveller unique

• Full ‘earn and burn’ throughout each airways
• Use Avios to ebook Virgin Australia flights
• Reciprocal lounge entry for Velocity, Privilege Club members

Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways are becoming a member of forces in an surprising alliance which can see the Gulf provider added to Virgin’s record of worldwide associate airways.

Why ‘unexpected’? Because Qatar Airways can also be a member of the Oneworld alliance – certainly, its CEO Akbar Al Baker is Oneworld’s present chairman – and by extension, a de facto associate of Qantas, Virgin’s bête noire.

But then, Qantas has its personal decade-old three way partnership with Emirates, and Oneworld members can be frenemies (cv: Qantas and Cathay Pacific).

Putting all that apart, the contemporary partnership between Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways will considerably increase each airways’ networks and loyalty programmes.

“Today is more great news for Virgin Australia and Velocity Frequent Flyer members who are hungry to travel internationally,” mentioned Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka.

“Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways are both known for their award- winning service and joining forces means that together we can provide an incredible experience when travelling between Australia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and beyond.”

Virgin Australia’s different worldwide companions embrace Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Air Canada and Etihad Airways, which can stay on the roster regardless of its rivalry with Qatar.

For his half, Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker famous the airline’s “strong, long-standing relationship with Australia”, including “this agreement with Virgin Australia comes at a time when it is needed the most.”

“This partnership will give Australian passengers access to the world that they have so acutely missed these past two years, to be able to reconnect with family and friends, and keep the wheels of trade moving.”

A joint assertion issued by each airways mentioned the Virgin-Qatar partnership would “commence later this year”, though Executive Traveller understands it’s effectively on monitor to begin in July.

Virgin, Qatar codeshare

Travel will likely be made simpler by a joint ‘codeshare’ pact to lengthen throughout the complete community of each airways.

Qatar Airways’ QR prefix will seem on all Virgin Australia flights, enabling a passenger to journey all the best way from London to Brisbane (for instance) with Qatar Airways after which seamlessly join onto a Brisbane-Cairns flight by Virgin Australia, all on the identical reserving.

Likewise, Qatar Airways flights to over 140 locations worldwide will sprout a VA code, in order that Virgin Australia travellers might enterprise from Melbourne to Madrid on a single ticket.

Virgin, Qatar ‘earn and burn’

Under the Virgin Australia / Qatar Airways partnership, frequent flyers will likely be ready to select which ‘currency’ they earn when travelling on both airline – Velocity Points or Avios –  in accordance to which rewards program membership is entered towards their reserving. 

The similar will apply to Virgin Australia’s Velocity standing credit and Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club Qpoints.

With Qatar Airways just lately adopting Avios as its rewards forex, this might unlock the flexibility for Qatar Airways Privilege Club and British Airways Executive Club members to stockpile Avios on home flights inside Australia.

However, the precise variety of factors and standing credit to be accrued on every airline, and certainly towards every kind of ticket – cheaper discounted tickets sometimes earn lower than full-fare versatile tickets – is but to be revealed.

The different aspect of the coin is that Virgin Australia frequent flyers will likely be ready to use Velocity Points to ebook seats on Qatar Airways, whereas Qatar loyalists can flip their Avios right into a Virgin Australia flight.

This will embrace award redemptions on Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways enterprise class. 

Virgin, Qatar lounge entry

Top-tier members of the Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways frequent flyer applications may also take pleasure in entry to the opposite airline’s lounges.

For Qatar Airways, Privilege Club Gold and Platinum members will likely be ready to go to any Virgin Australia lounge forward of their home VA flight.

And if there’s a Velocity Gold, Platinum or Beyond card tucked into your journey pockets, that’s your cross into Qatar Airways’ premium lounges all over the world.

However, Executive Traveller understands that at Qatar’s Doha hub, Velocity lounge entry will likely be restricted to the identical lounges as frequent flyers of Qatar Airways and Oneworld associate airways – with the branded First Class and Business Class lounges for Velocity Platinums and Golds, respectively – relatively than the extra salubrious Al Safwa First Lounge and Al Mourjan Business Lounge, that are the nominal dwelling of Qatar Airways’ personal first-class and enterprise class passengers.

The Virgin Australia / Qatar Airways partnership can also be going to turbocharge elite membership of Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club, given Qatar’s Oneworld membership, with a Gold or Platinum card set to open the doorways of each Qantas and Virgin Australia lounges.

Virgin, Qatar standing advantages

While lounge entry is mostly probably the most interesting and apparent advantage of standing, there are many different perks which may also cascade down to Velocity and Privilege Club frequent flyers – corresponding to precedence check-in and boarding, a extra beneficiant baggage allowance and a bonus serve of Velocity Points or Avios.

It’ll be straightforward to decide which perks your standing attracts, because the Virgin Australia Velocity and Qatar Airways Privilege Club tiers are neatly aligned:

• Velocity Silver = Privilege Club Silver
• Velocity Gold = Privilege Club Gold
• Velocity Platinum = Privilege Club Platinum

There’s definitely some irony in the truth that simply two years in the past, Qatar Airways focused Virgin Australia for an prompt standing match into its Privilege Club loyalty scheme.

The wildly profitable provide reportedly noticed tens of hundreds of Velocity Gold and Platinum members instantly minted as Privilege Club Golds and Platinums.

Virgin, Qatar and Qantas

So how does Qantas really feel about all this? Executive Traveller understands the Flying Kangaroo has no plans to change the way it treats Qatar Airways as a Oneworld associate, on condition that ‘side deals’ are a actuality of the worldwide airline trade.

But Qantas would definitely recommend Emirates trumps Qatar Airways when it comes to the scale of their respective networks.

And it’s not the primary time a Oneworld member has sided with Virgin: frequent flyers with lengthy recollections will recall Air Berlin was each a Oneworld member and Virgin associate earlier than the bankrupt German challenger collapsed in 2017.

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