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A few weeks back, I wrote about how many airlines in the US could go bankrupt by May. However, the US government bailed out the airlines with a taxpayer funded bailout. Similarly, Australian carrier Virgin Australia is now going into administration. Whenever an airline goes bankrupt, many people ask the pertinent question. What happens to their airline points and credits? In the meanwhile, banks are already putting points transfers on hold.
Airline Points Transfers
Executive Traveller reports how certain Australian card issuers are already blocking points transfers to Virgin Australia.
Among them, American Express, ANZ, Bank of Queensland, HSBC and NAB, all of which are currently preventing credit card reward points from being converted into Velocity points.
This affects customers with credit cards attached to the American Express Membership Rewards, ANZ Rewards, Bank of Queensland Q Rewards, HSBC Rewards Plus and NAB Rewards programs.
Virgin Australia’s frequent flyer program Velocity is a separate entity from the airline itself. Velocity isn’t going into administration, but frequent flyers will not be able to redeem airline points in any capacity.
The Pundit’s Mantra
As Virgin Australia goes into administration, many customers are also wondering now about the future of their travel credits. Major Australian points transfer programs have paused or removed Virgin Australia as a points transfer partner temporarily. As of today, here in the US, Marriott Bonvoy still lists Virgin Australia Velocity as a transfer partner on their website.
As the global situation remains fluid, many are also pondering over their travel credit card strategy. Therefore, I argue in this post as to why I’m going lean and waiting it out as the situation gets better. As many airlines and hotels grapple with their financial and operational issues, carrying high annual fee credit cards isn’t going to provide great returns in the short term.
Have you recently tried transferring Marriott Bonvoy points to Virgin Australia velocity? Let us know in the comments section.
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This card is currently offering a 50,000 points bonus and a 0% Intro APR for 1 year, with a $0 annual fee!
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