Virgin Australia has launched what it describes as its “largest Reward Seat sale” in the history of its Velocity Frequent Flyer programme.
Between now and February 28, members can get discounts of up to 30 per cent on the number of points required to redeem reward tickets for travel between March 15, 2018 and January 9, 2019.
The discount comes as numerous members were noticed purchasing rather unromantic items such as kitchenware for Valentine’s Day gifts. In the lead up to February 14, two toasters, 16 vacuum cleaners, two irons, two kettles and a blender were purchased from the Velocity Rewards Store.
The airline has since said it will fully refund members who used points to purchase “unromantic” gifts between February 6 and 12 this year, even going so far as to allowing them to keep the items purchased.
“When love is on the line we want Australians to step up and be a bit more romantic,” said Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO, Karl Schuster. “I’ve phoned some of our members who redeemed their points for some unromantic gifts, and told them they can have their points back and go on a romantic getaway. They even get to keep their blender.”
Under the 30 per cent discount, an economy class reward seat from Melbourne to Hong Kong would cost 33,600 points – about a quarter the number of points required to redeem a Dyson vacuum cleaner (166,900) from the Velocity store.