Book 2 return Premium Economy airfares to LA with Virgin Australia and we’ll upgrade you to Velocity Gold Status before you fly

The Offer

Recently I was sent an email by Virgin Australia

Offer available between 12.01am AEST 9 April 2018 and 11.59pm AEST 20 May 2018 inclusive (‘Promotion Period’). To receive an upgrade to Gold Velocity membership for 12 months: (1) book an Eligible Flight during the Promotion Period and enter your Velocity membership number at time of booking, (2) there must be two or more Velocity members in the same booking (PNR), and (3) allow 10 days between booking your flight and travelling on the flight to allow Velocity enough time to upgrade you to Pilot Gold. Once you have flown your return Eligible Flight, you will be upgraded to Velocity Gold status. If you cancel your flights, you will be downgraded back to your original Velocity status. An Eligible Flight is a return international flight from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to Los Angeles operated by Virgin Australia in Premium Economy class with one of the following flight numbers VA1, VA2, VA6, VA7, VA8, VA9, VA23 and VA24 for travel between 9 April 2018 and 30 November 2018 inclusive. Eligible Flights are flights on which Points can be earned and booked in Premium Economy fare class that normally accrues Points. Codeshare services marketed or operated by partner airlines other than Virgin Australia are not eligible for this offer. This Velocity Points offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. You will receive an email confirming your Pilot Gold upgrade prior to travel, please ensure your email address is up to date in your Membership Rewards account. If you haven’t received a confirmation email one week prior to travel, please call our Membership Contact Centre to confirm status. Your new membership pack will be mailed to you within 4 weeks of the end of the Promotional Period, please ensure your address details in your Velocity account match the details of your Membership Rewards account. You will not need to receive your membership pack prior to travel, your new status will be updated in your Virgin Australia boarding pass which will give you access to Priority Check In, Priority Boarding, Additional Baggage Allowances and Lounge Access. Upgrades will only be available to the primary Velocity account holder (“Beneficiary”), Status membership cannot be gifted or transferred to another member, this includes “Contributing Accounts” (as defined in the Velocity Membership Terms and Conditions) set up via Family Pooling.

The brief of it , is they are enabling you to use their accelerate program, the Virgin Australia accelerate program is :

our corporate air travel program which rewards companies who spend a minimum of $20,0001 on Virgin Australia flights

Costs

The cheapest I could find 2 return tickets from Melbourne to LA for 2 people in Premium saver is $7,000

What is Virgin Australia Pilot Gold?

The pdf here explains , Pilot Gold is a 3 month trial of Velocity Gold membership offering accelerate program members the opportunity to experience the best of Virgin Australia’s premium products and services. You need to fly 1 Eligible Sector# during their 3 month Pilot Gold trial period to then be upgraded to a 12 month status

How to get Virgin Australia Gold Normally

Status Credit balance reaches 500 and you have flown four Eligible Sectors you will be automatically upgraded to Gold membership.

Is it worth it?

You can actually pool status credit with famiily members at Virgin Australia

Points hack did an article about the cheapest virgin status credits , 2 people can go to the Cook Islands  via Business SYD-MEL-AKL-RAR for around $900 one way so this is a cheaper status Credit run however theser are multiple stop offs!