Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines today kicked off their reciprocal 'earn and burn' privileges for frequent flyers.
Travellers can now pick up points and status credits in the airlines' respective Velocity and KrisFlyer programs, as well as redeem them on flights with either airline.
Virgin's point earn starts at a pleasingly full rate: SQ economy class gains you 1 Velocity point per mile.
However, allowances in premium cabins are less than you'd expect given the extra money you pay: only 1.25 Velocity points for business class, 1.5 for first class and 1.6 for the swish Singapore Airlines suites.
Status credits towards your Velocity tier are earned at the same rate as for flights with Virgin Australia and partners such as Etihad and Air New Zealand.
As part of the Virgin-Singapore alliance announced earlier this year, and recently approved by the ACCC, Velocity Gold and Platinum members already enjoy access to SQ's SilverKris lounges – except in Singapore itself, where they're stuck in the no-showers-or-toilets KrisFlyer Gold lounges unless they're booked into the pointy end of the plane.
The two airlines expect to commence codesharing on each other’s services from early 2012.
About David Flynn
David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
1 on 14/12/11 by sagidec