The new reciprocal agreement betweenSouth African Airways and Virgin Australia bring new benefits to frequent flyers on both airlines.  

Johannesburg, South Africa - 21 November 2014, South African Airways and Virgin Australia have today announced a reciprocal frequent flyer agreement giving Velocity Frequent Flyer and SAA Voyager members the ability to earn and redeem Points and be recognized across both airlines’ networks.

From early next year, Velocity members will be eligible to earn Velocity Points and Status Credits on all South African Airways flights and operated services, including Airlink and SA Express. In addition to this, SAA Voyager members will be able to earn Miles on all Virgin Australia operated services, including all domestic, short-haul and long-haul international flight routes. This means that Velocity members purchasing flight tickets for travel within Australia or to any of SAA’s route network’s destinations on an SAA flight will earn Velocity Points and Status Credits while SAA Voyager members will earn Points when purchasing airline tickets on any Virgin Australia flight.

Velocity members will be able to use their Points to purchase Reward Seats on all South African Airways operated services in either Economy or Business Class, while Voyager members can do the same across the entire Virgin Australia operated network in Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class. This applies to domestic, regional or international flights on each carrier.

Velocity Frequent Flyer Chief Executive Officer, Neil Thompson said: “This is an exciting extension of the bilateral codeshare agreement Virgin Australia launched with South African Airways in October this year.

“Having the ability to earn and redeem Points as well as enjoy a number of premium services like priority check-in, priority boarding and lounge access with South African Airways is an important benefit for our members.

“We continue to find innovative ways to reward our members and extending the ability to utilise Points on our growing international network is important to our most valued customers,” Mr Thompson said.

Executive SAA Customer Loyalty, Ms Suretha Cruse said: “South African Airways is delighted to build upon the strong relationship we have with Virgin Australia. We have had very positive feedback since code-sharing on Virgin Australia’s domestic network and this will only further enhance our customers’ experience.”

“We are very pleased to be able to offer our valued Voyager members with new mileage earning and redeeming opportunities when they fly on the Virgin Australia network, and look forward to welcome Velocity members on the award-winning services of SAA,” Ms Cruse said.

For more information, visit www.velocityfrequentflyer.com or www.flysaa.com.  

About  SAA

South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.