Flight Upgrades

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UpgradeMe Points
UpgradeMe Platinum
UpgradeMe Premium Bid

Things to know about upgrade options

Flight Experience

Virgin Australia’s Business Class offer an all-inclusive flight experience, with Priority services and complimentary in-flight benefits.

Upgrades

Upgrades to your Virgin Australia booking may be requested at any time after booking your flight up to a few hours prior to departure.

Waitlist

If there are no upgrade seats available at the time of your request, you may be able to waitlist for an upgrade.

Eligibility rules apply.

Availability

Flight upgrades are available on Virgin Australia flights.

Lounge Access

Relax in one of Virgin Australia’s 7 domestic lounges.

Note: Virgin Australia currently do not operate any international lounges.

Domestic Routes.

One way-miles (zone)	Points required for Upgrades (per passenger per sector)
0-600 (1) (e.g. Sydney to Melbourne)	10,000
601 - 1,200 (2) (e.g. Melbourne to Sunshine Coast)	17,500
1,201 - 2,400 (3) (e.g. Brisbane to Perth)	30,000
2,401 - 3,600 (4)	35,000

Trans-Tasman and International Short Haul Routes.

One way-miles (zone)	Points required for Upgrades (per passenger per sector)
0-600 (1)	8,000
601 - 1,200 (2)	12,000
1,201 - 2,400 (3) ^{(e.g. Sydney to Queenstown)}	16,000
2,401 - 3,600 (4) ^{(e.g. Melbourne to Denpasar)}	24,000
3,601 - 4,800 (5)	40,000

Trans-Tasman: Flights between Australia and New Zealand & Fiji.

Short-Haul International to: Flights between Australia and Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Samoa, Soloman Islands, Vanuatu and Indonesia.

International Long Haul Flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29)

All Velocity members travelling on Economy Flex fares, and Gold and Platinum Velocity members travelling on Economy Choice fares are eligible to request to use Velocity Points to upgrade to Business Class on Virgin Australia flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1 -29), subject to availability.

If your request for an upgrade isn't successful at the time because of availability, you can request to be placed on a waitlist in the event upgrades become available.

Eligible Member	Fare type	Points required for Upgrades (per passenger per sector)
All members	Economy Flex	69,000
Gold and Platinum members*	Economy Choice	99,000

*Gold and Platinum members must hold Gold and Platinum Status at the time of the request to upgrade from an Economy Choice fare.

Economy Lite and Economy Reward Seat fares are not eligible for upgrades.
For domestic and international short haul flights: Group bookings (booked in G Class) can be upgraded at the Choice and Flex level. Prior to requesting an upgrade, the Member wishing to upgrade must have their booking split from the group booking to a separate booking. Please contact the person who booked your group in order to split the booking.
Group bookings cannot be upgraded on international long haul flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29) at this time.
Points displayed above are per person and per flight sector.
A Flight Sector is a single direct flight between two consecutive locations (e.g. Sydney to Melbourne direct is one Flight Sector)
Use your Mileage Calculator to determine the number of miles you will fly.

How to UpgradeMe

You can request to upgrade your Virgin Australia operated flight, or Virgin Australia flight between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29) after you have made your booking.¹

For Virgin Australia Domestic and International Short Haul Flights:

Online: until four hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time
Via Our Membership Contact Centre: until two hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time (a fee may apply) - Call us now!
At Domestic Check-in: until 30 minutes prior to the scheduled flight departure time. See one of our friendly ground crew for assistance.
At International Check-in: until 60 minutes prior to the scheduled flight departure time.
In a Virgin Australia domestic Lounge: on the same-day of travel for a Virgin Australia domestic sector (times differ depending on your tier, see important information below to find out more).

For Virgin Australia International Long Haul flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29):

Online: until 72 hours prior to the scheduled departure time.
Via Our Membership Contact Centre: until 48 hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time (a fee may apply) - Call us now!

Please note, you cannot select specific Business Class seats if you have called the Membership Contact Centre between 48-72 hours prior to the scheduled departured time and received an upgrade. Instead, your seat will be assigned at the airport during check-in.

Upgrade online

If you meet the eligibility requirements for UpgradeMe Points but are unable to secure a confirmed upgrade, you can register to waitlist by accessing your booking on virginaustralia.com, or calling the Membership Contact Centre at any time from confirmation and ticketing of your booking:

For Virgin Australia's domestic or international short haul flights: until 4 hours before the scheduled flight departure

For Virgin Australia's international long haul flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29): until 48 hours before the scheduled flight departure

You must have enough Points in your Velocity account at the time the waitlist is requested and for the duration of the waitlist period for an upgrade to be successful.

Points are not deducted from your account until the upgrade is confirmed.

For domestic and international short haul flights, we confirm upgrades for members on our UpgradeMe Points waitlist between 4 hours to 5 days prior to scheduled flight departure.

For international long haul flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29), we confirm upgrades for members on our UpgradeMe Points waitlist between 48-72 hours prior to scheduled flight departure.

We prioritise our domestic or international short haul waitlist requests by Velocity membership tier, providing the highest level of priority to Platinum members, followed by Gold, Silver and Red. So the higher your tier, the sooner you may have your upgrade request confirmed.

We prioritise our international long haul (flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29) waitlist requests by fare type, followed by Velocity membership Status:

The highest level of priority will be extended to members that have purchased an Economy Flex fare and then prioritised by Velocity membership level. I.e., Platinum members that have purchased a Flex fare will have priority, followed by Gold, then Silver and then Red.

The next level of priority will extend to Platinum and Gold members that have purchased an Economy Choice fare, with Platinum members having higher priority than Gold members.

Please note, membership level is validated both at time of requesting the waitlist and awarding an upgrade. We validate your membership level at time of request to ensure you are eligible to waitlist, and then we validate your membership level when awarding the upgrade so that we can prioritise your waitlist request based on your membership level.

If you are succesful in securing your upgrade, an email confirmation will be sent to confirm that your waitlist request was successful and you will receive an updated Flight itinerary and Electronic Ticket Receipt via email, prior to your scheduled flight departure. You will only be notified if your UpgradeMe waitlist request is successful.

If you have already registered an UpgradeMe waitlist, you can continue to check online or by contacting the Membership Contact Centre to see if it has become available. If an upgrade is available, go ahead and book the upgrade and your wailist request will be removed.

For domestic and international short haul flights, you can do this up until 4 hours prior to departure (online) or up until 2 hours prior to departure (via Membership Contact Centre).

For international long haul flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29), you can do this until 72 hours prior to departure (online) or 48 hours prior to departure (via Membership Contact Centre)

A waitlist request will be cancelled if the booking is cancelled, if you check-in to your flight, if you voluntarily change your booking date or time or if an airline partner change occurs to the flight and the departure or arrival port of the flight is changed.
Economy Lite and Economy Reward Seat fares are not eligible for upgrades.

Upgrades in a Virgin Australia domestic Lounge (for domestic and international short haul flights only)

Platinum members may request an upgrade from any Virgin Australia Lounge until 30 minutes prior to the scheduled flight departure time, for a flight departing from any Domestic airport.

Gold, Silver and Red members with Virgin Australia lounge access can request an upgrade from two hours until 30 minutes prior to the scheduled flight departure time, for flights that are departing from the domestic airport the lounge is located in.

Points required to upgrade are based on each individual sector shown on an itinerary. If a flight upgrade is requested on two or more individual sectors shown, the Points required will be calculated and quoted separately for each flight sector.

For domestic and international short haul flights, the Business Class checked baggage allowance will apply to the upgraded booking. Velocity Platinum, Gold and Silver members are permitted an additional complimentary checked baggage allowance, based on the Business class entitlement.

For international long haul flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29), the checked baggage allowance of the original fare type will apply. Velocity Platinum and Gold members are permitted an additional complimentary checked baggage allowance. Please see here for more information.

To be eligible for an upgrade, domestic and international short haul flights must be marketed and operated by Virgin Australia and issued by Virgin Australia with a ticket number beginning with “795”. International long haul flights must be flights between Australia and Doha, operated by Qatar Airways with a flight number VA1-29, and issued by Virgin Australia with a ticket number beginning with "795".

Upgrade availability is limited and may not be available on all flights. A cancellation and amendment fee may apply.

For operational reasons not all Business Class seats are made available for upgrades. This means that there may still be empty seats on departure.

Members will earn Status Credits and Points based on the original fare class booked in the lower cabin.

The fare rules applicable to the fare originally purchased will apply, regardless of upgraded class of travel.

If you have made any specific requests for your booking, including e.g., a Mobility or Medical Assitance request, please contact our Membership Contact Centre to request an upgrade:

For domestic or international short haul flights: Up to two hours prior to the scheduled departure time.

For international long haul flights between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29): Up to 48 hours prior to the scheduled departure time.

When a domestic or international short haul Business Class upgrade is requested within 3hrs of departure via our Membership Contact Centre, online, at our airport check-in counter, check-in kiosks, or Virgin Australia Domestic lounges, we may not be able to guarantee you will be provided with a Business Class meal.

Changes and Cancellations

Change or cancellation fee: $35 or 4,500 Points per person, per booking and per change (waived for Platinum members⁴)

Cancellations are permitted, provided you request it at least 24 hours before a flight’s scheduled departure and you pay the applicable fee.

Changes are permitted, provided you request it at least 24 hours before a domestic or international short haul flight's scheduled departure or 48 hours before an international long haul flight between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29), and you pay the applicable fee.

The fare conditions of your originally purchased fare remain applicable in addition to this Upgrade Cancellation and Amendment Policy. Should you choose to cancel or amend your upgraded itinerary, a seat may no longer be available in your originally purchased fare class and you may be required to pay any applicable fare difference.

If you cancel or change a confirmed upgrade less than 24 hours before a flight’s scheduled departure, or fail to board a flight, you’ll forfeit the Points used to redeem the UpgradeMe Points upgrade⁵.

Changes or cancellations are not permitted if you have already checked-in to your international long haul flight between Australia and Doha (VA 1-29).

Requests can be made by calling the Membership Contact Centre

How to UpgradeMe Platinum

You can upgrade your Virgin Australia operated flight any time after you have purchased your Freedom fare²

Via Our Membership Contact Centre: until two hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time - Call us now
In a Virgin Australia domestic Lounge: on the same-day of travel until 40 minutes prior to the flight’s scheduled departurefor flights that are departing from the airport the lounge is located in.

Platinum members are entitled to four complimentary fare upgrades per year from a Flex fare to a Business Class seat on domestic, Trans-Tasman and international short haul flights marketed and operated by Virgin Australia (excluding Christmas Island and Cocos Island). Log in to My Velocity to view your available upgrades.

Members can also use their complimentary upgrades for guests travelling with them on the same flight.

Request an upgrade any time after you have booked your flight, up to two hours prior to scheduled departure time by contacting the Membership Contact Centre.

Requests can be made at any Virgin Australia Lounge or if departing from Hobart at Priority Check-in. Request any same-day upgrade on Virgin Australia operated domestic flights up to 30 minutes prior to scheduled flight departure time.

Upgrades are subject to Business Class Reward Seat availability and to the Upgrade Cancellation and Amendment Policy.

How to UpgradeMe Premium Bid

Offers must be made per flight sector. For example, Sydney to Broome consists of two sectors, Sydney to Perth and Perth to Broome.

Pricing is displayed per passenger for all passengers listed on the booking.

Check your eligibility to upgrade
Make an offer to upgrade - Determine the amount you're willing to pay to upgrade.
Payment details - Enter your payment details - you will only be charged if your offer is successful.
Enjoy your flight - If you're successful, we'll send you an email no later than 3 hours prior to departure advising you of your upgrade.

Check eligibility and make an offer

Members will earn Status Credits and Points based on the original fare class booked in the lower cabin.

The Economy Class checked baggage allowance will continue to apply to the Upgraded Booking. Velocity Platinum, Gold and Silver members are permitted an additional complimentary checked baggage allowance, based on the Economy class entitlement.

Offers must be made per flight sector. For example, Hobart to Cairns consists of two sectors, Hobart to Melbourne and Melbourne to Cairns.

Pricing is displayed per passenger for all passengers listed on the booking.

To be eligible for an upgrade, all flights must be marketed and operated by Virgin Australia and issued by Virgin Australia with a ticket number beginning with “795”.

Terms & Conditions:

All upgrades are subject to availability and to an Upgrade Cancellation and Amendment Policy.

1. View UpgradeMe Points Terms and Conditions.

2. All flight upgrades using complimentary fare upgrades are subject to the Member Terms and Conditions .

3. Platinum members who have paid the full fare for an Economy Flex fare are entitled to four complimentary upgrades to Business class on Virgin Australia marketed and operated domestic or international short haul Flight Sectors per year. Platinum members see how many upgrades they have available when they log in to My Velocity. Upgrades are subject to availability which is controlled by Virgin Australia. Some flights may have no upgrades available. Additional terms and conditions apply

4. Service fees will be waived for Platinum members who cancel their upgraded itineraries at least 24 hours before their departure, based on their membership level at the time of cancellation. Service fees will be waived for Platinum members who amend their upgraded itineraries at least 24 hours before their domestic or international short haul departure, or at least 48 hours before their international long haul (VA 1-29) departure based on their membership level at the time of cancellation or amendment.

5. All information included above is correct as at 1 July 2025. The Upgrade Cancellation and Amendment Policy is subject to change. Please refer to the Velocity Member Terms and Conditions for further information about flight upgrades using Points.

Upgrade your flight experience in 1 of 3 ways!

Domestic Routes.

Trans-Tasman and International Short Haul Routes.

Flying with Virgin Australia on domestic and international short haul flights