After news broke on Monday afternoon that Virgin was facing imminent collapse, the Velocity website crashed as members flooded the online store to redeem their points for products and gift cards before it was too late.
By Tuesday morning the online store redirected to another page stating that “redemptions have temporarily been paused”.
The company has appointed insolvency experts at Deloitte to restructure the airline and find new owners to keep it flying, but stressed that Velocity had not collapsed.
“Although Velocity is owned by the Virgin Australia Group, it is a separate company and it is not in administration,” a Velocity statement said.
Mr Strawbridge said Velocity members were “well protected” and the loyalty program would be “part of the package” of restructuring the business going forward.
“The frequent flyer program is an incredibly good asset,” Mr Strawbridge said.
Virgin purchased the remaining 35 per cent stake in the Velocity business last year for $700 million.
In the past few weeks both Qantas and Virgin introduced measures to prevent a run on points. Qantas limited individual product purchases to two a day, while Virgin limited gift card purchases to one a day. Many gift card options disappeared altogether,…
