Update: As of 1 December 2020, this benefit is no longer available to cardholders of the ANZ Reward Travel Adventures Card. Please click here to read our updated card guide.
The ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card is aimed at Virgin Australia enthusiasts and those who are interested in rewards points.
In this guide, we delve into the complimentary return domestic Virgin Australia flight benefit that you receive each year you hold the card.
When the benefit becomes available
The complimentary domestic return flight is available each year until the card is cancelled, and becomes available after meeting a $500 minimum spend requirement within three months (note that it lower than the $1,500 minimum spend requirement to unlock the bonus points).
Where you can fly
The first key thing to understand is that there a list of routes between cities that you can redeem your Economy Class flight for—here is the table, which, thankfully, is actually fairly extensive.
You can use your complimentary flight in either direction between each city pair in the list below but double-check on the ANZ website for any changes that may have occurred since this guide was published.
| City Pairs | |
|---|---|
| Adelaide | Gold Coast |
| Adelaide | Canberra |
| Adelaide | Alice Springs |
| Adelaide | Perth |
| Adelaide | Brisbane |
| Adelaide | Melbourne |
| Adelaide | Sydney |
| Albury | Sydney |
| Alice Springs | Adelaide |
| Alice Springs | Darwin |
| Ayers Rock | Sydney |
| Ballina / Byron | Sydney |
| Brisbane | Proserpine |
| Brisbane | Perth |
| Brisbane | Newcastle |
| Brisbane | Hobart |
| Brisbane | Sydney |
| Brisbane | Townsville |
| Brisbane | Rockhampton |
| Brisbane | Cloncurry |
| Brisbane | Canberra |
| Brisbane | Darwin |
| Brisbane | Emerald |
| Brisbane | Adelaide |
| Brisbane | Hamilton Island |
| Brisbane | Mount Isa |
| Brisbane | Melbourne |
| Brisbane | Mackay |
| Brisbane | Cairns |
| Broome | Perth |
| Cairns | Sydney |
| Cairns | Brisbane |
| Cairns | Melbourne |
| Canberra | Brisbane |
| Canberra | Gold Coast |
| Canberra | Melbourne |
| Canberra | Sydney |
| Canberra | Adelaide |
| Cloncurry | Brisbane |
| Darwin | Perth |
| Darwin | Alice Springs |
| Darwin | Sydney |
| Darwin | Melbourne |
| Darwin | Brisbane |
| Emerald | Brisbane |
| Geraldton | Perth |
| Gold Coast | Sydney |
| Gold Coast | Adelaide |
| Gold Coast | Canberra |
| Gold Coast | Melbourne |
| Hamilton Island | Melbourne |
| Hamilton Island | Sydney |
| Hamilton Island | Brisbane |
| Hervey Bay | Sydney |
| Hobart | Sydney |
| Hobart | Brisbane |
| Hobart | Melbourne |
| Kalgoorlie | Perth |
| Kalgoorlie | Melbourne |
| Karratha | Perth |
| Kununurra | Perth |
| Launceston | Sydney |
| Launceston | Melbourne |
| Mackay | Brisbane |
| Melbourne | Adelaide |
| Melbourne | Brisbane |
| Melbourne | Newcastle |
| Melbourne | Sydney |
| Melbourne | Mildura |
| Melbourne | Perth |
| Melbourne | Gold Coast |
| Melbourne | Sunshine Coast |
| Melbourne | Launceston |
| Melbourne | Kalgoorlie |
| Melbourne | Canberra |
| Melbourne | Cairns |
| Melbourne | Darwin |
| Melbourne | Hobart |
| Melbourne | Hamilton Island |
| Mildura | Melbourne |
| Mount Isa | Brisbane |
| Newcastle | Melbourne |
| Newcastle | Brisbane |
| Newman | Perth |
| Paraburdoo | Perth |
| Perth | Adelaide |
| Perth | Broome |
| Perth | Brisbane |
| Perth | Darwin |
| Perth | Geraldton |
| Perth | Kalgoorlie |
| Perth | Kununurra |
| Perth | Karratha |
| Perth | Melbourne |
| Perth | Newman |
| Perth | Paraburdoo |
| Perth | Port Hedland |
| Perth | Sydney |
| Port Hedland | Perth |
| Port Macquarie | Sydney |
| Proserpine | Brisbane |
| Rockhampton | Brisbane |
| Sunshine Coast | Sydney |
| Sunshine Coast | Melbourne |
| Sydney | Hobart |
| Sydney | Hervey Bay |
| Sydney | Gold Coast |
| Sydney | Launceston |
| Sydney | Sunshine Coast |
| Sydney | Melbourne |
| Sydney | Perth |
| Sydney | Port Macquarie |
| Sydney | Townsville |
| Sydney | Albury |
| Sydney | Adelaide |
| Sydney | Ayers Rock |
| Sydney | Brisbane |
| Sydney | Ballina / Byron |
| Sydney | Canberra |
| Sydney | Cairns |
| Sydney | Tamworth |
| Sydney | Hamilton Island |
| Sydney | Darwin |
| Tamworth | Sydney |
| Townsivlle | Brisbane |
| Townsville | Sydney |
The available city pairs between which you can use the complimentary flight are fairly extensive compared to other similar benefits from other banks, with East – West Coast routings allowed between Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane and Perth.
How to maximise the benefit
It really depends on which your home airport is—someone in Albury only has one option (Sydney) to choose from and with flights starting at $238 return, may find this benefit useful for popping up to Sydney for a long weekend.
Cardholders in a larger city like Melbourne have 15 options to choose from. You may choose to use the benefit on a flight on a route with lots of competition, like Brisbane, getting you about $200 in value; or, if you had a reason to fly to Kalgoorlie via Perth, you’d be getting at least triple that in monetary value.
It is interesting that routes requiring a layover, like Melbourne – Kalgoorlie, are still included in this benefit—that is quite generous of ANZ-Virgin Australia.
How to make a booking
To make your booking, phone the ANZ Rewards Centre on 1300 367 763 between Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm AEST (excluding public holidays).
Key terms
A key restriction is that ANZ state that ‘bookings are subject to availability and some flights may not have complimentary seats available’—it depends on the fare class/es available on the specific flights you are looking at.
Next, the complimentary domestic flight is going to work best for people who can plan their trips in advance, as it must be booked at least 60 days before travel.
There is another set of restrictions to know about too—the account holder must be the traveller on the complimentary flight when it is redeemed, and you will not earn Velocity Points or Status Credits or able to upgrade to Business Class.
The terms and conditions of the free flight benefit are available here.
Summing up
The ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card is already a solid offering with no overseas transaction fees and a healthy sign-up bonus.
The free flight on Virgin Australia that comes with the card each year you hold it definitely helps to offset the annual fee.
Depending on where you are located and what your travel preferences are, you may be able to get outsized value from this benefit by flying on routes that suffer from high ticket prices.
And, can you book just a one way flight? Or do you have to go through the hassle of cancelling the return leg?
By maximum stay, I’m assuming you’re meaning how long can the dates between the departing and return flight be, which for Virgin Australia is 330 days based on award availability.
You will have to book a return flight in order to redeem the complimentary flight, and cancelling the return leg will be subject to cancellation fees.
This is the minimum credit that you must accept on the card in order to apply for it. By all means you can request for more credit, but cannot request less than $6,000.
But card is good O/S and with lounge.access etc. Just be mindful of where you can go on these free flights and the costs involved in changing dates if your plans change!
Is it possible to book the flights then cancel the card, ie. I book for November but i cancel the card in September as the next annual fee is due? Will the tickets still be valid?
Also how far ahead can this be booked?
2 months ahead of annual renewal? 3, 6?