Altitude points help please!

[dotnchas]

Hi, I posted in the wrong place a few days ago, and had quite a few views, but no answers, so I'm trying again, and simplifying my query as well.
We currently have 412,000 altitude points, 73,000 of which are reserved to be used only with Enrich or Air NZ.

We plan to go from Melbourne to Europe, either Athens, Rome or London, via Hong Kong if possible, in mid-January, being away for 5 months.

Any ideas how best to use our points, which programme to transfer to? or is it OK to use the Altitude travel agency? I've read that they're not the most effective user of points though.
Thanks in advance!

 

[AdMEL]

Hi, I posted in the wrong place a few days ago, and had quite a few views, but no answers, so I'm trying again, and simplifying my query as well.
We currently have 412,000 altitude points, 73,000 of which are reserved to be used only with Enrich or Air NZ.

We plan to go from Melbourne to Europe, either Athens, Rome or London, via Hong Kong if possible, in mid-January, being away for 5 months.

Any ideas how best to use our points, which programme to transfer to? or is it OK to use the Altitude travel agency? I've read that they're not the most effective user of points though.
Thanks in advance!

Via Altitude Travel, 16,700 Altitude points (increasing to 16,900 in December)converts to $100 cash value, to be used with any available airfare (in theory*), so 412,000 Altitude points = $2,467 and 339,000 points (412,000 - 73,000#) = $2,029. Not sure what the price of airfares is for where/when you're looking at, but suspect that you're likely to only 1-1.5 return trips via Altitude travel and that you could do much better with other programs.

* When I wanted to use my points to pay for a trip to the US earlier this year, Altitude travel's price was significantly more expensive than I could buy direct from Qantas ($1,400 with Qantas, MEL-SFO, SFO-JFK, JFK-MEL, in August/Sep, which Altitude quoted over $2,500 - I was happy to accept a 10-20% premium, but that was ridiculous!). I ended up purchasing the flights from Qantas at $1,750 (price had risen!) and complained to Altitude, who said the price they offered was approx. the same as was generally avaialble (at the time $1,900 for my flights). So, either the person that I initially spoke to didn't know what he was doing (he seemed reasonably knowledgeable), or something else was going on. Unfortunately, I didn't get the quote in writing, as I was so annoyed. I also had issues actually getting to speak to someone at Altitude travel - they always seemed to be busy and would promise to call the next day at a particular time, but called before and after the time, when I couldn't take the call. Overall, my experience was very bad.

# How/why are 73,000 points reserved for only Enrich/Airpoints?

As for converting points to other programs, I'll leave that up to other more experienced members to comment on! I will be interested in the answers though, as I have 260,000 points.

 

[dotnchas]

# How/why are 73,000 points reserved for only Enrich/Airpoints?

As for converting points to other programs, I'll leave that up to other more experienced members to comment on! I will be interested in the answers though, as I have 260,000 points.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your response and sharing your experience re altitude travel, looks like I'll be avoiding them. I tried using them a few years ago and they were so snooty I couldn't bear it and gave up, thinking I'd use the points for accommodation or a car. Ended up not using them, but really need to do so now.
The reserved points are points I earned pre 2004, for some reason things changed with altitude at that time.

anymore advice is welcome folks!!

 

[AdMEL]

How/why are 73,000 points reserved for only Enrich/Airpoints?

The reserved points are points I earned pre 2004, for some reason things changed with altitude at that time.

anymore advice is welcome folks!!

In 2004, the conversion rate for Altitude to frequent flyer points halved from 1:1 to 1:2. As far as I understand, that doesn't mean those points can only be used with those programs though, only that you'll get a better conversion rate for those programs.

 

[dotnchas]

In 2004, the conversion rate for Altitude to frequent flyer points halved from 1:1 to 1:2. As far as I understand, that doesn't mean those points can only be used with those programs though, only that you'll get a better conversion rate for those programs.

Ah of course! thank you for clearing that up for me...I obviously hadn't read the explanation correctly on the altitude site...sorry for being so dumb!

 

[AdMEL]

As an example, it appears that 380,000 Altitude points converted to 190,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer points is enough for two return economy flights from Melbourne to UK/Europe, I assume via Singapore. This equals $2,275 via Altitude Travel - a quick check on the SIA website shows a return fare MEL-LHR departing 16 Jan returning 16 June of ~$2,500 incl. ~$650 in taxes, i.e. ~ $1,850 excl taxes. Assuming you still have to pay the $650 taxes, two return flights worth ~$3,700 for the equivalent of $2,275 seems like a great deal if they have availability! Note that 15 Jan and earlier is an extra $300, so if they have availability, the deal is even better.

Not sure of the joining fee for KrisFlyer, or the taxes payable on the flights, or whether there is any availability for the times you want to travel.

 

[albatross710]

With SQ, Melbourne to London booked on line is 80,750 points (economy) plus $650 taxes per person.

You can join Krisflyer online https://www.singaporeair.com/saa/Account/newKFEnroll.jspx and then advise Westpac Altitude of the details to link the accounts.


If you are going to be making more spend on your Westpac cards, consider the Westpac Krisflyer card (KrisFlyer) which will direct earn into Krisflyer at twice the rate. This method may not suit you as the points expire after three years. If you need the longer time to use them,then maybe using Altitude to store them for longer is for you.

 

[AdMEL]

With SQ, Melbourne to London booked on line is 80,750 points (economy) plus $650 taxes per person.

You can join Krisflyer online https://www.singaporeair.com/saa/Account/newKFEnroll.jspx and then advise Westpac Altitude of the details to link the accounts.


If you are going to be making more spend on your Westpac cards, consider the Westpac Krisflyer card (KrisFlyer) which will direct earn into Krisflyer at twice the rate. This method may not suit you as the points expire after three years. If you need the longer time to use them,then maybe using Altitude to store them for longer is for you.

Thanks for confirming the taxes are the same as the taxes on a paid ticket - I wasn't sure they would be, since some airlines I've seen charge higher taxes for award flights.

Thanks also for pointing out the discounted online rate - I did see the 15% discount for online bookings, but wasn't sure whether the rate card already had the discount built in.

A point of clarification about the Westpac Krisflyer and Altitude cards - for the platinum cards, the conversion rate is the same for spending on the Amex card, so if you do most/all your spending on the Amex card, there is not much of a benfit in switching from the Altitude to Krsflyer card.

One other thing I just noticed - at that rate, no stopover is allowed.

 

[dotnchas]

Thank you everyone for your input, it's been very informative and helpful.
We've finally decided which airport to land in..Athens..so there's a start!

I'm currently leaning towards Velocity points with Emirates, or Etihad if they come on board soon enough. The taxes are massively lower than with SQ or Malaysian Air, only $200 for Melb/London...can't get a price on Athens just yet. and the points required, again for London (so they should be lower for Athens) are 128,000. With the 25% that Velocity is giving at the moment, I think we'll just be able to do it, with a lot less cash needed...more to spend on accommodation etc!

Anyway, still no final decision until I can talk to Velocity tomorrow, or someone here comes up with a persuasive argument against this course of action!:-|