Argh! No reasonable way to earn SC's to DPS

[Moopere]

Be careful what you wish for heh, I remember well having quite a whinge here last year when I took VA PER-DPS in J on a 737. Have had a busy year so far and haven't been paying attention - VA now doesn't seem to fly to DPS at all.

All the routes are Tiger, at prices very reminiscent of VA pricing when they still did the run. So, same price, receive less of everything.

Got quite the wake up call when I was looking for fares on the VA website only to be met with constant routing through SIN ... with SQ of course.

Yikes! I'm guessing there are no longer many choices, but anyone know of a reasonable way to get to DPS from PER and still earn at least a few SC's? If I'm going to go through SIN then I might as well just go to BKK - flight price is slightly cheaper, stay at the Millenium Hilton is cheaper than the Conrad at Bali and flight time is a bit quicker too.

 

[PDog]

Can't you still elect to get VA SC if you fly SQ? I flew SQ to India last year twice & got a mountain in SC.

side note, I flew SQ DPS-MEL last week because the VA flight was overnight. Yuk!
We stayed at Conrad, loved it

 

[Moopere]

Can't you still elect to get VA SC if you fly SQ? I flew SQ to India last year twice & got a mountain in SC.

Oh yes, you certainly can. But the price difference, having to bounce through SIN is substantial, circa $900-1200 and flight times are -long-. VA's old route on the 737 was always <600$ with flight time from PER around 3.5-4 hours.

side note, I flew SQ DPS-MEL last week because the VA flight was overnight. Yuk!
We stayed at Conrad, loved it

Yes, you know, I did actually bump into a couple of options which included a one-way VA flight either to or from DPS on VA metal. Don't know whats going on there .. the last few flights? Also looked at flying east first then back over to DPS as I have family over there and could make a thing of it, but ultimately, too expensive and way too long in the air for what was meant to be a quick hop across the ocean.

As I said in my OP, if I'm going to spend this long in the air, and spend $1000+ on airfares I'll change my plans and pop over to BKK, ultimately will work out cheaper in both airfare and hotel and I absolutely love the Millenium BKK.

 

[PDog]

makes sense
We were there for a family holiday so I had no choice in the destination. We used points, I shudder to think what the SQ cost would have been, but it was only about 20% more points that the VA flight we took there IIRC?
The flight home was ridiculously long but muuuuuch better in SQ J than the jetstar direct flight to Melbourne!

 

[medhead]

Is via DRW an option?

 

[Moopere]

Is via DRW an option?

Good thinking, but unfortunately, no, nothing to DPS from DRW it appears. BNE-DPS still listed as VA metal but its too much 6+ hours in a 737 and the price is again circa $1000.

 

[medhead]

Good thinking, but unfortunately, no, nothing to DPS from DRW it appears. BNE-DPS still listed as VA metal but its too much 6+ hours in a 737 and the price is again circa $1000.

If you're not going to earn anyway, you could pop onto JQ from DRW to DPS. A tasteless prospect, but at least it is only a short flight and doesn't cost you 6 hours.