best way for family to use 500K points ?

[wendlle]

I have around 500,000 velocity points saved up.
We are a family of 4, 2 Adults and 2 Kids.

what would be the best way for us to use them??
We usually prefer to fly international rather than domesic trips, I'd like to get the best value that I can out of them.

I know points charts change all the time but in your opinions what would you do with them?
We will need to fly economy.

 

[henrus]

We will need to fly economy.

You don’t get the best value out of points flying economy.

The best way to look at is that you have 125k points per person or 62.5k points per person per direction. Even on the new award charts this is enough to get you each person ~7000 miles so most of Asia is possible.

 

[wendlle]

You don’t get the best value out of points flying economy.

The best way to look at is that you have 125k points per person or 62.5k points per person per direction. Even on the new award charts this is enough to get you each person ~7000 miles so most of Asia is possible.

Thanks, Yes I know economy isn't the "best value" but I'm more looking for the best value for my situation - which is what I should have stated.

 

[Scr77]

How about searching for 2 business/premium and paying for 2 economy? Depending on kids ages, maybe 1A 1C in business/premium and then swap for the return.

 

[wendlle]

How about searching for 2 business/premium and paying for 2 economy? Depending on kids ages, maybe 1A 1C in business/premium and then swap for the return.

Kids are 9 and 6

 

[Tiki]

That's enough for 4 x RT to the USA if you want to take the kids to Disneyland, maybe rent a car and drive to Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Of course the exchange rate isn't the greatest these days but you didn't say when you want to go. Japan is popular these days, you could even get to Europe but in Y class.

 

[Rich]

I second a USA trip. A great place to take the kids and a great use of 500000 points. We have been on QF points - 125k each from memory for a trip to JFK and returning from DFW.

 

[wendlle]

We go to the USA every year or two so was looking for somewhere different. We are headed there in May again. We are a "theme park" family so do Disneyland quite often along with WDW, Tokyo disney etc.

I'm thinking maybe Canada?? Or we could do Fiji and have plenty left over for another trip

 

[ben95]

Yes I know economy isn't the "best value" but I'm more looking for the best value for my situation - which is what I should have stated.

It's hard because we don't know your personal preferences, financial situations and future plans.

What I will say is do your own math. Look into destinations you want to go, how much it costs to purchase that ticket with cash and how much it costs with points (minus any cash surchare and tax), then calcualte a cents per point value based on that. It'll be easy to see what value you are getting from your points and go from there.

I personally don't go into my redemption exercise with the goal of "maximising points value" and then tailor my travel plan for that specific goal. I always start off with a few locations I wanted to visit and then start looking at redemption options - I want to have an enjoyable trip to a location I wanted to visit, not redeem points for the sake of redeemping points. cpp is a gague I use in this process to decide whether I should use my points or just pay cash.

 

[wendlle]

It's hard because we don't know your personal preferences, financial situations and future plans.

What I will say is do your own math. Look into destinations you want to go, how much it costs to purchase that ticket with cash and how much it costs with points (minus any cash surchare and tax), then calcualte a cents per point value based on that. It'll be easy to see what value you are getting from your points and go from there.

I personally don't go into my redemption exercise with the goal of "maximising points value" and then tailor my travel plan for that specific goal. I want to have an enjoyable trip to a location I wanted to visit, not redeem points for the sake of redeemping points.

yes this is true. I guess we will just look at where we want to go and just do it and not worry about how many points it uses.