Converting Altitude Points to Kris Flyer

[Colin D]

I have just over 1m Westpac Altitude points. Later this year my wife and I are flying return to coughet from Melbourne. I'm trying to figure out if there is a benefit to transfering my Altitude Points to Kris Flyer to use them for the flights. As it is I have enough to buy return economy flights from Melbourne with Singapore Airlines using 968,850 Altitude points.

I can convert my Altitude points to 339,187 KrisFlyer points if I have done the conversion correctly. KF points for a Singapore flight is 122,00 for Saver or 220,000 for Advantage. You go on a wait list for Saver bookings which is not desirable given our accommodation is booked. If I book Advantage tickets there is an extra $339,000. Not sure what the extra $ is about. Does an Advantage ticket get you any benefits (eg. priority boarding, lounge access, upgrade option)?

It seems on face value worthwhile doing the transfer over to Kris Flyer even with the extra payment, have I made the right assumption?

 

[lilkid28]

Best value is if you can redeem for business tickets, even if it's business advantage. If you have booked accommodation though, then your dates are highly restricted to that then.

 

[Colin D]

It has me a bit confused about doing an upgrade to Premium Economy or Business Class.

Using their website it appears to cost more to upgrade from Advantage to either of the above which is counter intuitive given Advantage costs more points and $ in the first place. This doesn't make sense and suggests going for Saver is a better value for getting to an upgrade. Or is there a catch like Advantage has more chance of getting an upgrade than Saver ie. Advantage is given priority over Saver.

 

[dajop]

Upgrades are only available for fares you originally pay $$$ for, not points. And usually not the cheapest $$$ fare either. So you would have to pay, say $1400 return and then would have to pay the points on top of that to upgrade. Bit of lottery too as upgrades not that easy to find.

The other alternative is to pay points to begin with - for two passengers in business class it will be 274,000 in saver or 360.000 in advantage return. That’s if you can find any availability.

Also note that saver and advantage are exactly the same seats and service on the plane - there is nothing different about them in terms of flying experience. The only difference is that more advantage awards are made available, so in theory they should be easier to get. Which is why they need more points.

What month are you travelling?

 

[Colin D]

Upgrades are only available for fares you originally pay $$$ for, not points. And usually not the cheapest $$$ fare either. So you would have to pay, say $1400 return and then would have to pay the points on top of that to upgrade. Bit of lottery too as upgrades not that easy to find.

The other alternative is to pay points to begin with - for two passengers in business class it will be 274,000 in saver or 360.000 in advantage return. That’s if you can find any availability.

Also note that saver and advantage are exactly the same seats and service on the plane - there is nothing different about them in terms of flying experience. The only difference is that more advantage awards are made available, so in theory they should be easier to get. Which is why they need more points.

What month are you travelling?

November this year.

Your point about Saver fares which are shown as being on wait list, which I gather means they are already taken and you are not guaranteed of getting them if you still choose to go that way is risky if accommodation is already booked.

 

[lilkid28]

There's Award availability from MEL-SIN for all of November, almost half of which are saver level, especially early in November, plenty of Advantage. Saver 68500 miles per person or Advantage 90k miles per person. (Same price if you can find to coughet as it's same region SE Asia)

Also plenty of Advantage available for return leg SIN-MEL.

Even MEL-SIN-HKT has availability in first half SEP. It seems SIN-HKT less availability.

If there's no award seat from SIN-HKT during your dates, you could consider booking MEL-SIN return, and the purchase a separate ticket in cash. Even SQ doesn't seem much more than Air Asia/Scoot, and you could (most likely) get baggage checked through.

 

[Colin D]

There's Award availability from MEL-SIN for all of November, almost half of which are saver level, especially early in November, plenty of Advantage. Saver 68500 miles per person or Advantage 90k miles per person. (Same price if you can find to coughet as it's same region SE Asia)

Also plenty of Advantage available for return leg SIN-MEL.

Even MEL-SIN-HKT has availability in first half SEP. It seems SIN-HKT less availability.

If there's no award seat from SIN-HKT during your dates, you could consider booking MEL-SIN return, and the purchase a separate ticket in cash. Even SQ doesn't seem much more than Air Asia/Scoot, and you could (most likely) get baggage checked through.

Thanks for that. If I purchase Sin-coughet Economy Flex, do you know how many KrisFlyer points are required to up upgrade to Business.

 

[lilkid28]

Thanks for that. If I purchase Sin-coughet Economy Flex, do you know how many KrisFlyer points are required to up upgrade to Business.

Not sure.. I've never done that before. You might have to search for "krisflyer upgrade chart" . It's only a 2 hour flight though - personally I wouldn't upgrade a short haul. And if you are transiting and baggage checked through, you still can access the lounge in Singapore Changi airport.

 

[Colin D]

Not sure.. I've never done that before. You might have to search for "krisflyer upgrade chart" . It's only a 2 hour flight though - personally I wouldn't upgrade a short haul. And if you are transiting and baggage checked through, you still can access the lounge in Singapore Changi airport.

My Altitude points transferred over to KrisFlyer tonight. The dates I was looking at were already taken so I moved the dates forward and was able to find return Business Saver seats in Feb & March which I booked using my KrisFlyer Miles. Had to pay an additional $342 Aus which seems to be unavoidable for any bookings using KrisFlyer Miles, maybe because I am not a premium member.

Using the Westpac Altitude website flight booking link I did not have enough points to book the exact same flights with my points. Transferring them to KrisFlyer was the best option. The transfer of points from Altitude to KrisFlyer took less than 10hours, that is efficient service.

I am pleased this has worked out as my wife has a medical condition with chronic back pain and Business Class is preferred for her to travel long haul. She is very relieved.

 

[lilkid28]

My Altitude points transferred over to KrisFlyer tonight. The dates I was looking at were already taken so I moved the dates forward and was able to find return Business Saver seats in Feb & March which I booked using my KrisFlyer Miles. Had to pay an additional $342 Aus which seems to be unavoidable for any bookings using KrisFlyer Miles, maybe because I am not a premium member.

Using the Westpac Altitude website flight booking link I did not have enough points to book the exact same flights with my points. Transferring them to KrisFlyer was the best option. The transfer of points from Altitude to KrisFlyer took less than 10hours, that is efficient service.

I am pleased this has worked out as my wife has a medical condition with chronic back pain and Business Class is preferred for her to travel long haul. She is very relieved.

Great you were able to book Saver seats. Was it all the way to coughet in 1 ticket? Enjoy Business Class!

 

[Colin D]

Great you were able to book Saver seats. Was it all the way to coughet in 1 ticket? Enjoy Business Class!

Connecting flight at Singapore, but all included in the booking using the Miles. Great value as I still have Miles left over to build on. Singapore has a good reputation and surprisingly we have never flown with them so this will be a new experience.