Melbourne - London - maximizing status credit

[nicholas_yue]

Hi,

Planning a trip to the UK next April which is close to expiry of my Gold status.

So I am finding ways to maximise my status credit to stay Gold.

Any recommendations? (I can only afford economy)

Regards

 

[Flashback]

Hi,

Planning a trip to the UK next April which is close to expiry of my Gold status.

So I am finding ways to maximise my status credit to stay Gold.

Any recommendations? (I can only afford economy)

Regards

See if you can route via SYD and / or FRA, e.g. MEL-SYD-SIN-FRA-LCY

 

[markis10]

Welcome to AFF!

With velocity you dont have much of an option, other than an op up paid to PE if you travel via HKG with Virgin and travel via another domestic gateway.

 

[nicholas_yue]

I have Velocity gold, not clear from the above what airlines I should be flying with to reach those city mentioned.

 

[Flashback]

I have Velocity gold, not clear from the above what airlines I should be flying with to reach those city mentioned.

In that case disregard what we said! I'm not sure on the best way if needing to fly Velocity partners and credit to their program.

 

[straitman]

In that case disregard what we said! I'm not sure on the best way if needing to fly Velocity partners and credit to their program.

:shock: The problem arises again :!: :shock:

 

[Flashback]

:shock: The problem arises again :!: :shock:

Yeh, given the other thread I felt silly when I realised after I posted this time I'm human after all!

 

[samh004]

I have Velocity gold, not clear from the above what airlines I should be flying with to reach those city mentioned.

You need to reach 50,000 status credits, how many will you have by the time April rolls around?

If you check Velocity’s Airline Partners you’ll see quite a few airlines listed, but to London, only Virgin Atlantic will earn you status credits. You could also fly V Australia to the US, but neither Virgin America nor Delta will earn you the status credits you need going the other way.

If you flew V Australia you’d need to pay for full economy to get 1 status credit per mile, and at a return distance of about 15,000 miles just to LAX, you’d fall well short.

On Virgin Atlantic, you’d still need to pay full economy to just pickup 1 status credit per mile, but the distance via HKG would be about 21,000 miles. As you can see in the earning table, if you managed to fly premium economy or even discounted upper class, you’d earn a lot more.

Flying full economy to the UK and back, you wont even get yourself halfway there, but you only need to spend about AUD$7k on Virgin Blue flights domestically to renew Gold, so couple that with a big overseas flight and you should manage to re-qualify. Assuming the trip to the UK worked out as 21,000 miles, you’d be looking at $4k domestic spend on Virgin Blue.

However I am new to Velocity, so don’t know all the ins and outs.

 

[notzac]

The best way to earn Velocity status is making sure you book the VS codeshares ... so MEL-SYD-LHR-SYD-MEL. That should in theory earn you 12000 status credits ((2000 + 4000) x 2); however if you can confirm with Velocity that they would credit you 4000 status credits for HKG-LHR and not 2000 status credits (it's right on 6000 miles, so hard to tell) - you should be booking it as MEL-SYD-HKG-LHR-HKG-SYD-MEL for a total of 16000 status credits. You'll probably need a TA to ticket that - I don't know of a way to get a stopover both ways online.

With the above I'm assuming that the VS codeshare on DJ metal earns as a VS flight (which it should).

You should definitely confirm all of the above earn rates and what fare codes are required with Velocity (and then come back here and let us all know!)

 

[crazydave98]

Planning a trip to the UK next April which is close to expiry of my Gold status.

So I am finding ways to maximise my status credit to stay Gold.

Any recommendations? (I can only afford economy)

Nicholas, you could consider flying MEL-SYD-LAX-LHR with Virgin Blue, V Australia and Virgin Atlantic respectively or MEL-LAX-LHR with VA/VS. The great circle distance this way is 2400 miles longer than flying over HKG which will earn you more status credits and the fares going this way can be cheaper too. I did a quick search on the V Australia website and it is quoting $3029 taxes included for SYD-LAX-LHR return departing 11 April outbound and 20 April inbound (random dates) with 3 hour connections in LAX both ways. VA and VS operate same terminal at LAX and being a Gold velocity member you get to use the Clubhouse there. Being discouted fares the earn rate is 0.5 credits per mile.

cheers
CrazyDave98

 

[Deleted member 24491]

I've done a few recent trips on VA via LAX and VA shares T3 with VX and Alaskan.
VS (and their clubhouse) is in T2.

 

[notzac]

Actually - due to the way VS earn status credits, the earn rate for going the long way could well be less:

Flight	Miles	Status	Carrier
===============================
MEL-SYD	439	219	VA	
SYD-LAX	7488	3744	VA
LAX-LHR	5456	2000	VS

That gives me a total of 5963 status credits one way or 11926 status credits return.

 

[notzac]

VA and VS operate same terminal at LAX and being a Gold velocity member you get to use the Clubhouse there.

VS is in T2 ... are VA shifting terminals at LAX?
(I personally think that this would make a great deal of sense)

 

[crazydave98]

VS is in T2 ... are VA shifting terminals at LAX?
(I personally think that this would make a great deal of sense)

oops - blueprint already picked me up on this - was confusing VX and VS. It is as blueprint says. I don't believe there are any plans to shift VA to T2, and of course our closer relationship (in a financial sense) is with Delta.

 

[DJ737]

Hi there

For a change of scenery you could do a MEL-LAX-LHR-JNB-MEL round trip on VA/VS.
Book MEL-LAX & JNB-MEL as one ways on the VA site and LAX-LHR-JNB one way on the VS site, The VS site allows you to book a stopover in London for as many days as you like. (within the tickets validity)

Not sure about the status earn, but at least you go around the world

Cheers
DJ737

 

[browski]

Virgin Atlantic Airways - Popup
Here's the Virgin Around the World link and prices. Not sure of the status earn though.

Personally, I'd fly Malaysian airlines, because of all the partner airlines, MH gives the best points earning (~0.7 points per mile) on discount economy fares. See:
Velocity - Malaysia Airlines

No status credits though........and of course you must factor in the hidden cost of frustration and anger who will acquire trying to have the points credited to your account.

 

[samh004]

Personally, I'd fly Malaysian airlines, because of all the partner airlines, MH gives the best points earning (~0.7 points per mile) on discount economy fares. See:
Velocity - Malaysia Airlines

No status credits though........and of course you must factor in the hidden cost of frustration and anger who will acquire trying to have the points credited to your account.

But as you say, no status earning, kind of defeats the purpose completely!

 

[Boof1]

Depending on what price you put on status I can offer this suggestion for a little more than economy but less than Y+ or J.

How about you fly MEL-LAX-MEL in Y+ with VA, I checked fares for over on the 12th of April return on the 24th of April and it was around $2750. Next you fly LAX-LHR-LAX on VS in Y which has fares around the $1300 (AUD converted).

All up you pay around the $4050 mark. A visit to a travel agent would get these flights on the one itinerary for you and being gold you get lounge access already. Also worth mentioning is that to book Y+ all the way to LHR on VS website via HKG is $5980 and on VA via LAX is $5250. So a combo of Y and Y+ is a good $1200+ saving.

As for the Status credits you will get 19827 for the MEL-LAX rtn leg, you will get 4000 for the VS legs. Total 23827 status credits. Well and truly silver, and depending on how many you already have this year almost half way to gold leaving you with $3739 dollars to spend with DJ to get the gold by April. Also 5.88pts per dollar is almost the same as earning at silver rate on DJ (6pts/$) anyway!

Some food for thought anyway.

Cheers,

Boof

 

[PineappleSkip]

the hidden cost of frustration and anger who will acquire trying to have the points credited to your account

I think that is why my enrich card has sat in my desk for years...

cheers skip

 

[DJSYD81]

Here's the Virgin Around the World link and prices. Not sure of the status earn though.

Does anyone know the status earn of this RTW thing? Say, if I were to book it through VS and quote my velocity number, would I earn status on all of the legs according to the velocity earn rates?

Thanks.

Kurt