Planning to start with Credit Card Churning/ collecting miles... Qantas or Velocity?

[huggers]

Hi everybody,

I'm from Germany and my partner is Australian. Currently we live in Australia because we want to spend a few years with her friends and family.

I wanted to get into the whole mile collecting scheme and just can't decide on if I should go with Velocity or Qantas. For us it does not really matter if we fly with Etihad (Velocity) or Qatar (Qantas) and those two air lines will be our main airlines we will fly with to travel between Germany and Australia.

Qantas just seems to have a slight edge over the amount of points I could get? Transferring Qantas to Avios could also potentially be more useful when we go back to Europe in a couple of years due to their partnerships. The turnoff here are the initial signup and annual subscription fees.

Velocity has a smaller network but I saw some posts that Etihad might be easier to book rewards seats with. This seems a bit controversial though...

I'm a bit lost here so maybe there are some people here who have experience with both?

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @huggers .

Note that QR also has a partnership with VA now; I'm not across the mutual points/SC earnings between them though. Qantas has a poor earning rate if you fly QR, for historical reasons of antipathy between the two.

Not sure what you mean about 'transferring Qantas to Avios'. You won't earn Avios on QFF and can't transfer from QFF to QR Privilege Club.

You can join QFF for free, here (there are other ways):

How to join Qantas Frequent Flyer for free in 2025

Whatever you do, don't pay $99.50 to sign up!

www.pointhacks.com.au

If you are flying QR, personally I would join QR PC (as I have done) and credit there. You can use the Avios to book on Qantas domestically here if you want, or via BA, or for flights back in Europe. Or, in time, use Avios to redeem on QR (again, as I do). Also join VA for Etihad.

Hope that helps.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Huggers. Welcome to AFF

Objective from collection ff points/miles/avios?
What flying do you do?
Spending with credit card is another source of ff points/miles/avios

Qantas is part of Oneworld alliance, so many ff partners. It is easy to avoid the initial QF ffp sign up cost. What do you mean "annual subscription fees". Is none with QF.
QF awards on Qatar QR are very limited. Earning QF ff points from cash paid Qatar QR flights is low. They are not the best of friends, despite both in Oneworld.

Virgin Velocity is not in a major alliance, so fewer partners. VA is a newish partner of QR Qatar. Those partners may stay or leave VA Velocity as ff partners.

From flying domestically in AU its now possible to get avios on QF (crediting to BA ffp) and on VA (crediting to QR Qatar ffp). Avois can moved between the various ffp that use avios as the freq flyer currency.

The ffp's of Australian airlines are not the good.
Also look at other ffp's that can take transfers from credit cards (Amex).

Both major supermarkets have airline partners.
Coles=VA Velocity.
Woolworths = QF.
Depending on your spending, with the frequent boosters/bonus, this can be an additional earners, for $ you would spend anyway.

 

[Lynda2475]

Qantas points have the most avenues to earn without flying.

But since your interest is flying QR then pointless as Qatar actively withhold/hide award availability from Qantas frequent fliers until 1-3 days out from departure.

And you cannot convert Qantas FF points to Avios but you can earn avios via BA when flying Qantas.

Emirates award flights are easy to redeem using Qantas points, but forget QR.

If you want to fly QR go for Velocity.

 

[justinbrett]

And you cannot convert Qantas FF points to adios

Haha - QR releases a new program exclusive for Australian residents - Adiós!

 

[Lynda2475]

Bloody auto-correct

 

[levelnine]

If you want to fly business class to Europe, the decision is made for you: Velocity. It has good business class award availability on Etihad, Singapore and Qatar.

Qantas has diddly squat.

 

[huggers]

Thanks everybody for the friendly welcome
I have a hard time understanding all these abbreviations, I try to follow the guide from the newbie forum though

Objective from collection ff points/miles/avios?
What flying do you do?
Spending with credit card is another source of ff points/miles/avios

Objective: Free flights or at least business class upgrades on our flights between Germany and Australia. I'm not fixated on either Etihad or Qatar, in our experience it was very similar and both air lines offer flights for Australia - Germany. The prices are pretty similar too (maybe a bit cheaper with Etihad).
What flying do you do?: So far we only bought economy on either Etihad or Qatar to travel between those two. 1-2 times a year we also book flights for smaller holidays outside of visiting family but the airlines depend on the destination and we have nothing fix.

irgin Velocity is not in a major alliance, so fewer partners. VA is a newish partner of QR Qatar. Those partners may stay or leave VA Velocity as ff partners.

Does this mean that I could also get Qatar miles with Velocity at the moment? That would pretty much make Velocity a safe bet for me. Currently I'm heavily leaning towards Velocity anyway as my above mentioned objective seems to be better done with Etihad.

If you want to fly QR go for Velocity

I really thought: "Qantas = QR and Velocity = Etihad". I must have really picked that up wrong.

If you want to fly business class to Europe, the decision is made for you: Velocity. It has good business class award availability on Etihad, Singapore and Qatar.

Which is confirming it. If I can go Etihad and Qatar with Velocity then I'm pretty much settled with Velocity

Thansk so far for the input everyone, really appreciate it

 

[Lynda2475]

Qantas is QF, Qatar is QR.

Imo safer to fly to Germany on SQ via SIN.

But if determined to fly QR then Qantas points will be of little use since QR rarely make any redemption seats available to Qantas frequent fliers.

 

[RooFlyer]

Does this mean that I could also get Qatar miles with Velocity at the moment?

Here is the Qatar/QR web page re earning Avios etc flying Virgin Australia. Its recent, so I don't know how smoothly its being implemented.

https://www.qatarairways.com/en-au/Privilege-Club/our-partners.VA.html#poi-tab-4MBI0

Hmmm .. you'll have to follow the arrow to 'see all' under 'Earn on trips' and then 'Partner Airlines' in the bar across the top.

QFF = Qantas Frequent Flyer program
PC = Qatar Airways Privilege Club frequent flyer program
Velocity = Virgin Aust frequent flyer program

And of course the reciprocal earn

Qatar Airways

www.velocityfrequentflyer.com

 

[RooFlyer]

I really thought: "Qantas = QR and Velocity = Etihad". I must have really picked that up wrong.

Qantas and Qatar Airlines have a really bad relationship, which probably began when Qantas partnered with Emirates to funnel people through the Gulf to Europe, not withstanding that was just before Qatar joined OneWorld (if I recall correctly).

A number of spats since, and it hasn't got any better recently, with Qantas actively opposing Qatar's application to increase its services out of Aust major ports.

 

[justinbrett]

I would go with a non-airline card that lets you transfer to a range of programs. If you're not going to be flying with the primary airline (QF or VA) then a airline specific card doesn't make a lot of sense, unless you're also going to hold status with that airline.

 

[huggers]

I would go with a non-airline card that lets you transfer to a range of programs. If you're not going to be flying with the primary airline (QF or VA) then a airline specific card doesn't make a lot of sense, unless you're also going to hold status with that airline.

My plan was to collect the points with Velocity/ Qantas and transfer them to miles with Etihad or Qatar. (after reading all the comments I will probably go with Velocity and Etihad). I want to use the actual miles of the airlines to book the flights or upgrades.
If I keep transferring they should not expire right?

 

[levelnine]

transfer them to miles with Etihad or Qatar. (

Can't transfer Velocity or Qantas miles to Etihad or Qatar miles.

 

[justinbrett]

My plan was to collect the points with Velocity/ Qantas and transfer them to miles with Etihad or Qatar. (after reading all the comments I will probably go with Velocity and Etihad). I want to use the actual miles of the airlines to book the flights or upgrades.
If I keep transferring they should not expire right?

Get an AMEX card (non airline branded) that has Membership Rewards. You can transfer to QR and EY programs amongst many others. And you’re not bound if QF/VA change partners.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

You cannot transfer miles/points from within the VFF program to EY Etihad Guest program, or vice versa.
Transfer of points can only occur with VFF and SQ KF, and even then, its not a 1:1 even equal swap either.
Within credit cards points earn program, yes, these you can transfer, but VFF points itself, no.

 

[Tiki]

I am in a lot of frequent flyer programs and my targets are similar, economy flights to IST/SAW via whoever will give me award space. Velocity is easier for QR, economy flights at least. I can't afford business class even in points! Amex is your best bet for a credit card with flexibility. They recently added QR Avios to the partner list and flights from Australia to Istanbul are the cheapest available at 42,500 Avios. Germany isn't that much further. You can also combine BA Avios and QR Avios so if you have access to BA cards before you leave Germany, you might want to grab one.

Coles has the best promos to earn Velocity. You need to spend strategically with your partner to attract promos of "Spend X/10,000 points". This will convert to 5000 Velocity points. I did a random check, it seems BNE-FRA is 75k Velocity as an example. There are probably 8 cycles of Spend X promos a year so there is 40k points just from shopping. Then you can get more by buying specific products or gift cards. Double dip with an Amex Plt Edge to get 3x points at supermarkets then try to wait for the 15% bonus promos usually twice a year.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Thanks everybody for the friendly welcome
I have a hard time understanding all these abbreviations, I try to follow the guide from the newbie forum though

You will get used to the jargon

Objective: Free flights or at least business class upgrades on our flights between Germany and Australia. I'm not fixated on either Etihad or Qatar, in our experience it was very similar and both air lines offer flights for Australia - Germany. The prices are pretty similar too (maybe a bit cheaper with Etihad).

Award flights with airline ff miles/points/avios are not free. You always pay real govt taxes and regulatory fees. In addition with many ffp's you pay an addition cash surcharge. This can be low or high. With some awards, for a flight with a low cash cost, awards are extremely poor value, tending to not worth it. But does vary a lot.

Award flight are never guaranteed. Long haul business awards generally hard to get. Getting 2 off long haul business awards on the same flight harder again in most cases (say factor 3 not factor 2]. Premium economy, where offered, is a step up from economy.

Upgrades are never guaranteed. Generally you can only upgrade a flight with the ff miles/points/avios of the ffp of the airline you are flying. Cross airline upgrades are less common. Star Alliance has cross airline upgrade scheme, but with onerous t&c's, that make it useless for most people. Requires a high cost base fare. Not all Star Alliance airlines participate.

What flying do you do?:So far we only bought economy on either Etihad or Qatar to travel between those two. 1-2 times a year we also book flights for smaller holidays outside of visiting family but the airlines depend on the destination and we have nothing fix.

Reads as if you do little AU domestic - regional flying. Airline status can help, but my reading is you will not get status.

Note some ffp's allow retro credit after flying. You join the ffp and claim for flight taken before, up to a limit of X days (varies)

Does this mean that I could also get Qatar miles with Velocity at the moment? That would pretty much make Velocity a safe bet for me. Currently I'm heavily leaning towards Velocity anyway as my above mentioned objective seems to be better done with Etihad.

Yes. VA Virgin and QR Qatar are frequent flyer partners.

I really thought: "Qantas = QR and Velocity = Etihad". I must have really picked that up wrong.

Nope. Not that simple. Airlines can have a range of ff partners.

Which is confirming it. If I can go Etihad and Qatar with Velocity then I'm pretty much settled with Velocity

Thanks so far for the input everyone, really appreciate it

Still a lot for you to understand. And it keeps changing as ffp rules changes and ff airline partnerships change.

As above, apart from a few limited exceptions ff miles/points cannot be moved between ffp's. You can earn and burn on partners, subject to the fine print t&c's.
Avios can be moved between the ffp's that use avios as the base currency. All linked by the IAG and QR Qatar which own 25% of IAG

International Airlines Group - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As an option you could join British Airways BA ffp and QR Qatar ffp and then collect avios as the base ff currency. Etihad would be out of the picture.

When/if you move back to EU VA Velocity points will be of little value.
Be aware of the expiry rules for any freq flyer program (ffp).

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

QR being in the OW program, thus allows earning of QFF points while flying with them.
But since QR joined VFF in a liaison, separate agreement to them being in OW, QF & QFF haven't been too pleased about it.
This means effectively, that QR has 2 different alliances, with the Aust based airlines.
Usually, an airline only has one major liaison in an alliance.
Having too many fingers in too many FF programs, can lead to problems.
SQ's KF miles have a life of only 3 years, so have to keep a mental note of when your miles expire, but moving of points between this one and VFF is easy, though you do loose a bit in the transfer.
This is a unique agreement between the 2.

 

[Lost Redditor]

Welcome @huggers

I was in your shoes a few years ago, I'm also a European who's settled in Australia.

There's a lot to take in when you first start, but as you start earning and learning things will soon become clearer. Don't worry.

My aussie partner and I just came back from our first trip around the world in business class thanks to the various strategies already listed above. I used only Qantas points but have since started accruing Velocity points as well. Velocity makes it a little easier to get to a major Asian hub (Singapore Airlines is a partner of Virgin Australia) and from there you have more choice to spend QFF points.

Collecting points and spending them are two very different skills, in a way. I recommend subscribing to the AFF podcast, and looking through the articles on redeeming points