Question: Long term planning - Points & Status

[Lord_Lenny]

Morning all!!

I have a question/musing that I'm hoping to get some AFF advice on, if anyone has any advice to give that is.

Background:

I have just hit Velocity Platinum (Expires September 2017) and currently have a balance of approx 99,000 points. I now travel maybe once a month for work on VA (used to be 2-3 times a month) and have a Velocity AMEX that most of my bills/shopping goes on, and of course I family pool all of Lady Lenny's points/status to me.

This year I made a few status runs in order to hit Platinum (plus a pre-planned holiday to Europe with Lady Lenny which did most of it) primarily so I could be assured of a soft landing into Gold when it expires and safely have 2 years of decent benefits no matter how my work schedule/job changes.

My question:

We are tentatively planning to celebrate her 30th (New Years Eve 2017) with a winter trip to Europe: Munich-Amsterdam-Paris-London and the options I'm considering are SQ or EY into Munich and out of London.

Given that I would ideally like to at least attempt to retain gold with this trip I am thinking about doing the following:

1. Opening a Krisflyer account and transferring most (or all) of my Velocity Points into it
2. Booking SQ Y with $$ and then using points to upgrade
3. Flying on my Velocity FF number for Status Credits with Velocity Gold for the priority benefits (is this possible?? We flew SQ to Europe in July as Velocity Gold and was fine - but I'm not currently a Krisflyer member so I'm not sure how that would impact)

That seems to me a decent way to redeem a bunch of points whilst still retaining status - we only really fly east coast triangle anyway so it seems a waste to use points on those routes.

Our other option is to just pay $$ (a dummy 2016 booking for the dates we want shows about $4-6k depending on our dates/times) and use some points for a quick week in Singapore or NZ

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

 

[Jack_OC]

We are tentatively planning to celebrate her 30th (New Years Eve 2017) with a winter trip to Europe: Munich-Amsterdam-Paris-London and the options I'm considering are SQ or EY into Munich and out of London.

Given that I would ideally like to at least attempt to retain gold with this trip I am thinking about doing the following:

1. Opening a Krisflyer account and transferring most (or all) of my Velocity Points into it
2. Booking SQ Y with $$ and then using points to upgrade
3. Flying on my Velocity FF number for Status Credits with Velocity Gold for the priority benefits (is this possible?? We flew SQ to Europe in July as Velocity Gold and was fine - but I'm not currently a Krisflyer member so I'm not sure how that would impact)

That seems to me a decent way to redeem a bunch of points whilst still retaining status - we only really fly east coast triangle anyway so it seems a waste to use points on those routes.

Our other option is to just pay $$ (a dummy 2016 booking for the dates we want shows about $4-6k depending on our dates/times) and use some points for a quick week in Singapore or NZ

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

You can definitely credit SQ flights to Velocity while simultaneously holding a KrisFlyer account. In fact, I recently had a work trip with SQ (all on one booking) and I credited the first three sectors to KrisFlyer but then got the check in agent for the last sector to change it to my Velocity number. Not only did I successfully get the Velocity credit for that flight, I also got PPS credit at the same time (in case you're not aware, SQ has two loyalty programs, KrisFlyer and PPS - the latter is based on the amount of revenue SQ get from you).

However, if you book with SQ and then upgrade with KrisFlyer miles, I'm not sure if that would complicate switching the FF number in the booking to Velocity. It might.

It's also worth noting that booking the flights as outright J redemptions with SQ is probably a better option, although obviously it would mean no points/SC earn. J saver awards to EU destinations from East Coast Australia cost only 80,500 KF miles each way (or less in some cases) when booked online, plus a variable cash component ($400 in many cases, but departing from the UK on the way back will approximately double this). Y to J upgrades cost 65,000 KF miles, and obviously the cash component will be much higher, especially as you can't upgrade on the cheapo Y fares. There is also a risk with the upgrade option that you book the Y fare and then are unsuccessful with the upgrade. So in effect, you'd be paying a lot of cash and taking a risk of getting stuck in Y, just to earn extra SCs and save 31,000 KF miles if it all works out.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that under the new rules, you can only do a Y to J upgrade if there is no Premium Economy cabin on the relevant flights.

Also, the only economy fare classes that are eligible for upgrade are Y, B and E, which I believe means Economy Flexi Saver or Economy Flexi. Return flights to Europe in those fare classes will likely cost you at least $2,000 each, or probably more at a peak time like xmas.

EDIT 2: I just noticed you currently have only 99,000 Velocity points, which is equivalent to 73,000 KF miles, so the J redemption probably isn't realistic. In fact, you will need a lot more points, even for the upgrade option (you'd need at least 130,000 KF miles (175.5k Velocity points) to upgrade both of you one way). If you want to do it, perhaps look into some new credit cards with bonus point offers.

 

[Lord_Lenny]

Thanks for the info Jack, this is why I put out the question - have next to no insight into how KrisFlyer works (I picked up on there being some difference between KF/PPS due to the signage around Changi etc.)

So in essence there doesn't seem to be much point NOT redeeming in full for J/F travel on SQ.

Considering I'm fairly certain I'll need this trip to lock in gold for another year it may be a better option just to pay for this trip (anyone know what Etihad Y is like??) and then treat ourselves to a reward booking somewhere closer to home during my platinum year.

 

[Jack_OC]

Thanks for the info Jack, this is why I put out the question - have next to no insight into how KrisFlyer works (I picked up on there being some difference between KF/PPS due to the signage around Changi etc.)

So in essence there doesn't seem to be much point NOT redeeming in full for J/F travel on SQ.

Considering I'm fairly certain I'll need this trip to lock in gold for another year it may be a better option just to pay for this trip (anyone know what Etihad Y is like??) and then treat ourselves to a reward booking somewhere closer to home during my platinum year.

Yeah, I think SQ upgrades are really only worth it in certain situations - for example you're travelling for work and are booked into an eligible Y fare - in that case the base cost of the original fare is irrelevant to you. Also, SQ points expire, so sometimes people are just trying to find a way to use them up before expiration.

I would tend to agree that you're better off just paying for flights for this trip, unless you can dramatically increase your points balance by the start of next year. I have flown with Etihad Y a few times, but not since about 5 years ago. I thought it was ok (or as ok as long haul Y can be). However, I have heard others say it's dreadful. SQ is very good in every cabin IME. Plus Changi is a much more pleasant transit airport than Abu Dhabi.

 

[NZflygirl]

I think I would fly either SQ or EY based on price as the distance is the same so the sc earn should be the same? Given you want sc earn you can't book an award flight. Then I'd consider aircraft and schedule.

Definitely compare the price from EY and SQ sites vs VA site as there can be differences.

Using points to upgrade sounds great but if you sign up with SQ you'll be KF blue - no status, I would not be that confident of my points upgrade going through unless there are lots of reports otherwise. HOWEVER, if you are going to be flying SQ or its subsidiaries in 3yrs before the points expire then try for the upgrade and if unsuccessful just leave the points in the SQ account for later use. If it transpires you may not use them then transfer back to VA with the transfer loss.

I'm banking you'll find EY cheaper than SQ for your flights but I haven't looked. In that case you could aim to bid for an upgrade to J from Y if you buy an upgradeable Y fare, if you want a bit more comfort - you don't lose anything, they don't take your $$ if you don't get the upgrade. Then just use VA points for another trip. You have time on your hands so I would certainly hang out and watch for the sale fares.

You can add your Velocity FF # at check-in or lounge but it costs nothing to join SQ and if you need to manage your booking it might be useful to have a KF # to log in. I joined just so I could figure out the book the cook option - which turns out didn't work on the website, then account got closed as I never credited the flight to them I'm not sure but maybe 18 months later? So made another one up for a VA redemption recently.

Actually one more thought - could you fly VA to AUH then EY onwards but use VA points to upgrade on VA to AUH?? Not sure how many points that would be. You'd get EY first lounge access?

 

[Jack_OC]

Using points to upgrade sounds great but if you sign up with SQ you'll be KF blue - no status, I would not be that confident of my points upgrade going through unless there are lots of reports otherwise.

SQ upgrades are not like QF - if there is an upgrade seat available, you can simply log in and book it online - it's confirmed straight away, and to my knowledge status doesn't come into it. If there are no upgrades available you can request to be Waitlisted for an upgrade, and then maybe status does matter, but as I said above, SQ upgrades just aren't really worth it anyway, relative to outright J award redemptions.

Actually one more thought - could you fly VA to AUH then EY onwards but use VA points to upgrade on VA to AUH?? Not sure how many points that would be. You'd get EY first lounge access?

That might be a good idea - a one way Y to J upgrade from SYD-AUH if you book with VA is 45,000 Velocity points per person, so the OP has enough points to do that if available. However, he would have to book a Flexi (or Premium Economy) fare to be eligible for the upgrade, so it won't be cheap. I think it would also be better to book the whole trip with VA - as for some peculiar reason, flights from Australia to AUH cost almost as much as flights to Europe via AUH, and then AUH to Europe can cost almost as much again!

 

[NZflygirl]

SQ upgrades are not like QF - if there is an upgrade seat available, you can simply log in and book it online - it's confirmed straight away, and to my knowledge status doesn't come into it. If there are no upgrades available you can request to be Waitlisted for an upgrade, and then maybe status does matter, but as I said above, SQ upgrades just aren't really worth it anyway, relative to outright J award redemptions.

That is so cool to discover!!

Sorry not clear I meant fly on with EY metal but under VA. Agree its cheaper doing bookings as you've stated.

 

[Lord_Lenny]

I had looked at the VA to AUH then EY into Germany (Or Alitalia/Etihad to Italy - itinerary is subject to change depending on what we want the focus to be: Snow or Art haha) but it's a bit fiddly finding prices atm as VA have their 777's in for refit so I don't feel confident dummy booking for 2016 dates. That said we did do VA SYD-LAX for our honeymoon last year and their Y product was really quite comfortable for a trans pacific crossing.

SQ are always my preferred carrier to Europe even before I started gaining status, I'm 6'1 and have swimmer's shoulders so economy cabins are never ideal but I find SQ to be quite decent, plus Changi is awesome my little sister and I used to make straight for the Koi Pond in the old terminal when we were flying to and from the UK in the 90's. Plus I was pleasantly surprised to find that our saver fare was counted as a full economy fare for Status Credit earning!!

I'm banking you'll find EY cheaper than SQ for your flights but I haven't looked.

Yep they seem to average a few hundred cheaper - which is odd as when researching our last trip EY were actually a few hundred more expensive...odd.

At any rate this thread has convinced me it's probably best just to pay for this trip and sit on my points for a later date, probably a J return trip to Singapore for a few days.