Should I transfer my Reward points to Velocity or Singapore?

[dsotm]

I have 100K points sitting in KrisFlyer and 37K in Velocity. I also have 220,000 points waiting in my Amex and Citibank Rewards accounts. I'm just wondering if I should transfer those points into Sing or Virgin. I just had a J flight to LA on VAustralia (becuse we couldn't get on Qantas) and I was very pleasantly surprised. The VAustralia 777 was a fair bit noisier than the A380 but the staff and crew were excellent. Their transfer system via Sydney though is a shocker.

I got Gold status match last month so I'm thinking my chances for upgrades and J award flights may be easier with VAustralia than Singapore?

 

[froggerADL]

I have 100K points sitting in KrisFlyer and 37K in Velocity. I also have 220,000 points waiting in my Amex and Citibank Rewards accounts. I'm just wondering if I should transfer those points into Sing or Virgin.

If you transfer them to Velocity by the end of this month you will get a 20% bonus.

 

[airtraveladdict]

I have 100K points sitting in KrisFlyer and 37K in Velocity. I also have 220,000 points waiting in my Amex and Citibank Rewards accounts. I'm just wondering if I should transfer those points into Sing or Virgin. I just had a J flight to LA on VAustralia (becuse we couldn't get on Qantas) and I was very pleasantly surprised. The VAustralia 777 was a fair bit noisier than the A380 but the staff and crew were excellent. Their transfer system via Sydney though is a shocker.

I got Gold status match last month so I'm thinking my chances for upgrades and J award flights may be easier with VAustralia than Singapore?

Singapore Airlines rarely hands out free upgrades to its own loyal frequent flyer members but I have heard of Virgin doing it.

I'm not very familiar with Krisflyer but you can buy a ticket and use redeem your points by upgrading with Singapore Airlines on an international flight, whereas V Australia does not currently provide that yet. So you can only redeem a J Class ticket with just points, you are unable to purchase a Y or Y+ and then use points to upgrade. The cheapest redemption I could find for a MEL/SYD-LHR J class ticket was 125k points one way on Etihad Airways/V Australia codeshare.

Whereas for the same flight, if you tried to redeem a J class flight on Singapore Airlines via Velocity, it will be around 150-175k.

However if you use krisflyer to redeem a business reward one way ticket, it is around 150k, and to upgrade from economy to business is 110k points. But you know that already.

Also worth noting, check your Citibank Rewards, because I believe the conversion ratio is 1.5 Citi Rewards points = 1 Velocity Point, which IMO is not good value. But the conversion rate to Qantas is much more attractive at 1 Citi Rewards points = 1.25 Qantas FFP.

And the redemption rate is also the same for Krisflyer, which is 1.5 citi = 1 krisflyer.

there is a crazy way to get around that appalling conversion rate though but i dont think you want to know lol

 

[dsotm]

Yes I'm leaning to putting the points into Velocity. There seems to be good availability of J fares to London with Etihad, and also with VA to LAX (190,000 points return I think)

 

[pauly7]

Yes I'm leaning to putting the points into Velocity. There seems to be good availability of J fares to London with Etihad, and also with VA to LAX (190,000 points return I think)

Yup, avails are good because it is Ethiad oh and the catch - you have to fly Ethiad

 

[dsotm]

Yup, avails are good because it is Ethiad oh and the catch - you have to fly Ethiad

I know they're not Singapore, but are they bad in biz?

 

[dsotm]

Hmmmm... I'm investigating further and for only 30K+ more points I can get two one-way J tix on Singapore to London on a 777/A380 combo, which may well be a nicer flying experience than Etihad.

 

[browski]

My advice would be to leave most of your points where they are; and then wait and see where best to move them as required. If award availability is only available on SQ, then you will regret having transferred them all into Velocity (and vice versa). You might want to top up Velocity with another 50k points, so that you have sufficient points there if you need to redeem something quickly, and then leave the balance of 170K in Citibank Rewards.

Obviously at some time in the near future when the VA/SQ partnership has commenced, one of those programs might be redundant; so the dilemma will no longer exist. (At the time, if it were me, I'd keep Krisflyer and remove Velocity, but it really depends upon your travel patterns.)

 

[notzac]

I know they're not Singapore, but are they bad in biz?

If you get one of the new or refurbished planes, they're pretty good (the older planes would qualify as "OK, but not great"). Service is decent. Food is excellent. Wines mostly decent, but not outstanding.

The above is from a pretty small sample - other members will have more experience with EY than I do.

 

[airtraveladdict]

Yes I'm leaning to putting the points into Velocity. There seems to be good availability of J fares to London with Etihad, and also with VA to LAX (190,000 points return I think)

There are some dates left for a business reward ticket to LA and its about 188,000 Points + $618 AUD.

But I tend to agree with Browski to keep your points where they are, unless of course you want to travel in the immediate future OR want to take advantage of Velocity Rewards 20% transfer bonus with AMEX, no citibank though, which ends October 31.

And if you want to fly business to Europe on Singapore Airlines A380, soon the only way is via Sydney because SIA is dropping the A380 from Melbourne and will service that with 777-300ER.

 

[dsotm]

And if you want to fly business to Europe on Singapore Airlines A380, soon the only way is via Sydney because SIA is dropping the A380 from Melbourne and will service that with 777-300ER.

Yeah I think I'll just park until I need to book. Shame about the 777 replacing the A380. Nice but a noisy aircraft.

 

[antycbr]

Another factor to consider is the price of fuel fines. There's a significant difference between EY and SQ on comparable Europe flights (~$350).

 

[random111]

I'm in a similar boat myself

I've got 210k comm awards and 30k membership rewards that i'm thinking i should move over to velocity to take advantage of the 20% bonus.

I'm planning a trip late next year, early 2013 to europe for me and the wife...and we would love to fly in J. If i transfered the points accross i should have 162k velocity points now and would earn another 50k by the time i need to book the trip, enough for 1 ticket.

Should i transfer them accross?

Would it be better to use them for other items in the individual awards programs e.g. voucher or gifts? and hope for a sale on J cash tickets?

We've got a trip with Vaustralia coming up in dec that will earn me some decent SC's and points, I also will have a few work trips in the coming months that I will push to be with virgin.


Sorry to hijack but this may also help you with your problem!

 

[dsotm]

I'm probably going to sit on mine and get two one-way J tickets with Singapore MEL/LONDON and use my 250K points with Qantas for the return LONDON/MEL J trip.

SA did a similar 20% point bonus deal last year so they may do it again. If not I'll still have enough to do the afore-mentioned trip. In your case you are probably doing more VA than me, so the 20% Velocity deal is more attractive to you. Forget the voucher/gifts redemption. They just don't seem good value at all.

I'm in a similar boat myself

I've got 210k comm awards and 30k membership rewards that i'm thinking i should move over to velocity to take advantage of the 20% bonus.

I'm planning a trip late next year, early 2013 to europe for me and the wife...and we would love to fly in J. If i transfered the points accross i should have 162k velocity points now and would earn another 50k by the time i need to book the trip, enough for 1 ticket.

Should i transfer them accross?

Would it be better to use them for other items in the individual awards programs e.g. voucher or gifts? and hope for a sale on J cash tickets?

We've got a trip with Vaustralia coming up in dec that will earn me some decent SC's and points, I also will have a few work trips in the coming months that I will push to be with virgin.


Sorry to hijack but this may also help you with your problem!

 

[airtraveladdict]

I'm in a similar boat myself

I've got 210k comm awards and 30k membership rewards that i'm thinking i should move over to velocity to take advantage of the 20% bonus.

I'm planning a trip late next year, early 2013 to europe for me and the wife...and we would love to fly in J. If i transfered the points accross i should have 162k velocity points now and would earn another 50k by the time i need to book the trip, enough for 1 ticket.

Should i transfer them accross?

Would it be better to use them for other items in the individual awards programs e.g. voucher or gifts? and hope for a sale on J cash tickets?

We've got a trip with Vaustralia coming up in dec that will earn me some decent SC's and points, I also will have a few work trips in the coming months that I will push to be with virgin.


Sorry to hijack but this may also help you with your problem!

nooo00 don't waste awards on vouchers and gifts that's just my opinion though.

Just check your conversion rate for your 210k comm awards, im assuming thats commonwealth bank? Its not a very good conversion rate to Velocity or Qantas because i used to be on that program. which is why i switched my cards around to get more bang for the buck.

2 Commonwealth Awards points = 1 Velocity Point
So you would only get 105k Velocity Points, but you take advantage of the 20% bonus (ending Oct 31), you'll get 126k.

As for Amex membership reward, it should be a 1 = 1 ratio.

but if you're planning to fly in 2013, but then i think Velocity would have introduced buy a ticket and upgrade with points system (best way to use points in my opinion), like all major airlines. So you'll be able to check award seat availability before booking a full fare economy or premium economy ticket and using your points to upgrade to J class for both your wife and yourself.

 

[random111]

nooo00 don't waste awards on vouchers and gifts that's just my opinion though.

Just check your conversion rate for your 210k comm awards, im assuming thats commonwealth bank? Its not a very good conversion rate to Velocity or Qantas because i used to be on that program. which is why i switched my cards around to get more bang for the buck.

2 Commonwealth Awards points = 1 Velocity Point
So you would only get 105k Velocity Points, but you take advantage of the 20% bonus (ending Oct 31), you'll get 126k.

As for Amex membership reward, it should be a 1 = 1 ratio.

but if you're planning to fly in 2013, but then i think Velocity would have introduced buy a ticket and upgrade with points system (best way to use points in my opinion), like all major airlines. So you'll be able to check award seat availability before booking a full fare economy or premium economy ticket and using your points to upgrade to J class for both your wife and yourself.

Hey thanks for the advice!!

yeah comm awards, the earn rate wasnt too bad as most of the points have been from the amex which gets 3 points per dollar and is then redeemed at 2 to 1 with velocity.

anyway im looking at trialing the amex charge card and velocity flyer card, whilst taking advantage of the bonus points on offer to sign up, for a year and seeing how that is. Off topic but what card combo are you on?

Looks like i'll be transferring the points over to velocity as the general consensus is they can be worth more by using them on tickets/upgrades.

I do hope by the time i have to book, Virgin have upgrades available internationally, or the ability to earn SC's and points on any seat tickets!

 

[airtraveladdict]

Hey thanks for the advice!!

yeah comm awards, the earn rate wasnt too bad as most of the points have been from the amex which gets 3 points per dollar and is then redeemed at 2 to 1 with velocity.

anyway im looking at trialing the amex charge card and velocity flyer card, whilst taking advantage of the bonus points on offer to sign up, for a year and seeing how that is. Off topic but what card combo are you on?

Looks like i'll be transferring the points over to velocity as the general consensus is they can be worth more by using them on tickets/upgrades.

I do hope by the time i have to book, Virgin have upgrades available internationally, or the ability to earn SC's and points on any seat tickets!

Firstly i'm not an expert on the frequent flyer credit cards and credit goes to AFFer, TonyHancock, who is a Qantas FF, who shared his card combo info with me.

However I tweaked his combo to suite Velocity, since some of the cards he was using were only generous to Qantas, not Velocity.

The AMEX charge card, is that the Platinum original with the 80,000 bonus points and $900 per annum fee? that card is truly worth it if you spend big and travel international and use all up all the benefits it offers...which we have calculated outweighs the $900 fee and the 1.5 FFS = $1 is also nice too. If you are going to get that card, then you'll probably need to ignore some of the info I post below.

Otherwise depends on your annual spend, because you don't want the high annual fees to outweigh the benefits/points earn you get from each card.
A good starter card for me was the Amex platinum edge $149 annual fee, you get 25,000 signup bonus points (meh), but its the 3-2-1 earn rate that is good. 3 points for $1 spent at supermarkets (including gift cards which you can buy at post offices), 2 points per $1 for petrol, 1 point = $1 everywhere else.
you get 1 free VA flight per annum. complimentary membership to AMEX Ascent, which has better conversion rate than the normal AMEX membership rewards program.... i believe. In Ascent, you get 1 = 1 ratio many airlines including Virgin, whereas non ascent its 1.5 AMEX membership points = 1 velocity point.
And you get domestic & international travel insurance as well as travel inconvenience cover, which saves me around $390 a year on global travel insurance (which is the cheapest rate, it is normally around $500 a yearly global travel insurance cover). so already it outweighs the $149 annual fee.

If you encounter places that don't accept AMEX, the velocity branded high flyer visa cards, $249 annual fee, you still get $1 = 1.25 points (which is equivalent to the HIGHEST non-AMEX Qantas FF card on the market, the citibank gold visa business card) So you actually use this over the AMEX Platinum Edge for everything else because you get 0.25 points extra. and you get that 4 free flights per annum offer.
although its a shame this card does not offer bonus points for when you spend with your $$$ with Virgin group of airlines like the AMEX Gold/Platinum Velocity cards which gives you, 2.5 VP per $1 spent and 3 VP per $1 respectively, with Virgin Australia group of airlines.

But i'll be interested to know if you are going to get that platinum charge card, because i think if you did that, the annual fee for diffeerent AMEX card (not talking about supplementary) will be waived.

 

[random111]

Firstly i'm not an expert on the frequent flyer credit cards and credit goes to AFFer, TonyHancock, who is a Qantas FF, who shared his card combo info with me.

However I tweaked his combo to suite Velocity, since some of the cards he was using were only generous to Qantas, not Velocity.

The AMEX charge card, is that the Platinum original with the 80,000 bonus points and $900 per annum fee? that card is truly worth it if you spend big and travel international and use all up all the benefits it offers...which we have calculated outweighs the $900 fee and the 1.5 FFS = $1 is also nice too. If you are going to get that card, then you'll probably need to ignore some of the info I post below.

Otherwise depends on your annual spend, because you don't want the high annual fees to outweigh the benefits/points earn you get from each card.
A good starter card for me was the Amex platinum edge $149 annual fee, you get 25,000 signup bonus points (meh), but its the 3-2-1 earn rate that is good. 3 points for $1 spent at supermarkets (including gift cards which you can buy at post offices), 2 points per $1 for petrol, 1 point = $1 everywhere else.
you get 1 free VA flight per annum. complimentary membership to AMEX Ascent, which has better conversion rate than the normal AMEX membership rewards program.... i believe. In Ascent, you get 1 = 1 ratio many airlines including Virgin, whereas non ascent its 1.5 AMEX membership points = 1 velocity point.
And you get domestic & international travel insurance as well as travel inconvenience cover, which saves me around $390 a year on global travel insurance (which is the cheapest rate, it is normally around $500 a yearly global travel insurance cover). so already it outweighs the $149 annual fee.

If you encounter places that don't accept AMEX, the velocity branded high flyer visa cards, $249 annual fee, you still get $1 = 1.25 points (which is equivalent to the HIGHEST non-AMEX Qantas FF card on the market, the citibank gold visa business card) So you actually use this over the AMEX Platinum Edge for everything else because you get 0.25 points extra. and you get that 4 free flights per annum offer.
although its a shame this card does not offer bonus points for when you spend with your $$$ with Virgin group of airlines like the AMEX Gold/Platinum Velocity cards which gives you, 2.5 VP per $1 spent and 3 VP per $1 respectively, with Virgin Australia group of airlines.

But i'll be interested to know if you are going to get that platinum charge card, because i think if you did that, the annual fee for diffeerent AMEX card (not talking about supplementary) will be waived.

Thanks for sharing that with me and all the detail as well!

I've currently got CBA platinum and Amex plat reserve, im weighing up changing this to amex plat charge with virgin flyer cc.

I get access to discounted amex fees through a pro association, so the fee would be $700, making the 80,000 points all the more worthwhile.

I was leaning more towards the standard flyer card with a $1 = 1 velocity point earn rate, i put majority of my spend on amex so the cost vs benefit of the extra fees on the high flyer card is not justified for me.

The travel insurance on the charge card seems to be rated very highly and there are a couple of other benefits that I dont rate highly but are all contributing to the value of the card.

are there any other costs or benefits i need to consider?

Is there a better combo than this for velocity, other than the velocity high flyer?

 

[airtraveladdict]

Thanks for sharing that with me and all the detail as well!

I've currently got CBA platinum and Amex plat reserve, im weighing up changing this to amex plat charge with virgin flyer cc.

I get access to discounted amex fees through a pro association, so the fee would be $700, making the 80,000 points all the more worthwhile.

I was leaning more towards the standard flyer card with a $1 = 1 velocity point earn rate, i put majority of my spend on amex so the cost vs benefit of the extra fees on the high flyer card is not justified for me.

The travel insurance on the charge card seems to be rated very highly and there are a couple of other benefits that I dont rate highly but are all contributing to the value of the card.

are there any other costs or benefits i need to consider?

Is there a better combo than this for velocity, other than the velocity high flyer?

Not that i am aware off, its rare for mastercard/visa cards to award $1 = 1.25 points, most are $2 = 1 point in the market. Our loyalty program market is not as generous as the americans, who get insane reward points. The only ones i know of are citibank visa business gold, which is only good for redemption with Qantas FF, because you get $1 = 1.25 points, or if you transfered it to Starwood Preferred Guest its $1 = 1 (but thats another story).

But i can see where you are going with the standard, Virgin Money visa for $1 = 1, the fees are only $99. But note the T&C, you'll earn 1 Velocity Point per $1 spent up to $1,500 per month and then 1 Velocity Point for every $2 spent. But then again this is going to be your backup card when AMEX is not accepted, so it doesn't matter.

Anyway the Amex charge card, it is definately worth it, specially if you get it for $700 fee and you get the bonus 80,000 points that is a points earn of 0.00875 per $1, which is amazing rate. on top of that, its $1 - 1.5 points because you will belong to Ascent Premium, the highest tier rewards program.

And you get complimentary annual membership to Priority Pass, which gives you access to 600 airport lounges globally and costs $US399 a year for a regular user or $US249 for 10 lounge visit passes.

Add up $US399 + annual travel insurance for you and your spouse (single cover costs anywhere $390 upwards) and if you travel with your wife well you're saving on family cover , so just those two benefits alone, you already recoup your $700 annual fee.

And...yes there is more and (im not sure if AMEX should hire me as salesperson LOL) anyway... AMEX touts that you can "SAVE UP TO 46% ON STANDARD FARES WITH THE PLATINUM AIRLINE PRIVILEGES PROGRAM" as well, now whether that means the airlines give AMEX plat special fare offers or something i dont know.

And ontop of that, if you are a very good customer, im sure AMEX will give you a velocity branded amex free TonyHancock has his AMEX Ultimate Qantas fee waived because he has a platinum charge card, that card works out to be $1 = 1.5 points + 1 bonus point for spending with Qantas so $1 = 2.5 Qantas FF point. So perhaps, your loyalty might convince AMEX to give you a AMEX velocity free, even the gold one earns $1 = 2.5 points when you spend your $$$ with Virgin Group of Airlines

Then again i heard TonyHancock clocks up 800,000 FF a year, lol dammmm

 

[random111]

Not that i am aware off, its rare for mastercard/visa cards to award $1 = 1.25 points, most are $2 = 1 point in the market. Our loyalty program market is not as generous as the americans, who get insane reward points. The only ones i know of are citibank visa business gold, which is only good for redemption with Qantas FF, because you get $1 = 1.25 points, or if you transfered it to Starwood Preferred Guest its $1 = 1 (but thats another story).

But i can see where you are going with the standard, Virgin Money visa for $1 = 1, the fees are only $99. But note the T&C, you'll earn 1 Velocity Point per $1 spent up to $1,500 per month and then 1 Velocity Point for every $2 spent. But then again this is going to be your backup card when AMEX is not accepted, so it doesn't matter.

Anyway the Amex charge card, it is definately worth it, specially if you get it for $700 fee and you get the bonus 80,000 points that is a points earn of 0.00875 per $1, which is amazing rate. on top of that, its $1 - 1.5 points because you will belong to Ascent Premium, the highest tier rewards program.

And you get complimentary annual membership to Priority Pass, which gives you access to 600 airport lounges globally and costs $US399 a year for a regular user or $US249 for 10 lounge visit passes.

Add up $US399 + annual travel insurance for you and your spouse (single cover costs anywhere $390 upwards) and if you travel with your wife well you're saving on family cover , so just those two benefits alone, you already recoup your $700 annual fee.

And...yes there is more and (im not sure if AMEX should hire me as salesperson LOL) anyway... AMEX touts that you can "SAVE UP TO 46% ON STANDARD FARES WITH THE PLATINUM AIRLINE PRIVILEGES PROGRAM" as well, now whether that means the airlines give AMEX plat special fare offers or something i dont know.

And ontop of that, if you are a very good customer, im sure AMEX will give you a velocity branded amex free TonyHancock has his AMEX Ultimate Qantas fee waived because he has a platinum charge card, that card works out to be $1 = 1.5 points + 1 bonus point for spending with Qantas so $1 = 2.5 Qantas FF point. So perhaps, your loyalty might convince AMEX to give you a AMEX velocity free, even the gold one earns $1 = 2.5 points when you spend your $$$ with Virgin Group of Airlines

Then again i heard TonyHancock clocks up 800,000 FF a year, lol dammmm

800,000 a year?? Thats amazing!!

hahaha I was gonna say, are you linked to amex in anyway?? You deserve some sort of commission for your effort!

Was reading another thread before and apparently you get priority club and spg gold complimentary with the charge card. Although the card is pricey, it comes with a lot!

I think my decision has been made!

thanks for your help airtraveladdict!!