Using VA Points Status Question

[smd100]

Hello All, I was hoping to get some advice from flyers much more knowledgeable than I, on how to use my VA points and current VA status

I currently have 504 status credits but don't have gold status as I haven't taken 4 flights operated by VA. I have actually just been bumped back down to red status as I didn't even take 2 VA operated flights to maintain that!

I am just a casual flyer but have family in Europe that I try to visit when I can.

My partner and 4 year old would like to travel back to France for a holiday next year and would love to fly business and our current points balance is approx. 300k

It seems that whenever I go to look for availability on VA site it is always booked and I'm going around in circles trying to figure out what the best way to find and obtain availability.

So my questions are:

1) if I had gold status would my search for availability be easier?

2) does anyone know of a good way to find / redeem premium seats using my points balance + cash

3) is it possible to take my family in business or am I just dreaming?

Any help and advice gratefully received

SMD

 

[Pleb Status]

Hello All, I was hoping to get some advice from flyers much more knowledgeable than I, on how to use my VA points and current VA status

I currently have 504 status credits but don't have gold status as I haven't taken 4 flights operated by VA. I have actually just been bumped back down to red status as I didn't even take 2 VA operated flights to maintain that!

I am just a casual flyer but have family in Europe that I try to visit when I can.

My partner and 4 year old would like to travel back to France for a holiday next year and would love to fly business and our current points balance is approx. 300k

It seems that whenever I go to look for availability on VA site it is always booked and I'm going around in circles trying to figure out what the best way to find and obtain availability.

So my questions are:

1) if I had gold status would my search for availability be easier?

2) does anyone know of a good way to find / redeem premium seats using my points balance + cash

3) is it possible to take my family in business or am I just dreaming?

Any help and advice gratefully received

SMD

I do not believe that status affects the award availability on VFF. I have only searched as a WP so cannot confirm for sure however.

You are dreaming if you think you can get three J return seats Australia to Europe on any FF program for only 300k points. You will need at least double to triple that...

Any seat awards (aka points + pay) are normally poor value from a $/pt perspective.

 

[ozjuice]

You can convert the points to Krisflyer and use them for one way J flights but you'll need to top up the points quite a bit. SQ have heaps of awards.

 

[goldenhorn]

Yes, I'm afraid you are dreaming...you won't get 3 seats in J one way (let alone return) for 300K.

This chart might help?

https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/Redeem/Airlines/PointsTables/

 

[Mogul]

To give you an idea I have just booked 2 return J trips to Germany next June on SQ using VFF points.

Total points per person was around 250,000 return.

 

[Denali]

1) if I had gold status would my search for availability be easier?
Not in my experience

2) does anyone know of a good way to find / redeem premium seats using my points balance + cash
Doubtful you will get 3 x J reward seats at the same time and not for 300K points (as others have already said).

Are you prepared to pay for any J of the J seats? I recenlty snagged 1 reward J seat for myself in July and another opened up for hubby about 2 weeks ago, same flights. I also transferred my Velocity points to Kris Flyer (dont forget theres a conversation difference). Worse case senario was that if a reward seat didnt open up, I would have paid for hubbys flights (which I was trying to avoid).

3) is it possible to take my family in business or am I just dreaming?
Dream big. Keep collecting points and be flexible. Look for other arrivals than Paris and train it to where you need to be. I would avoid Ethiad flights as the taxes are so high so stick to SQ.

Good luck!

 

[SheikYerbouti]

To give you an idea I have just booked 2 return J trips to Germany next June on SQ using VFF points.

Total points per person was around 250,000 return.

This gives me hope, we are hoping for 2 x J Syd - Europe (happy with many destinations) in Sept 2020, currently have ~600,000 VFF points. So it can be done!

 

[smd100]

Thanks to everyone for you replies, your knowledge is much appreciated!

 

[newmarket]

Does anyone know when SQ awards open up to booking with VFF? Is it SQ’s 355 days or VFF’s 330 days?

Does the 25 day difference make much difference in availability to Europe?

Thank you.