VA transfer to SQ 1.35:1 VA

[rtyuiop]

I am not all that experienced with KF, have only ever done one upgrade - but from that experience I believe the upgrade and award buckets (for saver/standard/full) are the same - so you can check for an award seat before booking, then use that to upgrade. Be aware that only a very few fare classes can be upgraded - fortunately if you are booking through the SQ website they make it pretty clear which can.

But be aware I am not a reliable source on this subject!

 

[bicflyer]

Thank you rtyuiop. Another question for which I would be grateful for your advice. I found an upgrade chart on SQ website which shows the points required - I dont understand why there are 3 different points amounts required for Saver/Standard/Full and in particular why the points chart shows that a Saver upgrade is less than Standard which in turn is less than Full. I'm confused, hope you can unfoggle my brain.

 

[VAG newbie]

Can someone with SQ experience help me with advice re using points to upgrade to business class on SQ. Is it like on VA where there are only a few upgrade seats available, and you check with the booking centre before making the Flexi booking in case there arent any upgrade seats available? Or can you do it online? I'm thinking of transferring some VA points to KF for the purpose but I dont want to do that then find that there are no points upgrade seats available. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Why do you want to upgrade when you can redeem the seat for almost the same miles? (Upgrade probably will save you 10% of points?) There is no guarantee you will be upgraded and you have to buy the most expensive full flexi fare, which usually cost twice as much as the sale fare.

The only reason I can think of are the ones desperately needing the status to maintain elite, or if the company is paying for the airfare but only allow you to fly economy. If this is you, forget what I said as I have absolutely no experience in upgrading cuz I don't believe the value in it.

 

[VAG newbie]

Thank you rtyuiop. Another question for which I would be grateful for your advice. I found an upgrade chart on SQ website which shows the points required - I dont understand why there are 3 different points amounts required for Saver/Standard/Full and in particular why the points chart shows that a Saver upgrade is less than Standard which in turn is less than Full. I'm confused, hope you can unfoggle my brain.

for redemption or upgrade, SQ has 3 tiers. The saver are the ones you want as it requires least miles but they are the one that goes first, with the least amount of seats.

Standard are about twice as expensive as saver. More availability but also quite expensive, that's why SQ release more seats at this level. The advice is, only use standard if you have no other choice.

Full fare, or "fool" fare, is for fools who has tons of KF points to burn and has absolutely no flexibility. It is like any seat award with Qantas that you can redeem on any SQ flights, but the price is for fools. I wouldn't even bother, especially you are gonna transfer using VA points. It will cost you millions. You might as well save it for EY first class

 

[tinkybelle]

Still off-topic but I agree with JohnK - booking any airline with Virgin Atlantic points has poor availability as well as having very expensive fees and taxes and has to be done through the call centre. It is a nightmare trying to use VS points on anything but VS.

I have never been charged fees booking with VS And their taxes at least to USA On Virgin Australia are $100 out of SYD. And $34 on the return in J

 

[TomVexille]

Why do you want to upgrade when you can redeem the seat for almost the same miles? (Upgrade probably will save you 10% of points?) There is no guarantee you will be upgraded and you have to buy the most expensive full flexi fare, which usually cost twice as much as the sale fare.

The only reason I can think of are the ones desperately needing the status to maintain elite, or if the company is paying for the airfare but only allow you to fly economy. If this is you, forget what I said as I have absolutely no experience in upgrading cuz I don't believe the value in it.

Well I think you answered your own question

 

[JohnK]

I have never been charged fees booking with VS And their taxes at least to USA On Virgin Australia are $100 out of SYD. And $34 on the return in J

Try going LAX-LHR on VS. The taxes and surcharges are very high.

 

[SydneySwan]

I have never been charged fees booking with VS And their taxes at least to USA On Virgin Australia are $100 out of SYD. And $34 on the return in J

Earlier this year I tried booking a SQ return from Sydney to London using VS points. There was no availability in business but there was the odd seat in economy. The taxes VS wanted were only $330 less than if I had booked a paid fare with SQ and I would have had to pay 100,000 points for the privilege. VS could find no availability at all on Air NZ in any classes.:evil:

 

[rtyuiop]

Has anyone seen anything more on the online rewards availability of SQ flights? We are rapidly approaching the end of November... Wondering if this actually meant that you can transfer points to KF and check availability there!

 

[JohnK]

Wondering if this actually meant that you can transfer points to KF and check availability there!

This whole announcement was about the ability to transfer points between programs. Once transferred you would check availability there.

FWIW with KriFlyer you don't need miles in account to check award availability, miles cost and taxes and surcharges. Not sure you even need to be a member?

 

[VAG newbie]

Yes, you need to be a member. It will ask you to log in.

 

[bullerdude]

This whole announcement was about the ability to transfer points between programs. Once transferred you would check availability there.

FWIW with KriFlyer you don't need miles in account to check award availability, miles cost and taxes and surcharges. Not sure you even need to be a member?

They also announced they were adding the ability to book through the VA website as well - from the press announcement:

As part of a range of enhancements, Velocity Frequent Flyer members will soon experience a more seamless booking process through a major upgrade to the online booking capability, which will allow them to redeem flights with Singapore Airlines and SilkAir online via the Velocity Frequent Flyer website.

 

[anat0l]

They also announced they were adding the ability to book through the VA website as well - from the press announcement:

Fantastic. That means you don't need to go through the (poor excuse for a) call centre.

 

[JohnK]

They also announced they were adding the ability to book through the VA website as well - from the press announcement:

Is there any advantage booking via Velocity website over KriFlyer website?

 

[anat0l]

Is there any advantage booking via Velocity website over KriFlyer website?

I was only guessing that via Velocity means paying with Velocity points. Higher points prices but less fuel surcharges.

I just said as much because previously Singapore Airlines redemptions using Velocity points could only be booked using the Partner Airlines desk of the call centre.

 

[medhead]

This sounds good but I'm trying to figure if this has any real practical value. I've never had any difficulty having my membership card recognised at Business check-in, though this gives me more confidence in the common situation of having to travel with a membership card more than a month after its expiry date because the replacement has arrived while you are away due to VA being so tardy in issuing new cards.

Will it make checking into the KF/SK lounges any quicker or will they still have to manually write down our details on a sheet of paper as they do now?

Priority boarding doesn't seem to work too well on SQ anyway. At ports outside SIN it's usually a joke. SYD I find usually doesn't bother with it and elsewhere they seem to try to push all the families and kids to the front of the line before boarding starts despite them following KF/SA Gold in the official sequence. In SIN they call the boarding sequences correctly but don't usually check and I've found increasingly everyone and their dog just rushes on.

Will the linkage give us any better access to advanced seat selection?

It means SQ can see VA status on their computer systems without needing the card in theory. It is a real improvement.

 

[mel-world]

Is there any advantage booking via Velocity website over KriFlyer website?

One advantage could be the 15% points discount by booking on-line via the SQ KF website. Do you get this points discount booking on the VA website rather than via the Call Centre?
I guess you may need to try both options to see the 'total' cost in points and surcharges.

 

[djchuckles]

Cn't really find any availability for my trip to Japan on SQ - mind you it is next month.

Looking like I'll have to just book and pay for the fare, but was hoping to get a J reward. Lots of the flights don't even show up when i put award flights in - eg. the 2345 out of BNE to SIN - is that because theres no availability in any fare class as a reward?

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

Cn't really find any availability for my trip to Japan on SQ - mind you it is next month.

Looking like I'll have to just book and pay for the fare, but was hoping to get a J reward. Lots of the flights don't even show up when i put award flights in - eg. the 2345 out of BNE to SIN - is that because theres no availability in any fare class as a reward?

I am not entirely familiar with booking rewards but I do know that the 23.45 usually has a very heavy load as it is one of the only SQ overnight flights departing from the east coast. Thus, given the short-time frame and peak Australian travel time it is entirely feasible that there is no availability in any fare class and hence not showing.

 

[VAG newbie]

Cn't really find any availability for my trip to Japan on SQ - mind you it is next month.

Looking like I'll have to just book and pay for the fare, but was hoping to get a J reward. Lots of the flights don't even show up when i put award flights in - eg. the 2345 out of BNE to SIN - is that because theres no availability in any fare class as a reward?

It is the peak season. However, I checked through Lifemiles and BNE-SIN J space is wide open in the next 2 weeks. Are you looking at mid to late Dec? They might release more seats as it approaches T-14 as they will release all unsold J seats as award

Actually, just read the post carefully. BNE-SIN is easy but SIN-NRT is hard. That route is always busy especially end of year and especially SQ. You might try use star alliance redemption and try ANA instead. ANA use a regional cradle recliner for SIN-NRT, so it's not as popular as SQ who uses A380 or the new 77W J seats.

I know because my brother in law used to be stationed in SIN working for a Japanese company and he needs to travel SIN-NRT a lot. His company is happy to pay for any J seats. He always tries to fly SQ but sometimes even as a paid business class ticket is hard to come by during peak season.