What will you do with MR points?

[Tiki]

I have no idea where we'll end up going for our next big trip (and therefore next big points redemption), we have a child on the way which seems to complicate things (but in a good way!)

The plan is to spend some Velocity points on a quick trip down to Esperance to see how we go at traveling with a child. After that not sure... I think the best value redemption is 35k to Tahiti in J (SQ Star Alliance redemption) but probably not suitable for us. Maybe driving around Britain and Ireland given enough points?



Most of the points are in my account, my wife has some Qantas points which we combine using a family transfer and then redeem from my account. But we may have a problem in the future - the Citibank card is in my wife's name, the Amex is in my name, if we transfer both to SQ how do we combine them?

Steve

Hmmmm...............Tahiti! We are going there only for a week in ealry 2010 and I was planning to use AA award on TN. I haven't really investigated all the SQ options.

****goes to SQ website****

OK Y class for destinations of interest to me:

SQ or Silk Air (15% online booking discount)
SQ Europe 95,000 with discount 80,700 (go to BCN or CDG and get cheap flight to CMN)

Star Alliance
Tahiti 25,000 (cheaper than AA which is 40,000)
North Africa (Casablanca/Canary Islands for me-possible OJ) 90,000
Europe 100,000
USA 80,000
South America 110,000

So maybe switching to SQ is the way to go? They are cheaper than the Velocity awards I looked at before.

So can I put all the miles in my SQ account after I get one and get both tickets for me and my husband? I can't find the rules on the SQ website.

 

[NM]

For a completely unrelated comparison I booked the following award and paid $250 per person:

syd-hkg-jfk-lhr-lca-lhr-hkg

And that would have included the very high UK departure tax for premium cabin (GB=40 quid???).

 

[kpc]

So can I put all the miles in my SQ account after I get one and get both tickets for me and my husband? I can't find the rules on the SQ website.

Yes, you can. You can select up to 5 nominees on your KrisFlyer account to redeem awards for apart from yourself. The SQ website is verrrrry slow at moment so I can't post a link.
Pls note that KrisFlyer miles have an expiry date of 3 years (can be extended for a fee for 6 months) so don't leave them lying around in your account for too long

 

[beardoc]

Just be aware that under certain circumstances, Amex can pull your points out from whomever you transfer them to.

That's not strictly true - there have been cases where people with links to QFF on the cobranded cards that have had refunds that have resulted in negative MR balances have then had Amex reverse a number of points out of their QFF accounts to cover it.

It is not guaranteed that this will happen with MR based cards, or with anyone other than QFF.

Just wanted to clarify - but it is a risk.

 

[Tiki]

Yes, you can. You can select up to 5 nominees on your KrisFlyer account to redeem awards for apart from yourself. The SQ website is verrrrry slow at moment so I can't post a link.
Pls note that KrisFlyer miles have an expiry date of 3 years (can be extended for a fee for 6 months) so don't leave them lying around in your account for too long

Thanks, that's good to know! So am I dreaming or does 50 transactions get us 2 Y class to Tahiti?

AA via SPG would be good value for our purposes at 1000:600 but not when they go back to 1000:330.

We use AA for One World so QF is of no interest.

 

[StevePER]

Thanks, that's good to know! So am I dreaming or does 50 transactions get us 2 Y class to Tahiti?

That is correct, and 70 transactions for J.

 

[simongr]

And that would have included the very high UK departure tax for premium cabin (GB=40 quid???).

Actually no as for the longhaul departure from LHR it was only a transit from an another EU location - it was only meant to be 2 hours.

Obviously it ended up being a little more than 2 hours

 

[Flying Fox]

I was actually thinking of holding them until Virgin Atlantic has another special of 20% bonus on transfer and then getting a couple of tickets to LHR in their Upper Class.

 

[Soundguy]

Thinking of sending about 234,000 AMEX points to SPG for transfer to AA.

Question: is the SPG to AA transfer offer of +25% for blocks of 20,000 points an ongoing offer?

Also should I be in a hurry to transfer to AA or is it safe to park them with SPG for a few months. I wasn't planning to use them for a while & always a bit worried about those US airlines going belly up and all (or the general US economy going into full depression shortly for that matter).

Thanks for any tips....

 

[simongr]

Question: is the SPG to AA transfer offer of +25% for blocks of 20,000 points an ongoing offer?

Also should I be in a hurry to transfer to AA or is it safe to park them with SPG for a few months. I wasn't planning to use them for a while & always a bit worried about those US airlines going belly up and all (or the general US economy going into full depression shortly for that matter).

Thanks for any tips....

It is an ongoing offer with most of the airline partners of SPG.

Not sure what to advise for AA. They were losing millions per day at the peak of the fuel price - nothing is guaranteed at the moment...

 

[NM]

Question: is the SPG to AA transfer offer of +25% for blocks of 20,000 points an ongoing offer?

Yes, it has been around now for a long time and I am not aware of a published end date for the bonus. be aware that there is a maximum of 79,999 points transfer from SPG to AA per day, so a maximum of 3 x 5000 bonus points per day.

Also should I be in a hurry to transfer to AA or is it safe to park them with SPG for a few months. I wasn't planning to use them for a while & always a bit worried about those US airlines going belly up and all (or the general US economy going into full depression shortly for that matter).

I see no issues with that plan.

Remember that points left in an AA account that is idle for 18 months will be lost.

 

[Tiki]

Thinking of sending about 234,000 AMEX points to SPG for transfer to AA.

Question: is the SPG to AA transfer offer of +25% for blocks of 20,000 points an ongoing offer?

Also should I be in a hurry to transfer to AA or is it safe to park them with SPG for a few months. I wasn't planning to use them for a while & always a bit worried about those US airlines going belly up and all (or the general US economy going into full depression shortly for that matter).

Thanks for any tips....

I found a better use for MR starting in Oct. Put everything to Krisflyer but use the Krisflyer for Y class to India in 2011. If you use SQ all the way and book online, you get a 15% discount so we need 93,500 for two tickets. I don't have to set up the SQ account until Dec or Jan so the miles won't expire before we use them.

We will use UA to Tahiti since that trip will be in low season and we are flexible on dates and save AA for Morocco as the rate is better.

 

[auriga]

I found a better use for MR starting in Oct. Put everything to Krisflyer but use the Krisflyer for Y class to India in 2011. If you use SQ all the way and book online, you get a 15% discount so we need 93,500 for two tickets. I don't have to set up the SQ account until Dec or Jan so the miles won't expire before we use them.

We will use UA to Tahiti since that trip will be in low season and we are flexible on dates and save AA for Morocco as the rate is better.

The numbers for SQ to India does not look right.

Australia ( excl WA) to India is 75K per person, or 63750 miles after online discount. Perth is a bit cheaper.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

The numbers for SQ to India does not look right.

Australia ( excl WA) to India is 75K per person, or 63750 miles after online discount. Perth is a bit cheaper.

That is how I read the chart too.

From WA it is 60K less 15%.

 

[thegurio]

What will i do?

Up until reading this thread, and with our pending trip to Rome at the end of next year, i was thinking of using them for a few nights at Jumeriah (or The Burj). With current spending rates i can get at least 2 nights in a middle suite which will be good.

However having said that, even though the people we are going with will be flying OW i won't mind going SQ or VS, i am thinking of trying to get 3 PE/Upper Class on VS (if we have the points) or J on SQ for at least 1 of us. So long as we can keep the cost under 10k for all of us i think it would be ok.

Failing that i would transfer them to DJ and use them on VA to get to LA and then use my QF points on hand to go from there to FCO. Is anyone lost yet? He he he... I just had to put that last one in there.

All in all like Simongr i have no idea really, when there in there safely i will make my mind up.

 

[thegurio]

As im looking at getting some more AA points, exactly where do i put my AA number - is it in my Hotmail preferences or somewhere else? I can't seem to find anywhere to put it.

 

[Tiki]

The numbers for SQ to India does not look right.

Australia ( excl WA) to India is 75K per person, or 63750 miles after online discount. Perth is a bit cheaper.

You are right, when I posted that I got the figures from SQ SYD office. I think the man confused India with Indonesia. I checked the website when I got home and it is 75,000 before discount. Well lets see how many transactions I do between Oct-Dec! I just wish the USA counted, we will be there 3 weeks.