4 Reasons You Might Transfer KrisFlyer Miles to Velocity

A popular feature of Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program is the ability to convert Velocity points into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.

This is not just a one-way feature! KrisFlyer members can also convert their miles to Velocity points on the Singapore Airlines website. Transfers in both directions take place at a 1.55:1 rate.

This feature is not theoretically available to Singaporean residents, because technically only residents of certain countries including Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands nations are allowed to join Velocity Frequent Flyer. But if you happen to be a member of both loyalty programs, this could be an option for you.

From 7-31 March 2025, you can even earn 20% bonus points when converting KrisFlyer miles to Velocity points. This is a rare bonus – we can’t recall any similar previous offers on transfers between these two programs.

In general, the option to transfer Velocity points to KrisFlyer is more popular than the reverse. Indeed, we can think of many more reasons to transfer points from Velocity to KrisFlyer, rather than the other way around.

Nonetheless, there are some rare situations where it could make sense to convert KrisFlyer miles into Velocity points – especially with the current bonus! Here are four of them…

1. Booking awards on Qatar Airways, Etihad or Hawaiian Airlines

You can currently redeem Velocity points to book reward flights on the following 10 airlines:

Seven of these airlines are also KrisFlyer partners, with seats available to book using KrisFlyer miles. You could use either KrisFlyer miles or Velocity points to book award seats on:

• Air Canada
• ANA
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• United
• Virgin Atlantic (until 24 April 2025)
• Virgin Australia

But Velocity also partners with three airlines that are not affiliated with Singapore Airlines: Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways (until 31 May 2025) and Hawaiian Airlines (until 30 June 2025).

If you had KrisFlyer miles and wanted to redeem them for a seat on a Qatar Airways flight, you could do this by first transferring the points to Velocity.

As an example, a one-way Velocity Business Reward Seat on Qatar Airways from Singapore to Doha would cost 74,000 Velocity points + AUD398.40.

With the 1.55:1 conversion rate, you would need 114,700 KrisFlyer miles to receive 74,000 Velocity points (not accounting for any bonuses). This works out to be more KrisFlyer miles than you would spend flying from Singapore to Dubai or Doha on Singapore Airlines or a Star Alliance partner. But if there was no award availability on Singapore Airlines when you wanted to fly, at least Qatar Airways could be another option!

2. Some equivalent Velocity reward flights are cheaper

As mentioned before, there are numerous overlapping airlines that you can book with either Velocity points or KrisFlyer miles. In general, many awards are cheaper (or only very slightly more expensive) when booked using KrisFlyer miles.

Given the 1.55:1 conversion rate, an award would need to be substantially cheaper when booked with Velocity points before transferring KrisFlyer miles to Velocity and booking as a Velocity Reward Seat would be better value than booking a KrisFlyer award.

It’s rare, but there are some specific circumstances where an equivalent Velocity reward is much better value – even after taking the conversion penalty into consideration. That’s because KrisFlyer and Velocity use completely different award charts. KrisFlyer’s award chart is region-based, while Velocity’s is distance-based.

A few specific examples

For example, a United award flight from Papeete (Tahiti) to San Francisco would cost 62,000 Velocity points + taxes in Business Class. But an equivalent KrisFlyer award would cost 146,500 KrisFlyer miles + taxes. So, rather than booking a KrisFlyer award on this route, you’d be better off converting 96,100 KrisFlyer miles into 62,000 Velocity points and booking a Velocity reward seat!

As another example, a Virgin Australia Economy flight from Adelaide to Alice Springs would cost 21,500 KrisFlyer miles + taxes. But the same seat booked as a Velocity reward could cost anywhere between 8,900 and 18,900 Velocity points (equivalent to 13,795-29,295 KrisFlyer miles) + taxes and an $11 Velocity carrier charge.

Short flights between KrisFlyer award chart zones (or within a large zone) on partner airlines like Air Canada, United or South African Airways could also be better value when booked using Velocity points. That’s because Velocity uses distance-based pricing, so a short flight will always cost a low number of points.

For example, a United Business Class flight from Houston to Monterrey would cost 39,000 KrisFlyer miles in Business Class as this is the price for any Star Alliance Business flight from North America to Central America. But the same seat on this 411-mile route would only cost 16,500 Velocity points – which you could acquire for 25,575 KrisFlyer miles.

3. Upgrading a Virgin Australia flight

As well as redeeming for reward seats, you can spend Velocity points to upgrade most Virgin Australia flights. This is not something you could do with KrisFlyer miles.

Read our guide to upgrading on Virgin Australia to learn more about this.

4. “Cashing out” expiring KrisFlyer miles

A key disadvantage of holding Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles is that they expire after three years, regardless of your account activity. The only exception is for PPS Club members.

Velocity points, on the other hand, will never expire as long as you maintain activity in your account at least once every 24 months. So, if you have KrisFlyer miles that are imminently expiring, and you have no immediate use for them, converting them to Velocity points will at least preserve their life!

Summing up

In general, it probably doesn’t make sense in most situations to convert KrisFlyer miles into Velocity points.

Even if you wanted to book a Virgin Australia flight with your KrisFlyer miles, you could just book this as a KrisFlyer award and in most cases you’ll pay less than you would for a Velocity reward seat after converting your miles to Velocity points. (By booking with KrisFlyer miles, you’ll also avoid paying the Velocity carrier charges.)

But there are a few circumstances where this could be a good option for some people.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.