Velocity Frequent Flyer and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer have reinstated the ability to convert points and miles between both loyalty programs.

This is particularly exciting news for members of Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program, who now have access to award availability across the whole of Star Alliance. Velocity members can also now transfer their points to KrisFlyer to access KrisFlyer’s round-the-world awards, award seats on Vistara and Alaska Airlines, plus more award seats (and upgrades) on Singapore Airlines flights.

But this is not a one-way feature! KrisFlyer members can also convert their miles to Velocity points at a 1.55:1 rate. This can be done on the Singapore Airlines website.

This feature is not theoretically available to Singaporean residents, because technically only residents of certain countries including Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands nations (but not Singapore) 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.

There aren’t many situations where it would be good value for KrisFlyer members to do this, but there are exceptions. So, when would it make sense to convert KrisFlyer miles into Velocity points?

1. Booking awards on Etihad or Hawaiian Airlines

Reward seats on eight airlines are available to book using Velocity points:

Of these, six airlines are also KrisFlyer partners with seats available to book using KrisFlyer miles. In other words, you could use either KrisFlyer miles or Velocity points to book award seats on Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, United, Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia.

But Velocity also partners with two airlines that are not affiliated with Singapore Airlines – Etihad Airways and Hawaiian Airlines.

If you had KrisFlyer miles and wanted to redeem them for a seat on an Etihad or Hawaiian Airlines flight, you could do this by first transferring the points to Velocity.

As an example, a Velocity Business Reward Seat on Etihad Airways from Singapore to Abu Dhabi would cost 65,000 Velocity points (or 67,000 points from 5 October 2022) + AUD354.50.

With the 1.55:1 conversion rate, you would need 100,750 KrisFlyer miles to receive 65,000 Velocity points. This works out to be more KrisFlyer miles than you would spend flying from Singapore to Dubai or Abu Dhabi 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 Etihad could be another option!

From late 2022, you’ll also be able to redeem Velocity points for Qatar Airways flights. That could be an interesting proposition!

2. Some equivalent Velocity reward flights are cheaper

As mentioned before, there are six 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 is region-based, while Velocity’s is distance-based.

For example, a United award flight from Papeete (Tahiti) to San Francisco would cost 59,500 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 92,225 KrisFlyer miles into 59,500 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 would cost 11,800 Velocity points (equivalent to 18,290 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 18,000 Velocity points – which you could acquire for 27,900 KrisFlyer miles.

3. Upgrading a Virgin Australia flight

As well as redeeming for reward seats, Velocity points can be redeemed 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 3 years, regardless of your account activity. The only exception is for PPS Club members.

KrisFlyer has been extending the validity of expiring miles during COVID-19, but this will stop next year.

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!

Conclusion

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.

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

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 economics, aviation & 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.