Hi All,
I am fairly new to the points community, but not new to travelling and I could really use some advice for an upcoming trip. I want to configure the best route/class possible for a trip in November from MEL -> SFO return for me and my wife. Currently have around 200k saved up in Velocity points with a few thousand more coming in the next month. Any tips or advice is gladly welcomed!
Hi Pmonte,
To maximise your points usage with your velocity points, it would best to fly Virgin Australia via Sydney or Brisbane to LAX and then to Delta or Virgin America to SFO.
The last resort is Singapore Airlines, altoough Velocity redemptions for Singapore Airlines is usually 30%-45% higher.
I.e. Oneway journey with MEL-LAX would cost 94,000 whereas singapore airlines would coast 125,000 per person.
Singapore Airlines does release some seats to Velocity.
If things do get desperate because of a lack of availability, you can create a Singapore Airlines Krisflyer account and check for “saver” availablility, because Singapore Airlines normally releases more saver awards to their own members.
If you can find them, you can transfer your velocity points to Krisflyer at 1 Velocity = 0.75 Krisflyer.
So 200k velocity would convert to 150k krisflyer miles.
Although if you book online, Singapore Airlines gives you a 15% discount, so business class MEL-SFO would cost 85k in Business per person one way, 170k return per person.
You won’t have enough points, but Singapore Airlines does allow you top up and buy the points at 4 US cents per point, which is VERY expensive. And be mindful that Singapore does charge higher fuel surcharges and taxes.