After what’s been a protracted pause, Velocity Frequent Flyer members will soon be able to transfer Velocity Points into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles once again. It’s a move that’ll swing back open the doors to flight bookings right across Star Alliance, for those who primarily collect Velocity Points.
That’s because Singapore Airlines is among the Star Alliance fold. And by converting Velocity Points into KrisFlyer miles, they can then be used to book reward flights across that global network of carriers. This includes airlines not otherwise affiliated with Velocity, such as Air India, EVA Air, Lufthansa, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and more.
In an exclusive interview with Point Hacks, Velocity Frequent Flyer CEO Nick Rohrlach dives into that Singapore Airlines partnership. We also chat about what’s next to come in Asia – ANA.
When will KrisFlyer points transfers return for Velocity members?
Although Velocity isn’t yet setting a date for the return of KrisFlyer points transfers, it shouldn’t be long before this much-loved feature comes back.
‘Give me a few weeks,’ Rohrlach teases. ‘We know it’s really popular with a large group of members, and probably a lot of your readers, too. It’s just one of those things that was literally paused during the last few years.’
‘Singapore Airlines is keen to turn it back on, we’re keen to turn it back on,’ so stay tuned!
When asked whether the feature would simply return in its previous form, or would come with new rules and a revised transfer rate, Rohrlach avoids answering in specifics. But he does drop a hint, if you read between the lines.
‘We’re in the process of unpausing. It should be an un-pause,’ he shares. This suggests that the arrangement after the ‘pause’ is likely to mirror that of yesteryear. That would see the conversion rate being 1.55 Velocity Points = 1 KrisFlyer mile.
We look forward to confirming this for readers once Velocity is ready to make a formal announcement.
Virgin Australia Velocity and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer strengthen ties
Converting Velocity Points into KrisFlyer miles is certainly one way to reserve reward flights on Singapore Airlines. But so too is booking reward seats with Singapore Airlines directly through the Velocity program.
Since Velocity’s initial ‘Points freeze’ began thawing, it’s become possible to book Business Class and Economy Class reward seats with Singapore Airlines once again. But at the time of writing, Velocity reward bookings in Suites, First Class and Premium Economy remain offline with Singapore Airlines.
‘Right now, I’m really focused on turning everything back on,’ Rohrlach says of those Singapore Airlines bookings. ‘We’re working through it. Us and Singapore Airlines are really focused on just keeping on bringing things back on.’
‘I was only (in Singapore) a few weeks ago working on the unpausing and things like this. And I saw you were up there recently!’ Rohrlach says after reading Point Hacks‘ coverage of Singapore Airlines’ lounge refurbishments. (Thanks for reading, Nick!)
‘So we’re really keen to do as much as we can with SQ. They love working with us. We love working with them. So I promise that every few months it’ll keep getting better as well,’ Rohrlach hints.
As to whether Velocity members might get access to some more of those refurbished Singapore Airlines lounges, ‘we haven’t had that conversation yet.’
Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) still on Velocity’s wish list
More broadly across Asia, Velocity continues to eye a partnership with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA).
In recent times, the prospect of this planned tie-up had become unknown. Particularly as Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka has downplayed the role of ANA in Virgin Australia’s future. Hrdlicka told Point Hacks in December 2021, ‘we haven’t made any decisions with respect to Japan yet,’ when asked about ANA.
But fast-forward to today, and Rohrlach is more optimistic.
‘We’re excited to work with (ANA) on the interline side of things. Travel to Japan is still not fully open, but hopefully in the future. I think they’re keen, I think we’re keen, so…’
Of course, in the airline world, ‘interline’ agreements can be as simple as booking flights on a single ticket, and being able to check bags through to their final destination at the airport. For clarity, we asked whether Velocity would also target more of a points ‘earn and burn’ deal with ANA.
‘We’re very, very, very much hoping to,’ Rohrlach says with a smile. Watch this space.
Chris Chamberlin and Point Hacks’ Editor-in-Chief, Daniel Sciberras, travelled to Sydney as guests of Virgin Australia. Feature image courtesy of Singapore Airlines.
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Will KrisFlyer to Velocity point transfers also happen. I’ve got KrisFlyer points expiring soon and won’t use them on SQ, but can use them on Virgin.
Hi David, that’s the expectation. But if you want to use those KrisFlyer Miles right now with Virgin Australia, you can do so through the Singapore Airlines website (but not the mobile app). Just hit ‘redeem flights’ choose a route on which Virgin Australia flies (e.g. Sydney-Melbourne), select Economy Class or Business Class, and on the subsequent reward results screen, choose ‘other partner airlines’. This reveals your options for using KrisFlyer Miles to directly book Virgin Australia flights. In some cases, the number of KrisFlyer Miles needed may be higher than the number of Velocity Points required for the same ticket (such as on Sydney-Melbourne), but on other routes, the number of KrisFlyer Miles may be lower than the number of Velocity Points to book (such as Brisbane-Melbourne). Also consider that if you convert your KrisFlyer Miles to Velocity Points, you’ll lose some value with the conversion (assuming that 1.55:1 rate returns). That is, 11,000 KrisFlyer Miles would return about 7,096 Velocity Points – and so you may well find that you’re better off overall in using KrisFlyer Miles to book Virgin Australia flights straight from the KrisFlyer program. But if you were hoping instead to upgrade on Virgin Australia, converting them across would be the only option.
Thanks Chris. I tried to book a Virgin domestic flight through SQ using KF miles recently but the miles required were excessive and the kicker was that the fees charged was higher than the cash price for the flight. I didn’t have enough Velocity points so I ended up buying the flight. I don’t plan flying internationally for some time and don’t want to just see the KF miles disappear so I will transfer them to Velocity and while less value I will get something out of them on a domestic flight. Cheers.
@ Alexander Frazer
Based on my own experience, SQ does not release all of its (saver) business class award space to Velocity. Thus, I can find seats through KrisFlyer, which I cannot find through Velocity.
The business class award seat availability on SQ is better for some routes through Velocity. For example, the DRW-SIN and CNS-SIN are available when BNE/SYD/MEL-SIN are not. I haven’t studied the PER-SIN route so much.
Heading from SIN to Europe or USA, you can occasionally find award seats on SQ business class through Velocity (e.g. SIN-FRA), but again, more availability through KrisFlyer.
Yes, you can find UA business class award seat availability on Velocity. BUT UA is releasing seats in batches. A couple of months ago there was a reasonable supply, but now hardly any (there has been a lonely SYD-LAX on 26 August): occasionally single dates are released.
A lot of award seats were also released when the new BNE-SFO route (stating end October) was loaded up. They went within a few days.
The good news is you can track down the UA award space on the United website in one month blocks, so its daily quick to do a check every couple of days to see if a lot of awards has come online and then go check for that seat on Velocity.
It’s also easier to search for SQ award space own SQ’s website and then check Velocity – the Velocity website is a real clunker since you have to open every flight option to track down premium award space!
UA award seats are taken within hours or a day or two at most.
Ironically, the UA website seems to be better at pairing up connecting flights with the major sector, especially now they have access to Velocity inventory!
As you know, it’s best to search out the main sector (e.g. SYD-LAX, MEL-LAX, SYD-SFO, MEL-SFO, BNE-SFO, etc) first and then try to tag on the connecting flight – you’re less likely to find what you want doing through search (e.g. PER-LAX).
Obviously, you also have the option to go the long way (through AUA) using Velocity
points, although AUH to US sectors appear to have meagre award space.
Let us know how you get on!
PS. The irony is now that United has partnered with Virgin Australia, the United miles and United’s website just became worthy assets for Aussies (you can combine different airlines, thus do routes such as CNS-SIN-MNL-GUM on one reward booking to get into the US through the back door combining SQ and UA sectors!).
The return of VA-SQ points to miles transfers will solve the problem of lower award space on SQ using Velocity points, so Chris’s article is timely.
As @ Brandon Loo and pointed out in various articles if you are based in PER you can go to various Asian destinations on just the 36,000 one business class saver award, so the conversion rate from Velocity points to KrisFlyer Miles will be palatable.
Oh yeah – and if you go searching for award space on the United website, you’re looking for awards priced at 80,000 miles one way business class across the Pacific…the 200,000 mile ones are insane dynamic pricing awards.
Come to think off it – you do realise that on the Velocity website you need to open the flight which displays as available in economy award to check for any business class award?!
There’s one seat showing MEL-SFO on 23 November.
Be careful on the Velocity website. The SAME direct flight appears with both a VA and a UA flight number. The VA flight number (VA8003) presents with dynamic pricing of a one million points or some dumb astronomical number of points.
The UA flight number (UA61) presents with the desired business class award seat at 95,500 points and cash payment of AUD109.80.
Now you can also find this train Pacific award seat by inputting PER-SFO on the 22 November with an overnight in MEL for 127,500 points and AUD138.37.
Form reference the United website also shows the availability through from PER to SFO on 22 November (80,000 miles and AUD124.37).
In fact, the United website jumps the availability from just one seat (MEL-SFO) to three seats by doing a search starting in PER (PER-MEL-SFO)! It’s therefor worthwhile starting off by searching for the main trans-Pacific sector and then add on the connecting flight…(if you can access UA miles).
Maybe check this one out so you know exactly what you’re looking for!
FWIW United now seems to have access to the same SQ inventory as VA: United and Singapore Airlines must have patched up some of their “issues”. UA miles ever more interesting for Aussies.
@platy
Wow you are all over this. Thanks for the assistance. Much appreciated.
I will let you know how I go!
Has anyone found that almost all business class internationally has been removed from Velocity too?
I tried searching (based in Perth) using velocity points
Perth – Lax
Perth – NY
Perth – SFO
Perth – Seattle
And repeated with Sydney and found nothing in Business class at all. The only availability in Business class were a few random flights from Perth – Singapore. Am I missing something or is it that almost all business class redemptions are not available via Singapore.
Not only that, but on most routes to the US now I only see United availability – again nothing in business class.