I have most points in Velocity and wish to fly business class around July 2019. Not fussed which airline but would like business class Brisbane to London. Krisflyer is about 105000 points each way and they are a great airline (about 140000 velocity miles) . Cannot seem to find anything through Virgin Air. Is there an alternative option using fewer points?
Hi rowliebrowne,
Singapore Air is probably your best bet. You could use VFF pts to fly Etihad too but there is a large cash surcharge to pay.
If you have the flexibility, do a short EU transit to Amsterdam, France, etc. because flying out of UK in business or first class, you would be charged a large APD tax. e.g.: BNE-SIN-LHR; LHR-CDG-SIN-BNE.
Good luck.
Thanks very helpful, is the leg back to CDG with Singapore Air or a local flight then major flight from there?
Hi rowliebrowne,
While Singapore is possibly the best value in terms of points use because its a fixed rates matrix, you need to understand how their system operates. In my experience you generally get wait-listed where premium cabins are concerned , they obviously want to try to sell the seat first. The problem is it doesn’t let you plan very well so if you’re flexible with travel dates you might get lucky.
Case in point, I ‘booked’ 2 BC seats SYD-LHR in Jan this year for travel in Aug (holiday). I do not have a confirmation other than I have been wait-listed for that date, nor am I likely to receive one until much, much closer to departure. When you seek some kind of notice this is what you are likely to receive:
Thank you for your email of 10 May 2018 to Singapore Airlines regarding redemption waitlist, booking reference xxxxxx. We seek your kind understanding that seats allocated for redemption awards are limited and will be subject to seats availability at the point of booking. This restriction is in place to make it fair for both commercial and redemption passengers and is applied equally to all.
We are unable to determine the chances of getting confirmation on waitlisted flight as it will depend on the cancellation of those holding confirmed seats on the same flight. Nevertheless, an automated notification will be sent to your email address and mobile once your waitlisted seats become available.
So while you can understand the commercial point of view it doesn’t help your travel plans. The good news is they don’t debit your a/c while you are wait-listed so you can book several dates around the time without issue and then hope for the best. I have also done this and as expected it always results in being wait-listed. If/once you get confirmation of given seats you have a limited time to accept and have your a/c debited. Don’t respond within the required timeframe and you lose the seats.
I have scoured the Web looking for people’s experiences with Singapore in this fashion (there are plenty) and there does not seem to be any way to push the process along.
Hope this helps.