Hi,
wondering if any can advise- am trying to get my family (2 adults/3 kids <12) to India in January 2021 using Velocity points to cover as much of it as possible (we have about 600,000 available). Have read through the relevant posts on the site- but can’t get my head around using Velocity points to get to Abu Dhabi, vs through Singapore/other SEA hubs- and now i think my brain has melted. Anyone done this before, can advise on best route/value, likely availability etc? Thanks in advance!
Your best bet would be to use Velocity points to fly Singapore Airlines via Singapore. You can redeem these reward flights via the VirginAustralia website yourself. You need to click on the toggle to use points and just search as per normal. A common route would probably to Mumbai. Have a play on dummy dates with 2 adults. Then slowly increase to 5. You may be able to find some seats in economy. Otherwise, you can try a mix of economy or prem-economy.
Only go for reward seats as any other ones will costs many more points. However, reward seats are limited for the same reason.
Flying via Abu Dhabi with Etihad involves a surcharge charged by Velocity. In economy it may not be as painful but they charge per flight so you will be paying 5x2x surcharge. So it does add up. So I would stick with Singapore Airlines if possible.
If you really struggle to find seats for the 5 of you, you can consider transferring Velocity points to Krisflyer. But the transfer rate is quite bad 1.55 : 1. However, you should see better availability.
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Thank you! That gives me a bit of clarity and somewhere to start. Much appreciated 
w.hiew is spot on apart from one thing, singapore airlines reward tickets using velocity don’t appear on the velocity website any more (they used to which is strange) you need to call them and book over the phone. Always has good availability, I’ve redeemed to singpore many times only booking 3-4 days in advance.
Still showing for me, mate. I’ve been tracking everyday as the calendar opens (painfully one day at a time).
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Ok cheers mate, how far in advance do you find them showing up? Any seat awards are always showing as available but not the Business Reward one which is the cheapest. I just did a dummy search to BKK return and nothing shows for the next 6 weeks but if I called velocity I am pretty sure seats would be available? Some availability to SIN I can see, maybe it is the connection to BKK that throws a spanner in the works?
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Front vague memory, you have to search for the individual flights to increase your chances of finding seats. The search engine sometimes ignore the A-B-C flights. But will show A-B and B-C flights.
Flights open as early as 330 days (as far as the calendar lets you book). Velocity also see less seat compared to Krisflyer. Krisflyer also opens 353 days in advance so members get first dibs.
I try to book well in advance where possible, especially for peak season.
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