Hi,
i am looking at trying to go to the US in June 2018, so i am prob a bit too early looking at flights atm, but just wondering if there are any tricks using velocity to make it cheap as possible?
Everything seems to be centred around you lucky east coast people who are convientiently on the right side of the country to fly direct… =]
Any tips?
Cheers
If you get a good deal from SYD or MEL you could always consider booking a flight to east coast using your free flight (from Plat Edge [expiring soon] or ANZ Adventures cards). I did something similar for my brother + his partner travelling to NZ. Fares from Perth to NZ were crazy so I used the Plat Edge flights to get them to/from Sydney and they booked very cheap fares from there. The times of flights means they need a night in Syd on the way home, but I think they were pretty happy with that.
Hi,
Personally, I always try to prepare >12 mths beforehand for award redemptions. So it doesn’t sound too early to me. I would research all possible routes that I am willing to take and dates that suits.
I would find out when the seats for when the date I would like to travel on will be open for booking. Usually, I check this by checking how far in advance I can book a normal revenue/ award ticket today. Find out the number of days (e.g. 330 days) in between that date in the future and today. Then say you want to fly on the 1st of June 2018, you minus the days (e.g.330 days) from the 1st of June 2018, which is 6th July 2017. Note: This is just an example of the methodology I use. You have to check for what is specific for your situation.
List in preference of route and days. and work your way down the list once the days/flights are open for booking. It is important to be flexible. If you are after more than 1 seats, try 1 seat if you couldn’t find 2 at the start. Since you are dealing with Velocity, book the flights 1 way because it is not cheaper to book in return and the inbound flight is usually not open for booking when the outbound flight is.
To minimise point costs, aim for “Reward” seats. Anything other than this cost many times more in points. If you really want to minimise out of pocket costs, pay the tax with points. However, this is usually low value use of points. Personally, I prefer to pay the tax in cash. However, if I have millions of points, I would choose to pay the tax with points.
Award seats to US is very popular-> there would be many people going after the same flight as you so be prepared to accept your lower preference.
Another option for you (this may be in favour of you since you are at the ‘right’ side of the country) if you struggle to find availabilities on Velocity website.
Transfer your Velocity pts to Krisflyer and fly via Singapore. It may costs more tax/surcharge but availability may be much better. You can do a dummy search for say January 2018 to check on availabilities. Best to check availability on Krisflyer before you actually transfer as transfers are instantaneous.
Thanks for the info. I think via Singapore might be an option as i dont think my Credit card has a free flight. Wish it did though…
Cheers