Myself and my partner are flying Perth to Dublin return in October, Economy class. This was booked through an intermediary website, with VA flight codes but operated by Etihad. This was before I began to get familiar with point hacking.
I have family pooling on both Etihad Guest and Velocity but am relatively new to both so I’m still at entry level with both.
I am thinking of using Velocity numbers on the upcoming trip as I probably don’t fly Etihad often enough (about once a year) to increase status, and the points do expire.
My goal using points is to occasionally upgrade to Business Class on flights to Europe.
Most of the where to credit questions can be answered through this website below.
In this case it seems that they are about the same. Just depends which points or status will be more helpful in the long run for you.
As you have correctly identified, since you are flying less frequently on Etihad, the straight forward answer is to credit Velocity.
However, some factors to throw in the mix include whether you shop via Coles and collect Flybuy points, which can be transferred to Etihad Guest miles.
Upgrading success rate often depend on status and it is a probability/luck game. A far better way to play the game is to redeem award seat outright (guaranteeing premium seats). However, I do acknowledge that not everyone is swimming in FF points (image of Scrooge McDuck in his money bin).
Just have to bear in mind that your intentions of upgrading may or may not pay off especially for popular routes to Europe or USA.
Often, to be eligible for upgrading, you have to purchase standard fare, which is often far more costly than the discount or deal fares.
Hope the points help and not make things too complicated for you. If you have more queries, please ask. The community would be happy to help.
Thanks w-hiew, I hadn’t come across that site at all.
With regard to Etihad Guest, it turns out I had more points than I thought and am only 4000 miles away from Etihad Silver this year, so I plan to use one passenger with Etihad Guest and and the other with Velocity. You’re right- those flybuys points really do accumulate.
Then some credit card point bonuses will hopefully kick in, and some outright points purchases may be possible in future!
Many thanks again for the advice, its much appreciated.
