Some “weird” routes you can only get a price via phone (i.e. Canberra to Tel-Aviv).
If it is something more conventional like Sydney to Rome, you can try to book using points.
One thing to consider - the availability won’t be the same. Some availability is only usable via KrisFlyer and not through Velocity.
My best guess is that if you have Velocity points, you will get better value using them directly. The question is - if you can get the flight and class you wanted (i.e. Singapore Airlines Suites).
No, KrisFlyer uses region-based award charts. Velocity Frequent Flyer goes by distance.
So if you were looking at Perth-Singapore-Taipei in Singapore Airlines Business Class, it would cost:
36,500 KrisFlyer miles through Singapore Airlines, or
65,000 Velocity Points through Virgin Australia, or
56,575 Velocity Points if you send that to KrisFlyer to get 36,500 KF miles
So as you can see, the rates are not always the same. In some cases, Velocity Frequent Flyer will be cheaper than KrisFlyer. For Perth-Singapore-London in Business Class, you’d be looking at:
106,000 KrisFlyer miles through Singapore Airlines, or
121,000 Velocity Points through Virgin Australia, or,
164,300 Velocity Points if you send that to KrisFlyer to get 106,000 KF miles
In this case, you actually get better value with Velocity.
It’s all academic for now, since KF/VA points transfers aren’t available just yet. We also don’t know if the rate will change when it returns.
Thanks guys. Those conversion exples were especially helpful.
I suppose if I want to go suite class it’d be best to use Kris to get the best chance possible even if the conversion works out a little more expensive.