Which airline and program should I be focussing on for 2 flights to Europe this year?

I have used almost of my points last year and want to rationalise all the programs I use and decide which airline to focus points and status credits with. I have Qantas 39,000 pts, Skywards 7,200; Velocity 23,000 (32 status), United 8,200; Amex Plat Edge 24,000.
So two questions. 1) With the changes to Amex in April I need to push points to a partner and undecided whether velocity or skywards. 2) With two possible trips to UK/Europe this year and poss one to USA in next 18months where should I focus my efforts. All help appreciated. I will likely fly economy although one may be business.

Hi Julia,
All of the programs you mention are excellent, each with their advantages and disadvantages, and you really can’t go wrong with any of them. Qantas and Velocity are the easiest to earn points with if you’re based in Australia. Qantas has the advantage of having a much larger international network, and an excellent alliance in OneWorld. With Velocity, the great advantage for your situation is that it’s a lot easier to gain, and keep, status, even though their international alliance, though excellent, is smaller. Six of one…

Here’s my two cents on your two questions though what I’m about to say is “opinion” rather than “answer”:

  1. As I say above, it’s easier to accumulate Velocity points than Skywards points in Australia, and it’s also easier to keep status. If you’re going to be doing even a little domestic travel, I’d lean towards Velocity. But Skywards has lots of advantages particularly if you’re going to be travelling a lot with Emirates and/or Qantas and/or your focus is international travel.

  2. Correct me if I’m wrong, but given your timing and the number of points you have, I’m assuming that you’re probably going to be paying for your flights to Europe and the USA with money rather than with points. In which case I’m personally a great believer in getting whichever flights are cheapest and/or most convenient for you, regardless of airline or FF programme. Whoever you fly with, you’ll then be able to credit your FF points/status into one of your FF programmes.

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I would suggest Velocity both for the better flexbibility in redeeming for doemstic and international fligts and because you’d more easily accrue them in AUS. Also, Skyward usually is pretty bad value to redeem with so go for velocity if you can.

Hi sixtyeight

Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, I will be using real money for the flights. I have usually taken your approach when paying for flights using Qantas, Emirates, Air Canada, United and choosing the best value/convenience, but I think to the detriment of status.

Given I’ll be doing a fair bit of travel in next 18mths I was hoping to achieve silver or better somewhere and focus my bookings $ there, but perhaps it doesn’t matter so much. Prices seem to be similar for Qantas and Virgin at the time I will be going. Sadly I didn’t see the double status credit offer for Qantas the other day. :frowning: .
Cheers

Thanks djtech
I’ve used skywards mainly for upgrades in the past and its been quite good value, but the value of amex points transferring to skywards is going down soon as well, so I was looking at velocity as the next stop. Your thoughts confirm that. And I am beginning to hate Dubai!