We’ve got about 215,000 velocity points and are looking to fly economy to Europe return from Sydney, 2 adults and a one year old son(I know hard work!) at the end of July next year.
Looking to fly Singapore Airlines with a stop over in Singapore each way and fly in to London and fly out of Barcelona returning to Sydney via Singapore.
I’m struggling to understand the ins and outs and what is the best way to go about it.
Which would be the most cost effective/best way to use the points we have? Straight Veloicty points and pay for what is left or transfer to Singapore KrisFlyer and do it through Singapore airlines direct?
I’ve tried to follow everything here, but it’s just confused me further as i’m new to the points flying.
Depending on your son’s exact age at the time of the flight, he may qualify to travel as an infant (under 2 years old). Check out the links below. Otherwise you may have to redeem for 3 if he is over 2 years old.
The common way if redeeming travel with bub is to pay ~10% of the actual fare for bub.
In summary, Krisflyer charges more tax/surcharge for redemptions but require less points. Velocity charges less tax/surcharge for redemptions but require more points. You can do dummy searches on both website to compare points required and surcharges.
If you are point rich and cash poor (or want to save out of pocket cost), go VA.
If you are point poor (or want to save points for future travel) and cash rich, go Krisflyer.
Good luck. Let us know if you still need help after going through the above.
Have been reading those and trying to figure out the best way forward. Our son will be under 2 when we travel which is one of the reasons we’re travelling then.
That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to figure out.
With the points we have 215k, is it better to purchase one ticket & baby ticket through points and purchase the other ticket for cash or is there a way to maximise using all the points.
And we need to factor in the stop over accomodation booking through singapore. I’m assuming you don’t get that if you book through VA.
Could it be as simple as one adult and baby through VA points and one paid ticket through Singapore to qualify for the stop over Singapore accommodation over and back on the paid ticket?
One more piece of advice to add to the others. I’m doing the same thing (well almost; except from BNE to DUS and in J) so can offer this:
Velocity redemptions will give you the infant ticket for “free” I.e. no points cost. If you transfer to Krisflyer you can’t get an infant ticket on points unless you want to pay adult miles prices.
Our solution was to transfer to KF and redeem for 2x J return, then purchase a revenue fair for our bub and add her to the PNR. The Krisflyer call centre has been very helpful in this regard, even allowing us to reserve bassinet seats before buying the infant ticket.
Cost was 323K KF miles, plus approx $2K AUD in surcharges. Infant ticket in J was approx $800 AUD. Total costs 436K velocity points plus $2800 AUD. The same redeemed through velocity would have been 556K velocity plus approx $600-800 AUD.
On KF it should cost you 161500kf (218k velocity transferred) miles plus surcharges plus infant ticket cost.
On velocity direct cost should be 300k points plus lesser surcharges.
Looks like you can afford the KF option with your points balance. Or sign up for NAB velocity card (75k points) then you’re closer to affording the velocity option and would save some decent surcharges cash.
Aust East Coast-Europe costs 161.5k KF pts + $1813 in surcharge for 2 adults return. ~$200 for bub fare return.
Aust East Coast-Europe costs 300k Vel pts + $412 in surcharge for 2 adults and bub return.
212k VFF=157k KF miles.
Without accounting for any future point earn between now and when you redeem your flights, you have the following options:
Transfer all your points to KF, pay $180 to top up points. Pay surcharge and bub fare. Out of pocket cost = ~$2200
Use VFF to redeem one way for 2 + bub. Collect/save another 13k VFF and redeem 1 adult + bub on return leg, purchase a revenue fare for the remaining adult.
Please note that I may have not exhausted all available options here.