Velocity 50% bonus to transfer Diners points

[Smithy789]

I see that Velocity is offering a 50% increase on points transferred from Diners Club to Velocity (up to the 30 May 2008).

Is this a good deal? I haven't flown with Virgin Blue / Virgin Atlantic & their partner airlines much - and have focussed on gaining AA platinum more recently through a challenge.

Has anybody else gone for this deal and swapped your valuable diners points for Velocity points.

I earn 1.5 points per dollar, so combined with this deal would get $1:2.25 points. Not bad - but is it good enough??

[wallacej]

I see that Velocity is offering a 50% increase on points transferred from Diners Club to Velocity (up to the 30 May 2008).

Is this a good deal? I haven't flown with Virgin Blue / Virgin Atlantic & their partner airlines much - and have focussed on gaining AA platinum more recently through a challenge.

Has anybody else gone for this deal and swapped your valuable diners points for Velocity points.

I earn 1.5 points per dollar, so combined with this deal would get $1:2.25 points. Not bad - but is it good enough??

I have also seen this... can anyone tell me what they think??? Would this be better than transferring to Qantas or is it better than buying goods from Diners??

[wallacej]

Anybody with any thoughts...

[serfty]

I guess only you can answer that. Your profile indicates DJGold so it may be worth it to you.

For others like me, definitely not! I am simply not into award flights when one has to pay +++.

[wallacej]

I guess only you can answer that. Your profile indicates DJGold so it may be worth it to you.

For others like me, definitely not! I am simply not into award flights when one has to pay +++.

I agree, the + on DJ seems to be reasonable though, however I often look at the gifts that are available, such as Ipods etc and wonder if they are reasonable value for money.

Typically, in years gone by when with QF or UA I would use my points for international upgrades as they seemed to give me the best bang for my buck

I now do primarily domestic, and it doesn't seem good value to blow the points on domestic flights when they are often quite cheap.

I guess if DJ had an upgrade to PE seats that could be seen as decent value (depending on what price they put on it)..

Just seem to be getting all these points, and not sure what to do with them.

And to be OT, trying to work out one of three options, leave the points with Diners, tfr to QF at 1:1 or transfer to DJ at 1.5:1

Oh the dilemas we face!!!

[JohnK]

....however I often look at the gifts that are available, such as Ipods etc and wonder if they are reasonable value for money.

If it was me I would be spending the MR points on long haul flights or RTW awards as I feel these are the best value.

Just as an example we can now transfer MR points to SQ KrisFlyer at 1:1 and a return award ticket SYD-ATH requires 100,000 KrisFlyer miles less 15% discount for booking online. So total cost would be 85,000 MR points + taxes and surcharges which would be ~$500. This airfare is ~$2,000 so the net saving is ~$1,500 taking the taxes and surcharges out of the equation. This values the Amex MR point at ~1.76 cents/point. I think you can achieve a much better value with RTW airfares or upgrades to premium cabins.

I could also use MR points to receive credit on the Amex card. Here is a comparison of the number of MR points required and their value.

14,500 MR points       $100 credit on Amex
36,000 MR points       $250 credit on Amex
69,000 MR points       $500 credit on Amex
130,000 MR points    $1,000 credit on Amex

So at best Amex values MR points at ~0.77 cents/point. Clearly using points to receive credit on Amex does not appear to be good value but there are people who do not want to fly for various reasons so to them something from the reward catalogue is much more appealing.

Not looking at other specific rewards but I think you will find Amex values MR points somewhere between 0.60-1.00 cents/point.