Value Of Velocity points

[mickeymouse]

This has probably been posted before, however Im just wondering what do you think the value of Velocity points is? The reason I ask is that I'm tossing up whether to apply for a 28 degrees card for when I'm overseas which has no currency conversion fee or do I use my Citibank signature card which will give me 4 points per $ with international transactions but will have a surcharge of 3.3%. Ideally I will use my points to upgrade the other half to the pointier end of the plan for our Europe trip next year. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sampson]

Save your surcharges and pay cash, those i like V because there's plenty of reward seats and the number needed is reasonable: I stopped bothering with QFF 5 years ago when Qantas started, imo, screwing customers.

 

[mickeymouse]

Yeah cash is king. I use my citibank plus account for cash withdrawals which is good but for credit I'm torn. I work it out to be about 1.5c per point if i use my signature card or obviously nothing except the exchange difference that 28 degrees will use

 

[roby]

It depends on how you use your points. If you are saving to redeem a business/first ticket, points have significant value. If you can only use them for something else, it's not worth paying the extra.

I agree one point is worth $0.125-0.15 or at least that's how much the banks are paying the airline.

 

[ap_spd]

If you are going to use cash might as well load it on your velocity card (forgot the name) and use and get points

 

[JohnK]

I was told I am not allowed to value them at 0.5 cents/point and their real value was closer to 1 cent/point.

If you can get 1.5 cents/point then you are doing well.

 

[day-heg]

I guess it depends on what you value and how you would like to use them... eg. fly on a Y reward ticket, but fly more often for a given number of points, or fly on a J reward, but less frequently - if that makes sense?

I base the decisions around points (eg CC sign ups, etc) against J rewards to Europe with EY. Mrs D-H and I have taken about 7 legs over the last 2 years and always found the flights to be excellent - in-flight catering, service & seat design better than J with EK in our opinion. So, to put that in context, approx cost of a J return flight MEL-LHR is around $6,500rtn if you book well out (as you'll have to to get J reward seats), or 250,000 points plus about $400 in taxes total on a redemption with Virgin/Etihad.

Whether a a J flight should be valued at $6,500 is another matter of course, but leaving that to one side for the moment your 250,000 points buy you $6,100 worth of travel, with Lounge access (very nice at LHR, excellent if you can get in to the Flounge at AUH, & SYD is to be experienced!), priority everything and chauffeurs at both ends as added bonuses. So I guess that's around 2.5c/point.

If you travel in Y, the cost is about $2,200, taxes broadly similar so you get $1,800 worth for your 125,000 points - or about 1.5c/point. Still not bad, and of course, you get to travel twice as often on your points. But in whY! ;-)

Hope that helps...
Cheers,
D-H

 

[serfty]

I was told I am not allowed to value them at 0.5 cents/point and their real value was closer to 1 cent/point.

If you can get 1.5 cents/point then you are doing well.

I guess that's for those who choose not to fly long haul Business Class.

I can easily get ~4¢ per point value with a transpacific redemption in Business class.

 

[markis10]

If you are going to use cash might as well load it on your velocity card (forgot the name) and use and get points

I cannot work out that statement, why would you use a card that has poor FX rates and fees for card purchases that earn a point per $1 spent when its costing you more than the credit card you have now with same points.

If you need cash overseas the Citibank debit card is the way to go, and many places dont take card so cash is easy. No ATM fees and you can just take out small amounts as required.

If you need to charge it, use 28 degrees or the Bankwest QFF platinum card which gives you the good forex and low/no fees but has points, albeit in QFF

 

[smit0847]

I guess it depends on what you value and how you would like to use them... eg. fly on a Y reward ticket, but fly more often for a given number of points, or fly on a J reward, but less frequently - if that makes sense?

I base the decisions around points (eg CC sign ups, etc) against J rewards to Europe with EY. Mrs D-H and I have taken about 7 legs over the last 2 years and always found the flights to be excellent - in-flight catering, service & seat design better than J with EK in our opinion. So, to put that in context, approx cost of a J return flight MEL-LHR is around $6,500rtn if you book well out (as you'll have to to get J reward seats), or 250,000 points plus about $400 in taxes total on a redemption with Virgin/Etihad.

Whether a a J flight should be valued at $6,500 is another matter of course, but leaving that to one side for the moment your 250,000 points buy you $6,100 worth of travel, with Lounge access (very nice at LHR, excellent if you can get in to the Flounge at AUH, & SYD is to be experienced!), priority everything and chauffeurs at both ends as added bonuses. So I guess that's around 2.5c/point.

If you travel in Y, the cost is about $2,200, taxes broadly similar so you get $1,800 worth for your 125,000 points - or about 1.5c/point. Still not bad, and of course, you get to travel twice as often on your points. But in whY! ;-)

Hope that helps...
Cheers,
D-H

I could not have put this better myself. It depends on how you use them as to what they are worth. I value them at 1-2c per point.

EY J to Europe and VA J to LAX is the best use of points IMO. My partner is looking forward to his first EY J flights to Italy in August!

 

[JohnK]

I guess that's for those who choose not to fly long haul Business Class.

I can easily get ~4¢ per point value with a transpacific redemption in Business class.

We have this discussion everytime.

The value is derived not from what is listed for the airfare by the airline but what you are prepared to pay for that airfare.

e.g. I would be prepared to spend a maximum of $1500 to get to the USA return in economy. I wouldn't pay $3000 for business class airfare but assuming I redeemed 192,000 points for the award the maximum value I would assign to that redemption would be $3000 less any taxes.

You can see how the value is not going to be more than~1.5c/point if taxes are very low and ~1c/point for high taxes.

I can't do any better. It doesn't comfort me in the slightest that some people value that same airfare at ~$10,000 or even ~$6,000 and therefore place a higher value on their points. I am not missing out in any way. There is no right and wrong. I choose very carefully if I am going to purchase QFF points or Velocity points outside of what I am earning with flights.

It gets worse for flights to Asia as I can get economy for ~$700 return and place a maximum value of $1500 on business class airfare. For carriers such as Qantas and SQ a sizeable chunk of that airfare is used up in taxes and surcharges which drops the value of the points remarkably.

 

[serfty]

This is a Virgin Thread and things are different to Qantas.

+++ on a Transpacific return are $136 to go with the 188K Velocity point cost.

(With Qantas the 192K point cost for a similar booking comes with a $935 impost)

Let's look at economy instead.

Take your $1500 return inclusive, the reward is 94K and $136.

That equates to a ~1.5¢ per velocity point value.

The same reward on Qantas costs 96K and $846, working on that $1500 equates to a 0.7¢ per Qantas FF point value.

 

[smit0847]

This is a Virgin Thread and things are different to Qantas.

+++ on a Transpacific return are $136 to go with the 188K Velocity point cost.

(With Qantas the 192K point cost for a similar booking comes with a $935 impost)

Let's look at economy instead.

Take your $1500 return inclusive, the reward is 94K and $136.

That equates to a ~1.5¢ per velocity point value.

The same reward on Qantas costs 96K and $846, working on that $1500 equates to a 0.7¢ per Qantas FF point value.

Everytime I see the QF taxes and surcharges calculated for award seats I gasp. Still can't fathom it.

 

[Fruitcake]

The value is derived not from what is listed for the airfare by the airline but what you are prepared to pay for that airfare.

Even though I was most likely the person who told you that you weren't allowed to value them at 0.5c I completely agree with your logic in this post. Some of the more fantastic c/pt numbers come about from picking fares no sane person would ever pay cash for to start with (where sane person == someone who thinks and is resourced exactly the same as me, so your mileage may vary).

 

[JohnK]

This is a Virgin Thread and things are different to Qantas.

+++ on a Transpacific return are $136 to go with the 188K Velocity point cost.

I know it is a Virgin thread. I used the wrong point cost for the award. I think you understand my point about personal value placed on the use of points and how 2 different people can get 2 different point values.

P.S. I would pay $1500 for a Qantas flight in economy to the USA but I wouldn't pay that amount for a Virgin flight in economy. Business class would be different. Perhaps that is biased but that is reality. Complicates things a little but not all airlines are equal.

 

[knasty]

To the OP I value points enough to pay the FX and take 2.66 miles per dollar.