Family trip to Canada using points....how??

[Ronman888]

Hi all-I'm new to all of this and after reading various guides and 'how to' pages I am completely bamboozled on the frequent flyer points system!!

My wife and I have about 260000 virgin velocity points and are red members. In the next couple of years we plan to travel to Canada with our two children which looking at flights will be a Sydney -Vancouver flight.

Everything I have read is saying to try and get premium economy or business class flights for better value. Our objective is to just get there for the best price possible with the assistance of points-not too fussed with how we travel-although if it is more beneficial to travel in one of those classes happy to do so.

I'm wondering what the best way to do this is and will the points we have be greatly beneficial or is there something I can be doing in the meantime to help get us there cheaper?

 

[brown891]

These days flights between Sydney and North America are abundant so aren't exactly expensive in the first place. Having said that I've never flown Business class so wouldn't know how much that costs. Unsure if Virgin go from sydney to Vancouver but i do know they go to LAX. Perhaps you have to go to there and partner with Delta airlines from LAX to Vancouver??

Could be worth purchasing tickets outright and then using points to upgrade from Economy to Business class. Again, I'm just a junior at this haha but from what I understand, using points for upgrades is best value. Perhaps someone else can elaborate for you on the best options you have available. 260000 points between 4 of you could work on the upgrade option nicely depending on availability...

Would check for you but currently actually sitting in Sydney airport on coughpy wifi...

 

[CJEMNMAC]

Hi all-I'm new to all of this and after reading various guides and 'how to' pages I am completely bamboozled on the frequent flyer points system!!

My wife and I have about 260000 virgin velocity points and are red members. In the next couple of years we plan to travel to Canada with our two children which looking at flights will be a Sydney -Vancouver flight.

Everything I have read is saying to try and get premium economy or business class flights for better value. Our objective is to just get there for the best price possible with the assistance of points-not too fussed with how we travel-although if it is more beneficial to travel in one of those classes happy to do so.

I'm wondering what the best way to do this is and will the points we have be greatly beneficial or is there something I can be doing in the meantime to help get us there cheaper?

These days flights between Sydney and North America are abundant so aren't exactly expensive in the first place. Having said that I've never flown Business class so wouldn't know how much that costs. Unsure if Virgin go from sydney to Vancouver but i do know they go to LAX. Perhaps you have to go to there and partner with Delta airlines from LAX to Vancouver??

Could be worth purchasing tickets outright and then using points to upgrade from Economy to Business class. Again, I'm just a junior at this haha but from what I understand, using points for upgrades is best value. Perhaps someone else can elaborate for you on the best options you have available. 260000 points between 4 of you could work on the upgrade option nicely depending on availability...

Would check for you but currently actually sitting in Sydney airport on coughpy wifi...

I will make a few points here.

VA do not fly to Vancouver

You have to be Gold or Plat to upgrade using points on VA. You are Red

If you are wanting to use your VA points for part of the journey, you need +/- 95000 pts for an economy return to LA. So lets say +/- 380000 points for 4 economy return to LA and then a paid ticket LAX - YVR return.

You could for the same points ( +/- 380000 ) have 2 x business class redemptions return ( subject to availability ) and purchase 2 x economy return for the 2 kids same flight ? ( depending on age )

My comments are just a couple of suggestions based on using VA points as you have indicated.

Purely from a cost perspective ( as you are " not fussed with how you travel " ) then the 4 x economy redemption will use up the points ( plus you need a few more ) and you just have to buy the USA - Canada part. This is the lowest cash outlay assuming you don't mind travelling in economy long haul and assuming you want to just burn your VA points.