Advice on where to transfer my CitiReward points.

[spongey]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on where to transfer my CitiRewards points. At the moment I have a Citi Select card and am enrolled in the Qantas program but am sick of the high charges when booking flights overseas. I am not a frequent flyer and earn all my points through our business on credit card spend. On average I earn about 30-50k Qantas points a month which equates to double in CitiRewards points.
Options are the CitiRewards program, Kris Flyer, Velocity or Asia Miles. The Velocity and Kris Flyer transfer CitiReward points at a 1.5 = 1 point where the Qantas and Asia are 2 = 1 point.

Any advice would be great, the Qantas points are decent value when able to book a premium or business seat but with economy the value is getting harder to justify. My fiance is American so we have flown a lot to the USA but next year we want to go to Europe and also start exploring Asia.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Deewhy]

I'd suggest you start playing around with the VA VFF booking engine to see if that suits what you are after re Europe flights. From memory business class will be 110k each way plus $400 or so taxes... then you can decide if Velocity is any better for what you need.

Do same for SQ and Asia miles

 

[burmans]

I'd suggest you start playing around with the VA VFF booking engine to see if that suits what you are after re Europe flights. From memory business class will be 110k each way plus $400 or so taxes... then you can decide if Velocity is any better for what you need.

Do same for SQ and Asia miles

Agreed, you need to look at where you want to go and then check via the engine. I'm a SQ fan myself, but Asia miles might be good to, VA probably not so good.

 

[spongey]

Thanks Deewhy for the response,

I was also thinking I can pool my CitiReward points and just transfer them to whichever program when I need to book a flight.
At the moment with Qantas it is transfer all or nothing so I don't have that luxury.

 

[Formal Hall]

I'd suggest you start playing around with the VA VFF booking engine to see if that suits what you are after re Europe flights. From memory business class will be 110k each way plus $400 or so taxes... then you can decide if Velocity is any better for what you need.

Do same for SQ and Asia miles

VA taxes should be better than that if you pick EY metal and avoid LHR. SQ is high taxes everywhere so is best avoided, but do keep in mind they have a 15% discount for online redemptions which may make the transfer more palatable.

 

[cove]

The thing about Krisflyer is the easy flight bookings in higher classes when you are ready to roll. Yes the downside is the taxes and charges especially on Economy redemptions that make that unworkable.

 

[Formal Hall]

There is one obscure exception; there are no fuel taxes charged by SQ ex-Brazil due to legal reasons so you can fly in first from Sao Paulo to Barcelona in first for 58k points and 38 USD.

 

[spongey]

I would be looking at flying Adelaide to Conpenhagen then return leg would be Helsinki to Adelaide.

Would travel business class preferably. Any advice would be great guys as to which carrier would be best
to fly with points. This would be June 2014 so ways off yet.

 

[spongey]

The thing about Krisflyer is the easy flight bookings in higher classes when you are ready to roll. Yes the downside is the taxes and charges especially on Economy redemptions that make that unworkable.

Hi cove, I have been reading lots of your posts for advice thanks very much. Finding the same with Qantas for economy flights redemption is a waste on economy and getting harder to get a business flight unless you book a year out basically.

I will start pooling my points in CitiRewards ready to transfer to when I need to book flights i think.

 

[burmans]

The thing about Krisflyer is the easy flight bookings in higher classes when you are ready to roll. Yes the downside is the taxes and charges especially on Economy redemptions that make that unworkable.

Must admit I was only considering J and above when I wrote that, while the taxes and charges are high (compared to Asia Miles and VA but not QF) the redemption costs for higher classes are still very reasonable and availability is not much short of brilliant in comparison to most other programs (I've booked 4 tickets in school holidays, try that on Qantas!). Note to self though, really should investigate Asia Miles further and as you may note from the VA thread, while in general redemption values are not that outstanding there are some that do meet that criteria by exception. The idea ex Brazil does appeal too!

 

[spongey]

I also have 50,000 united and 50,000 Delta miles accrued over the years that I keep active. Is it best to use these for domestic internal flights within the USA do you think? Be there next April for our Disney wedding so be a chance to burn them off then. Will hopefully be able to get a cpl Business flights for the journey there and back to use up my Qantas points booking the max time in advance.....fingers crossed anyway.

 

[spongey]

I'd suggest you start playing around with the VA VFF booking engine to see if that suits what you are after re Europe flights. From memory business class will be 110k each way plus $400 or so taxes... then you can decide if Velocity is any better for what you need.

Do same for SQ and Asia miles

Playing around with the VA VFF booking system is a lot easier said than done! Is it always this bad?