Currently a member of Qantas with 1mil points. Should I also become a Virgin member? Or a Starworld Alliance member?

[brad1549]

HI all,

As the title states - I'm currently a Qantas member with 1mil points. I fly once or twice a year to an international destination and am happy to fly economy. I presume I can fly any Oneworld airlines with Qantas points, in addition to individual partnerships such as Emirates.

Would it be beneficial for me to also become a Velocity member and start attaining velocity miles? Or, should I sign up to a Star Alliance airline?

Essentially my questions are:

1. Should I join another airline alliance other than Oneworld?
2. If yes to the above, which alliance should I join? Virgin for Velocity? Or Singapore for Star Alliance? Or something else?

PS: I am an avid credit card bonus points collector... Not sure if that impacts which airline I should join? I know I've seen quite a few velocity bonus cards out there.

Thanks all!

 

[jch]

If you collect Velocity points you'll have the flexibility to redeem points on both Virgin's partners and Star Alliance through KrisFlyer miles transfer.

Although you will take a hit at at a rate of 1.55:1, it will be much easier to earn Velocity points in Australia from your everyday expenditure i.e credit card sign-ups, fly buys and other local promotions.

 

[mannej]

Can’t answer your question without knowing what type of destinations you fly to, how often etc

 

[Scr77]

Can’t answer your question without knowing what type of destinations you fly to, how often etc

I agree. You need to have an idea of where you’re trying to achieve.

 

[cjd600]

If you're happy to fly economy, what do you use the points for?

 

[33kft]

Although you will take a hit at at a rate of 1.55:1, it will be much easier to earn Velocity points in Australia from your everyday expenditure i.e credit card sign-ups, fly buys and other local promotions.

The other way of going about this, and it's hard to generalise due to the number of programs out there but in general the transfer rates would be better than this approach, would be to use a card linked to a rewards program like AMEX MR or St George Amplify or whatnot. The key is to look at the conversion rates and earn rates for a handful of airlines that you are interested in before taking up the card, if the rates are reasonable you can earn points within your account and transfer out when needed.

The added bonus here are the transfer bonuses a lot of airlines (including VA) offer regularly throughout the year to encourage transfer into their programs. This can make your points go a lot further. Usually these programs have poor QFF transfer rates so if diversification is the game, you can always alternate between each. Nice to have a range of cards to take up when the direct airline-linked card offers dry up as well.

 

[Hvr]

What do you want from an airline program that Qantas doesn't offer?

Noting you're happy to fly economy then maybe you'd be better off getting a fee free credit card and saving the money?

 

[cove]

Once you fly in business or first it is hard to go back to economy. I am in Qantas, Kris Flyer and Virgin Velocity. Kris and Velocity have availability for business class redemptions and I do try hard to avoid 737s out of Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
Now the Qantas redemptions into economy after the redemption fees give you very little in the way of value versus cost.