Help please with Velocity reward points + pay options

[GCC]

I'm thinking of booking flights SYD - LAX departing SYD ON 1 August and returning 13 August. I have plenty of MR points in my Amex, but only about 30,000 VFF points.

I can see that J reward is available on the dates and flights I want, for 94k points +$358, but I would like to use as few points as possible and spend more $$$. The points plus pay booking engine wont let me get through to booking page and the slider for points / pay combinations as I don't have the minimum points required to book.

So I rang the Velocity Plat desk, who were lovely but told me that could only see what I could see so couldn't answer the question.

Hoping some kind AFF'er with more than 94k velocity points and a minutes to spare could take a look at those J rewards and tell me the lowest points / highest $$$ fare point?

I go with this option it will be instead of booking my usual QFF Y and using a points upgrade, and would probably mean a big leap from QF to VA. My understanding though is that I'll get NO points or SC's for the VA booking - is that correct?

 

[notzac]

Hoping some kind AFF'er with more than 94k velocity points and a minutes to spare could take a look at those J rewards and tell me the lowest points / highest $$$ fare point?

Smallest number of points for the return trip is 188000 plus $636.54. So, basically what's quoted by the booking engine.

My understanding though is that I'll get NO points or SC's for the VA booking - is that correct?

Correct.

 

[skeltonl]

Smallest number of points for the return trip is 188000 plus $636.54. So, basically what's quoted by the booking engine.

Correct.

So no option to use Points + Pay to reduce the points then. Why I ask is that the Velocity centre told me yesterday that you cant use Points and Pay for Virgin Long Haul International anymore.

 

[notzac]

Basically, it seems the only use of points + pay is to reduce the $$ spent on taxes.

 

[skeltonl]

Basically, it seems the only use of points + pay is to reduce the $$ spent on taxes.

Thank you notzac - thats what the contact centre told me after I said that I had done Points and Pay previously on V Australia (75,000 points for a J award down from the 94,000) - so this appears to be a new enhancement to the Virgin product :evil:

 

[GCC]

Thanks notzac, much appreciated

It is still a decent enough reward I guess, but not for me as it is a business trip and I want to spend the businesses $$ not my own points.

Interestingly the Velocity plat centre couldn't tell me that yesterday afternoon. They suggested I transfer the points over from Amex so I could see the results on the booking page.

 

[Reg Reagan]

I spoke with the Velocity call centre today & asked the same question. They confirmed that for long haul international the points + pay is only used for the taxes, and it's not possible to reduce points burn by spending more $$$. As a sidenote, I've found the Velocity call centre staff to be very friendly but there can be inconsistent information given at times.

 

[The Rok]

You can use points + pay for international but the threshold is higher. You will still need probably over 70% of the points from my searches.

 

[skeltonl]

You can use points + pay for international but the threshold is higher. You will still need probably over 70% of the points from my searches.

Were those searches Virgin Australia Short Haul i.e New Zealand or Fiji or was it Virgin Australia Long Haul (Such as Australia to the USA) which I was told no longer has Points + Pay for anything but taxes as an option?

 

[The Rok]

Were those searches Virgin Australia Short Haul i.e New Zealand or Fiji or was it Virgin Australia Long Haul (Such as Australia to the USA) which I was told no longer has Points + Pay for anything but taxes as an option?

SYD-AUH. Thats was only a week ago I searched? Ill try again now.

 

[The Rok]

Ok, your right, you can only use points+pay for the taxes component of a Long Haul flight now.

Interestingly I tried to book SYD-AUH tommorow. It gave me the option of either the VA flight or the EY flight as per below.

Flight on VA Metal 94,000 Points +$313 Taxes

Flight on EY Metal 94,100 Points + $71 Taxes.

Guess which I would choose.

So really I can use 100 points to save $242.