May Velocity Points bonus incoming....

[Brizz]

Hi All,

Not sure of the details, but Velocity has just emailed me to advise that "Something special is on its way"

"Do you have reward points stacking up?

We’ve got something a little extra for you, and it’s right around the corner. Get your rewards points ready because we have a treat for you this May."

and asks me to pick which transfer partner I am most interested in from:-

Banks and Cards - AMEX, ANZ, CITI, NAB, BankSA, Bank of Melbourne, Diners, CardServices, HSBC, Suncorp
Accomodation - IHG, Accor, Choice, Marriott, Shangri-la and EnviroBank

And.....FLYBUYS! which I am very excited about!

"Keep your eyes peeled, we’ll let you know when your offer has arrived!"

Awesome if there actually is an Flybuys bonus incoming!

Cheers

 

[Must...Fly!]

I have about 80,000 flybuys hanging around so perhaps May will be the time to reset that another to zero!

 

[lovestotravel]

Time to move those COVID stacked Flybuys to Velocity

 

[Mr H]

I have 340,000 Flybuys - about to become 360,000. If there's an offer for 15%+ bonus I will convert - if not, I won't.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I have 340,000 Flybuys - about to become 360,000. If there's an offer for 15%+ bonus I will convert - if not, I won't.

Balances such as these should carry an adult's only tag on AFF

 

[Brizz]

I have to move by September at the latest to redeem for next years flights, so whatever the offer is I am taking it.

This will be the first Flybuys bonus since they made them 2 for 1 and comes after they purged a lot via the Millionaire bonus (bonus my cough!).

Hopefully this is the first of many to come!

 

[antycbr]

Balances such as these should carry an adult's only tag on AFF

Have Virgin/VA removed the annual limit on transferring points from Flybuys to Velocity?

 

[Mr H]

Have Virgin/VA removed the annual limit on transferring points from Flybuys to Velocity?

Yes.

But I would temper my expectations. The offers will be different for each preferred partner and the Flybuys one could well be something like 500 bonus points or 1000 if you switch on automated transfer. Or share of a million points…

 

[Brizz]

Yeah I have my fingers crossed, but am expecting disappointment....

 

[lovestotravel]

Yes.

But I would temper my expectations. The offers will be different for each preferred partner and the Flybuys one could well be something like 500 bonus points or 1000 if you switch on automated transfer. Or share of a million points…

Indeed and sadly I think that will be the case

 

[lovestotravel]

Page is live

15% bonus Velocity Points

Transfer your reward points from participating partners to Velocity between 4 October and 25 October 2022 and receive a minimum 15% bonus Velocity Points. Min. points transfer, exclusions & T&Cs apply*.

experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com

10% for Flybuys...

 

[Mr H]

Page is live

15% bonus Velocity Points

Transfer your reward points from participating partners to Velocity between 4 October and 25 October 2022 and receive a minimum 15% bonus Velocity Points. Min. points transfer, exclusions & T&Cs apply*.

experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com

10% for Flybuys...

The link says 15% for credit cards and 5% for a single Flybuys transaction (10% if you turn on auto transfer for the first time).

 

[Brizz]

Luckily I have never turned on auto transfer so 10% for me.

I am using the points in the next 3 months, so it seems like this is the best I am going to get, and TBH I was resigned to getting nothing after refusing to participate in the current 'Millionaire' scam, so this is a win!

 

[Mr H]

Luckily I have never turned on auto transfer so 10% for me.

I am using the points in the next 3 months, so it seems like this is the best I am going to get, and TBH I was resigned to getting nothing after refusing to participate in the current 'Millionaire' scam, so this is a win!

I'm in the same position.

I have waited two years for a transfer bonus and if I turned on Auto Transfer I could get 18,000 bonus Velocity points. Is this as good as I'll ever get? Do I feel like I would kick myself for turning it down if a similar offer never came around again? Is my personal line in the sand (15%) really worth holding out for when it is just another 9,000 Velocity points that might never happen.

And this becomes even more of a puzzle when I consider how many extra yards I will go to get the 10,000 Flybuys bonuses which are, objectively, worth only a quarter of the bonus points on offer here.

Incidentally, am I alone in working out Velocity points and dividing them by 1.55 to see what I might (one day) really get?

 

[Must...Fly!]

It's certainly a conundrum. Perhaps 10% is as good as it will get now due to the increase in the base transfer rate.

IIRC, at the old 1000 FB to 870 VFF, a 15% bonus resulted in 1000VFF. Now we get 1100 with the 10% bonus. So you're still ahead.

 

[Brizz]

My 5c for what it is worth...

This is the first transfer bonus of any meaning, and it's really only 5% for a manual transfer.

We just happen to get an extra 5% for not enabling auto-transfer previously - taking us up to 10%.

Based on that I think that we are unlikely to see a 15% bonus anytime soon.

In my case this is an extra 25k points - that's either a lot of flying, or selling your soul to the devil for a credit card bonus (which I do happily ).

I'm going to take it

*edit to reduce points value - forgot to reduce by half in the conversion to velocity points

 

[Mr H]

It's certainly a conundrum. Perhaps 10% is as good as it will get now due to the increase in the base transfer rate.

IIRC, at the old 1000 FB to 870 VFF, a 15% bonus resulted in 1000VFF. Now we get 1100 with the 10% bonus. So you're still ahead.

I hear you, and I am aware that I am thinking emotionally.

With the old 870 rate, I'm not sure that anyone ever believed that was the genuine rate - it seemed artificially low in order to allow the twice yearly 15% promotion.

In this case, it is more that my current Flybuys stash has taken two years to accumulate and 18,000 bonus points feels like scant reward for such a lot of work/spend. Plus, there is the sense that the 10% bonus is a one-time only offer and claiming it means you'll never be eligible for another one.

 

[levelnine]

Why do people transfer FB to VFF? 2,000FB = $10 real currency ($10 off shop) or 1,100VFF (with 10% bonus). This means you are essentially purchasing VFF at $0.009 per point.

You can generally purchase VFF at a much lower rate with credit card sign up offers. Eg Virgin Money's $65 for 100,000VFF comes out at ~$0.00065 per point.

That strikes me as a huge opportunity cost. You are foregoing real currency (which is way more preferable to loyalty program points) to purchase VFF at 14x the cost of credit card sign up offers.

Is it simply that there are not enough credit card sign up offers to attain the points you need? Or that you don't spend enough to meet all the credit card sign up offer minimum spend requirements?

(As an aside, I think the same thing of Everyday Rewards to QFF.)

Happy to be convinced otherwise. Just trying to work out why people get so excited about collecting VFF/QFF through grocery shopping when the cash back seems far more favourable.

 

[Brizz]

Because they are worth more to me as flights.

Here's an example - Singapore to Amsterdam next year in Business...



139000 velocity is 278000 flybuys.

In your view that is $1,390 of real money at Coles.

In my view this $5,841.87 of business class flights.



This is better value for me as I am going to take the flight either way.

Woolworths rewards on the other hand I always take as cash - no allegiance to Qantas in any way so their points are valueless to me.

I also do play around with credit card bonuses when I can.

 

[levelnine]

In your view that is $1,390 of real money at Coles.

You've missed my point.

If I can purchase those 139,000VFF for $90 instead through credit card sign ups ($0.00065 * 139,000), I am $1,300 better off than you by converting my FBs to real money.

Put alternatively, you paid $1,390 for 139,000VFF. I paid $90.