MEL - JFK in Business

[Deon]

I'm looking at visiting NYC early-mid next year. I have Velocity Platinum and just over 400,000 points. What's the best way to get a business seat? I was looking at purchasing Freedom fares (around $2800 return) and then using 90,000 points to upgrade (return) from Economy to Business. I've read some posts about booking reward seats instead but obviously there is very little availability and the ones I have seen are close to 1,000,000 points.

I also gave some thought to using a service like iflyflat but given I have to spend points and also pay a non-refundable fee of $850 (whereas a Freedom or Business flight with VA would be refundable), it wasn't a very attractive option.

Any advice?

edit: should probably mention, I'm happy to just pay for a normal US domestic flight LAX-JFK but it's the MEL-LAX I'm trying to make affordable

 

[RooFlyer]

Nobody should ever use iflyflat! If you want that type of service, use the better, cheaper AFF affiliate Frequent Flyer Solutions Award flight Assist:

Home - Frequent Flyer Solutions

frequentflyer.com.au

Tell them what your are after and they give you a quote.

 

[Jobeki111]

The upgrades come from the same bucket as the reward seats. No rewards= no upgrades. The benefit of the freedom fare is you can then lock in dates and hope an upgrade comes up knowing you have your tickets sorted. The other option is you can often book saver premium economy for only a small ant more cash. That way you are guaranteed a better seat/food, more pts and more status credits. Upgrade cost is the same as freedom unless you pay a lot more for a flexible premium economy

 

[Bolthead]

I'm looking at visiting NYC early-mid next year. I have Velocity Platinum and just over 400,000 points. What's the best way to get a business seat? I was looking at purchasing Freedom fares (around $2800 return) and then using 90,000 points to upgrade (return) from Economy to Business. I've read some posts about booking reward seats instead but obviously there is very little availability and the ones I have seen are close to 1,000,000 points.

I also gave some thought to using a service like iflyflat but given I have to spend points and also pay a non-refundable fee of $850 (whereas a Freedom or Business flight with VA would be refundable), it wasn't a very attractive option.

Any advice?

edit: should probably mention, I'm happy to just pay for a normal US domestic flight LAX-JFK but it's the MEL-LAX I'm trying to make affordable

Maybe look at the Singapore airline option. For 99000 points (Singapore Points) you can fly SIN - FRA - JFK. Pay for your MEL - SIN leg. Depending on the dates there were some reward flights available for both outward and return legs. YMMV...