MEL to ADL Return - Currency or Points plus Pay

[knagelli]

Hi Experts, I have to book three return tickets from MEL to ADL in the first week of November. Is it a good idea to use points plus pay so I can accumulate some SCs or just book the reward tickets. I wanted to accumulate some SCs but the SC/$ when using cash is not great. Turns to be around 14$ per each SC if economy. Appreciate your suggestions.

Note : Dates are not flexible as have something planned and it will be 2 adults and a kiddo ( 3 yrs old ).

 

[Ade]

I'd say depends on a few things ;

1. How many points you've got and are you happy to spend your points on Domestic Y flights?
2. How important is accumulating SC's ? I see that you are VFF Silver, are you trying to achieve Gold by anytime soon ?
3. How much are the tickets $wise and are you happy to pay fully using $ ?

The reason I ask is - I used to redeem domestic flights (Y or J) using my QF points, but later realized that points are best used on International long haul J/W flights rather than Domestic Y/J.

In my case, I did the math and it goes like this ;

SYD-MEL return J is 32,000 QF points. But SYD-HKG J is 50,000 points for a Saver fare and 27,500 for a Flex fare. I personally feel that redeeming points on Intl. long haul is good use of points.

4. The other question I'd have is how important is it for you to save up points for an upcoming international flight where you could upgrade with points?

To me that's important as I travel overseas every month and I mostly purchase Y tickets and use points to upgrade to W or J

 

[knagelli]

Thanks mate. Let's see how I am doing.

1. How many points you've got and are you happy to spend your points on Domestic Y flights?

I got around 67K points and already have a paid ticket to LA ( Elevate/Getaway) so not sure if I can upgrade , pardon my ignorance

2. How important is accumulating SC's ? I see that you are VFF Silver, are you trying to achieve Gold by anytime soon ?

I am 282 short of achieving gold so it is not going to be possible with this trip. Also my upcoming trip will get me the required SC's to achieve gold.

3. How much are the tickets $wise and are you happy to pay fully using $ ?

MEL - ADL
- Business Reward ( 62400 points ) incl. taxes / $403 in currency
- Elevate ( points pls pay ) - 33000 / $182 in currency

ADL - MEL
- Business Reward ( 62400 points ) incl. taxes / $ 472 in currency
- Elevate ( points pls pay ) - 28300 in points / $155 in currency

4. The other question I'd have is how important is it for you to save up points for an upcoming international flight where you could upgrade with points?

I travel only for leisure and work does not pay for my flights. 3-4 domestic trips per year and one international trip with family.

Based on the forums and info available on velocity , I can't upgrade to a higher class on VA flights if Elevate or Getaway so in limbo if I do accumulate points or just use them now.

 

[Ade]

I got around 67K points and already have a paid ticket to LA ( Elevate/Getaway) so not sure if I can upgrade , pardon my ignorance

67K is more velocity points that what I've got at the moment so congrats

you may use this link to check if your ticket to LA is eligible for an upgrade

UpgradeMe

Virgin Australia guests with an eligible fare may be able to submit an offer for the chance to upgrade to a higher cabin class on eligible Virgin Australia flights.

www.virginaustralia.com

I am 282 short of achieving gold so it is not going to be possible with this trip. Also my upcoming trip will get me the required SC's to achieve gold.

I'd think as the upcoming intl. trip to LA is going to get you Gold, you may use your points + pay in this trip to reduce $ costs.

However, I'd check how much $ are you saving by giving away your points ? If you're only saving little, personally, I'd stick to paying with $ in full for the dom. trip

MEL - ADL
- Business Reward ( 62400 points ) incl. taxes / $403 in currency
- Elevate ( points pls pay ) - 33000 / $182 in currency

ADL - MEL
- Business Reward ( 62400 points ) incl. taxes / $ 472 in currency
- Elevate ( points pls pay ) - 28300 in points / $155 in currency

Is it safe to assume you'd need 33000 points per passenger or $182 per passenger? If that's the case, then you'd be better off buying the fare by paying $ in full. This is, however, my opinion, and, as always, kindly consider personal/financial situation before making a decision

Based on the forums and info available on velocity , I can't upgrade to a higher class on VA flights if Elevate or Getaway so in limbo if I do accumulate points or just use them now.

This bit I'm not sure too ... may be someone from this forum can clarify on this ?

 

[knagelli]

I'd think as the upcoming intl. trip to LA is going to get you Gold, you may use your points + pay in this trip to reduce $ costs.

However, I'd check how much $ are you saving by giving away your points ? If you're only saving little, personally, I'd stick to paying with $ in full for the dom. trip

I have already made the bookings and in saying that I have to admit , I have already made points plus pay ticket purchase where I paid around $4870 and 58500 points. I wonder was it worthwhile to have paid all in cash and retain the points for a later upgrade.

Will check again if I can use the points to upgrade my ticket to a higher class or just save the points for future travel needs.

Cheers/K

 

[Saab34]

MEL-ADL has been terrible lately with switching out last minute from 737 to Tiger A320s that went to VARA. These don’t have J

 

[knagelli]

MEL-ADL has been terrible lately with switching out last minute from 737 to Tiger A320s that went to VARA. These don’t have J

How is A320 compared to 737 flights ?

 

[Saab34]

A320s used are 15 years old. The seats in the ex bmi one were still the same. Seat pitch is about 1 inch more over the 737.

I’m not sure what they did with the three Tiger birds they sent across did they keep the seats and just reduce seat count?

 

[CaptJCool]

There are situations where the purchase of Y tics with points plus pay are lower than the reward points but that’s where there’s discounts or in this example.

There isn’t an easily available ready reckoner but this gives you the gist of the idea.


So were ADL - Mel $109 - 119 one way then yes cheaper or near enough to use points plus pay instead of classic reward. I expect the same to be for VA....

 

[Muppet501st]

you dont earn any SC's on Points plus pay,

You need to have a Y Freedom fare, and also a SG or WP to be eligible to upgrade to Y+ or J on Long Haul flights

 

[ozstamps]

you dont earn any SC's on Points plus pay,

That was my thought reading down this thread!

Points and Pay is ONLY for reward seats I assumed, and hence zero SC. And wonder why no-one had mentioned that reality.

Want SC on flights - - buy tickets with money.

 

[Muppet501st]

That was my thought reading down this thread!

Points and Pay is ONLY for reward seats I assumed, and hence zero SC. And wonder why no-one had mentioned that reality.

Want SC on flights - - buy tickets with money.

or use points for "Any Seat" which use a crazy amount of points

 

[CaptJCool]

SCs are earned on Qantas Points plus pay...




Is this not the situation with VA?

 

[Ade]

And wonder why no-one had mentioned that reality.

My understanding is that SC's are awarded in points + pay. May be it's different in VA, perhaps ?

 

[knagelli]

Want SC on flights - - buy tickets with money.

Logically sounds about right to me but again they are not giving us a reward ticket with Points plus pay. Points plus pay is customised and at times it is possible to use just 5000 points and $500 cash , just saying it is still valid. Also the component of cash under points+pay includes not just taxes but also part of ticket revenue. Im trying to find my feet here so pardon my ignorance if I have stated anything incorrectly

 

[knagelli]

you dont earn any SC's on Points plus pay,

You need to have a Y Freedom fare, and also a SG or WP to be eligible to upgrade to Y+ or J on Long Haul flights

I could not find any commentary on VA site that says you don't. If I look at my current options , only the first two are classified as reward ticket and all other ticket options are non-reward tickets. I strongly hope we do get SC's for points plus pay flights. I can call them up and confirm as one of my other trips to SFO is booked with that option and I will be bummed if they say I can't get SC's.

Copied from VA :

An Eligible Sector is any flight that begins with a VA flight number and does not include Reward Seats.

 

[knagelli]

My understanding is that SC's are awarded in points + pay. May be it's different in VA, perhaps ?

 

[Pleb Status]

'Any seats' (or points + pay seats) are just revenue seats paid (fully or partially) with points and therefore will earn VFF points and SC.

Generally, the 'value per point' is poor when purchasing 'Any seats' with points when compared to just using cash (~0.6c/pt on an example I just checked).

The posting of QF specific material in this thread has just appeared to confused things, as each program could be different.

The link below explains the differences between standard reward seats and 'Any seats' -

The difference between Velocity’s Reward Seat and Any Seat

It’s the Great Seat Showdown. Who’s the winner? Well, you, really.

view.velocityfrequentflyer.com

 

[knagelli]

'Any seats' (or points + pay seats) are just revenue seats paid (fully or partially) with points and therefore will earn VFF points and SC.

Generally, the 'value per point' is poor when purchasing 'Any seats' with points when compared to just using cash (~0.6c/pt on an example I just checked).

The posting of QF specific material in this thread has just appeared to confused things, as each program could be different.

The link below explains the differences between standard reward seats and 'Any seats' -

The difference between Velocity’s Reward Seat and Any Seat

It’s the Great Seat Showdown. Who’s the winner? Well, you, really.

view.velocityfrequentflyer.com

Yes , that's correct. We earn SCs on 'Any Seats' per the Velocity Customer Service. Had to give them a call to confirm this and the guy on other side was patient enough to calculate the number of status credits for each sector/leg on my journey. I had that input already but wanted to confirm that my calculation on points plus ticket was correct.

 

[CPMaverick]

'Any seats' (or points + pay seats) are just revenue seats paid (fully or partially) with points and therefore will earn VFF points and SC.

Generally, the 'value per point' is poor when purchasing 'Any seats' with points when compared to just using cash (~0.6c/pt on an example I just checked).

That's really interesting info, thanks. I had just assumed any points tickets would earn 0. I have heaps of points so if I am in need of SC, it's something to consider.