Million Altitude Rewards Points - Best Options

[marvel]

Hi. We should have around 1 million altitude points which we can convert to around 6700 AirPoints, or 500,000 with Singapore, V or Malaysian. We fly mainly to the USA hence we usually fly AirNZ but wondering if the experts here can advise if we are better of converting to them to one of the other options as it appears you get much more with V or Singapore Airlines, although I don't know that much about their freq flyer programs.

we travel as a family so probably looking to get free flights or maybe upgrade to business? is there enough for us to buy airfare and upgrade. finding it hard to work it out.

 

[dajop]

Hi. We should have around 1 million altitude points which we can convert to around 6700 AirPoints, or 500,000 with Singapore, V or Malaysian

OK IIRC (I can't confirm as I'm no longer a member) 1 million altitude points will also get you about $10,000 worth of travel if booked through altitude travel - so that will be better than NZ for a start.

On Singapore Airlines (SQ) - 500,000 pts with SQ can get you 4x business class returns to US on Air NZ (if you can get them) or United or Air Canada to Canada, or 6 x economy seats. Even with current sales you will be struggling to get 6 seats for 6700 airpoints, and certainly won't get 4 business class for that. FWIW you may also be able to get 4 business class seats to certain destinations in Europe (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Manchester, Athens, Rome) on SQ for 510,000 pts.

 

[cove]

Our friends say they are going from Singapore to Kennedy JFK and love this way to get to NYC.If you can get business or first to America from Singapore that would be very very nice use of those points.

 

[trooper]

Family of 4?

That's enough Airbucks to apply for upgrades Y>BP on 10 Transpac flights (AKL-LAX/SFO/YVR).. so at least 2 return trips...

I am sure you know this:

Upside... can be applied to ANY fare.

Downsides... Standby basis, and I think 4 (?) makes it really difficult.

While I personally only use Airbucks for upgrades I think in this case you are better off trying for redemptions as dajop has indicated...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

. FWIW you may also be able to get 4 business class seats to certain destinations in Europe (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Manchester, Athens, Rome) on SQ for 510,000 pts.

Hi, I am a recent convert to redeeimg on SQ due to the attractive burn rates on Saver Js.

Due to this I have been researching and booking some rewards.
I have mainly been looking at Aus to Asia and Europe and from this I would observe that if Like we you do not have status with SQ that if you book well in advance that you can get:

• 4 J seats on the one flight to SIn or other Asian destinations(ie I am off to Vietnam at Xmas and could have gained this also to China nd other destinations).
• But if you want to get to Europe I have not seen more than 2 J savers on any flight from SIN to Europe. I was checking fora while at max time out for all the Saver destinations to get a feel of what was achievable for trip next July (I booked MEL- MAN and AMS- MEL). In my case we fly MEL SIN together but all other legs are 2 people on consective days.

Whether you could snag 4 J last minute or not I cannot advise.

But on the more popular routes the 2 J Savers per flight often go near the max time out. On Asian destinations avaiability is a lot greater.


TIP on Altitude

If you are racking up a milion points on Altitude I would suggest you review other credit cards as well as you may well be able pretty easily earn 50 to 100% more points (on points arrived at an airline program basis) per dollar spent.

And indeed with the various point earning opportunities that present from time to time with a bit of point running on CC's you may well end up with an effectice earn rate of well beyond that.

 

[marvel]

Thanks for the replies.
I like the idea of the singapore option I will have to do some research into their frequent flyers.

The points have been acrued over many years, and I cannot see there being many other better credit card options, not a fan of Qantas so I steer clear of any card linked to them.

It seems that even with V its a better deal than Air NZ, I think you only need 180,000 points for a business class return which is 360,000 altitude points.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Thanks for the replies.
The points have been acrued over many years, and I cannot see there being many other better credit card options, not a fan of Qantas so I steer clear of any card linked to them.

.

I suggest then as you are already with Westpac that you look at the Westpac Krisfyer card which is a dual card, and compare this to your current Altitide Eran & Burn rates.

Amex earns at 1.5
Visa earns at 1.0 (double your Altitude).
Both transfer at 1 to 1 transfer to SQ.

Even though you say gather over many yeras it would seem that your KF eran would be healthy enough that the SQ restiction on have to use points within 3 years of eraning them should not be a problem.

If you join by Oct 31 you will gaina head start of 10,000 points.

 

[Zia]

Hi Marvel
You are in luck
I have just completed an exact same trip
get in early and you can fly Syd - Sin - EWR (Newark) on business for all 4

The Sin - Ewr is an all business flight so you may not feel very special, but it is an experience

Cheers

 

[megmcw]

Hi. We should have around 1 million altitude points which we can convert to around 6700 AirPoints, or 500,000 with Singapore, V or Malaysian. We fly mainly to the USA hence we usually fly AirNZ but wondering if the experts here can advise if we are better of converting to them to one of the other options as it appears you get much more with V or Singapore Airlines, although I don't know that much about their freq flyer programs.

we travel as a family so probably looking to get free flights or maybe upgrade to business? is there enough for us to buy airfare and upgrade. finding it hard to work it out.

You will be lucky. If you join as new member you are at the bottom of the heap as regards getting available seats. Most airlines require around 256,000 for a return business class fare from Brisbane/Sydney - if they are available. Upper Class Virgin want 384,000. To upgrade a lot of airlines these days require you to book a full Economy class ticket - then youcan't even be sure you will get the upgrade, so have forked out premium dollars for an economy ticket.
I have just come back from Sydney/Johannesburg/London/HongKong/Cairns/Brisbane - Business Class flying Qantas (First - only seats available) British Airways and Cathay - cost around 700,000 points plus a couple of thousands dollars in taxes.
Last year I went to South America - Sydney/Hongkong/L.A./Miami/Santiago/Buenos Aires/Miami/L.A./Brisbane. It took an awful lot of doing and had to be done through Qantas operator due to the variety of airlines. If you have Altitude points -Singapore Airlines is easily the best bet and in the past (not recently) I have found it very easy to upgrade or geta business class seat.
It takes a lot of patience and time to organise and at times you will feel like tearing your hair out. A straightforward Sydney/London/Sydney with Singapore Airlines should be easy IF there is availability.
I spend hours on the computer working out the best use of points - upgrades is by far the most value for money, but are the hardest to come by, unless you belong to Emirates who have a very user friendly site.
Hope this is of some help - but you will need PATIENCE AND STAMINA.

 

[megmcw]

Forgot to add the 700,000 was for two First/Business class tickets and the BrisbaneSydney was to London.

 

[KLN]

i recently upgraded to business SYD-SING for 3 people. prior to booking the economy seats i made sure of which class that could be upgraded, so it obviously wasn't the cheapest fare available. in another window i then tried to book a business fare for 3 and that was available.
i had already transferred my points over to Kris (getting the info over the phone was a little difficult, the accents were a little strong) and yes they confirmed that if i did that right now the business upgrade would be confirmed. all worked out fine, and it ended up being less points than i was told, but it made the trip worthwhile. this was also for F1 race, so getting to Sing was very busy at the time too. after flying Sing twice now am considering changing over the the Kris card with westpac too.

 

[morewind]

Newbie with Altitude Rewards Points - Best Options

Hi
I am a newbie and completely bewildered by using Altitude ff points.
We are planning to travel to Europe April 2010, returning late May.
We have 433,000 Altitude Points plus about 180000 QF points.
Can anyone advise how best to use these - Altitude advised the points would be worth $2590 to allocate to any airline, but others have suggested buying tickets and using them for upgrades.
Altitude suggested Emirates into London and out of Vienna fits best with our touring plans. Points would cover this with payment of $1200.
Is this the best idea? Would really appreciate any guidance as I am very new to this. We are both 60+.
thank you

 

[megmcw]

Your altitude points will equal 215,000 flying points. You have 180,000 Qantas points which I think will give you a return economy class ticket. You would need to use those to fly with Qantas and get Altitude to make your booking - eg. 1 booking direct with Qantas and 1 booking through Altitude - just have to get on the same flight.
Unless you transfer these points to one of Altitude's flying partners (no longer can you transfer points to Qantas) e.g. Singapore Airlines - then use them for upgrades. You would need to belong to the Airlines FF programme whatever you want to do. It is getting harder and harder for us more mature Frequent Flyers to understand the ins and outs. We stick with Emirates - earn our points with them, then use points to upgrade. They to are changing their system next year. I would also be aware of how many points and how much you need to pay - if that is the system as I have seen things like 16,000 points plus $1,600 - then you can find the same fare for less than $1,600 and no points. It takes a lot of time and research to get the best out of your points. Upgrades are certainly best value for money but harder to do. Qantas are very helpful on the phone as you can fly with Cathay, B.A, AA but those are not on their site. Anyway good luck - but you would be best to use direct contact with either Altitude or Qantas. Someone else may have better advice.

 

[serfty]

Welcome to AFF morewind

You have 180,000 QFF points, that's more than enough for a Qantas FF "oneworld" award of up to 142,000 points.

 

[dajop]

Re: Newbie with Altitude Rewards Points - Best Options

Hi
I am a newbie and completely bewildered by using Altitude ff points.
We are planning to travel to Europe April 2010, returning late May.
We have 433,000 Altitude Points plus about 180000 QF points.

Hi morewind, welcome to AFF.

As altitude rewards points convert to Singapore Airlines KF miles at 2:1 433,000 altitude points = 216,500 singapore airlines Krisflyer miles.

For a return to Europe (in economy) you need 161,500 KF miles (ie 323,000 altitude points) for 2 passengers, so you have more than enough. However, join Krisflyer (via www.singaporeair.com.au) before transferring anything - to see if they have availbility on your desired dates of travel, otherwise you may end up with miles that can't be used.

The other option (again availability dependent) is to use 128,000 QF points for one way travel (for two passengers) and use either 80,750 KF miles (161,500 Altitude points) for travel coming back in economy (or 127,500 KF miles/255,000 Altitude miles to come back in business class.