Most effective use of 2 million points?

[carls888]

Hi

we are looking at cashing in our points again and have used points before for gift cards to buy appliances, for the universal visa cards to spend on holidays and a zillion other things.

But this time we are selling up and travelling the world for afew years and I am wondering if it's worth putting the points into airline miles, using the cititravel facility or cashing in as visa cards to spend as we wish.

What do you think?

We have to buy our first long haul flight as we cancelled a trip to the USA and are going to europe instead so need to use up the flight credit.

Thanks

C

 

[cove]

Do a run in Suites with SQ by putting those points into Kris Flyer and grab a Saver points seat on an A380.

 

[scheps]

you have to book pretty far in advance dont you? and may have to go on waiting list for one of the two legs?

 

[cove]

Not so. One of our AFF community got a Saver Suite for sub 90k points (and he booked the cook for good measure) to fly in a weeks time. Have a look!
Don't bother with wait listing unless you have looked at every alternative like a day either side of your preferred travel date.

 

[wafliron]

we are looking at cashing in our points again and have used points before for gift cards to buy appliances, for the universal visa cards to spend on holidays and a zillion other things.

But this time we are selling up and travelling the world for afew years and I am wondering if it's worth putting the points into airline miles, using the cititravel facility or cashing in as visa cards to spend as we wish.

Absolutely transfer to airline miles and book flights using them - you're wasting your points converting them to anything else (visa cards, gadgets, etc) or using them via Citi Travel!

As cove suggested, I'd strongly recommend you look at Singapore Airlines as your primary transfer destination, and use the points for Suites / First / Business bookings to wherever you want to go! Availability of award seats with SQ is generally pretty good, especially if you can book a few months (or more) out - plus you do have the option of waitlisting, as you mentioned. Yes, more than one person on Suites Savers doesn't seem to be possible, but you always have the option of one Saver + one Standard, or just fly business (which is much easier to get two Saver award seats with, and still a very nice way to travel).

 

[carls888]

Thanks to you all for your help. We would need to book 2A2C if we were travelling is this possible on business easily in SQ? They are our favourite airline so I would be happy to travel with them. We have to fly to Europe on a Virgin carrier, but after that would book SQ with points and it would always be months in advance.
C

 

[wafliron]

Thanks to you all for your help. We would need to book 2A2C if we were travelling is this possible on business easily in SQ? They are our favourite airline so I would be happy to travel with them. We have to fly to Europe on a Virgin carrier, but after that would book SQ with points and it would always be months in advance.
C

I believe it starts to get quite a lot tougher beyond 2 business saver seats on the same flight, but definitely possible - people on this forum have reported 5 and 6 business saver seats on the same flight, but that may have involved waitlists - I'm not sure.

I'd suggest you have a read back through the recent threads in the Singapore Airlines forum (Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer) as I know the topic of getting >2 business saver seats on the same flight has been discussed in one of the recent threads, but I can't remember exactly which one. I think it might've been the "Suites savers now available" thread (going a bit OT and switching from Suites discussion to Business discussion), so perhaps start there. If you can't find the discussion I'm talking about, or it doesn't provide the info you need, just start your own thread over in that forum.

All that said, are you willing to split up into two parties of 1A1C on different flights if necessary? Because if you are, and you have some flexibility with dates and/or you can book a fair way in advance, I doubt you'll find it difficult getting the seats you want. In this scenario (and assuming you can't find more than 2 business saver seats on the same flight already), you'd book two parties of 1A1C on two different flights that suit, and also waitlist each party of 1A1C on the other party's flights. So you have the 1st adult and 1st child booked and the 2nd adult and 2nd child waitlisted on the first flight, and the reverse on the second flight. That way, worst case is you fly 2 x 1A1C on two different flights, and best case one of the waitlists clears and you all get on the same flight. If the latter happens you just cancel the other 1A1C booking (on the flight where the waitlist didn't clear) - it only costs $50 USD ($80 USD? Not sure if it's per pax or per itinerary either. But it's not that expensive).

 

[TraceyK90]

Hi Carls......the places you meet up with people. We are doing Europe this year with 2A3C and I split the points to use OW and *A. It was an easier option than booking two and waiting for more to open up. I'd look at who your transfer partners are, what points you have already with and FF programs and have a play with the booking engines before you transfer.

 

[cove]

Citi Reward points transfer to Kris and you will get 1.333 million SQ miles or you can go to Cathay if you prefer them.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I believe it starts to get quite a lot tougher beyond 2 business saver seats on the same flight, but definitely possible - people on this forum have reported 5 and 6 business saver seats on the same flight, but that may have involved waitlists - I'm not sure.

.

It used to be hard to get more 2 J Savers all the way to Europe on the same flight. It was mainly due to availability opening up when "mistakes" happened. For some reason this was when the type of plane changed. so if I heard thata metal change was going to happen I would always monitor my desired routes.

But when the points were recently increased slightly apart from also opening up the A380 and 77W they also opened up the number of seats.

I moving up to 5 I used to have to resort for Europe for 3 different flights. When there was 2A 2C we would go on two flights of 1A 1C.

With the increased availability you can get 3 or 4 on the same flights.
To Asia has always been easier. 4 was the normal cap, but I occasionally got 5.

 

[spentan]

Whats even better is what a friend of mine did, he sent Citibank Travel a screenshot of Qantas SYD-SIN, and they price matched it using SQ on an A380 (In J)

So would definitely recommend trying this before going to KF directly

 

[carls888]

spentan, did they match it for $ or the equivalent in points? That would be great perhaps as the more I read the more I think 2A2C on the same flight in business or 1st is almost impossible.

 

[spentan]

spentan, did they match it for $ or the equivalent in points? That would be great perhaps as the more I read the more I think 2A2C on the same flight in business or 1st is almost impossible.

Equivalent in points & taxes. So basically syd-sin one way on an Sq a380 in J for 60k points + ~350 in taxes iirc

 

[wafliron]

Whats even better is what a friend of mine did, he sent Citibank Travel a screenshot of Qantas SYD-SIN, and they price matched it using SQ on an A380 (In J)

So would definitely recommend trying this before going to KF directly

If anyone wants to know more about this, it's called the "Price Match Guarantee". Lots of into in this thread: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ram/citibank-price-match-guarantee-35663.html.

 

[dmgale1960]

I am just impressed you had 2,000,000 points!

 

[carls888]

wafliron, thanks for the link to that thread, I have almost read through it. Very interesting and something I think we will try to take advantage of for sure!
dmgale, we use our visa for our business purchases as well so rack them up quickly doing that as alot are overseas transactions too. Love those bonus points!

 

[wafliron]

wafliron, thanks for the link to that thread, I have almost read through it. Very interesting and something I think we will try to take advantage of for sure!

No worries. It's been a while since I used the PMG - overstocked with QF points - but it worked well when I did. Some of the rules have changed since then, but there seems to be a few recent reports of good results.