Newbie question re points upgrade on Vaustralia

[random111]

Hi Guys

Newbie here, I know this is not the place for introductions but it's more a question re Velocity Rewards more than an introduction.

The wife and I are going to USA, leaving mid December, with Vaustralia. We got economy sale tickets in booking code Q I believe. We had Flight centre vouchers so we booked through them to make use of the vouchers, they keep hassling us to book our accommodation there as well saying they will beat any price we can find online. I also have about 190,000 comm awards, I was thinking to get another flight centre voucher of about $1k and book our accommodation with flight centre, after I've got the best price online first.

Ok so you're thinking what's this got to do with velocity, well I wanted to know if you guys know if velocity will have their new rewards system up and running this year and whether the points upgrade system will be effective for people flying in December. I've read on this forum that as part of the change they will allow customers to use points to upgrade on flights. Firstly both my wife and I are only red level members so not sure if they will even allow a red member with Q tickets to upgrade, but if they do what are the chances we will be able to do it by December this year?

Does everyone think its worth hanging on to see if we can upgrade or just use the points for flight center voucher? I think we may struggle to get enough points to upgrade to business but we will have enough for premium.

We need to book our accommodation asap as we will be in NY around new years and decently priced hotels are becoming more rare by the day!

Your help is appreciated!

 

[markis10]

Its impossible to answer your question because the details of the revamp are unpublished/still being sorted. As for using your points for a voucher, generally the vouchers are poor value, personally I value 6700 points in Velocity as worth $250, not sure how the points to voucher cost compares but its worth working out what value you are getting!

In terms of the accommodation, have you thought about locking in a best flexible rate booking? Also look at points as well, for instance Priority Club have quite a few hotels close to times square available for NYE on points, lets look at one as an example, the Indigo at 127 west 28th street, they are asking $387 a night or 25000 priority club points ( which can be purchased for around $150 USD), as strange as it may seem you could save money by having a couple of nights in a hotel in the next week. Here is an example of that:

Join Priority club if not a member
Register for the bonus codes listed in the AFF priority club section, most may not work but nothing lost.
3 nights at a Holiday Inn this weekend spending $550 - earning 10 points per dollar before tax - 5000 points
Once those points credit (+ any bonuses from the bonus section) book a reward night at kakadu using the points + pay = 5000 + USD$60 then cancel it, you end up with 15000 points in your account, keep doing it until you get the points you need to pay for the accommodation.
If you already have 5000 PC points then there is no need to stay (saving $550), the trick with PC is always have 5000 points in your account!

Thats just one way of being smart with points, companies do strange things, for the Ozfest event in DRW this year a few weeks before it started one of the hotels went on pointsbreaks which meant if rewards nights were available they were 5000 points, given many of us were paying $200 a night, the opportunity to get a few nights at $30 (what 5000 PC points is worth using the above method) was fantastic! The same rooms were selling for $340!

 

[random111]

Very interesting!

Had no idea about priority club or the below.

We just got a new amex last week and we should have 25,000 bonus ascent rewards points after spending $500...can I transfer points to priority club to maintain that 5,000 points minimum?

I think I need to investigate PC further...

Hypothetically if VR did implement the points upgrade system, would you use points to upgrade? Or is that not good value for points as well?

I can't sleep on planes, so the idea of being cramped for 15 hours straight isnt appealing to me, hence the reasoning behing trying to upgrade. But if we cant, its not the end of the world, might see if i can get my hand on some sleeping pills!

One more question, can you upgrade for cash on Vaustralia? if so how do they work out the cash price.