nice flights to/from Paris.

[Tallman]

Hello flyers,
My wife and I would like to take a trip to Paris in Apr-May 2016.
I am Gold Velocity and my wife has no frequent flyer status. I have about 330k velocity points at present.
I'd be grateful for any ideas/advice on options for how best to use my points to fly as pleasantly as possible. I am happy to purchase economy tickets if that is a necessary part of a good plan.
thank you

 

[robd]

I don't have experience with using VFF points to Europe, but I have used points to upgrade to J LAX-MEL. You probably don't have enough points at the moment to get 2 return flights in J using points only (I'm assuming a minimum of 90K for each flight - 360K at least), so points upgrade could be your best option, which may only be 180K points plus taxes from a Flexi or PE fare.

I had a quick search on the VFF site, but plugging in BNE-CDG in the Mileage Calculator, shows "Not Available" (no surprises there ). I recommend giving the GCC Gold line a call to get your options ie. number of points required for outright flights or upgrades. Depending on that information, you may need to apply for a credit card offering new customer bonus points (Amex Velocity Plat is currently 60K points sign up IIRC).

In my opinion, points upgrades are the best value, YMMV. Hopefully, someone with experience with using VFF points to Europe will be along shortly to advise.

 

[SYD]

In my opinion, points upgrades are the best value, YMMV. Hopefully, someone with experience with using VFF points to Europe will be along shortly to advise.

You can only upgrade on flights operated by VA:

"Gold and Platinum Velocity members booked on a Flexi, Premium Saver or Premium fare can use Points to request an upgrade to Premium Economy or Business Class on international long haul flights to Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi operated by Virgin Australia with a VA flight number."

Which pretty much limits you to flying through Sydney to pick up a PE seat to AUH, but back to whY on the connecting flight to Paris. Or gets you non-stop to LAX but you'd need a separate ticket from there onwards to Europe and back.

 

[Tallman]

Robs, Syd, thanks for the advice. I will give the gold line a call and see what they say my options are.
cheers.

 

[SuzieQ68]

Hi Tallman

My thoughts would be to:

- Purchase a return Y ticket (or J if budget permits) through VA from BNE to DPS (Denpasar).
- Set up a SQ Krisflyer Account
- Transfer approximately 280000 VA points over to the Krisflyer Account (you will lose 35% of the points - so will end up with approx 207000 Krisflyer miles if my calculations are correct...)
- Redeem 2 return J (saver) flights from DPS to either Rome (FCO) or Amsterdam (AMS).
- if you redeem these flights online through your Krisflyer Account, you will receive the 15% online discount - so the flights should only cost 204000 Krisflyer miles. These are the only 2 cities that I've found so far that are cheaper (in miles) that SQ fly into. I believe this is due to the fact that they run a 777-200 into each city. However in saying that, the flights we are on (middle of 2015) are (currently) in 777-300ER, so SQ may be changing them over on these legs from the middle of 2015. Others may have more info on the 777-200, but from the seat map, it doesn't look too bad. Regardless, it would be better than travelling this haul in Y.
- Get a train to Paris from either Amsterdam or Rome.

You may have to spend a night in DPS each way, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

We just did this ourselves. We purchased 2 J (saver) flights to Amsterdam (from ADL) (booked over/return separately as one way tickets) and it cost us a total of 370000 VA points (equating to around 274000 Krisflyer Miles). The 2 return flights (in J saver) cost a total of 272000 Krisflyer miles + $2k in taxes.

It's free to set up a Krisflyer Account, so if you do this first, you can have a look at the redemption opportunities before you transfer the points over. I only look for J saver personally.

You still have some time before you can book - so if you can manage to pick up some more VA points (ie 40k), you could do it all in J from Australia.

Happy travelling!

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

This information is very misleading in light of the recent strengthening of the relationship between VA and SQ.

You can only upgrade on flights operated by VA:

"Gold and Platinum Velocity members booked on a Flexi, Premium Saver or Premium fare can use Points to request an upgrade to Premium Economy or Business Class on international long haul flights to Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi operated by Virgin Australia with a VA flight number."

Which pretty much limits you to flying through Sydney to pick up a PE seat to AUH, but back to whY on the connecting flight to Paris. Or gets you non-stop to LAX but you'd need a separate ticket from there onwards to Europe and back.

Totally agree with SuzieQ68 that transferring some VA points to Krisflyer is the way to go. If not using up too many points is an issue then you could comfortably do a mixed class journey. Fly BNE-SIN in economy return and collect a few SCs on a paid fare. Then search for a business saver for the longer SIN to CDG or even AMS if you are willing to gamble with a less superior aircraft for the 12 odd hours. The only thing to look out for is that fees and surcharges can be quite high with Krisflyer point redemptions.

 

[SYD]

This information is very misleading in light of the recent strengthening of the relationship between VA and SQ.

Just quoting the VA Ts&Cs in relation to using VA points to score an upgrade on VA flights (which was a reasonable option given the OP). Not misleading at all.

Whilst something to consider for some punters, using them with SQ for free flights or upgrades is a different proposition.

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

Just quoting the VA Ts&Cs in relation to using VA points to score an upgrade on VA flights (which was a reasonable option given the OP). Not misleading at all.

Whilst something to consider for some punters, using them with SQ for free flights or upgrades is a different proposition.

I concede that misleading is probably not the correct term as what you posted is factually correct.
However, your advice is then incomplete without any reference to SQ or EY as the OP was after any ideas/options on how to use points. Your post implied that the OP's only option was limited to VA metal via AUH or LAX which is most certainly not the case and from all accounts transferring VA points to KF and booking business savers is very painless and should at least be put to the OP.

 

[Tallman]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Much appreciated.