Overseas Destinations on Points?

[Boganite]

I’ve accumulated 350k points and want to take the family (2 adults, 3 preteens) overseas this year. However, the destinations I’m seeing (BKK, KUL, DPS) don’t look like good value. With the surcharges, it’s barely cheaper than buying regular tickets on Jetstar.

What am I missing? Are there any regional Virgin flights that are actually decent value on points?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I’ve accumulated 350k points and want to take the family (2 adults, 3 preteens) overseas this year. However, the destinations I’m seeing (BKK, KUL, DPS) don’t look like good value. With the surcharges, it’s barely cheaper than buying regular tickets on Jetstar.

What am I missing? Are there any regional Virgin flights that are actually decent value on points?

You gotta find the absolute basic award availability… not the dynamic ‘any seat for points’, the latter which just converts the airfare into points and charges accordingly.

But even so, Bali is 22500 points from MEL $155 in VA fees and charges… so yeah, you could almost buy a return ticket to bali for cash at that price.

Personally I use VA points for my regular domestic flying, and bank that money towards buying an international fare for cash.

 

[Boganite]

You gotta find the absolute basic award availability… not the dynamic ‘any seat for points’, the latter which just converts the airfare into points and charges accordingly.

But even so, Bali is 22500 points from MEL $155 in VA fees and charges… so yeah, you could almost buy a return ticket to bali for cash at that price.

Personally I use VA points for my regular domestic flying, and bank that money towards buying an international fare for cash.

Thanks. I’m pretty disappointed, given the effort I made to switch from QFF and churn a few cards. I need a return flight to LOS next year and paying with Velocity points plus cash via Qatar is almost as much as buying a regular ticket from TK!

I guess I’ll go back to QFF once I’ve burnt my Velocity pints on frivolous domestic flights. At least some of the flights via Dubai are (or were) good value.

 

[Bolthead]

You gotta find the absolute basic award availability… not the dynamic ‘any seat for points’, the latter which just converts the airfare into points and charges accordingly.

But even so, Bali is 22500 points from MEL $155 in VA fees and charges… so yeah, you could almost buy a return ticket to bali for cash at that price.

Personally I use VA points for my regular domestic flying, and bank that money towards buying an international fare for cash.

This is a good point. I was only talking to my wife about this the other day. We have always saved our points for international travel and now (especially with the new system) I think we might do as you have suggested and do it in reverse. Last year we spent $13000 on domestic travel $6000 on international. I am pretty sure after t doing the sums we will be better off paying for our international travel (in J) and then using the points for domestic travel.

 

[PERLHR]

Still some value I think in transferring points (even if the exchange rate is a little poor), to SQ as they have some really low redemptions ex SIN and even some reasonable Saver travels from Aus. Personally we use our VA points mostly for SQ travel.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This is a good point. I was only talking to my wife about this the other day. We have always saved our points for international travel and now (especially with the new system) I think we might do as you have suggested and do it in reverse. Last year we spent $13000 on domestic travel $6000 on international. I am pretty sure after t doing the sums we will be better off paying for our international travel (in J) and then using the points for domestic travel.

My regular - weekly - flights used to be MEL-SYD business class, $700 for the return. Using point for those flights was pretty easy and meant the $620 saved (after VA charges) would buy me 30k aeroplan points when on sale. 45k aeroplan points gets you one way to anywhere in southern asia business class. Redeem 3 MEL-SYD returns on points and I had a return business class to Bangkok on thai or singapore airlines.

Thanks. I’m pretty disappointed, given the effort I made to switch from QFF and churn a few cards. I need a return flight to LOS next year and paying with Velocity points plus cash via Qatar is almost as much as buying a regular ticket from TK!

I guess I’ll go back to QFF once I’ve burnt my Velocity pints on frivolous domestic flights. At least some of the flights via Dubai are (or were) good value.

The value, if you can find it, is in premium fares, not economy. And because VA has such tiny premium cabins, finding award space internationally is very hard. You can fly on partner airlines such as Singapore… you could maybe redeem points one way on Singapore airline business class to somewhere, and fly Scoot or jetstar back?

 

[Boganite]

Still some value I think in transferring points (even if the exchange rate is a little poor), to SQ as they have some really low redemptions ex SIN and even some reasonable Saver travels from Aus. Personally we use our VA points mostly for SQ travel.

So you mean transferring Velocity to Kris, or booking SQ flights with Velocity points?

 

[PERLHR]

So you mean transferring Velocity to Kris, or booking SQ flights with Velocity points?

Best to compare both but for me, seems better value (looking for saver on points) transferring VA to SQ then booking through SQ. That way also guarantees seat choice.

 

[Scarlett]

The other issue you’ll have is trying to find five reward seats if you want to all fly on the same flights.

A number of times I’ve used points to fly one member of the family and the others on a cash fare and I’m only booking for a family of three. Five seats together is rare. Another option is to travel separately, potentially even via different routes to get to the same destination. When we’ve gone to Europe in the past I went via SIN because I wanted the cash fare on SQ to earn me status, but the rest of the family went via MNL. It just depends what’s available around the dates you need.

I guess you haven’t got to West Africa yet? That’s the trip I’m (still) more interested in!

 

[Human]

One more issue: the departure tax to leave Australia is close to $140. So if you’re looking for a short-haul international flight (eg. to DPS) the carrier charges and taxes will often be half or more the cost of paying for the flight outright. You’ll find the carrier charges for the flights back will generally be lower (depending on where you’re returning from).

That’s why using points for long(er) haul flights will often get you better value.

 

[Boganite]

The other issue you’ll have is trying to find five reward seats if you want to all fly on the same flights.

A number of times I’ve used points to fly one member of the family and the others on a cash fare and I’m only booking for a family of three. Five seats together is rare. Another option is to travel separately, potentially even via different routes to get to the same destination. When we’ve gone to Europe in the past I went via SIN because I wanted the cash fare on SQ to earn me status, but the rest of the family went via MNL. It just depends what’s available around the dates you need.

I guess you haven’t got to West Africa yet? That’s the trip I’m (still) more interested in!

Thanks - more great advice!

I had a lovely month in West Africa in 2023 - Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau. I flew Turkish Airlines and Thai. Later that year I did another month in Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion - a gorgeous part of the world I thoroughly recommend. This time I’m trying to make it to Nigeria and Benin.