Possible uses of expiring Krisflyer points

[mpandya]

Hi all,

Wife and I are relatively new to Krisflyer - in terms of understanding the program at least.

She has total of 47,975 points out of which 47,266 points (almost all) are expiring this month. I also have 6.852 points out of which 6,143 points are expiring this month.

We were wondering what are the different ways of redeeming them?

1) Trf them to Velocity - although we don't have much balance with Velocity either but at least I can potentially increase it by signing up to one of the high earning CCs.
2) Kris flyer shop - Not sure if they do ship to Australia and if so, what their charges would be?
3) Get Scoot/Tiger gift vouchers - has anyone used these?
4) And if I decide to burn my points on Vigin Australia flights, do I need to call them to check availability?

I look forward to hearing some expert opinions here to understand how do I get the maximum value out of the relatively smaller pool of points.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Glider_]

Depending on where you are, economy redemptions are 20,000 or 25,000 in economy each way between Aus and Singapore. How about your wife goes on a cheeky Singapore weekender?

 

[burmans]

You can get flights to NZ for 12.5K one way in economy. There is always the option to extend points for 6 months or transfer to Virgin to consider too.

 

[mpandya]

We're based in Sydney.

Any other thoughts in terms of transferring points to Shangri La or shop using Krisflyer points? - especially factoring in international shipping cost.
Do you guys perceive it as a 'good' value?

 

[Mattg]

I would NOT waste the points on shopping etc. Very poor value.

You could easily get some value from those points by booking some domestic flights on Virgin Australia, a return economy trip to anywhere in South east Asia (flying SQ) or a long weekend in Wellington (departing from CBR, flying SQ) for 2 people in economy or (almost) 1 person flying business class.

Is there anywhere you wish to travel in particular?

 

[neil37]

one of the advantages of Velocity points is that they don't expire if the account is active (which means using or earning points every blue moon). That way, although you only get 83% of the points by transferring, you have time to work out where you want to go.

 

[mpandya]

Thanks for your suggestion re CBR-WEL on SQ - precisely those innovative' options I'm looking for.
At this stage, we don't have a particular travel destination in mind - we're going to China in < 10 days' time, flying QF. We'll start planning for next trip once we return back.

How do you all rate trfíng KF points to Shangri-La? Thanks to Amex Charge card, I have JADE level tier membership, if that makes any difference.