Requesting help: wanting to use our points for first time ever

[chadwiko]

Hey AFF community!

Long time lurker, first time poster!

My wife and I have been invited to a wedding in Italy in May 2017, and we've decided that if it's possible to get to Europe by using our points to at least alleviate some of the cost of flights, then we'd like to attend!

So what we're looking for is this;

• Using points+pay for the departure leg of Melbourne to Europe sometime around May 15~ (preferably Italy, but whatever 'hub' is most feasible and attractive and allows us to connect to Italy ourselves)
• Earn maximum possible Status Credits on said flights
• Probably pay full price for the return leg

We both have approximately 75,000 - 80,000 points at present, and are both silver members for what that's worth.

Any assistance you kind folks could provide that would enable us to figure out the best way to make this happen would be fantastic and most appreciated!

Thanks in advance

 

[Marty_]

Points + Pay is horrifically poor value. You should always aim to book reward seats on points for maximum value.

Checking the VA website just now, you can go MEL > FCO with Etihad for 75,000 points + $232.45 in May. Stopover in Abu Dhabi. A number of these reward tickets are available.

Do yourself a favour and go that way. Far, far better value!

I realise that you won't get status credits this way, but the minuscule cost offset provided by 80,000 points is not worth it for the SC's in my view.

 

[Jack_OC]

Points + Pay is horrifically poor value. You should always aim to book reward seats on points for maximum value.

Checking the VA website just now, you can go MEL > FCO with Etihad for 75,000 points + $232.45 in May. Stopover in Abu Dhabi. A number of these reward tickets are available.

Do yourself a favour and go that way. Far, far better value!

I agree with your comment on Points + Pay, but I think economy rewards are poor value as well. You can get a fully paid fare from MEL-AUH-FCO next May with EY for $1,081, so the 75,000 points would only save about $850, in other words they would be getting about 1.1c per point. Also bear in mind that with a fully paid fare they would earn roughly 10,000 points (including the 25% Silver bonus) and 60 SCs each.

My advice would be to try to get more points (e.g. via a credit card sign on bonus) and look for Business rewards. For example, consider transferring your points to Krisflyer. For 80,500 KF miles + approx $500 in cash you can fly to Europe in business with SQ, via SIN. That would require 108,765 Velocity points each if all your points were coming from Velocity, but if you get credit card points via Westpac or Citi, for example, you could then transfer the credit card points directly to KF. You'd only need about 50,000 credit card points each (= 25,000 KF miles each) in addition to your current Velocity balance to make that happen, and in general Business award availability with SQ is quite good.

A couple of caveats though:
1. Availability might not be great, as it's generally better to book ASAP after seats are released.
2. Sometimes one way fares cost way more than half a return, so you can get caught out that way. On the plus side, fares originating in Europe are usually cheaper than fares originating in Australia, so if you are going to pay cash in one direction then you are better doing it on the return leg as you suggested.

TBH, if you can't get Business rewards, my advice is to just pay cash this time and save your points to go in style on the next trip.