Reward Seats or Paid Tickets to retain status

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Bagpuss

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Probably something a lot of people will be considering for domestic travel late this year.

Do you:

Book rewards tickets, hope that there will future status extensions or offers such as "take 1 flight to maintain status). Also no financial loss.

Pay for tickets with a Getaway fare, risk of losing money

Pay for tickets with a Elevate fare, hedging bets and flights are free to change up to 30 days out

Pay for tickets with a Freedom fare, essentially no charge to travel bank. Probably more appealing if plantinum comp upgrades available

Wait and see much closer to the time as people probably aren't going to book ahead this year

(With any purchase I would be saying to wait until March for a better picture re vaccinations and normally there are status promotions in Feb)

(Probably not overly valid with paying for business fares due to better flexibility with the fare rules.)
 
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Either go with FB as (in Flybuys), but you must keep going to them to amass 1000 FB points to get 500 VFF points, or fly a short sector.
NOTE, if you go to the VFF website and see use points, on the first booking page, tick that, and yes, you use/burn points, but no SC earn.
Some on here say it makes no difference, but one time, I did that, ticked the use points box, and no SC were earnt.
What you need to do, if you want to use/burn points, and retain a bit of status, plus flying, is to not tick that box, but go right to the end of the pay for flight stage, you can still use points there, where you enter your credit card number, do that, and you will earn SC.
I have never not earnt SC by paying with points at that last page.
Granted its a very poor use of points.
Some on here don't agree/like FB, but I love it.
You can also go with the VFF estore, to retain your points from expiring, but you don't earn any SC by doing that.
I think there are still VFF points earning credit cards, ie, not VGW (which is closing down in the next few days anyway).
Only way to earn VFF SC is (a) flying VAd, or (b) buying your groceries with FB.
Don't think that there are VFF SC earning credit cards out there right now.
 
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Personally my approach at this point is "wait and see".

If you did want to book now, reward tickets offer the greatest flexibility as they can be cancelled for no charge. But I'm not sure if reward tickets qualify for the status extension offer (at least the one announced in December).
 
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Nope, its not the same, but you can tick that box on the first booking page, and see if you earn any SC from this.
I have learnt my lesson, but to each their own, ...
I always now leave that box on the first page unticked, and then just pay with points plus pay at the end.
If you want to tick that box, and use majority points and only a bit of $ for taxes, go ahead, but if you don't earn any SC from it, don't come "crying" back here saying you didn't earn any SC from that flight.
I can't remember if VFF points were earnt, but I am certain there was no SC earnt when that box is ticked.
 
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Bagpuss said:
Probably something a lot of people will be considering for domestic travel late this year.

Do you:

Book rewards tickets, hope that there will future status extensions or offers such as "take 1 flight to maintain status). Also no financial loss.

Pay for tickets with a Getaway fare, risk of losing money

Pay for tickets with a Elevate fare, hedging bets and flights are free to change up to 30 days out

Pay for tickets with a Freedom fare, essentially no charge to travel bank. Probably more appealing if plantinum comp upgrades available

Wait and see much closer to the time as people probably aren't going to book ahead this year

(With any purchase I would be saying to wait until March for a better picture re vaccinations and normally there are status promotions in Feb)

(Probably not overly valid with paying for business fares due to better flexibility with the fare rules.)
Click to expand...
I’m toying with booking a flight before March, but in all honesty, I don’t want to fly at the moment. It’s been just over 11 months since I last took a flight and I miss it terribly. I don’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere. Plus VA’s flight schedules from HBA are all over the place. I can’t keep up.

What are the odds Virgin will extend status to WPs anyway?
 
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I understand your fear.
Looking at the skies over ADL, it seems that there are many more JQ flights, than VA or even QF flights.
Also, my ADL - BNE trip planned for Jun, is still there for sale, but the ADL airport website does not list my flight departure.
With WP, its hard to retain, as the need for SC is very high, so if VA/VFF are on the ball, they would give us all another year, but seeing too that they are now under new owners, and need more revenue, maybe too they will be much tighter in offering SC extentions.
Hard to say.
But if you do feel you need the urge to feel that take off feeling, and want to book VA, and most importantly, earn SC, don't tick that box, listen to the poochie for once!
Under the QFF system, there is one box up front, and only use points plus pay is at the end, but with VFF, its different.
My paws are crossed for my Jun VA flight, its in "burn" points, paid for the basic fare, and used about 17,000 VFF points via FB to snag that J seat.
Granted, if that flight is cancelled for what ever reason, I not only loose or will have a hard time, changing that VA flight, but also the QF flight coming back to ADL, and the hotel in BNE.
The Qld/SA govt could also just close borders again, just like what the SA govt has now done, in the past few days in regards to people from WA.
Such a conundrum, not only Covid, but also VA under new owners.
 
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As a update I decided to do a mix and match.
All my flights have been booked as rewards, except one which was about $160 and an Elevate fare (No Getaway fares available).
I'm expecting Velocity to have a requirement of 1 flight to retain a year's status, in line with Qantas' offering.
With no international network and limited flying options for most retaining status would be challenging. I had also calulated the SC's with "wishful" planning and way off the mark to retain status.
 
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Bagpuss, did you tick that box on the first page of the VFF booking page?
Could you do us a favour, and keep a note to see IF you did tick that box to use points, and see if VFF SC are earnt from that.
Just to satisfy my curiosity, and see if my case matches, ie, is VFF SC earnt if that box is ticked.
Haven't flown in a year and a bit, so my VFF points are quite high from FB transfers, but am not game to tick that box and try to see if VFF SC are definitely earnt/not earnt if that box is ticked.
Am going to use points at the final payment stage from now on.
 
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AustraliaPoochie said:
Bagpuss, did you tick that box on the first page of the VFF booking page?
Could you do us a favour, and keep a note to see IF you did tick that box to use points, and see if VFF SC are earnt from that.
Just to satisfy my curiosity, and see if my case matches, ie, is VFF SC earnt if that box is ticked.
Haven't flown in a year and a bit, so my VFF points are quite high from FB transfers, but am not game to tick that box and try to see if VFF SC are definitely earnt/not earnt if that box is ticked.
Am going to use points at the final payment stage from now on.
Click to expand...
A Economy Reward or Business Reward tickets doesn‘t earn SC or points no matter if you use points and pay.
You only get SC and points when you buy a fare bucket, using payment and/or points IE Getaway, Elevate, Freedom, Business Saver, Business.

It doesn’t matter if you click the box on the first page as you just toggle between “Currency” and “Points” on the booking page. When you tick the box it just displays ”Points” by default, if you don’t “Currency” is the default.
 
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Bagpuss said:
A Economy Reward or Business Reward tickets doesn‘t earn SC or points no matter if you use points and pay.
You only get SC and points when you buy a fare bucket, using payment and/or points IE Getaway, Elevate, Freedom, Business Saver, Business.

It doesn’t matter if you click the box on the first page as you just toggle between “Currency” and “Points” on the booking page. When you tick the box it just displays ”Points” by default, if you don’t “Currency” is the default.
Click to expand...
Ta for that.
I am not game/don't dare to try ticking that box again, in any of my VFF "burn" points flights.
 
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