Using Velocity Points for 'other airlines'? Can it really be done?

[Anajr]

I'm trying to find out whether anyone has successfully used Velocity Rewards to book flights with Virgin Atlantic or Malaysian or any of the other airlines you can book directly online through Velocity?

I have plenty of points and have tried soooo many times but I never get anywhere. You have to call and give them dates and then they are supposed to get back to you within 48 hours to tell you how many points it would be. Most of the time though they don't get back to you and if they do and it is too many points you have to suggest other dates and start all over again. I usually try about twice before giving up.

I really would like to use my points and go away - can anyone offer any advice??

 

[browski]

It cannot be done. It's just a marketing ploy that has not been drawn to the attention of the regulators. Shame though because it would add to the program's attractiveness if you could actually redeem on those airlines.

The good news though is that because it is almost impossible to have your Malaysian Airline flights credited to the Velocity program, you never have enough points to redeem. So problem averted.

 

[haydensydney]

It's a marketing ploy? Surely they have to follow through with some award bookings on other carriers...

I'm sure someone here has redeemed with a partner airline - i'm interested to know how they went and how well organised it was.

 

[dajop]

I have plenty of points and have tried soooo many times but I never get anywhere. You have to call and give them dates and then they are supposed to get back to you within 48 hours to tell you how many points it would be. Most of the time though they don't get back to you and if they do and it is too many points you have to suggest other dates and start all over again. I usually try about twice before giving up.

I've not made a redemption, but almost did at a reasonable level on MH (but ended up using SQ or QF pts, can't remember).

A tip - join Virgin Atlantic & Malaysian Airlines programs, and use their online booking engines to find availability of awards within their own programs. Whilst a "home carrier" award (my term for redemption of airline points on same airline) is no guarantee it will be available to partners, in most instances no "home carrier" awards means no availabity for partner awards (and on MH look for seats at the lowest no points for a route, can often get seats at an expensive number of points). This is a good starting point to explore dates for awards with Velocity.

In any event Malaysian are often a waste of value for awards, as they have very high taxes/surcharges!

 

[Anajr]

It's a marketing ploy? Surely they have to follow through with some award bookings on other carriers...

I'm sure someone here has redeemed with a partner airline - i'm interested to know how they went and how well organised it was.

They actually just got back to me (5 days after I called) and I can get a flight for 184,000 points (they advertise 'from 126000' and would know from my balance that I have 160,000) plus $427 tax and dates about a week out from what I suggested.

So being cynical I guess they have 5 days to come up with a quote for more points than you have....?

 

[Egg]

I redeemed Velocity points for 2 award seats on Emirates. It was not easy. Even though they were too slow in getting back to me about availability, they were still very friendly and quite helpful. Anyway, I found it easier just to reply to them by email with alternative dates, rather than ringing and being told they would call me back in a couple of days.

It was also a total rip-off. They make you book a round-trip but around the dates that they have plenty of seats going one way, they have no seats coming back. I was desperate so I had to book a round trip, with 3 months between departure and return dates, and then not use the return leg. It was an expensive waste of points, but I didn't have much choice.

So, in short, I think the availability sucks - not sure whose fault it is - I suspect the partner airlines simply don't allocate many seats for redemption via Velocity... I agree it is too much marketing ploy...

 

[Anajr]

I redeemed Velocity points for 2 award seats on Emirates. It was not easy. Even though they were too slow in getting back to me about availability, they were still very friendly and quite helpful. Anyway, I found it easier just to reply to them by email with alternative dates, rather than ringing and being told they would call me back in a couple of days.

You dealt with them by email?? Is there an email address on the website somewhere that I've missed?

 

[Egg]

When I rang them, they offered to ring back or contact me by email. I chose email and after they wrote to me, I went back and forth with them that way.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

I remember the furor around QFF when they were forced to improve visibility of their rewards.

I too think this needs to be brought to the ACCCs attention to try and get some honesty from Velocity with partner rewards.

I'v been fortunate enough to be able to use them on DJ and VA, and the few times I've flow on on EK they've had crazily cheap flights for me.

 

[karinab]

Hi there, I used 40,000 velocity points to book return flights for my husband and I in May this year between Honolulu and Kona on Hawaiian Airlines. I'm a bit surprised to hear you've had difficulty as my experience was really easy. I called up in February and booked over the phone, then was told I had to wait for confirmation which I got a day or so later. There was only limited availability on flights and we had to take a 6.30am time slot on one of the flights however whilst we were abroad we were able to change this directly through Hawaiian Airlines at a cost of US $50 each (worth avoiding a 3.30am start!). So perhaps you may want to consider a trip to Hawai'i with your points? Aloha!

 

[StevePER]

Hi there, I used 40,000 velocity points to book return flights for my husband and I in May this year between Honolulu and Kona on Hawaiian Airlines.

40,000 seems like a lot for such a short flight. Similarly, we were talking at work yesterday about Velocity charging 97,000 points for PER-NAN return on DJ when Krisflyer charge 35,000 in business flying NZ.

 

[karinab]

40,000 seems like a lot for such a short flight. Similarly, we were talking at work yesterday about Velocity charging 97,000 points for PER-NAN return on DJ when Krisflyer charge 35,000 in business flying NZ.

the flights cost US$100 per person each way. So the 40,000 points saved us US$400, a rate which we were happy with particularly as 25,000 of those points were bonus points which we'd received when we transfered our points across to Velocity.

Also the rate of conversion is 1 Amex membership rewards point = 1 velocity point. Not sure if the conversion is the same for Krisflyer.

 

[StevePER]

the flights cost US$100 per person each way. So the 40,000 points saved us US$400, a rate which we were happy with particularly as 25,000 of those points were bonus points which we'd received when we transfered our points across to Velocity.

Also the rate of conversion is 1 Amex membership rewards point = 1 velocity point. Not sure if the conversion is the same for Krisflyer.

OK not so bad then, and probably similar value to a domestic Velocity redemption. I thought those inter island flights would be cheaper. Krisflyer is also 1:1 from Amex (plus there's a 10% bonus at the moment).

 

[capvet]

Early this year I used Velocity points for 2 Premium Economy seats on Virgin Atlantic from SYD-LHR return, but had to settle for "Any seat any time" cost which is considerably dearer. At least I got the times I wanted within a day or two. I originally wanted to go Emirates but no regular FF seats and "Any seat any time" costs were horiffic with them (something like 1 million points business class)