FF points to Sth America

[coriander]

I'm looking ahead, I know, but I'm planning a trip to Sth America for Oct 2016. I'm a QFF SG and a Velocity nothing (just joined so NR? Newbie Red?). I've been watching QF to SCL at 353 days out and there's no J and only occasionally PE (though maybe some sports festival in Rio in August 2016 has availability stretched).

To widen my options, I looked at NZ to BUE. I have about 300,000 Amex reward points sitting around doing SBA and could transfer them to Airpoints or Velocity points. (Plus I could sign up for the 110,000 points Amex card - maybe).

This leads me to ask:
Q1: Can I use Velocity points to redeem flights on NZ?
Q2: If so, is NZ MEL-AKL-BUE availability likely to be better than QF MEL-SCL/BUE?

C.

 

[cove]

That festival would be the 2016 Olympics!
I have never been to South America so I haven't tried going there directly.
My sons went to North America first then flew to Brazil using AA/LAN with AA miles.

 

[coriander]

I have never been to South America
<snip>
That festival would be the 2016 Olympics!

Yes, just my pathetic attempt at humour !

I was last in SthAm in 1984. I'd like to go back and ride one of the steam trains I did back then which is still running (La Trochita, out of Esquel).

 

[juddles]

Gday there Coriander,

as someone who has to cross that southern route often (on my own dime), I was hoping that the impending Air New Zealand route AKL-EZE (your BUE?) would make it a bit more competitive and maybe improve the scarcity of J redemptions via QF or LAN, but so far have not seen that. Have you actually found AKL-EZE tickets using points? I am with LifeMiles so maybe that is why I can't find any.

Make sure you also look at going via the USA - seems further but could be an option?

 

[coriander]

Thanks for your input, Juddles.

I used BUE as that's apparently the IATA code for all Buenos Aires airports, both EZE and AEP.

According to the Velocity page (https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/Redeem/Flights/airline-partners/), for NZ flights, you can only "redeem by calling" when it comes to Velocity points. Amex reward points convert to Velocity 1:1.

Meanwhile on the NZ site, AU->SthAm is 1,185 AirPoints one way on J.
I can convert at a rate of 100 Amex Rewards to 1 Airpoint, but if I move 240,000 points and then can't redeem flights, I've wasted the flight rewards. The consensus on the Airpoints forum seems to be that Airpoints is not much of a program, so I'd be unlikely to use the Airpoints anywhere else.

I suppose I'll keep watching the QF site and see if rewards loosen a bit once the booking window extends well past the Olympics.

EDIT: looked at AAdvantage to go via US, but could only get as far as Rio!

 

[Mars2atk]

I'm doing the same as you and planning a trip to South America, but I'll be heading over in July/August for the games and backpacking. My plan of attack is to fly in via USA. I'm doing PER-AUH-JFK on EY, then flying into UIO.

I'm using my Velocity points and found that the Virgin website won't always display all their flights for a particular route. For example, I'm using my points for J JFK-AUH-PER with EY, but EY flights don't show up on the Virgin search (I'm especially aiming for the A380 flight). I've had to look at the Etihad site, and search the JFK-AUH and AUH-PER legs individually, otherwise the A380 option for JFK-AUH doesn't show up either if I just search JFK-PER by itself.

I know that JFK-AUH-PER is 125k Velocity points, so once the flights are released, I'll have to call Virgin up and book over the phone with points. I don't have as many points as you, so I'm saving my points for the flight home!

 

[Milboo]

I know this is about points but QF have a flash sale at the moment for SYD to SCL for $1399. Not sure of dates.

 

[coriander]

I know this is about points but QF have a flash sale at the moment for SYD to SCL for $1399. Not sure of dates.

5 Feb 2016 to 21 Mar 2016: then reverts to $2007 till Aug 2016.

 

[Milboo]

5 Feb 2016 to 21 Mar 2016: then reverts to $2007 till Aug 2016.

Ah! I picked up a fare in late April for late July (2015) departure through LAN ex Sydney for $1599 but took the QF flights. Had been around $2300 prior to the sale. But don't start me on booking through LAN and flying on QF though...

 

[almelb]

If you don't mind going the long way you could try converting some of your Amex rewards points to Singapore Airlines Krisflyer points and fly SQ SYD-SIN-BCN-GRU.
A quick check online shows it is 221000 Krisflyer points return in SQ J.
Or 175000 Krisflyer points return in SQ J if you only do the SIN-BCN-GRU return legs.
Less obviously if you are happy travelling in Y.

Good luck!

 

[tm.smile]

Before USDM became AAdvantage, I booked from PER to GRU via DOH on QR.

It might be an option to use QF points that way (or from MEL), though would obviously cost more as it would count as two awards?

Just had a look and awards seats aren't particularly numerous, but YMMV


Edit: I also realised this would work with EK via DXB

 

[doctau]

I recently got two one-way MEL-AUH-GRU seats on EY in J using 250k velocity points (an around $150 taxes). It was just over 6 months out, and most flights still had at least 2 J seats.

By signing up to the Amex velocity card and referring mrsdoctau, it was effectively $850 plus 10k other VA points for the flights to Brazil in J and two domestic VA flights

 

[Oxy]

Before USDM became AAdvantage, I booked from PER to GRU via DOH on QR.

It might be an option to use QF points that way (or from MEL), though would obviously cost more as it would count as two awards?

Just had a look and awards seats aren't particularly numerous, but YMMV


Edit: I also realised this would work with EK via DXB

Yes i found some J seats on EK, though going from East Coast AU puts you over 15k miles & blows out points to 208k. Leaving from PER keeps you under and can be done for 128k QF points. EK247 stops in RIO.

 

[aloha]

Does anyone know how many points are required for NZ SYD to BAI/GRU in Y?

 

[AviationNZ]

Does anyone know how many points are required for NZ SYD to BAI/GRU in Y?

I don't think those new South America flights have been loaded into Velocity yet, but based on flight times/distances, I'd say it would be very similar to North America with one-way flights in Y being 65,000.

https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/Redeem/Airlines/PointsTables/

 

[777]

We booked a trip for this Xmas at last Xmas.

3 of us and an infant flying PER-JNB-GRU in South African J Class (used Lifemiles but Virgin are now a partner and their availability is often quite good)
Same group back GRU-BCN (5 day stopover) BCN-SIN-MEL by transferring my velocity points to SQ and redeeming via Krisflyer.

I was pretty happy to score 3 x J both ways.

I wouldn't expect there's any chance during the Olympics but as no one has suggested either it may help expand your thinking.