Supersonic Swinger

I like the sound of this. Which site do you generally use for non refundable First DL fares?

serfty

Strangely enough(), Delta.com (in conjunction with ITA and flights.google.com)

aster

Just curious but does VA status work similarly to *G status when it comes to crediting your miles to one FFP but using another card for benefits?

If you have *G you can use this for any alliance flight to get full perks like better check-in, extra luggage and lounge access... even if for those flights you are actually crediting miles to a different FFP where you have no status whatsoever.

Is the same possible with Velocity status? Can you use status for perks even if you were to use another card during check-in for crediting points to?

Zaco

In my experience, this part works better than with an actual alliance (one of the few things that does). My impression is that with these looser "partnerships" there is less of an expectation that the system will give an answer, and more of an emphasis on seeing a physical card than anything on the BP. In outstations, you will often find the lounge attendants referring to a folder with printouts of the card designs. It's not always positive (don't forget your card) and YMMV but there shouldn't be an issue with crediting elsewhere.

Cheers, Zac

Metropolitan Airlines

Velocity could be much better than Qantas FF even if you travel only occasionally.

If you are overseas student and you travel from China/India to Australia via Singapore Airlines, as long as you buy Flexi Saver fares, you get to Velocity Gold so much quicker by just doing 2 round trips per year (which in line with 2 university semesters per year as well):

HKG-SIN-SYD one way will earn you 100 status credits on Velocity, therefore twice a year return is automatically a silver. If you would do some domestic trips on flexi fare during uni holidays, you can easily get gold and once you get it, as long as your travel pattern doesn't change, you will not lose your Status.

On the other hand, redemption should be relatively cheap as well. Miles required for one way SYD-HKG (Via SIN) is 27000, and if conversion rate is 1:1 to SQ, you should be able to get 1 free single ride per 2 returns you paid. Which you will need a double on QF.

aster

SQ Flexi Saver fares are treated as full-fare economy on VA? Good to know.

How did you get the 27,000 quote for a SYD-SIN-HKG single btw?

https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.co...bles/index.htm
The above charts are for 1-way flights, right?

Metropolitan Airlines

Sorry it should be 35,000 on VA; but if you can convert points to SQ, KF only need 21250 miles to redeem a free 1-way flight!

Yes Flexi Saver (i.e. W, H & M fares) are full-fare economy for status credit calculation.

aster

Looks like I might have enough status credits racked up even before I manage to fly any VA flights.

If I ever need to do a few "segment runs," what are the cheapest routes ex-OOL? Is around $99 each way to SYD as good as it gets?

serfty

To MEL via SYD used to be good, but these are no more .

Try a R/T to CBR, via SYD can be had for ~$320 - gives 4 segments and 40 SC's.

captain_starwood

Reopening this thread, almost two year later. Have just moved to Sydney, trying to choose a program and credit card for travel within Australia. Like 25k miles of travel, but CC spend will be greater factor. Which program is better for travel within Australia and possibly regionally? Have flown both airlines once on the SYD-MEL route... was more impressed with Qantas.

shillard

VA, no contest.

Better service, more consistent on-time performance, better handling of cancellations and better lounges.

NZbutterfly

Definitely join BOTH!! The on the ground earnings are too good to pass up and both easy to maintain. You can get around the QF join fee with promos.

I think flying wise you're better off with VA as you'll reach silver-gold, harder to achieve on QF domestic due to higher target. VA has family pooling too for sc and points earn. There are differences but overall pretty similar.

My personal preference is QF but my flying pattern is different.

Will post more later. But look at ausbt a good website that often compares VA and QF FFP or new updates. Australian frequent flyer has some offers to cheapen membership to QF etc.

captain_starwood

Thanks Shillard and NZbutterfly! I joined QF for free in the US, and I'm getting the sense that VA is better.

I need to get an Aussie credit card, which would mean I would choose a card that gives me ~50k Velocity points.

serfty

Look - around there's a referral deal going where the referrer gets up to 60000 and applicant gets 100000 Points.

Here's a thread on the Australian Frequent Flyer Website:

100,000 velocity points for velocity platinum amex with referral

RTWFF

A colleague of mine relocating from NZ to Australia used his Air NZ Gold card to access the VA lounge and his VA card to accumulate status credits and points. Since status on VA gives you greater mileage accrual there was no point in trying to retain his Air NZ Gold status while travelling on VA so he let it expire, by which point he had Gold status on VA