gabner

New to VAustralia and an upcoming flight to Sydney this week.

I'd like to make the most out of the miles I'll be flying. I set up a Velocity account (using an Australian address).
I live in the united states, mostly fly united and alaska and not a lot of international travel but may have 2 more trips to Oz this year.

1. Should I link a US carrier mileage plan to my VAustralia flight or use Velocity?
2. Which US Carrier mileage plan should I link? Do they all earn at the same rate?
3. Any US carrier use the miles to count for elite status?

Thanks for your help.
Gary

cityflyer369

Welcome to Flyertalk, gabner.

I know that Delta's and Virgin America's programs allow for collecting miles with VA. There may be more US programs though.

Whether it makes sense to credit the miles to a US program or to Velocity depends very much on your individual situation.
1) Where do you normally fly? With which airlines? In which booking classes?
2) Is it important for you to achieve status with a program and, if yes, what do you expect from having status?
3) From where to where do you want to fly with your miles? Which travel class? Which airline?
4) How often do you fly? (With some programs - not Velocity - miles expire after a certain amount of time. So it makes sense to be able to collect enough miles for an award flight before your miles expire.)

Which program is best for you depends on your individual answer to these questions.
In the end, if you really want to find an optimal program for you, there is no way around checking all programs on the basis of these answers and to watch out for the program from which you benefit most.

gabner

Thanks for the reply city.

Assume I will have 2-3 trips this year to australia and never to return.

Not sure how my job will evolve in the future but I expect I will trave mostly domestically. I've always preferred alaska airlines but not an option for VAustralia.

Personally we fly to hawaii every year (via alaska), that wont change.

Delta, Virgin USA, Hawaiian?

mtkeller

You can redeem DL miles to fly on AS, and it allows you to avoid DL's sometimes absurd mileage requirements, as AS flights always book at the lowest redemption level. Presently, VA flights do not accrue miles toward medallion status (MQMs) on DL. However, with the JV going through, I think DL and VA flyers are hoping for true enhancements (not "enhancements") to the relationship and reciprocity. I think there are still some VA Y fare classes that don't earn on DL, so best to check that out in advance, but if your fare will earn, DL might be best. You can also earn miles (RDM and MQM) with DL by flying AS, so if you find yourself in need of a few more DL miles for an award, credit your next AS flight or two over there.