[NM]

Originally Posted by oliverd

I would also be very interested in anyone who has recently redeemed points on VS. A few months ago I thought VS might be my salvation from QF (I have most of my points with Amex)... I rang the local Virgin Atlantic office to ask about the availability if "Upper Class" seats anytime over the next 12 months to get an idea of how hard this would be. The response was zero seats in J for the next 12 months... and I should keep trying a year ahead of my planned travel dates. Also rang Virgin Blue, who quoted a rate many times higher than booking directly with Virgin Atlantic... So i'm pretty reluctant to move to this program and have my DJ flights credited to VS if seats are even harder to obtain than with QF...

I believe you can use VS points for redemptions on SQ and there are a lot more premium SQ seats leaving Australia and heading to Europe than there are VS Upper Class seats.

[dajop]

Originally Posted by NM

I believe you can use VS points for redemptions on SQ and there are a lot more premium SQ seats leaving Australia and heading to Europe than there are VS Upper Class seats.

Also VS points can be used on MH and NZ, which provides even more options.

[ANstar]

VS has had very tight availability on the HKG-LHR leg. The HKG-SYD leg you can get J almost anytime you want - even with onyl a few days notice.

They are starting another LHR-HKG flight so I would expect things to get better.... ins aying that I would not use my VS miles to fly through to LHR with them

their burn rates is 180k return for J, where as you can use the VS miles to fly J with SQ for 150k return to Europe.

I prefer the VS program to SQ as I also now put my Malaysian and DJ flights there and the main STAR members I would fly (SQ,NZ) are tier earning partners.

[swan_tim]

Originally Posted by ANstar

their burn rates is 180k return for J, where as you can use the VS miles to fly J with SQ for 150k return to Europe.

So in your experience, would you suggest putting AMEX points into VS, then using these points for J/F flights to LHR (with SQ) and LAX (with NZ thru AKL, or soon with V Australia)???

What is the SQ availability (J to LHR) using VS with, say, roughly 2 months notice???

[ANstar]

Originally Posted by swan_tim

So in your experience, would you suggest putting AMEX points into VS, then using these points for J/F flights to LHR (with SQ) ?

It works for me as I like to fly MH, DJ, NZ & SQ (as well as QF)

I put my Amex points there as well, but thus far have only redeemed on SYD-HKG in J.

I guess if you were only using the VS program with SQ redemptions in mind it owuld be better to credit to Kris Flyer as you would get a 15% reduction for booking online.

[pksw]

Originally Posted by oliverd

I would also be very interested in anyone who has recently redeemed points on VS. A few months ago I thought VS might be my salvation from QF (I have most of my points with Amex)... I rang the local Virgin Atlantic office to ask about the availability if "Upper Class" seats anytime over the next 12 months to get an idea of how hard this would be. The response was zero seats in J for the next 12 months... and I should keep trying a year ahead of my planned travel dates. Also rang Virgin Blue, who quoted a rate many times higher than booking directly with Virgin Atlantic... So i'm pretty reluctant to move to this program and have my DJ flights credited to VS if seats are even harder to obtain than with QF...

I have done used Virgin Atlantic to claim SQ flights before - the first time in Y, the second in I class. Bear in mind, you cannot claim SQ reward flights on a 777-300ER or A380 flight - only the 747 and 777-300 flights are available for redemption.

[michaeljs]

Is it better to transfer from Amex to Virgin Atlantic or Velocity?

I already have a few Velocity points (~8K).

I guess I can earn VA points flying on Virgin Blue?

TIA

Michael

[ANstar]

Originally Posted by michaeljs

Is it better to transfer from Amex to Virgin Atlantic or Velocity?

Depends on what you want to redeem. If you want to fly virgin atlantic to say hong kong, then I would put the points to atlantic as for a little more than what it costs in economy with velocity you can fly business.

[simongr]

Originally Posted by michaeljs

I guess I can earn VA points flying on Virgin Blue?

Michael

You might want to check that - well I did and it seems you can

Virgin Atlantic Airways - Popup

@Anstar - If the J seat through Virgin Atlantic is only marginally more expensive than DJ's whY redemption under what circumstances would it be better to put points to Velocity?

I don't know these programs hence

[ANstar]

Originally Posted by simongr

@Anstar - If the J seat through Virgin Atlantic is only marginally more expensive than DJ's whY redemption under what circumstances would it be better to put points to Velocity?

I would only put to velocity if I wanted to redeem for travel on Virgin Blue.