New Offer from Virgin Australia and How to Maximize it on Sweet Spots

I mentioned a few weeks back that Virgin Australia’s Velocity frequent flyer program sent some cryptic messages about a “big deal”. Velocity is calling it a “Transfer Bonanza” and asking that you transfer ALL your points over to them. Right off the bat let me inform you that doing that is a TERRIBLE IDEA and to not do it unless you have an immediate redemption in mind for all of those points.

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The “bonanza” includes an up to 40% transfer bonus for Citi, Diners Club, Card Services, Suncorp or AMEX card holders.

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And 20% transfer bonus from SPG, IHG, Hilton, and several others. Do note that SPG already offers a 20% bonus for all transfers @ 20,000 point mark, which makes this perhaps the most lucrative of them all. 

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Now I’m not quite sure what the transfer ratio is for AMEX card holders in Oceania, but this could present a good deal if you are interested in flights within Australia or flights across the Tasmanian Sea to New Zealand.

Upgraded Points has a terrific article on all the sweet spots, but the redemptions that stand out to me are as follows:
  • Sydney to Melbourne on VA Economy
    • Deal = 7800 points + $24

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  • Alitalia Economy Class NY-Rome for 27800 points
  • Virgin Australia Business Class SYD-Fiji for 35,500 points each way. 
    • During peak season this flight is operated with VA’s new business class seats with the reverse herringbone style.
  • Virgin Atlantic U.S East Coast – London Heathrow for 49500 points
  • Virgin Australia Economy New Zealand to Melbourne/Sydney starting at 17800 points. These fares can be excruciating in the peak season. 

Another thing to note is that Virgin Australia offers a 15% discount on redemptions about twice every year. So potential savings could be even better during that time span. For example, the SYD-MEL flight comes down to only 5000 points if you combine the 15% discount and 15% transfer bonus.  I am assuming not many people want to transfer more than 100k points into Velocity of course. 



Bottom Line:

So the best deal here is for flights between MEL-SYD and the best transfers can be done from SPG. But do be careful about making those transfers because Qantas has better pricing for flights between New Zealand – Australia via British Airways Avios. So how much of a bonus you are getting can make or break value outside of the MEL-SYD, SYD-BNE routes. 

 

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