Just curious on what everyone's thoughts on which program is better?
The meta seems to be QFF as you use it to go on Jetstar, Qantas and other flights but then I am wrestling with going with Velocity Points given Singapore Airlines connects to both Asia and Europe from Melbourne
I'm about to start doing some CC churning for bonus points but wanted to lean on people's thoughts on which way to go and their experiences on it
Next 2 years mainly Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and maybe another Bali and Vietnam trip
Has there been massive competition for velocity flights even when 5 months out?
I find that there's a lot of competition booking on the 'local' airlines because there's so many people here that have high status' and they get priority. Esp the FIFO workers and people that fly domestically for work.
With the other airlines that don't fly locally, there's less people here in Australia that have a high status' so getting flights out of here are much easier.
(That's my experience anyway.)
Personally if I was picking one, I'd be going Velocity. Good value redemptions with Singapore and United, not bad with Etihad and Qatar (the carrier charges are rough), and a fair bit of reward space all round (though international business is a little dry at the moment, gotta be on it as soon as availability opens). Plus you get the option of transferring to KrisFlyer if all else fails - I've got a trip coming up to Europe and I booked Etihad J there through Velocity and Singapore Y back through KrisFlyer.
Comparatively (though admittedly, anecdotally), my mates who are with QFF have found low stock of international rewards seats and some horrendous customer service stories. Qantas is investing a fair bit in turning things around though and these are only tales from friends, so I wouldn't try and suggest my opinion is gospel.
For the average Bronze FFQ - been there, done that and its hard.
Once you get to Gold, Platinum, Platinum One things are a lot easier. (The cheapest way is to get to Gold which can be done for $1,200 for 2 years (membership attaining plus an additional year and then another year of silver)
One of the best benefits of Platinum, Platinum One or Chairmans Lounge is that you can call up the QF VIP Hotline and ask for any international Economy, Premium Economy, Business or (First (P1 and CL)) that's on a sale ticket fare bucket and request for them to be released into a Classic Reward ticket. Which is part of the reason why Bronze, Silver and Gold can have some hard times during peak season to win Classic Reward seating. All of my requests as Platinum have come through (11 requests total - all in international Business)
However apart from that you get the full suite of Oneworld Availability - which for the most part is very good. Year-round availability on Cathay, Japan Airlines, American Airlines (Transatlantic and Domestic) and British Airways (Transatlantic) First Class redemptions. And very good availability with Emirates First Class out of Singapore to Europe and North America. And in addition to other partner carriers (have been able to redeem Air France and KLM Business Classic Reward bookings recently)
Recently matched my QF over to Velocity and I can see why some people might prefer it - I admire the ability to swap points around partners ect. At the end of the day, if you are churning credit cards - it doesn't matter, choose both and get rewarded by both. But if you are like me who flies to attain points and status, just stick with the one carrier and for the most part it depends on who your employer is for the majority of cases.
Historical reasons put me with Qantas and I do find it pretty easy to use, but whenever I've been looking at international flights over the past 12 months or so, it seems like Velocity has a better selection of tickets, as well as better partnership with airlines that are more relevant to Australians trying to get overseas (e.g. Singapore as you mentioned).
I've generally had good service from Qantas, but I know a lot of other people have found the opposite, and terrible service may just be the expectation from airlines at the moment.
Interesting given a contradictory post below with regards to selection of tickets on velocity! I'll have a dive into the velocity points for Singapore airlines
Big thanks!
Are you referring to the comment about domestic flights? Agreed that Qantas (given Jetstar inclusions) has a better range of domestic rewards, although I haven't tested that out.
Easier to Shop and earn Flybuys to Velocity points.
Why would you want to fly Jetstar anyway?
There's this stupid optimism of mine that it'll either get better or if I'm disrupted, it won't be that bad and I can accept the consequences for at least the next 2 years ahaha
Maybe pessimists are like optimists but have better data. lol
I have 100k+ points with both Velocity and Qantas. Every time I've tried to book last-minute domestic classic rewards flights, I found Qantas has a lot of choices but with Velocity, you have to be lucky to even get those 6am ones.
Haven't seen a huge difference in availability when booking ahead, though. However, Qantas is a bit expensive on both points needed and taxes.
What if compared to just using Jetstar with QFF?
Both Qantas and Jetstar reward bookings use the same portal, and Jetstar rewards are the first to sell out.
So unless you're looking to book well in advance, there's no hope.
Also, I prefer to pay the extra 10% in points to avoid Jetstar at all costs.
VFF = Easier to earn, cheaper redemption costs, decent international routes choices
QFF = Better international network (e.g. Qantas or partners flies direct to most Asian cities, e.g. Tokyo, Bangkok, Jakarta, Seoul, etc.)
Seems like your travel goal is from Australia to Europe. Which class are you hoping for, if Business or First, how many travellers? If three or more passengers - then just pay cash, otherwise, expect your group to be flying in pairs and on different flights.
Now, SQ is part of Star Alliance, so you can also Thai Airways (which I have flown a couple of dozen times in First class) to Europe - I think they retired all their 747s and parked their A380s - but there are various options to Europe from there. You might be able to get the odd flight flying via ICN on Asiana.
With QF, you get access to Oneworld, and you have options with QF, BA, CX, and the odd JL flight, then onwards to Europe - look at AY (Finnair). Remember that QF also has partnership with EK as well but expect to pay crazy amounts of taxes (think $3k in taxes if flying business or first to Europe return).
Thanks! See my standalone reply below
Biggest gripe with Qantas at the moment is the lack of availability of reward flights, both on its own network and through the Oneworld. Singapore Airlines has pretty good reward availability and you get access to other Star Alliance partners. Plus Virgin now has a weird partnership with Qatar Airways, even though Qatar is in Oneworld . I'd prioritise Virgin points for the time being.
Thanks! I'll check out how much velocity points or mixture of points/$ it costs with Singapore airlines
I totally agree, I was recently looking for Qantas classic rewards in June from SYD>DFW can't seem to find much :(
Sounds like theres a bit of a mix result regarding overall international flights/network but if I were to reach Europe, Velocity sounds like the better choice
I guess my priority for the moment is to fly with me and my partner to another Asia trip (Singapore, Msia, Korea, HK, Japan) whilst Europe will be later on
Happy with just economy class with the rewards just a means to decrease flight costs
Thank you all so far for the comments
If you want to fly around Asia then stick with Singapore Airlines.
I would suggest searching for flights on both Qantas and Virgins sites to get a feel of what the situation is. If you want to fly economy to Asia, SQ via Velocity is probably the easiest plus you'd pay less in taxes.
I think the key issue is whether you want to book economy flights or business internationally. If you want business class, forget Qantas, you can never get seats. For domestic flights or economy tickets, they are fine.
Qantas has a far more solid Business Class Reward system through oneworld. From my end I can see Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Malaysian Airlines availability, (mixed cabins, some in W, J and F)
Where do you normally fly?
If you don't only fly domestic, I would rather join the FF program of an international airline (rather than that of an airline that does domestic here). For an international airline, there's less competition when redeeming flights from Australia later.