Citi TY points adding virgin america as a travel partner

[red259]

At a 2 to 1 transfer value you will now be able to use citi ty points towards virgin america. There is a 25% bonus right now on the transfer and these numbers line up with the amex transfer rate. Its a positive step, although unlikley I will make use of this travel partner, but for those who have need for virgin america miles its great news.  

[jsucool76]

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@red259 wrote:

At a 2 to 1 transfer value you will now be able to use citi ty points towards virgin america. There is a 25% bonus right now on the transfer and these numbers line up with the amex transfer rate. Its a positive step, although unlikley I will make use of this travel partner, but for those who have need for virgin america miles its great news.  

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For the moment, amex is a better transfer courtesy of the complimentary gold status with 80k+ transferred, however, virgin america is a decent program, especially with the lack of fuel surcharges on virgin australia transfers =] 

 

[CreditScholar]

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

At a 2 to 1 transfer value you will now be able to use citi ty points towards virgin america. There is a 25% bonus right now on the transfer and these numbers line up with the amex transfer rate. Its a positive step, although unlikley I will make use of this travel partner, but for those who have need for virgin america miles its great news.  

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For the moment, amex is a better transfer courtesy of the complimentary gold status with 80k+ transferred, however, virgin america is a decent program, especially with the lack of fuel surcharges on virgin australia transfers =] 

 

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Everything I've been reading about VA is LAX to BNE or SYD.

Do you know if they charge additional miles to go to another Australian city (MEL, ADL, etc.)? In essence it would be adding on another domestic flight to the LAX-BNE/SYD segment.

[jsucool76]

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@CreditScholar wrote:

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

At a 2 to 1 transfer value you will now be able to use citi ty points towards virgin america. There is a 25% bonus right now on the transfer and these numbers line up with the amex transfer rate. Its a positive step, although unlikley I will make use of this travel partner, but for those who have need for virgin america miles its great news.  

---

For the moment, amex is a better transfer courtesy of the complimentary gold status with 80k+ transferred, however, virgin america is a decent program, especially with the lack of fuel surcharges on virgin australia transfers =] 

 

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Everything I've been reading about VA is LAX to BNE or SYD.

Do you know if they charge additional miles to go to another Australian city (MEL, ADL, etc.)? In essence it would be adding on another domestic flight to the LAX-BNE/SYD segment.

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It would be another segment. 

Virgin Australia doesn't appear to fly direct to LAX-MEL or LAX-ADL

Both routes have stops in either brisbane or sydney. 

[CreditScholar]

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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@CreditScholar wrote:

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

At a 2 to 1 transfer value you will now be able to use citi ty points towards virgin america. There is a 25% bonus right now on the transfer and these numbers line up with the amex transfer rate. Its a positive step, although unlikley I will make use of this travel partner, but for those who have need for virgin america miles its great news.  

---

For the moment, amex is a better transfer courtesy of the complimentary gold status with 80k+ transferred, however, virgin america is a decent program, especially with the lack of fuel surcharges on virgin australia transfers =] 

 

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Everything I've been reading about VA is LAX to BNE or SYD.

Do you know if they charge additional miles to go to another Australian city (MEL, ADL, etc.)? In essence it would be adding on another domestic flight to the LAX-BNE/SYD segment.

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It would be another segment. 

Virgin Australia doesn't appear to fly direct to LAX-MEL or LAX-ADL

Both routes have stops in either brisbane or sydney. 

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If there is an additional cost for that segment, then that kills all value compared to SQ.

SQ charges 161.5k - 170k miles for a RT in J from US-AUS (assuming 15% discount for online booking), and you're not limited to only LAX-SYD/BNE.

Flying VA would be 80k VX miles, and since they trade at a 1:2 ratio, you'd need 160k TY points under normal circumstances.

The additional segment will be more than an extra 10k miles, so unless you're flying only between those city pairs and/or there is a transfer bonus for VX going on, you'd be better transferring to SQ instead.

[jsucool76]

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@CreditScholar wrote:

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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@CreditScholar wrote:

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

At a 2 to 1 transfer value you will now be able to use citi ty points towards virgin america. There is a 25% bonus right now on the transfer and these numbers line up with the amex transfer rate. Its a positive step, although unlikley I will make use of this travel partner, but for those who have need for virgin america miles its great news.  

---

For the moment, amex is a better transfer courtesy of the complimentary gold status with 80k+ transferred, however, virgin america is a decent program, especially with the lack of fuel surcharges on virgin australia transfers =] 

 

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Everything I've been reading about VA is LAX to BNE or SYD.

Do you know if they charge additional miles to go to another Australian city (MEL, ADL, etc.)? In essence it would be adding on another domestic flight to the LAX-BNE/SYD segment.

---

It would be another segment. 

Virgin Australia doesn't appear to fly direct to LAX-MEL or LAX-ADL

Both routes have stops in either brisbane or sydney. 

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If there is an additional cost for that segment, then that kills all value compared to SQ.

SQ charges 161.5k - 170k miles for a RT in J from US-AUS (assuming 15% discount for online booking), and you're not limited to only LAX-SYD/BNE.

Flying VA would be 80k VX miles, and since they trade at a 1:2 ratio, you'd need 160k TY points under normal circumstances.

The additional segment will be more than an extra 10k miles, so unless you're flying only between those city pairs and/or there is a transfer bonus for VX going on, you'd be better transferring to SQ instead.

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Note that the carrier imposed fees on the SQ flight (just using LAX-SYD as an example) are well over $800 for a J fare award flight. On VA they're a flat $130 That's a reasonable difference to note. 

It would take 160k TY points (with no bonus) for VA, or 160k TY points (with no bonus) on SQ. In my opinion, an additional segment from SYD to ADL or BNE or MEL is not worth the $700+ (extra) you'd be paying to fly SQ. That is just my opinion though. 

Broken down simpler for some of those who might be reading this going "dfq is he talking about" lol (all costs are roundtrip) 

LAX-SYD using virgin america elevate points to fly on virgin australia would cost 160,000 citi thank you points (when there is no transfer bonus) and $130USD to fly in business class. If you wanted to go to melbourne or brisbane, or elsewhere, you would need to add an additional segment, as virgin doesn't fly direct there. (though the flight LAX-SYD is nonstop)

SFO-ADL (as an example of flying elsewhere in australia that virgin doesn't service directly) would cost between 160-170k citi thank you points, as well as $840USD (flight times I've seen have also ranged from 27 hours to 36 hours, including multiple stops).

[CreditScholar]

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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Note that the carrier imposed fees on the SQ flight (just using LAX-SYD as an example) are well over $800 for a J fare award flight. On VA they're a flat $130 That's a reasonable difference to note. 

It would take 160k TY points (with no bonus) for VA, or 160k TY points (with no bonus) on SQ. In my opinion, an additional segment from SYD to ADL or BNE or MEL is not worth the $700+ (extra) you'd be paying to fly SQ. That is just my opinion though. 

Broken down simpler for some of those who might be reading this going "dfq is he talking about" lol (all costs are roundtrip) 

LAX-SYD using virgin america elevate points to fly on virgin australia would cost 160,000 citi thank you points (when there is no transfer bonus) and $130USD to fly in business class. If you wanted to go to melbourne or brisbane, or elsewhere, you would need to add an additional segment, as virgin doesn't fly direct there. (though the flight LAX-SYD is nonstop)

SFO-ADL (as an example of flying elsewhere in australia that virgin doesn't service directly) would cost between 160-170k citi thank you points, as well as $840USD (flight times I've seen have also ranged from 27 hours to 36 hours, including multiple stops).

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Let's take this one step further then.

The above scenerio is working on the assumtion that you'd still be commencing your trip on the East Coast of AUS and ending your trip on the West Coast of the US.

If you went from say PER-SYD-LAX-JFK, you'd be adding in domestic portions both in AUS and the US. I'm certain that both round trips combined in domestic first (which would still be classed as a J cabin) would be more than $800. Hell I' pretty sure a RT from PER-SYD would be more than $800 by itself in J/F, and the same goes for a UA PS transcon flight from LAX-JFK.

In certain cases you might still be better off flying SQ, especially when you tack on a domestic transcon flight before the transpac segment, after it, or both..

[jsucool76]

I'm by no means an expert in booking SQ, but that would have to be booked as seperate reservations I'm sure. I'm not seeing any way to do that simply in a single search (granted I'm on my cell phone).

also, adding on the per-syd I'm sure would increase the airline imposed fees.

[Anonymous]

I'll pass at that redemption value. I get more bang for my buck using TYP for AA ticket.

[Open123]

While I don't usually find Virgin Elevate one of the better valued transfer partners, I do think for a person who flies the carrier often will find a pretty compelling value for Gold status on an 80K MR transfer with 25% bonus.