Convert Miles Between Singapore And Virgin Australia Soon

Isn't the flipside that if it is a decent rate from SQ to Virgin it could end up being a good way to use UR to Australia?

@ AdamH -- Have you seen Virgin Australia's award rates and fuel surcharges? I'd say not so interesting!

If it was 1:1, wouldn't this help solve one of the greatest weaknessess of KrisFlyer (the mileage expiration)? A quick move to Virgin Aust and then back to reset the clock?

@ Steelsnow -- In theory that's correct, though it's another reason I don't think the transfers will be as straightforward as we're thinking they may be. If nothing else, I wouldn't be surprised if only "one way" points transfers are allowed.

Lucky, most of the Krisflyer members will not be able to convert into VA Velocity as VA Velocity limits their membership to only folks based in Aussie, NZ and the Pacific.

So this is a ridiculous tie-up in the first place, that will definitely benefit VA members, but hardly any SQ members not based in Australia and NZ. And I am certainly thinking the ratio is 1:1, if not, why bother?

Perhaps SQ did not read the fine prints of VA Velocity program on membership details, while VA happily accepted the deal when offered.

Nothing for ALL SQ members which are based outside Australia/NZ, which is probably most of SQ members anyway. SQ just did a deal that put most of its members at a serious disadvantage while benefiting everyone on VA.

If only I could transfer from Virgin Atlantic to Singapore! I have about 60K orphan miles in VS and don't know what to do about them. I planned to transfer them to HH but was too lazy to make the phone call. Then when I was back from vacation earlier this year the transfer ratio became worse...

Yes, I agree this is more for the benefits of Velocity members than KF members. But this is because SQ owns 20% of VA and SQ has been trying to enter Australian domestic market for a long time. They used to own Ansett Australia (the dead star alliance domestic carrier in Australia) and when Ansett went into financial trouble, SQ tried to buy it but Australian law prevents Ansett to be owned by a foreign investor (maximum share capped at 49%)

After Ansett died, SQ has turned its interest at VA. It would've hold more of its share if it's not due to the other owners, ie. Etihad, Delta and Air NZ, all of them want a share in the lucrative vast Australian domestic market, which used to be monopolized by Qantas.

I'm sure SQ knows velocity is only available to Aus/NZ/South Pacific residents. They want to get more people away from Qantas to VA by offering this.

For most Australian resident, the value of KF miles and VA miles wouldn't be much different as the earn rate on flying both airline is the same. And many credit cards we have here in Australia that can convert points to both VA and KF miles have the same earn rate. So the market value is about the same but it certainly opens up a lot more versatility to us.

And I agree, even tho VA miles has lower value than KF miles, it has much better award availability, especially AUS-US flights, and lower fuel surcharges compare to SQ. So I wouldn't write off velocity completely yet!

Don't ignore the possibility of it being 1:1. Singapore (and the rest of Star Alliance) has nothing in Australia and this might be their game. Also, they own 20% of VAust. And this acts as a partial if not a full hedge to any value loss for them.

@ flyingfish -- To clarify, I don't think anyone is worried that people will be rushing to transfer their Singapore miles into Virgin Australia miles. It's the other way around people are worried about. We'll certainly find out soon, but I'd be willing to bet it won't be a 1:1 ratio, or if it is, that there are severe restrictions.