There are plenty of ways to redeem your Velocity Points, but what is a Velocity Point worth? There’s no hard and fast rule for this, as it depends on your lifestyle and desires. But like most other frequent flyer programs, you’ll usually get far more value with flights than with gift cards, for example.
This article will help you see the potential of your Velocity Points through various redemption methods, but ultimately you should do what makes you happy!
1. Online shopping and merchandise
| Value per point: 0.51 to 0.56 cents per point |
Store gift cards are a popular way to burn through frequent flyer points if you just don’t know what to do with them. Here are some options from the Velocity Rewards Store:
A $100 gift card can range from 18,000 Velocity Points to 19,500 Velocity Points, depending on the retailer. Here’s how much you’re getting per point with examples of either gift card:
- Apple $100 gift card: 0.51 cents per point
- Barbeques Galore $100 gift card: 0.56 cents per point
You can also use Velocity Points to pay for your purchases on Myer online. But this provides a similarly low value with roughly 0.52 cents per point.
2. Hotels and car hire
| Value per point: 0.6 cents per point |
You can redeem Velocity Points to book hotels, starting from a minimum of 2,000 points plus a cash payment. Here is an example at The Fullerton Hotel Sydney – you can spend $499 per night or redeem 83,200 Velocity Points. This gives you a value of 0.6 cents per point.
Given that just 67,000 Velocity Points (plus fees and taxes) can get you a one-way Business Class trip between Sydney and Singapore – worth thousands of dollars – redeeming 83,200 points for a $499 hotel room is probably not the best use.
Car hire isn’t much better. 18,400 Velocity Points can cover a rental worth $110 from Europcar, also giving you an effective value of 0.6 cents per point.
3. Flights with ‘Points + Pay’
| Value per point: 0.6 cents per point |
Virgin Australia lets Velocity members redeem points for any available seat under ‘Points + Pay’. While this may seem like an easy way to use up your points, you’re actually getting no better value compared to redeeming points for hotels or car hire.
With this example fare below, you can see that using ‘Points + Pay’ for cash fares will still only get you exactly 0.6 cents per point.
4. Flights with Economy Reward Seats
| Value per point: Usually more than 1 cent per point |
Now we’re talking. Velocity Reward seats are the best use of points. These clearly show up as ‘Reward’ on the website and will appear before any ‘Points + Pay’ fares.
Economy reward seats usually get you at least 1 cent per point in value – sometimes a lot more. In the same Sydney-Perth example as above, an Economy Reward is 17,800 points + $30.75, while the comparable Economy Choice fare is $245.
That’s 1.2 cents per point, which is already double the ‘Points Plus Pay’ value!
5. Flights with Premium/Business/First Reward Seats
| Value per point: Usually more than 2-3 cents per point |
Getting a reward seat in a premium cabin, particularly Business and First Class, is the dream for many. But unsurprisingly, this is also the hardest reward to attain. Supply is very constrained, and demand is through the roof.
But if you’re lucky enough to land a reward seat, especially on international long-haul flights, then you can be sure you’re getting excellent value for your points.
For example, I recently redeemed four Business Class rewards from Bangkok to Perth for 53,000 Velocity Points + $64.13 per person (before carrier charges were introduced). The same one-way flight retails for $1,928.50, based on a return fare of $3,965. This means I’m enjoying an excellent 3.62 cents per point.
Another trip I’ve booked with Velocity Points is Amsterdam to Perth via Singapore for 121,000 points + $92.93 in Business Class. With the equivalent cash fare being $5,193 over my dates of travel (Easter 2023), I’m getting 4.21 cents per point!
There are plenty more examples, but hopefully, you will get the idea by now.
Summing up
The broad consensus is that saving your Velocity Points for Business and First Class redemptions are the best way to get value out of them. Indeed, many of our readers do just that.
As for me, I’m a traditionalist and prefer to use my points for upgrades on Virgin Australia or Business rewards on partner airlines such as Singapore Airlines.
As a guide, we value Velocity Points at 1.90 cents each. This is the baseline value you might want to aim for when it comes to redeeming Velocity Points. (And of course, it would be ideal if you earned the points at a much lower rate than that).
But don’t get swept up in all the number-crunching. If you really want to buy that iPad with your Velocity Points and don’t want to fly, then go for it! As long as you are using Velocity Points to make you happy, you’re coming out ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
The value of a Velocity Point can range wildly from very low (e.g. 0.5 cents per point) to really high (e.g more than 3.0 cents per point). Reward seats on flights tend to offer the best value for Velocity Points.
The minimum Velocity Points you need for a reward seat is 7,800 points for a short one-way Economy Class redemption. A long-haul international Business Class redemption (e.g. from Australia to London) will need up to 139,000 Velocity Points.
You can get gift cards, merchandise, hotel bookings or flights. This article will help you work out what’s the best use for you.
You will find that Business Class flight redemptions and upgrades will be the best use for the most value. But if a gift card or hotel booking works for you, then go for it! Also, check out how to get the most out of Velocity Frequent Flyer.
Watch this video to learn more about how we value frequent flyer points:
The redemption rates in the cited examples decrease significantly, if recalculated using current surcharges.
For comparison my own most recent pre-surcharge bookings return redemption values of 7.8c/pt (DRW-SIN-FRA) and 7.03c/pt (CPH-SIN-CNS) both on SQ and travelling business class next month.
(I’m not adjusting for the points earned on the comparative paid fare or opportunity cost of a positioning flight CNS-DRW).
The addition of these charges is a significant devaluation and really the examples above ought to be updated to reflect such.
I gave up bothering trying to book onto QR given the complications of the World Cup Soccer events (per AAdvantage with no surcharges or BAEC Avios with lessened surcharges) and on EY using Velocity points because each sector would have cost $350-$400 leaving a cash sting of AUD3000 odd overall for the two of us to travel Australia to Europe return.
The irony is that that amount of cash (c.AUD3000) can purchase enough Alaska miles for one QF business class return across the Pacific – no fuel surcharges and redemption value of those miles of 23.6c/mile (based on a redemption I made a few days ago SIN-LAX-MEL in QF business) – partly reflecting the insane air fares being charged currently by QF!!!
That cash can return about 900% in premium travel value, if re-invested smartly rather than wasted on carrier charges!
Please don’t underestimate the deleterious impact of these ever increasing carrier charges on the frequent flyer member!
It’s may not necessarily in the interests of travel blogs to portray the full story given the need to generate income from promoting point earning credit cards and their attendant sign up bonuses.
The whole notion of a “point” or “mile” having a quotable value is mostly bogus anyway, but that’s another story (and the article rightly sets out to demonstrate the large spread of redemption values)….;)
I understand your point regarding some benefit accruing if using a credit card to pay for the flight, thereby earning some points, which has value and should be negated from the ‘value component’ of the formula much in the same way that any taxes payable are.
However, we are only looking at this from the viewpoint of those solely looking to redeem points for a flight. And if you pay the taxes by credit card, the value you earn in points is negligible. But of course, feel free to tweak our numbers for your own personal calculations.
Can you advise how this can be done for so few points? All the J-Class Saver redemptions I’m seeing are 284,000 points and above, one-way, Ethiad. I never see SG ones.
Thanks!
Be sure you’re looking at the ‘Business Reward’ column (2nd one) and that all flights are operated by the same airline, as mixing VA and SQ (for example) would price your trip as two separate rewards.
Ignore the headline price as that converts taxes into points (bad value). The smaller price in the box should be 139,000 Velocity Points + taxes, which is correct.
For example, search Melbourne to London one-way business class on Wed 5 Aug 2020. You’ll see a few Etihad options for ‘255,300’ points, but underneath, it says ‘139,000 points + $698 tax’ which is correct.
As a side note, Etihad have very high surcharges. If you can find it, SQ rewards should only have $100-$200 taxes for the same route.
Best of luck!