Moved out of Australia - Velocity Gold is useless

[noobieflyer]

I moved out of Velocity and I don't fly from/to Australia anymore. I live in China and mostly use HKG airport. Velocity does have agreement with Fortune Wings for sharing points; but nothing really for lounge access/priority.

Unfortunately, I have applied for United Airlines status match and didn't use it when I was in Australia.

Already asked Turkish, Asiana, AirChina and Krisflyer. They're not willing to status match me. Marco Polo asked more details; but likely to deny me, since I don't stick with one airline (as I moved here I don't fly with my Velocity membership anymore)

I fly mostly within Asia.

What should I do? Which status match should I apply?

 

[Mattg]

I have to agree that Velocity isn't worth much out of Australia. I'm also planning an overseas move (Europe) and have let my Velocity status lapse as a result.

If you really want a status match, the Delta match for SkyTeam would normally be good but won't work if you're matching from Velocity.

Otherwise, perhaps just pick the program that now works best for you and start building your points/status from scratch. You'll be back up to Gold status (or equivalent) soon enough, so this is the best long-term strategy.

 

[ItaliaJim]

I've lived in Italy for over two years and this will be a permanent arrangement. My Velocity Gold status has long disappeared and I am back to Red. I recently flew to and from Australia on Cathay Pacific on their FF program and flew several domestic sectors with VA. I have considered moving my Velocity points to Singapore Airlines [I avoid flying through the Middle East because the East Coast - ME sector is too long at 13-14 hours and SE Asia sectors are more evenly divided [and I'm a pensioner, so a core competency is pacing myself!]. Within Europe I fly usually from FCO to Amsterdam for family reasons [usually with KLM]. I fly to Australia from either Milan Malpensa or Rome Fiumicino. The other option is to move them to Alitalia. I'm not quite sure how to do this, but would welcome advice on what people consider the best option. Thanks in advance....

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I would advise staying clear of Marco Polo. It is the single most difficult status to achieve in Oneworld.

What airline do you fly with the most? Or, what alliance do you fly with the most?

 

[ItaliaJim]

Thanks TTR,
I had been travelling to Amsterdam from Australia for years and over the past 10 years preferred Singapore Airlines for my stated preference for flying through SE Asia. But it became more difficult to book this preference through Virgin because they clearly preferred to use Etihad and/or VA from Australia and/or Alitalia from Abu Dhabi to Rome since I started coming to Italy 3 years ago. Internally in Europe I've been using KLM. Cost is a factor in these decisions but so is flying a regular airline vs budget airlines like Easyjet for available schedules, baggage and services. KLM flights from Rome to Paris or Amsterdam, for example, are generally cheaper than Alitalia. It might influence my choice over KLM if it were worth my while transferring Velocity points to Alitalia, but I'd still have the long sector between Australia and the ME to deal with. QF's and VA's deals with ME airlines is not designed for best travel experiences between Australia and Europe. Within Italy I'll always travel by train.

I should have said that the other factor in my booking strategies is to get the travel over and done with in the shortest time possible, so my septuagenarian pensioner criteria are: flight hours; transit hours; length of sectors; ticket cost; destination airport [Milan or Rome]; and then FF points.... Within Australia, I will always use 3-4 domestic sectors and have stuck with Velociity for that.

 

[mannej]

I don’t believe you can transfer your points from Velocity to Alitalia Millemiglia