What to do with orphan miles/points

[heavenlyjane]

So I have 6250 Virgin Atlanta Flying Club miles that will expire in a few months. I have several options:

1. Transfer 1000 UR points into the account to reset the clock
2. Transfer 4000 UR points into the account and then convert them to 10,000 IHG points
3. Donate 6000 miles to the Flying Club's sponsored charity
4. Buy something small at the Flying Club's shopping portal to reset the clock

I have no immediate plans to use these miles. However I like their partners (Air New Zealand, for example).

What would you do?

 

[italdesign]

Another possibility: get the CC, earn ~50k.

Can also convert to HH (but 10k minimum I believe).

 

[heavenlyjane]

Another possibility: get the CC, earn ~50k.

Can also convert to HH (but 10k minimum I believe).

Yes, I can get the Virgin Atlantic CC and start collecting those miles. However this gets at a new question: what is the value of collecting miles on an airline that doesn't serve my airport or go where I plan to travel in the next couple of years?

I believe the current offer on the BoA Virgin Atlantic CC is a measly 20,000 miles.

 

[italdesign]

what is the value of collecting miles on an airline that doesn't serve my airport or go when I plan to travel in the next couple of years?

Not very high, I'd say.

Personally, I'd burn it all on their shopping portal and have one less program to worry about. Wish I did that with AB before they went dodo.

 

[heavenlyjane]

Personally, I'd burn it all on their shopping portal and have one less program to worry about. Wish I did that with AB before they went dodo.

In the case of Virgin Atlantic, you cannot spend, only earn, on their shopping portal.

 

[AnyNameYouWish]

Why not transfer 6k to UR? If you can transfer 4k to UR and 1k to UR, then you could do 1k twice right? I'm making an assumption. I know nothing about transferring these to UR. I have zero experience with virgin atlantic miles. Put them where you'd get the most value out of them yourself, not the most across the board. Doesn't matter if they do best as virgin atlantic miles if you aren't ever going to use them that way. KWIM?

 

[heavenlyjane]

Why not transfer 6k to UR? If you can transfer 4k to UR and 1k to UR, then you could do 1k twice right? I'm making an assumption. I know nothing about transferring these to UR. I have zero experience with virgin atlantic miles. Put them where you'd get the most value out of them yourself, not the most across the board. Doesn't matter if they do best as virgin atlantic miles if you aren't ever going to use them that way. KWIM?

I do not believe you can transfer points to UR. It's a one-way street - UR points transfer out but not in.

 

[AnyNameYouWish]

Oh I misunderstood then. You meant transfer the UR in in order to then have enough to transfer to IHG and such. Ok, sorry I didn't understand that correctly.

 

[italdesign]

Well, here's an idea:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/10/11/virgin-atlantic-miles-delta/

I wouldn't be surprised if like he says, DL-influenced VS imposes YQ on the sweet spot at some point. May be worth a gamble if the destination is in the near plan.

Personally, given the abundance of options to Europe, and my lack of confidence in VS, I'm unswayed.

 

[currid7]

Well, here's an idea:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/10/11/virgin-atlantic-miles-delta/

I wouldn't be surprised if like he says, DL-influenced VS imposes YQ on the sweet spot at some point. May be worth a gamble if the destination is in the near plan.

Personally, given the abundance of options to Europe, and my lack of confidence in VS, I'm unswayed.

Just saw this too. The one Delta redemption I'm looking at is ATL-VCE so I thought maybe I'd transfer and get the 30% bonus, but VCE doesn't come up on search.