I need help on the benefits of booking points travel through the credit provider travel agent or transferring the points to the airline first (VA).

I need help on the benefits of booking points travel through the credit provider travel agent or transferring the points to the airline first (VA).

It costs more Citibank points for a flight through their travel company than VA points but the points translate to a lesser amount when you transfer them and I’m not sure how to work out which is the best value for money.

There are benefits to leaving them with Citi Rewards such as when you book a flight you actually pay for it first then get reimbursed which means there is money changing hands to cover tax deductible travel which if booked with airline points you can’t claim. Another point is that while I’m using Citi Rewards I’m still earning flight and status credits which I don't using Virgin points..

With a couple of million Citi points and them about to devalue points for transfer to Virgin I’m not sure whether it’s best to transfer now or not at all.

Hi Susan, the logical thing to do here is see how many points you'd need for the same flight under either scenario: eg. Sydney-Melbourne would need X Velocity points, which = Y Citibank points under the current transfer rates to Velocity. Or, to book that same flight through Citibank Rewards needs Z points which is either more or less than by booking it the other way.

So you buy a ticket for a flight which is then deductible and sell points to Citibank and the reward is not considered taxable.  Nice, whether or not it is legit !

I have yet to see ANY value in using QF or VA points to book domestic travel. If you are hoping for International travel Craet a Krisflyer account (Singapore Air) and transfer the points there, VERY soon as they are about to be devalued (2 March I seem to recall).