Not the most efficient use of points. My partner and I travelled to Melbourne recently. And just like we try to do with long haul flights, we booked my flights using points and we split the cost of his flights that we paid with cash. Booking My flight for this trip was booked entirely with velocity points. Costing me 15,500 points plus $34.49 in taxes. It's far from the most valuable use of points, but it was a special weekend and our points balance was healthy.  Checkin was easy online, 3 quick...

Very comfortable way to get across the ditch. Qantas operates both it's standard B737 between Sydney and Auckland, as well as its more premium A330-300. On a recent long weekend getaway to New Zealand, I decided to try the Qantas A333 product on the way there, and Virgin B737 on the way back. I also thought it was a good chance to see if there's any real difference between Qantas' A332 and their A333. And I found this A333 to be much better. Check-in When I'm flying out of Sydney International Airport...

A bit of a treat to have a mini business suite on a 90 minute flight. Qantas operates both it's standard B737 between Sydney and Melbourne, as well as its more premium A330-200. On a recent trip to Boston, I booked a 7:35am Cathay flight using Asia Miles from Melbourne - so needed to get myself to Melbourne the evening before. Table cloths and a plated meal were served with delicious wines, on this short 90 minute flight to Melbourne. Sounds impressive - but the meal was a let down. Booking It...

Virgin Australia business class on their B737 is a great way to get to New Zealand. Check-in was expectedly uneventful, with the Virgin Australia business class counters checking in guests for this flight to Auckland only. No other Virgin Australia flights were departing anywhere near he 3:40pm departure. Booking This particular trip was a work trip to Auckland, so was booked through our corporate travel supplier. What I didn't realise, when I sent my dates and times to them, was that the business saver fare would have only been $10 more...

Great to have an overnight option to Singapore - even with the stop in Canberra. Getting award flights over Easter means you need to be super organised. I started looking in July at where we could go using Velocity points for the following April easter, and found return flights to Koh Samui on Singapore Airlines business class. Booking When my partner and I are travelling together, we use points for one and pay for one. Which effectively means we get half price business class flights. In July last year we started...

SilkAir business class is just Singapore Airlines domestic business (if they did it). This flight from Singapore to Koh Samui was technically the 3rd leg of our journey from Sydney. We had taken the overnight flight from Sydney which has a brief stop in Canberra and a 3 hour layover at Changi. So I was definitely ready to just get to the island. I have read reviews saying that SilkAir was fine, just not as polished as Singapore Airlines. The reality is, of course that's correct. They're smaller planes, shorter...