Your guide to Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles: PayRewards’ SkyTeam airline partner

You’ve probably heard of Vietnam Airlines – or at least, spotted the carrier’s eye-catching all-green aircraft at the international terminal. But you mightn’t have heard of Lotusmiles, the loyalty program of Vietnam Airlines. It’s one of your transfer options from PayRewards, and it’s a partner that you shouldn’t overlook.

Vietnam Airlines operates five non-stop routes between Australia and Vietnam, which can’t be booked through any Australian frequent flyer program. As well, Vietnam Airlines is a member of the global SkyTeam Alliance. This means, through Lotusmiles, you can book reward flights on a further 17 SkyTeam carriers, along with two other overseas partners.

Translation: there’s a lot of reward seats from Australia, but not much competition for them. That’s where the power of Lotusmiles comes into play.

Converting your PayRewards Points to Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles

We’ve made it easy to convert your PayRewards Points into miles with Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles. These transfers take place at a 2.5:1 rate, so, for every 5 PayRewards Points converted, you’ll receive 2 miles with Vietnam Airlines.

Journeys between Australia and Europe on Lotusmiles’ SkyTeam partners begin at 110,000 miles one-way. If you had 550,000 PayRewards Points in your account, you could turn those into 220,000 miles and potentially blag a flatbed round-trip journey to Europe. Now we’re talking!

Booking reward flights through Lotusmiles

When using your Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles towards travel, there are three main avenues you can take:

• Booking Vietnam Airlines flights. Fly from Australia to Vietnam and beyond with great reward seat availability. We’ve seen as many as four business class reward seats on a single flight when booking ahead.
• Upgrading on Vietnam Airlines. This includes upgrades from economy straight to business class, even on flights with premium economy.
• Redeeming for flights on SkyTeam carriers and other partners. You’re not limited to travelling to or through Vietnam. The program has particularly sharp redemption rates from Australia to Europe, and within some other regions.

Speaking of partners, there are many flying to Australia. Choose from China Airlines (based in Taiwan), China Eastern, Delta Air Lines, Garuda Indonesia, Korean Air and XiamenAir – and that’s just SkyTeam. Lotusmiles also has partnerships with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) and China Southern, unlocking even more connectivity.

That roster of international partners continues with Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, Kenya Airways, KLM, Middle East Airlines (MEA), Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Saudia, TAROM and Virgin Atlantic.

Fly Vietnam Airlines to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with Lotusmiles

Lotusmiles members can easily book Vietnam Airlines reward flights via the Vietnam Airlines website. You’ll need to login to search for reward seat availability, but Lotusmiles is free to join. If you’ve just signed up, you’ll also need complete a verification process by email before you can search and redeem. For this, Vietnam Airlines’ website provides instructions after joining.

Moving on, and Vietnam Airlines offers reward flights at two different rates. There’s ‘regular period’: that’s the best-value classic reward seat. ‘Peak period’ is similar, but priced higher for travel during busier times.

Vietnam Airlines’ website shows the upcoming peak periods for international and domestic travel. Dates not listed there belong to the ‘regular period’. Speaking of routes, Vietnam Airlines flies from Sydney and Melbourne directly to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon. The carrier also jets from Perth to Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon.

With those basics under your belt, here’s how many miles you’d need for a one-way Vietnam Airlines flight on any of those non-stop Australian routes. The rates below are split as regular period / peak period.

• Economy: 40,000 / 55,000 miles
• Premium economy: 70,000 / 90,000 miles
• Business class: 110,000 / 140,000 miles

Upgrade on Vietnam Airlines with Lotusmiles

Don’t have as many points to spend, or already booked a cash fare? Lotusmiles can be your ticket to a Vietnam Airlines premium economy or business class upgrade.

Upgrade rates are influenced by four different factors. First, the cabin you’ve booked. Second, the fare class you’ve purchased. Third, the cabin you’re upgrading to. Then, finally, the route of your journey.

It can get a little complicated, but don’t fret – we’ve done all the number-crunching for you. The letters you see correspond to your booking class: you’ll find this on your ticket to crossmatch.

In other words, you could fly in a better seat between Australia and Vietnam from just 15,000 miles, one-way. Unlike outright redemptions which have regular and peak pricing, upgrades are a flat year-round rate. Just note that the lowest-cost Economy Lite fares (other than N and R) can’t be upgraded.

Redeeming on SkyTeam and other partners

Vietnam Airlines recently tweaked its redemption rates. As a result, some of the SkyTeam redemption costs won’t be attractive given the alternative options available, but there are still a few sweet spots to be aware of.

If heading to the US or Canada, you can fly directly between any two cities for 60,000 miles in business class on Delta, one-way. It’s a flat rate for the whole continent, so longer flights bring the best value. Think Honolulu to New York JFK, Anchorage to Atlanta or even Los Angeles to Boston.

It’s also theoretically possible to book Delta One business class between Australia and Los Angeles for 110,00 miles one-way. But Delta almost never releases these seats to partners, so this isn’t a likely avenue. Still, it doesn’t hurt to check if availability changes over time.

Beyond North America, longer journeys within Europe can also be attractive at a flat 50,000 miles one-way. Hot hint: with Vietnam Airlines, ‘Europe’ includes the UK and Turkey.

Lotusmiles also lists Australia-Europe business class on partner airlines at 110,000 miles one-way. However, the program doesn’t clearly publish its rules about connecting flights, stopovers and transits – and these bookings can only be made by phone or email. This is why you should always confirm the exact reward seat price for your specific itinerary with Lotusmiles customer service before converting Points from PayRewards. This will also ensure that your desired reward seats are available before transferring Points, to avoid disappointment.

To book, call the Lotusmiles team on 03 8605 7888 (press 1), or email lotusmiles@vietnamairlines.com.

Final tips to make you a Lotusmiles legend

There’s a bit to navigate with Lotusmiles, which is why we’ve got your back with these extra tips and tricks.

• Redemption rates changed on 1 April 2025. Despite this, the Lotusmiles website hasn’t been fully updated. Be sure to check these links for the latest Vietnam Airlines redemption rates, Vietnam Airlines upgrade rates and SkyTeam reward flight rates, which we’ve referred to in this article.
• Miles expire after three years. This mirrors the ‘hard expiry’ approach of programs like Emirates Skywards and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. Another reason to transfer your PayRewards Points only when you’re ready to fly!
• Without status, you can only book for yourself and children under 16. It can be complicated to book flights for other people through Lotusmiles – including your spouse or domestic partner. Unless you have Vietnam Airlines status, you’ll first need to transfer miles between Lotusmiles accounts (which attracts fees) and then make separate bookings. But, as a better idea, you could make separate transfers from PayRewards directly to the Lotusmiles accounts of each traveller, who can each book for themselves, without the need to pay extra fees. Wink wink.

To learn more about Lotusmiles, including that transfer trick to avoid additional costs when booking Lotusmiles reward flights, Point Hacks has a comprehensive guide.

Written by Chris Chamberlin

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About the author

Chris enjoys making the most of frequent flyer points, which have taken him around the world – usually, at the front of the plane. He’s travelled over 1.5 million miles sampling the best in Business Class and First Class. That’s further than three return trips to the moon! Chris is based at Point Hacks' Melbourne office as News Editor, and shares his experiences via @chris_chamberlin on Instagram. When he’s not travelling, he enjoys tennis, keeping fit, and discovering new gins.