Starwood is giving members of its Starwood Preferred Guests (SPG) loyalty programme the chance to buy discounted Starwood points, which can then be converted to Velocity points and used for upgrades on Virgin Australia flights.

The new promotion allows SPG members to purchase Starwood points at a discount of up to 25 percent; these points can then be converted to Velocity points on a 1:1 exchange.

For those willing to splash out, A$680 (US$525) will buy you 20,000 Starpoints, and transferring them to your Velocity account will allow you to earn an extra 5,000 Velocity points, meaning you’ll have a total of 25,000 points to play with.

To put that into context, upgrading a flexible economy fare to business class for a one way booking from Sydney to Perth is 9,900 points.

SPG members must buy the discounted points before May 31, 2015, and accounts must have been existing for a minimum of 14 days prior to purchase.  www.starwoodhotels.com