If you’ve tried to use Qantas points or redeem Velocity points for Business Class seats to the United States lately, you’ve probably noticed that there isn’t much reward seat availability right now!
Occasionally you might get lucky and find a direct Qantas flight to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth or Vancouver (just across the border in Canada). If you’re really lucky, you might even find a Business Reward seat on United Airlines or Air Canada that you can book using Velocity points. But failing that, you might need to get a little creative…
If you can’t find award availability on a direct flight from Australia to North America, you could try searching for one-stop options via Asia or Fiji. For example, you could redeem Qantas points to fly with Fiji Airways from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Adelaide to Los Angeles, San Francisco or Vancouver with a stop in Nadi. Or, you could redeem Velocity points to fly to Asia with Singapore Airlines.
But there’s another little-known option that could get you to San Francisco in style using a combination of both Qantas points and Velocity points. It requires two stops, which might sound instantly unappealing… until I tell you that one of the stopovers is in beautiful Tahiti. Plus, if you’re flexible enough with travel dates, you may be able to find up to two Business Class award seats on the same flights using this routing!
Here’s how this works…
Step 1: Fly to Tahiti using Qantas points
Qantas doesn’t fly its own aircraft to French Polynesia, but it does codeshare with Air Tahiti Nui on its flights from Auckland to Papeete. Subject to award availability, it’s possible to redeem Qantas points for a seat on the Auckland-Papeete route. (It’s technically also possible to redeem Qantas points to fly all the way from Auckland-Papeete-Los Angeles on Air Tahiti Nui, but Business Class award availability all the way to LA is harder to come by.)
If you’re flexible enough with dates, you should be able to find one or two Business Classic Reward seats from Auckland to Papeete on Air Tahiti Nui. You would then just need to add a connecting Qantas, Jetstar or LATAM Airlines flight from Australia to New Zealand onto the same ticket.
Unfortunately, none of Qantas’ current trans-Tasman flights from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to Auckland arrive early enough in the day to connect to the Air Tahiti Nui service from Auckland to Papeete. Same-day connections will be possible once again when Qantas resumes its 7.25am Sydney-Auckland departure in late October. But until then, an overnight stop in Auckland would be necessary on the outbound journey. (The connections in Auckland are better in the other direction, allowing you to fly straight through from Papeete to Australia in one go.)
Here’s one example of a Qantas Classic Flight Reward itinerary from Brisbane to Papeete (with an overnight stop in Auckland on the way there):
When searching for flights, note that Tahiti is on the other side of the international date line. So, when flying from Auckland to Papeete, you’ll arrive a day earlier than you left!
Air New Zealand also flies to Papeete
As an alternative to redeeming Qantas points to Tahiti, you could use Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles to book Economy seats on Air New Zealand via Auckland. If you’re lucky enough to find award availability on Air New Zealand, this is an excellent deal at just 13,500 KrisFlyer miles one-way! However, Air New Zealand is very stingy with releasing Business Class award seats.
Step 2: Fly from Tahiti to San Francisco using Velocity points
From Tahiti, you could fly direct to San Francisco. So, your overall itinerary would look like something like this:
United Airlines offers year-round direct flights between Papeete and San Francisco using its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with Polaris Business Class seats. The flight from Papeete to San Francisco takes around 8 hours, and thanks to the new partnership between Virgin Australia and United, you can book a seat using Velocity Frequent Flyer points!
This is what United’s PPT-SFO schedule looks like at the moment (note that flight times could vary slightly in summer due to daylight savings):
- UA114 Papeete 21:10 – San Francisco 08:20 (+1 day)
- UA115 San Francisco 13:25 – Papeete 18:55
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to book reward seats on the Papeete-San Francisco route on the Virgin Australia website…
But if there is award availability, you can book over the phone by calling the Velocity Membership Contact Centre on 13 18 75. The phone booking fee will be waived as online bookings are not possible for this route.
To find award availability, you could search for Saver Awards on the United website (you need to look specifically for “I” class awards costing 70,000 United miles in Business). You can also search for United award seats on Expert Flyer or on the website of another Star Alliance airline such as Air Canada. If a seat is available to book on the Air Canada website, or an “I” class seat is showing on the United website or Expert Flyer, it should also be available to book using Velocity points.
As an example of flights that would connect with the Qantas itinerary shown above, at the time of writing there was Business Class award availability on United Airlines from Papeete to San Francisco on both 21 and 22 July 2022 (allowing for a stopover of one or two nights). There’s also award availability in United Business Class from San Francisco to Papeete on 16 September 2022, allowing for a 5-night stopover on the way home.
It would cost 59,500 Velocity points + AUD71.90 in taxes to fly United Business Class from Papeete to San Francisco. In the opposite direction, a Business Reward seat from San Francisco to Papeete would cost 59,500 Velocity points + AUD15 taxes. That’s a total of 119,000 Velocity points + $86.90 round-trip.
You could also redeem Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles for a seat on United between Papeete and San Francisco, but this is surprisingly terrible value.
United Airlines typically releases Business award seats on its San Francisco-Papeete route only within a few months of departure. You’ll be much more likely to find availability for travel dates within the next two months, rather than booking further in advance, although you can occasionally also find seats when searching for flights around 331 days out. Economy reward seats are easier to find.
As you’ll be booking separate tickets in and out of Tahiti, we’d suggest allowing at least one day in Papeete between flights in case of any delays to your inbound flight. Alternatively, why not stay a few days or even a week in Papeete – or one of the nearby French Polynesian islands – and enjoy a bonus holiday? 😉
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.
