Flying Business Class to the USA or Canada can be an excellent use of Velocity Frequent Flyer points. Unfortunately, finding Velocity Reward Seat availability to North America in Business Class can be very difficult – but it’s not impossible!
Of Virgin Australia’s partner airlines, three offer direct flights between Australia and North America: United, Air Canada and Hawaiian Airlines. There are no carrier charges on Velocity redemptions with any of these airlines, so you’ll just pay a low amount of taxes in addition to the Velocity points.
Virgin Australia no longer flies to the USA using its own planes, and none of its partner airlines tend to release Business Class award availability to partners when seats initially go on sale around 11-12 months in advance. But there are a few Velocity reward seats available to North America closer to departure, if you know when and where to look!
This article is focused on Business Class reward availability. But it’s worth also mentioning that United and Air Canada typically have reasonably good award availability to Australia in Economy Class – especially outside of peak periods like school holidays.
Unfortunately, Premium Economy reward seats are not made available to Velocity members on United or Air Canada. Hawaiian Airlines doesn’t have a Premium Economy cabin.
United Airlines Business Class award availability to/from Australia
United Airlines operates six non-stop routes between Australia and the United States. There are flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to San Francisco; Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles; and Sydney to Houston. United also flies from Auckland and Papeete to San Francisco.
All of these routes feature lie-flat United Polaris Business Class seats in the pointy-end.
Sadly, United Airlines doesn’t release many Business Saver award seats to United MileagePlus members on its Australian or New Zealand routes.
This also means that members of partner airline programs like Velocity Frequent Flyer don’t get access to many United Business Class reward seats on these routes. That’s because Velocity members only have access to reward seats on United flights where Saver awards are also available through United MileagePlus. (The availability comes from the same fare class, which happens to be “I” for United Business Class.)
But United Business Class award seats do occasionally become available around 1-2 months prior to departure. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason, and there may only be seats available on a few specific flights at any one time. But, out of the blue, United may randomly release up to 6 Business Class reward seats on a particular flight.
For example, there are currently up to 5 United Business Class reward seats available from Sydney-Los Angeles on Christmas Day:
Admittedly, most people probably don’t want to fly on Christmas Day. That’s probably part of the reason why there are so many seats available to book using points on this particular day, but not on other dates…
There are also a few options to come back to Australia after Christmas. For example, there are currently six United Business Class reward seats available from San Francisco to Sydney next year on New Year’s Day:
Overall, the number of United flights with available Business Class reward seats between Australia and the USA is very limited. But if you can find a way to get to Tahiti, United does sometimes have good award availability on its Papeete-San Francisco flight.
Air Canada Business Class award availability to/from Australia
When it initially restarted flights between Australia and Vancouver in late 2021, Air Canada Business Class award availability was relatively wide open. Unfortunately, this excellent availability was short-lived.
Since then, there have been very few Air Canada Business Class reward seats available to book at all with Velocity points from Sydney, Brisbane or Auckland to Vancouver.
But late last week, as AFF member azza007 spotted, Air Canada suddenly released a fresh batch of last-minute Business Class reward seats between Australia and Vancouver for travel on various dates throughout December 2022.
At this stage, there doesn’t appear to be any availability for travel dates in January 2023 or beyond. But there are some Air Canada trans-Pacific flights available later this month with up to 3 reward seats in Business Class (which Air Canada calls “Signature Class”). At the time of writing, this includes in the week before Christmas!
If you want to book any of these seats, get in quick as they are unlikely to last long!
How to search for United & Air Canada award availability
If you don’t want to use the Virgin Australia website to check for reward seat availability on United or Air Canada, you can use the United Airlines website instead.
From the home page of the United website, check the “Book with miles” box to search for award flights. Also select “Flexible dates” to bring up a calendar of award seat availability across an entire month at a time.
When searching for Business Class seats between Australia and North America using the United website, the calendar will usually show lots of dates where the cheapest available awards cost 200,000+ United miles. These are not Saver level awards and cannot be booked using Velocity points!
You specifically need to look for Saver award seats. These are normally priced between around 80,000-103,500 United miles one-way, depending on the routing, airline and how close to the departure date you’re booking.
What’s going on with Hawaiian Airlines award availability?
Flying from Sydney and Auckland to Honolulu, Hawaiian Airlines is the other Velocity partner offering non-stop service to the United States.
While these flights are primarily aimed at Australians and Kiwis travelling to Hawaii, the airline also offers convenient onward connections from Honolulu to many cities across the continental United States.
Unfortunately, Hawaiian Airlines Business Class award availability from Australia to Hawaii has been virtually non-existent in recent months. But there are reward seats available very occasionally.
We searched today for Hawaiian Airlines Business Class reward seats on the Sydney-Honolulu and Auckland-Honolulu routes across the next year. There was only one Business Class reward seat available on a Honolulu-Sydney flight departing on 20 March 2023.
Finding Hawaiian Airlines award availability
Hawaiian Airlines reward seats do not appear on the Virgin Australia website.
To search for Hawaiian Airlines award availability to/from Australia, you can use the American Airlines website. If you find an available seat, you should be able to book it by calling Velocity Frequent Flyer.
Note that the American Airlines website may also show award seats on Qantas or Fiji Airways, which cannot be booked using Velocity points (but could be booked with Qantas points).
Having trouble finding and booking reward seats?
Our Frequent Flyer Concierge is here to help!
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.
