Maybe I was being naïve...

[eckorock]

As Gandalf would say "One does not simply 'book' a rewards flight."

Maybe I was naive to think I could use my Velocity points for an overseas holiday flight in June/July this year?

I went onto the Virgin website to look for flights, two destinations I had in mind were
1) Hawaii
2) Barcelona, Spain

With Honolulu it says, cannot book this online. (Even though Hawaiian Airlines are one of their partners?)
With Barcelona, all the flights appear to run through Abu Dhabi , of which there are NO rewards seats available? (even as far back as May?)


What the heck... when/how am I supposed to be able to get a rewards flight??

It would be better if the system would filter out all the unavailable flight days, otherwise I have to page through each day individually.

any advice ?

 

[smit0847]

call.

...............

 

[simongr]

I would expect award flights to vanish much sooner than four months out from the trip - I would be booking 10 months out.

 

[777]

call.

...............

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This.

 

[drron]

Just checked on aa.com.HA have availability for AA milesAAver awards to HNL for 2 in Y most days apart from limited 21/6-4/7.BNE slightly better than SYD.Coming back even a few days with J availability.So call.

 

[grubbidok]

I'm hoping it's a systems glitch but rewards availability OS definitely seems much less than it used to be pre-Sabre. I would also call, your options are probably better there.

 

[eckorock]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This.

so the moral of the story is, don't rely on the online booking system?

would there be any point going through a travel agent?

 

[777]

so the moral of the story is, don't rely on the online booking system?

would there be any point going through a travel agent?

Many partners (Hawaiian for example) dont show in the online system. The key partner (Ettihad) for flights to Europe have there booking system down. So definitely dont rely on the online system without calling first.

And a travel agent is no use for reward flights.

 

[smit0847]

so the moral of the story is, don't rely on the online booking system?

would there be any point going through a travel agent?

For a points redemption?!?

No.

 

[grubbidok]

so the moral of the story is, don't rely on the online booking system?

would there be any point going through a travel agent?

Airlines seem as committed to 20th century call centres as medical practices are to fax machines. Both of them would do well to realise it's now 2013.

 

[dalereardon]

If you want to check availability yourself then join the FlyerTalk discussion community - its free. You can then get a free community account at www.awardnexus.com

It is a terrific search engine for award flights and makes life so much easier.

I have been doing a lot of OneWorld searching but don't know much about Star.

Dale.

 

[carpenteria]

As Gandalf would say "One does not simply 'book' a rewards flight."

*Puts nerd hat on*

If I'm not mistaken, I believe it was Boromir who uttered such a similar phrase... :mrgreen:

Anyway. Just going mildly off topic, has anyone in the past had any problems getting PE on VS using Velocity rewards? While yes I know

call.

just checking if anyone has had any experience in this area.

 

[VMC73]

Def call. I tried for months to book J flights (ringing back every couple of weeks as soon as fligths opened) to London for June this year, the overseas call centre seems to be somewhere overseas I always find them qutie difficult to understand anyway no luck with J but there were plenty of economy seats and yes via Abu Dhabi, ended up booking with Qantas points was too easy.

Nothing at any time I call or in any class was available with Singapore.

 

[mella2007]

After calling a few different times over a 2 week period, I booked another award flight from SIN to AUH last week. Previously nothing was available on my date (in June). Other reward flights I have booked for June and July to and from Europe I booked some in Oct/Nov and some in Jan..had no trouble with any. Everything booked in Business.
You do need to call since the new system has come into effect..it used to be easier to search than it is now

 

[eckorock]

If you want to check availability yourself then join the FlyerTalk discussion community - its free. You can then get a free community account at link

It is a terrific search engine for award flights and makes life so much easier.

I have been doing a lot of OneWorld searching but don't know much about Star.

Dale.

giddyup , already on FT will get onto that site.

ta

 

[eckorock]

Speaking of Hawaiian Airlines has anybody used them? They look a little bit cobbled together going off their website.

 

[eckorock]

Oh yeah one more thing...

If my Gold Status expires on the 7th of March but i BOOK before then , but FLY after then, am I screwed?

cos likely I can get a break on the Labour Day holiday (8th-10th March) but not before then... 7th March is a Thursday

 

[bullerdude]

Oh yeah one more thing...

If my Gold Status expires on the 7th of March but i BOOK before then , but FLY after then, am I screwed?

cos likely I can get a break on the Labour Day holiday (8th-10th March) but not before then... 7th March is a Thursday

Your status is valid for 1-month post expiry - as mentioned on the back of the card - so you should be fine for that weekend.

 

[totd]

Your status is valid for 1-month post expiry - as mentioned on the back of the card - so you should be fine for that weekend.

Do you get the same grace with earning SC? If you were close, say 20 or 30 points off retention, would you back to having to earn 500 SCs?

 

[garoz]

I rang Velocity in December to try to book a business class return ticket using points, from Brisbane or Sydney to London for June / July this year. They found me a flight going out, but couldn't find me anything in a 2 week period around my preferred return date in July. I don't know if I left it too late to enquire or if I was too early.
It eventually fell into the too hard basket so I decided keep my points for future use.